Taylor Manuilow, an automotive designer at Ford, and Mike Haley, a furniture and graphic designer, tapped into their creative backgrounds and DIY skills to turn an old camper into a sparkling home on wheels over the summer.

The Detroit couple bought a 1988 Jayco Jay/Ford Econoline E350 motor home for $2,500 in June so they could safely travel during the pandemic. They found the 27-foot travel trailer on Facebook Marketplace, just down the road in Wyandotte, Michigan.

$940 Automotive & Cab Expenses	$446 Exterior Parts	$224 Roof Membrane
$479 Electrical & Lighting	$287 Construction Materials & Hardware	$360 Lumber
$165 Window Screen & Shades	$350 Flooring	$115 Plumbing
$304 Paint	$695 Bathroom	$600 Kitchen
$470 Water Heater	$265 Decor
Grand Total: $5,700

“Redoing an older RV was a project I always wanted to take on at some point,” says Taylor. “My family had a motor home when I was younger, and I remember how great it was to spontaneously be able to pack up and go somewhere for a weekend—or even a longer trip.”

The Jayco was just what the couple were looking for, so they jumped at the chance to scoop it up. “We have a lot of experience doing major renovations on our house, but a motor home is an interesting challenge—we sought to keep things lightweight, preserve as much of the original as we could, and consider the movement and vibrations that happen on the road,” Taylor says.

The new owners planned on a quick face-lift, but once they started retrofitting the Jayco, they soon realized that it needed much more work than they anticipated.

During the demo phase, Mike discovered water damage in the cab-over, and the couple had to strip it down and completely rebuild the cab. Also, projects that the couple thought would take just a few hours would end up taking a day or two, delaying their completion date. And then there was the added frustration of waiting around for specialty parts to arrive in the mail, as snail mail was especially slow because of COVID.

From start to finish, it took the couple four months to renovate the Jayco, and they worked long nights and weekends to get it up and running. The biggest challenge for Taylor and Mike was staying motivated during those 16 weeks and going out every day work on the motor home.

“The promise of the amazing trips we’d be able to take once it was done kept us going,” Taylor says. “Also, some of the breakthrough moments—like when we got the first coat of paint on the exterior, and when the interior transformed from dark wood paneling to bright white—really gave us energy.”

Taylor and Mike kept as many of the motor home’s original elements as possible—the cabinets, wardrobe, part of the cab, layout and even the dining booth—which preserved Jayco’s nostalgic charm.

“Because we're both designers, we couldn’t help but dig in and make everything as nice as it could be, which resulted in a lot of overhauling and cost,” Taylor says.

While updating the interior, the duo got a lot of bang for their buck with paint. “It really is amazing what a difference it makes,” Taylor says. Most of the interior was wood-paneled, so they brightened it up by painting the cabinets a soothing shade of blue-gray, and the walls a crisp white.

The couple also sourced items from Home Depot, Lowe’s, IKEA, and Camping World to keep costs in check. “With some creativity and finding new ways to use typical and readily available materials, you can achieve a great look for a reasonable price,” Taylor says.

While designing the interior, the couple also prioritized lightweight materials like plywood surfaces, faux terrazzo temporary wallpaper, luxury vinyl plank floors, and a plastic tub.

“There's a big learning curve to working on an RV,” Taylor says. “We now have a lot of knowledge that we didn’t have before, and if we were to ever do another one, we would better know what to expect, and how to tackle it.”

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Budget Breakdown: A 1988 Jayco Motor Home Gets a Gleaming Retrofit for $5,700