“I saw huge potential for designing the
color scheme of the caravan around
those colors’, she tells us.
She continued the blue and green theme
in the blue chosen for the outside and
the green for the interior cupboards,
whilst keeping everything else white.
“The colors are fun and give a bit of a
retro feel while the van not being too
bright or making the space feel too small
inside’, explains Caroline.
“I took a long time to decide on curtains
though, as the wallpaper doesn’t really
allow for any other designs. In the end
I settled on white with white spots and
they make the space look lovely and airy
and suit the wall colors and the wallpaper
without clashing. My aunty sewed them
for me”.
Wallpaper, paint and curtains finished,
the final touches were to re-install the
original beveled edge mirror, retro towel
ring little shelf back above the kitchen
bench, screw the cupboard doors back
on along with their carefully sourced
replacement matching retro styled
handles.
“The van came with some original retro
handles; the satellite dish-shaped ones
and some longer, decorative ones. I knew
I would be able to source some of the
satellite dish-shaped handles and did
find quite a few on old furniture and in
buckets of handles at the tip shop. One
day when looking through a box of old
handles at the tip I stumbled upon four
of the longer decorative ones which
perfectly finished off the wardrobe, I
couldn’t believe it!” says Caroline.
Finally Caroline had the name “Caro-van”
cut out of wood that she varnished and
glued it to the side of the caravan.
“It gives the van my personal seal!” she
declares.
28 | vintagetrailermagazine