Connie the Avondale Caravan Serves as Motivation to DIY Refurb a Trailer on the Cheap

Far from it, actually. If you look at most tiny house offerings right now, you will probably find that, as gorgeous and comfortable as they might be, they’re well over the budget unless you really plan to commit to vanlife one hundred percent and will be selling everything else you have. Most mobile habitats are expensive as new, and prices are expected to rise some more.

So what’s a family with two kids and not much interest in hitting the road full time to do? If said family is skilled with their hands, they get into the whole DIY business, with a refurb project. This is how Connie, which goes by Connie the Avondale Caravan on social media, came to be.

Connie is a new project, which Alice and Dave from the UK started half a year ago. The couple always loved attending festivals, and they kept at it even after the birth of their two children. However, with the kids growing up, roughing it up in a tent was no longer a comfortable solution – but neither was splashing £25,000 (approximately $31,500 at the current exchange rate) for a new trailer.

Alice and Dave set a fixed £5,000 ($6,300) budget and they stuck to it. It included the trailer, the materials and the handiwork done for the refurbishment. Because neither Alice nor Dave had experience with refurbishing old trailers, relying mostly on feedback from the online van community and (of course) YouTube tutorials, Connie is a good example of DIY work and can serve as excellent motivation.

Connie started out as a 2004 Avondale Dart 556-6, which the couple bought for £4,000 ($5,000) on Facebook Marketplace. A slightly older Avondale trailer in a poorer condition can sell for as little as £1,500 ($1,900), but the couple wanted one that wouldn’t require drastic structural repairs. Their unit was damp and smelly, but seemed sound. They would later find an entire wall had rotten through, from where water had leaked through a window and the taillights.

For the remodel, Alice and Dave chose to do all the work themselves, from the sanding and painting of the original cabinetry, to covering the buttons on the sofas in material and fixing the creaky soft floor. They used cheap materials, like carpet cutoffs, repurposed materials, Ikea rugs and accessories, sticky back tiles, and DC Fix vinyl. Everything was stripped down, cleaned of 20 years’ worth of grub, and then assembled again, either with new parts or reconditioned original ones.

The result is a gorgeous, home-like space that can comfortably sleep four people, with a bathroom and a full kitchen, and plenty of wardrobe space. The Avondale Dart is a spacious trailer, originally offering several layouts, including one with six berths. This one has the twin single beds that double as sofas and can become a queen-size bed at the rear, the kitchen and wardrobe in the center, a dinette, and bunk beds for the kids. It also has a bathroom with shower, cassette toilet and sink with vanity, so it offers all the basic creature comforts for life on the road.

Alice documented the rebirth of Connie on social media, and in a longer, more recent post that’s gone viral. Her biggest tip, according to Latest Deals, is to not feel discouraged at the thought of having to remodel an older trailer: just take it step by step, don’t rush the work, make sure you do your research and stick to your budget.

“My top tips for anyone looking to do something similar is not to be intimidated!” she says. “I’d also say you should reuse and upcycle anything you can get your hands on. Don’t be afraid to go bold in a small space, if it feels right and feels like you then go for it!”

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