Kele Dobrinski and Christina Valencia spent a long time searching for a camper with enough sleeping space for their nature-loving family of five. “We’re always looking for ways to explore more of the world around us,” Kele says. “Since Christina and I run a design shop, we wanted to rehab a camper that would let us take the kids on long trips over the summer, while being able to work comfortably from anywhere.”

Kele and Christina (who live in Sacramento, California, with their three sons Jack, age eight, Wyatt, age six, and Adler, age three) eventually discovered a 2008 Starstream Starcraft for sale on Craigslist for $10K. “I saw this funky camper with two pop-out tent sleeping areas, and I jumped on purchasing it,” Kele says.

The camper’s exterior was in good shape, but the interior left much to be desired. “Unlike the dated appearance of the interior, we actually loved the look of the aluminum exterior, so we didn’t change it.”

Kele and Christina are no strangers to renovation and remodeling projects. As the cofounders of the design company Colossus Mfg, they regularly revamp residential and hospitality projects, and they’re also the hosts of the HGTV design series Mash-Up Our Home—so they were well prepared to recreate the camper’s drab interior.

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“We spent seven weeks rebuilding the interior in the middle of a Sacramento summer,” Kele says. The couple gutted the camper’s interior and put it back together, employing bright color, simple built-in furniture pieces, and clever storage solutions.

They installed LED lighting, laid bamboo laminate flooring, repainted the interior walls with Sherwin Williams Alabaster White, and maintained the cream-colored carpet that covered the ceiling. “We liked the noise barrier and the insulation that the carpet provided, so we kept it,” Kele says.

Kele, who previously worked as a graphic designer, designed built-in furniture in Adobe Illustrator and then had the pieces cut from birch plywood using a CNC Router. The couple brought in a cabinetmaker to help install the kitchen, and they hired an upholsterer to make cushions for the dinette and sleeping pads for the queen-size bunk area.

When it came to storage, Kele and Christina made every square inch count, creating cubbies with plastic crates beneath the dinette. “We put commercial magnets on the back of the crates, so they don’t slide around while we’re traveling,” Kele says. They installed more storage beneath one of the bunks, which folds up when not in use. “That’s where we store our barbecue and our camping chairs,” Kele says.

They also created overhead storage by stringing bungee cord between plywood brackets crafted using a CNC router. “The brackets required numerous templates and prototypes,” Kele says. “It’s now the perfect spot to store daypacks, hats, and adventure gear.”

A vibrant color palette gives the interior a playful quality that underscores the family’s lifestyle. “We wanted this small space to feel bright and modern,” Kele says. “We pulled in blues, greens, and burnt orange—colors you find on old camping thermoses.”

A weBoost Wi-Fi booster attached to an old, retractable tv satellite provides entertainment for the family on quiet evenings, and lets Kele and Christina work from the road. “When we pull into camp in a remote area, we can put up the extender and boost our signal,” Kele says.

Kele, Christina, and the boys like to adventure far and wide in their camper. “If we’re doing a shorter trip, we’ll go to Bodega Bay, Arnold, or the Lassen area,” Kele says. “In the summer, we’ve taken longer trips to Oregon and Sun Valley, Idaho.”

The family has spent up to three weeks at a time getting lost in nature together. “Part of the beauty of traveling in a camper is that you don’t need much advance planning,” Kele says. “We’ve actually had the best luck finding day-of RV sites due to canceled reservations. It certainly makes for an adventure setting out without knowing where we’ll end up.”

One of Kele’s favorite memories in the camper took place the last time the family visited Sun Valley. “One day, we came back to the trailer for a client meeting while our boys snuck in naps,” he says. “Mid-meeting, while sitting at the table, we looked out the window to see the nearby hillside come alive with hundreds of sheep being herded by dogs. We stopped the meeting on the spot and woke our kids up to take in the sight. Redoing this camper was a creative challenge—one that came with a personal payoff.”

Related Reading:

A Creative Couple Give Their Spanish Revival Home a Punchy Upgrade

A Couple Spend $3K to Turn an Old RV Into a Cozy Home for Five

Project Credits:

Design & Construction: Colossus Mfg. / @colossusmfg

Appears In

10 Cabins, Campers, and Trailers We Dreamed of Escaping to in 2024

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