Rio Rancho Rules!

Our Rio Rancho fabric is inspiring so many customers, including Leilani Sullivan. Leilani and her husband have done an amazing job refurbishing a camper and making it into a dreamy, fun space that reflects their taste and talent for decorating, cooking and crafting –all while on the road! 

Here are Leilani’s words on the project:

In the fall of 2016, we purchased a 2002 Jayco Granite Ridge 27 ‘ Class C RV. We spent some time that winter doing a little remodeling: painting the cabinets and counter tops, putting some burlap coffee bean sacks on the fronts and backs of the dining seats, above the cab and in the bathroom, and making new cushion covers and divider curtains for the bedroom and cab.

We camped in it for the next two seasons. We love camping, but didn’t love the carpet at all, as we travel with our dogs and usually have muddy boots from hiking. The fabric I used on my cushion covers was pretty, but not very good quality. So this past winter, we ordered new cushion covers through the Woolen Mill Store.

Wow, what a beautiful addition they are! They add a level of class that is rustic, elegant and very durable. We also took the carpet out and put down wood flooring that we made from cedar fence pickets. My husband milled the pickets down to 1/2″ thickness, distressed them, painted them with a vinegar and steel wool mixture to age them, waxed them and installed them in the RV.

We removed all the window valances, painted the window frames and then framed them out in the same wood as the floor.  We covered all the walls with the burlap sacks. We also added vinyl flooring that looks like wood to the backsplash, and headboard. We finished the projects by ordering fabric, and making custom window blinds.

All of the renovation makes our little RV feel like a homey rustic cabin. It is so inviting.  We love meeting up with friends for camping in the mountains of Colorado and to see the fall colors in Missouri. I know there are a lot of beautiful spots that we hope to see in the next few years.

More camping hobbies

We also have a lot of camping hobbies! What are those? We do some Dutch oven cooking.

We also make lanterns out of old minnow buckets by drawing scenes on brown paper that we insert into the minnow bucket.

We hang the lanterns from our awnings for ambiance lighting.

Another hobby is bleach painting on shirts – this is bleach painting on the picnic table at the campground.

Everyone who has seen the interior just loves it, and some are encouraging us to do another camper remodel! We recently purchased a 1974 Avion travel trailer as a project. Hopefully we will be able to have Pendleton help us add beautiful touches to this travel trailer as well.

Thank you, Leilani! This is inspiring. We love the truly handcrafted interior, and hope you’ll let us see your latest project as it unfolds. 

See our Rio Rancho fabric here: Fabric.

All photos by Leilani Sullivan