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Hey There!
A year or so ago my father sent me a text message with pictures of this adorable, vintage 1964 Arrow Little Chief travel trailer he’d discovered.
I knew that I wanted it immediately, and when the lady asked for a ridiculously low price, Daddy hauled it down off the mountain and home to my parent’s garage for me where it’s sat ever since.
I was so busy with the house and the wedding the last year I wasn’t really able to get down to work on it. Last weekend though, The Fellow and I spent the better part of Saturday starting to clean, disassemble, and work on what I’m calling Rosie Lee. (For those who don’t know, Rosie Lee is rhyming slang for a cup of tea.)
We swept out the camper and pulled out the old propane stove which Daddy will try to restore for me. I’m looking into re-porcelain or enameling options as I really would like blue appliances.
Next, we’ll take out the wooden boxes that form the seats/bed and rebuild them for better stability. I want to build up a toilet box in the little bathroom that will house a (Number 1 only) camp toilet. Our plan is to stay in campgrounds with facilities so the camper toilet would be for emergencies only.
We most likely won’t bother with a shower, but Daddy keeps talking about an outdoor showerhead which we may do just so we have the option of a shower if we really need one.
My goal is to make this project as low-cost as I can. We obviously could replace absolutely everything and make it pristine, but for now, I want to just go with functional. A lot of our friends have big fancy RVs and campers, and it would be fun to join in on the camping trips!
The hardest part has been deciding if I want to keep the original wood paneling or paint it. There are so many adorable travel trailers all over Pinterest which are white with teal or pink that I love. However, Daddy always leans towards original, and I think he may be right. Once you change something, it’s hard to go back.
One big area of concern is that a center section of roof paneling needs to be replaced, and I’m concerned with getting it to match.
The other tricky part is the flooring. We want to go with a vinyl flooring which most readily comes in a hardwood or stone look. With the original paneling, that’s a lot of wood in a small, round space.
I think I’ve almost landed at a decision, and I want your thoughts on it.
What I think I’ll do is replace the damaged roof section with additional paneling and maybe a patterned paper or paint in that section if I can’t get a true match. I’m leaning towards a white subway tile flooring to brighten it up, and then paint just the cabinets in the kitchen area to help tie it all together.
What do you think? I need some help!
I am not a fan of mid century modern, I would do it in English cottage with lots of pink, what does the outside look like?
Whoops! my exterior photo didn’t stick! I’ve updated it now. Instead of brown, I’m going to do a light blue or teal 🙂
Hello! I just purchased a 1964 Little Chief. The former owners put the refrigerator in the closet as newer ones must be too deep to put under the stove, where they seem to have been originally. Have you found one that fits or does the original still work? How deep is the original? I really want to use the closet for a emergency toilet/storage. Anything you can share would be greatly appreciated.
Ruth
Hi Ruth! We could not find a fridge shallow enough. We ended up taking out the closet and putting the fridge there instead. My husband figures we will buy a camp toilet and keep it with us or in the seat box and I’m the event of an emergency use it in the main area. Not ideal but better than nothing. Removing the. Closet really opened up a lot of space and is working better for organization. We put a shelf over the fridge and ran our ac ductwork/electric there as well. We kept the hanging rail so we can still hang shirts over the shelf and our backpacks/suitcase sits on the shelf.
Hi! Do you have a updated blog as to your Renovation’? Are you camping in this now? would love to see what you ended up doing and the colors:)
Hi Sarah!
Thanks for following us on our remodel! This post: https://moonshineinateacup.com/2019/05/28/vintage-travel-trailer-remodel-part-4/ is my most update on the remodeling process. We are camping in it because it’s nearly done inside, and with Baby on the way I wanted to get in a few trips. You can see her all set up here: https://moonshineinateacup.com/2019/06/26/vintage-travel-trailer-beach-trip/
You can also find parts 2-3 by searching Vintage Travel Trailer in the search bar on the right 🙂