I tend to change my mind a lot. After we purchased the rig I thought I had my style for the whole RV already figured out. Boy was I wrong. I had decorated before in the past but never really anything that was MINE being that we rented the whole time after I was married. So I was eager to make the RV our own. Unfortunately until I began my quest I didn’t know I wasn’t totally sure what look I was going for. As time progressed I slowly made progress on making the rig actually look good and having an actual style to it rather than just decorating on a whim. Which was how most of it began. In my RV Interior Ideas FB group I posted my photos when others would ask if anyone else had decorated an area then after awhile changed their mind. People for the most part think it’s really funny how often I was changing mine. I have actually only met online one other person who changes their mind and style as often as I do and that’s Robyn from Tiny House Taylor, who is also an admin in my FB group. Although she does a fabulous job every time she makes a change! I am always very impressed with her style!
So with my experience I have had so far I DO recommend people making big changes in their trailers to make it their own but also to really take some time and think about the look they are trying to achieve before diving in head first. For example, if you find a wallpaper or peel and stick tiles that you love get just a roll or a couple of sheets. Try putting it up with masking tape for about a week to live with it and make sure it’s what you want. Both are hard to nearly impossible to remove without damage once applied. Thinking back on it I wished I had been given that same advice before starting my projects. Although I am VERY happy with how my rig has turned out minus a few little issues here and there.
So without further adieu here are the photos of my changes throughout the almost 4 years we have been living in our 5th wheel RV.
First is the master bedroom. I will say that the top right and second down on the left row were tossed because when Lese was a puppy she tore through them making holes, that when bedding was washed, got bigger and bigger. Eventually I decided to just throw it out and get a new one. The quilt in the second picture down on the left row she made a hole in it with 4 days of having the brand new bedding. The middle photo in the right row I was trying to make a duvet out of sheets I had purchased at Goodwill. The last photo in the left row was bedding I also purchased from Goodwill but after living with it awhile the yellow flowers were just too much. I finally settled on the bottom right row style, which is a Farmhouse style. I also sold the old headboard and made myself a new wooden one from slats of wood I bought at Home Depot.
So the second area I’m going to show is the living / dining area slide in the main space across from the kitchen. The first look was me trying to work with the furniture that came with the 5th wheel. I did change out the curtains which my friend helped me make. The color was a mushroom (ugly) color, and I have no idea why I picked it out. I sold the couch and dining table to someone who wanted to replace their stuff in their Class A.
That furniture wound up being too big and uncomfortable. So I ordered a lightweight chair and futon off Walmart online. It was pretty decent furniture except the ottoman was WAY too low. I would grunt everytime I got up and felt like an old woman having issues getting myself up to standing position. lol The ottoman was also way too light so when you went to get up it would come forward with you then when you got off it would flap back against the wall. I tried securing it to the wall which worked but then I couldn’t fold it down to use it for a sleeping area. The little table worked great for my step sons at the time who were small but my big ol’ adult lady booty wouldn’t fit on the stools very well. It actually hurt a little to sit on them. Although the idea of the table folding out to save on space was a good idea but it just didn’t look right to me. So I sold that furniture online.
I finally settled on another love seat but this one was off Craigslist. We had to remove the feet and squeeze it in the doorway but it fit. We put the feet back on and it was perfect height. Only it was made of beige suede which wasn’t going to work well with the animals, plus it just looked dirty although it was really well kept and clean. So I got a cover for it. A stretchy cream colored cover from Target. I lost sleeping space by getting a regular love seat but I was ok with that. I also found this perfect little bar style table. This lady was selling this furniture she had paid someone to make for her out of pallets. She decided it was too chunky so she sold me this table for $20. After picking the right stain color for it I had my dining table. I got two ottomans from Target and added casters to the bottom and reupholstered them making them into rolling stools. I repainted the slide and matching walls (that I had painted the same hideous metallic pink) a light grey. I made stage coach valances for the windows, painted all the cabinets and trim cream, covered the accordion shades with fabric, made some pretty flower boxes for the windows and got some pretty white linen pillows for the love seat. I also got a matching ottoman cover to go with the love seat cover and re-stained the ottoman tray to match the dining table color. It made a HUGE difference and in a good way for once.
So moving on down the rig we head to the bunkhouse. So photo no 1 was what it was supposed to look like when we ordered it. We told them to not install the bunk bed or couch because at the time we ordered it we planned on having at least 1 child together. We knew my step sons would be coming to visit but at the time they were small enough to fit in one bunk together and we figured we would come up with what to do when they grew to big for one bunk later on. We wound up finding out we were infertile and decided to let go and let God. So I came up with the idea of turning the space into an office area for Michael. We had a desk I had bought when we were at the town-home but after painting it and living with it a bit I thought it was too large for the space. So I found an entry way table I painted white and turned into a little desk for myself, since Michael wasn’t using the desk area at all in the first place. It also gave us an area to house the cat tree. I found a stool I recovered and cut the legs down shorter for the table and I reupholstered it. I tried to make the area look good but I hated the Minecraft poster and the cork-board. And as you can see with the curtains we changed those out several times as well. It was also the boys room which I reminded myself of. One summer we used a folding mattress for our second boy but that became a pain and there was no where to store it out of the way the rest of the time. So I decided it was time to rebuild the bunk bed on the second slide. Which is what you see in pic no. 4. I completely redid the look of the bunkhouse from what started out really girly to a more adult boys space with a southwestern theme to it. I still need to recover the slide rails in some fabric to help them blend in better.
So now we move into the final space I have changed multiple times. The second bathroom which has now been dubbed “the kitty closet”. We used this as a functional second bathroom the first year we had it and the boys visited. Then I realized that keeping up with a second black tank was a PITA, was constantly getting clogged up along with the seal around the tub drain that nothing ever worked on repairing and constantly leaked. Plus the second bathroom was also the site of what could have turned into a bad situation with a leak from frozen pipes during the first winter.
I painted the walls and cabinets in the room. I didn’t decide until being away from it for about 8 months that I wanted to take out the toilet and sink. We had also gotten up to 2 kitties at this time and I needed somewhere to put the huge litter box I got for them. So I insulated all the pipes under the tub and sink, sealed up the black tank hole, and give away the toilet online. As you can see in the first pic this is where we kept the folding bed we used that one summer the boys visited as I mentioned above. It was not easy to get that thing in and out every morning and evening. I moved the “dresser” I made for the boys clothes in where the toilet had been and put it up against the wall. So they have clothes storage when they come to visit for long periods of time.
I still have plans, probably very soon, of taking some wood look wallpaper I had gotten awhile back to cover the walls of the shower. Since the bottom photo I have taken down the shower curtain along with the hose and sprayer that was in the shower.
As I mentioned before things have changed a little since the bottom photo was taken. So here is a picture of the litter box area that I will be wallpapering the shower walls of, along with showing that now the space that housed the sink is now the kitty feeding station. I will leave the shelves white and use them for more decorations.
Also here is the kitty cat decorations that I have collected and been gifted so far for the room. I plan on collecting some more as time goes on.
So there you have it. The evolution of the many different areas in my 5th wheel. I hope this post was as amusing as many others have found it.
Leave a Reply