V icky Kovachev always wanted her children to grow up knowing the joy of family camping life. “Camping brings back wonderful childhood memories for me; we used to go on family camping and caravan holidays and they were so much fun. I wanted to recreate that for my own family so they would get the same experience. It’s so much fun,” says Vicky.
So along with her husband Christo, Vicky set out to find a caravan that would be suitable for them and their two girls, Daisy, nine, and six-year-old Nella. “We found the caravan in Scott’s Landing – a lady had been living in it while she waited for her house to be built – and we knew straightaway it was perfect,” Vicky says. “It looked in reasonable condition, but as soon as we started restoring it, we found that the timber framing was rotten, so we had to rebuild it from scratch.”
Christo relined the walls with marine timber, and he and Vicky worked together to construct the cabinets and furniture. “It took us quite a while as we both had jobs, so we could only work on restoring it after the kids had gone to bed,” says Vicky.
The external is aluminium, so the pair took the caravan to a panelbeater to remove all the dents. Once the frame was all in place, the caravan was ready for the next step. Vicky and Christo wanted to keep the caravan’s retro feel, but also make sure it was hardy enough for New Zealand seasons, so they talked to the team at the Resene ColorShop in Wairau Park on Auckland’s North Shore. “They were so helpful – they told us about the importance of priming the caravan before painting, and gave us some really good advice on what type of paints to use.”
The pair wanted to keep the seventies feel of the caravan, so had it professionally sanded back, and primed the exterior surface using Resene Vinyl Etch adhesion primer, which dries quickly and is compatible with most Resene topcoats. The interior had to be built from scratch, and they sealed the surface with Resene Sureseal, and used Resene Uracryl for the topcoat.
Once inside, DIY enthusiast Christo took over the build. He crafted the marine ply cabinets, benchtops, and the little storage space above the kitchen. “He’s always helped his parents with DIY, so he’s quite good at picking things up; YouTube is a great teacher!” smiles Vicky.
Choosing the colour was the next hot topic. “I love pink and yellow; to me they are very upbeat, happy colours,” says Vicky. “But for the exterior, although I love pink, Christo didn’t want to be towing a pink caravan,” she laughs. The pair eventually settled on white Resene, with a strip of Resene Lustacryl Wild Thing creating the striking yellow. “The yellow was our joint choice, and I think it really works with the retro theme,” says Vicky. “I’m so glad we chose it.”
Meanwhile, Vicky started planning the interior design. “I have quite a good eye for detail, and I wanted an interior colour palette that would match the furnishings and the exterior. The girls really wanted it to be bright and colourful; they had quite a bit of input on the colour scheme,” says Vicky. Between them, they decided on Resene Rum Swizzle for the main section of the interior. They also wanted a yellow that would colour match the settee. Another trip to their local Resene ColorShop revealed that Resene Wild Thing was once again the perfect choice; they used it to highlight the windows and ventilation trims, creating unity between the interior and exterior of the caravan.
Once the paint was sorted, Vicky and her daughters spent many happy hours scouring TradeMe for bits and bobs to match the colour scheme – and even managed to get a little bit of pink in there too! “We looked for cushions and curtains that would help keep the retro feel.” A last touch in the form of a striped yellow and white awning was added, and finally, the caravan was ready.
The Kovachev family are loving their colourful holiday home and take off in it whenever they can. “We’ve taken it to loads of places that are all within three hours of Auckland,” says Vicky. “We’ve been to Papamoa, Mount Maunganui and Mangawhai – but our favourite spot is Martin’s Bay Holiday Camp, just north of Auckland in Mahurangi.”
The next step is to put in a bunk bed, as the girls are fast growing out of the ‘top to tail’ sleeping arrangement. But not even that stops this family from loving their bright family caravan. “Just being in the caravan makes us feel so upbeat; it’s a getaway from the daily norm. It’s our happy place.”
