SWNS
A couple who bought a caravan on Gumtree for just £800 have given it a colourful makeover in just a week.
Ellie Sharkey, 22, and Charlotte Tasker, 24, decided to buy the caravan on a whim after their holiday to Canada was cancelled due to coronavirus.
The couple found an Ace Jubilee Diplomat on Gumtree for just £800, which came complete with a canoe and a collapsible bike.
After snapping it up, they transformed it with pink chalk paint, Dalmatian spots, sparkly silver chairs, fairy lights and vinyl flooring.
It took nurse Ellie and army medic Charlotte just a week to do and only cost them £500.
Now the pair are preparing to take their new home on a two week trip on the North Coast 500, a scenic road-trip in the north of Scotland.
They posted photos of their renovations online, where they were inundated with praise and questions.
Ellie, from Arbroath, said: “We knew when we bought it that it was obviously really dated, but we planned to paint it anyway.
“It was a dead spontaneous decision.
“We bought it on Friday, and Saturday morning at 8am it was at our doorstep.”
The couple spent a week decorating the caravan together, changing it inside and out without any previous DIY experience.
Ellie added: ‘”All in all the renovations cost around £500.
“We painted all the cupboards with chalk paint and my mum made us new pink curtains.
“We spray painted all inside metal features rose gold, covered the seats with sparkly silver fabric and replaced the old carpet with vinyl flooring.
“After that we then painted the body of the caravan pink and grey, and Dalmatian spots on the roof.
“Finally, we added pillows, fairy lights, pom poms and accessories to make it a more comfortable living space.”
Their Twitter post has now exceeded 80,000 likes and been shared by thousands of people.
Charlotte, who works as an army medic, said: “The caravan isn’t perfect but we have made it our own, and we are thrilled with the outcome.
“It has all the personal touches we planned to include and more, so we couldn’t be happier.
“We don’t want people thinking that we are professionals at this.
“We are genuinely just two normal people who have tried to make a caravan a bit more funky.”
Ellie and Charlotte have an Instagram page where they document their travels, and plan to share pictures of their upcoming road-trip.
