LIV Chats To…Retro Obsessed, Club Jupiter All About Their American Styled Caravan
This week we're chatting to the girls from @clubjupiteruk- their style mixes 70s design and American décor.
First things first, please can you all introduce yourselves!
Of course! So I’m Emma Jane Palin and I’m an interior stylist and writer. Then we have Whinnie Williams who is a TV presenter and interior designer; and finally Anna Hart who is a travel journalist. We all live in Margate, Kent and came up with the idea for Club Jupiter in August 2020, just after we came out of lockdown.
Please tell us more about how the idea for @clubjupiteruk came about?
It was in the midst of the pandemic and all three of us weren't as busy, so we were having regular business meetings to keep the creative juices flowing. I saw a caravan advertised on Rightmove and said to Whinnie “we should renovate one”. We both asked Anna over Whatsapp and two days later we were all on site looking at caravans.
None of us have ever worked on anything like this so it was definitely a learning experience. We very much went into it thinking it would be easy, but there were lots of challenges along the way. It's essentially like refurbishing a small three-bedroom apartment, so it's not a quick job! We're all very driven though so there was never any doubt that we wouldn't get it up to scratch.
How would you describe your interior style?
We're all heavily influenced by 70s design but bring this to life in different ways. Whinnie likes to make her interior look like a movie set, so everything is very curated and looks straight from the 70s. She has her own homeware brand called Poodle & Blonde which influences her own interior and vice versa.
Anna is very much into mid-century style with lots of 60s/70s design classics. She gets a lot of inspiration from her travels, so the Madonna Inn and Elvis’ house were huge influences for her.
I like to bring a modern touch to my interior so while I have retro influences, there’s always a modern touch. I like to blend music, fashion and art, and my interior always has a lot of personal touches such as photos and artwork.
Which brands or décor trends inspired you to create the marvellous caravan?
There are lots of Americana references in the caravan. We wanted the living space to be neutral so chose lots of earthy colours, but the bedrooms were designed to be wild - like a themed motel you'd find in Palm Springs. Whinnie calls the living room 'the calm before the storm' and I think that's a perfect analogy of what we were trying to achieve. We wanted people to be blown away and to experience something different. I don’t think there’s anything similar out there at the moment so it’s hard to compare or say exactly what inspired us.
What are your top three Instagram accounts for interior inspo?
We love the way you use bright colours and bold patterns, do you have any tips for our followers on how they can recreate this?
We each designed a room, so we all came up with an individual concept and progressed with that vision. We wanted each room to have a completely different feel so we discussed colours together to make sure they were as different as they could possibly be. You won't find the same interior design trick twice in the caravan!
When it comes to colour, we all think it’s important to be brave and take risks, but also to really test out lots of different colours before committing. It’s also okay to get it wrong. We repainted our kitchen after the floor went in as it didn’t feel like the right vibe, and we’re all so glad that we did!
Which room of the caravan is your favourite and why?
I mean, as I mentioned, we all have our own rooms so obviously my disco room is my favourite place to sleep. Quite honestly I love them all for different reasons. A real special place for me though is the toilet. We created a cork wall where people could put notes and postcards and it’s the first place I go to after guests have been – I want to see what people have left! There are the cutest notes on the wall and it makes me remember why we did it.
Your website mentions a love for mindful interiors, could you tell us more about this?
We’re all lovers of vintage and all trying to be more sustainable with our choices. We re-used a lot of the materials from the storage that already existed in the caravan to build the beds, and then the rest of the décor is a mixture of vintage, overflow from our own homes, Facebook Marketplace finds and high-street shops. It's all very budget-friendly but I think we've managed to make something that looks super luxe. Anything bought from shops was bought with longevity in mind so we went for quality mattresses, bed linen and towels to ensure we weren’t replacing them every two months.
For those thinking about renovating their own caravan or similar, do you have any tips?
In general working on a caravan is a challenge and it’s super important not to think of it as an easy project. The walls are thin and can't hold much. Everything is built from the outside in, so it's not like taking a cabinet off of the wall in a house - there are lots of staples involved! The surfaces are also tricky so everything needs to be primed and prepped well. Nearly every part of the renovation was a challenge but in turn, that's also really exciting. I think if you can successfully make a caravan look that good, you can do anything!
And finally, what does the future hold for @clubjupiteruk? Do you have more plans up your sleeve?
At the moment we’re just enjoying having people come to stay and fully embrace all things Club Jupiter. We’ve been working closely with Willerby (the UK’s largest caravan manufacturer!) on some styling and designing of the newer models so that’s been fun. Watch this space!
If you have enjoyed reading all about this fantastic caravan, head over to their Instagram page @clubjupiteruk to keep up to date.
