A mom and her daughter transform old RVs into modern tiny homes, and more than 200 people are on their waiting list. Here's how they got started.

That year, her father had a stroke, so she was tasked with saving two of his businesses. The jobs didn't pay her anything. At the same time, her roommates decided to move out of the apartment she was renting with them, so she needed to find a place to live in under two weeks with no salary to back her up.

"I actually thought about sleeping in my office because it was somewhere to land and at least had running water," Armstrong said. "I threw myself a pity party for a couple of days."

Instead, she reached out to a family friend who just so happened to work at an RV campground in her hometown of Boise, Idaho. He told her she could move into one of the RVs at the park — a 2006 Outback — and work at the campground's front desk in exchange for lodging costs.

"He asked, 'Are you interested?' Well, no, but it's a roof over my head and it's somewhere to live," she said. "At the time, I didn't even know people lived in RVs full time."

She said she was embarrassed by her living situation and didn't want to tell her friends where she was living.

"I felt borderline homeless," she said. "I was a recent college grad, all of my friends were buying houses ... and here I am living in this trailer park. Sometimes I had to decide between feeding myself and feeding my dogs."

That summer, Armstrong took her dog for a walk through the park every night. During those walks, she chatted with all the people in the park and got to know them further when she worked at the front desk. Quickly, she learned how welcoming the community was.

"If I had any question about my rig, there would be five guys there helping me out in a matter of minutes," she said. "They took me under their wing and helped me get back on my feet."

It was then that Armstrong's view of her living situation changed.

"Being so immersed in the culture helped me shift my mindset," she said. "I felt bad. I made false assumptions about it when I first moved into the RV. During that summer and the following winter, I really started falling in love with the lifestyle. It was really freeing."

"I want to keep living this way," she said. "I enjoy it, but I would like an RV that is laid out a bit differently. I want one that is a cute, bachelorette pad for a mid-20s lady. I wanted it to be bright and modern."

She scoured the internet and RV parks around the country, trying to find a modern RV that had the right "fit and the feel," but all she found were RVs decorated in dark colors and drab floral prints.

In May 2015, she realized what she wanted did not exist. Instead, she bought a 2006 Sedona with the layout that she wanted for $12,500 and decided to remodel it herself.

Since RV renovation was not popular at the time, she found no advice or help online. Instead, she took a cabinet door down from the RV, brought it into Home Depot, and asked, "How do I paint this?"

The rest of the renovation process was just as much of a challenge. She said she didn't fully understand how RVs worked, so she was nervous to rip into walls or make any big changes. Instead, she spent $3,000 on flooring, new furniture, and painting.

Although it was a "pretty mid-level reno," it was a big moment for Armstrong.

"It was a changing point," she said. "I was owning this new lifestyle."

During those years, Armstrong did some buying and selling of RVs at the park she lived in. She would clean the RVs thoroughly and then sell them. She then realized that she could take that business up a notch.

"I thought, 'What if I took my own experience with renovating my RV and combine it with the buying and selling experience?'" she said.

Now that Armstrong had found her passion, she spent hours watching YouTube videos, teaching herself the inner workings of RVs. She also brought in a friend who was a general contractor who walked her through the process.

She bought a 2010 Dutchmen for $14,000. Using her new knowledge, she went into this remodel with a bit more confidence and replaced mirrors, sinks, countertops, and flooring.

In all, she spent $10,000 on the renovation process and then sold the RV locally for $28,000.

"On paper, yes, I did make some money, but it wasn't worth the amount of time that went into it, but that didn't stop me from wanting to perfect the system," Armstrong said.

She decided to lean into the new-found interest and turned her personal Instagram account into an RV renovation profile. At that moment, The Flipping Nomad was born.

Armstrong said she was hesitant because she had never done that before, but that she was eager to give it a shot. She bought a 2010 Montana and the couple bought it from her before she even started renovating it. Together, they came up with a design plan and Armstrong did the remodeling.

In the end, it was a success and Armstrong made another $5,000 profit.

After seeing how much Armstrong was loving her RV lifestyle, Patti decided to move into an RV as well. She even partnered with her daughter to help renovate RVs for customers.

"Thankfully, we work together really well," Armstrong said. "She's my best friend. She has this cool spirit and spunk about her. She gets younger as she gets older."

Armstrong added, "It's pretty empowering to be this female team, slinging these giant trailers around and handling the mechanics of them. It's not something you see very often."

The business no longer does customized renovations because it takes 50% longer, according to Armstrong. In other words, she doesn't work with owners to design a space for their liking. Instead, she purchases a rig on her own and designs it by herself, and then the owners purchase it sight unseen. This allows her to work quicker.

"People have a lot of confidence in me," she said. "Every time we get a rig in, it sells before we even start renovating it."

"When a buyer would come in, they would only look at the interior," she said. "They would never look at the bones of the RV. They'd never get up on the roof to see if it was rotting out. All of this really important, mechanical stuff, they didn't care about. I could've easily tricked people into taking on a rig full of water damage, rotted out, and cracked tanks. The buyer would have no idea. I decided I needed to take this responsibility and go above and beyond with it."

Before she even purchases an RV to remodel, she does a full inspection of the vehicle. She said that means she climbs on the roof and checks for water damage, she crawls under the RV to check for more water damage, she examines the tires to see if they're expired, and she makes sure everything is working properly. This thorough inspection makes The Flipping Nomad a trusted company, according to Armstrong.

"I can flex my creative muscles and start reimagining the space and think how we can tweak the floor plan," she said.

"Demo is always the fun part because you can just rip on stuff and throw stuff out the door, she said. "We always have music playing. It's a fun atmosphere."

These days, she makes about $8,000 to $10,000 in profits with each RV model.

After giving it a complete makeover, Armstrong now calls this luxury rig her home.

"We are the caretakers of this rig," she said.

The RV has three fireplaces and even a pizza oven.

Armstrong's plan is to drive the Ultimate Montana around the country and display it at conventions and festivals to show people how RV living can be just as luxurious as a traditional home.

"I really want to encourage people to take the plunge and not be afraid to try this lifestyle," she said. "It can be intimidating, but it is so worth it. I met some of the best people I ever met in my entire life. It scares me to think what would have had happened if I didn't move into that first RV. I would've missed this lifestyle entirely."

• Read more:
• A single mom, 2 kids, and 2 dogs all live inside a 270-square-foot tiny house. Here's how they make it work.
• A single mother built a tiny house by herself after a divorce, and she says it changed her life
• 20 before-and-after photos of remodeled RVs that will make you want to get on the road