- Andrea Heap spotted a camper trailer for sale near her parents' home in Colorado and bought it for $3,000.
- She spent $2,000 and a year and a half renovating the tiny home on wheels with her dad, Paul.
- Heap lives and works in her camper trailer, which has a bed, bathroom, kitchen, and work table.
- Take a look inside the completed camper renovation, which Heap has named "Fern."
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Meet Fern, a 1979 Fleetwood Wilderness Camper that looks like she's straight from the '70s from the outside.
"I always refer to my camper as Fern, and everyone in my family refers to my camper as Fern," Andrea Heap told Insider. "It's become like a person."
But inside, she's been modernized by her owner Andrea Heap, who lives and works in the camper trailer, and her dad, Paul.
Heap spotted a camper trailer for sale near her parents' home in Colorado in 2019 and bought it for $3,000. She spent $2,000 and a year and a half renovating the tiny home on wheels with her dad.
While she added modern features, Heap said she kept all of the original hardware, light fixtures, and cabinetry to maintain its "vintage flair."
Heap told Insider that she wanted to preserve everything she could from the original camper.
The first thing you'll see when you step into the trailer is Heap's workspace.
Heap built and installed this table with her friend who makes furniture, while a friend made new coverings for the trailer's original cushions.
When she's not working, Heap's desk serves as the kitchen table.
The kitchen includes all the necessities — a stovetop, oven, sink, and fridge.
Heap kept the trailer's original oven, stove, sink, and refrigerator but updated the countertops and backsplash.
Across from the kitchen, a barn door slides open ...
... to reveal the bathroom, which has a shower, ...
... and a toilet.
Heap sleeps at the back of the trailer, where she has a custom bed made to fit the space.
Next to the bed, Heap's closet stores her clothes.
While she loves her finished home, Heap said she also enjoyed the transformation process itself. Restoring the camper made her a more confident problem solver and brought her closer to her dad.
"My dad is handy and mechanically smart, and I was able to find out that I was too," Heap said. "I had never exercised that skill until I had to."
- Read more:
- A woman bought a $3,000 camper trailer from the 1970s and spent $2,000 transforming it into her 'perfect little house'
- A couple bought a converted sprinter van for $40,000 to travel across the US. Take a look inside the tiny home, which doubles as their office.
- A Texas man bought an old ambulance from a landscaping company for $4,500 and spent $10,000 converting it into his dream tiny home. Here's how he did it.
- A former corporate trainer who used to spend his days running seminars about strategy and motivation gave up his six-figure salary to live in a van with 10 rescue dogs. We got a look into his life.
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