RV living is very different than living in a house or apartment, but to you, it’s your place and you want to make it feel and look like your home. No one wants to live in a carbon copy of every other RV. We have made a few changes to ours to make it more homely and function better for us.
Olivia’s Bed and Play Cubby under the bed
It was very important to us that Olivia felt at home, felt like she had her own space and was happy to be in the RV.
We decided we would brighten up Olivia’s bed with removable stickers of her favourite Marvel characters. Then we found some Marvel curtains which I cut down to fit both bunk windows and used the same material and some plywood to make a bed guard. We added her name lights that she had in our house. All these things together made her feel at home very quickly.
One thing we decided very early on in the process, was that if we got an RV with bunk beds we would make the bottom bunk a combined bed for Pepper and a play space for Olivia. We took out the mattress on the lower bunk and bought Pepper a new fabric crate that fits perfectly at one end.
On top of Peppers bed, we made a shelf to fit the top of the crate to make storage for boxes of toys. At the other end of the bunk, we built a little table to fit over some plastic drawers to make a lego table. To make the floor in between more comfortable we cut down a yoga mat to fit.
On the wall above the lego table, we fitted a picture frame with a string where she can hang pictures and trinkets.
We then bought some pretty leaf-patterned door curtains to replace the brown curtain that pulls around her bed at night.
New Sofa
The sofa in the RV was the original 12-year-old, very brown sofa bed. It was in reasonable condition but was not the most comfortable place to sit. We decided we wanted to change it for a paler sofa with built-in storage. Now one of the things you have to consider when replacing a sofa or anything large in an RV is how do you get it in the door. Many sofas were too wide to fit through so we started looking at flat pack sofas, we found ours at Ikea. A perfect build your own sofa with many different options and sizes available.
The new sofa is much more comfortable and gives us extra storage which is awesome. We added a couple of small cushions to add a splash of colour. It’s not quite as beige as I would have liked and its a bit pale for a family with a dog but we love it.
Arm Chair
The third chair in the RV is a nice spinning bucket armchair. Much like many other American RVs, the problem is that it’s very brown! So to break up the brown and to make it even cosier we have added a red throw.
New TV
I know! Why do we want a TV in the RV? As the RV is our full-time home, we do use the TV in it a fair bit for both watching TV and for playing Xbox. The RV came with a fixed 28″ TV in the front. It was fine but not the best quality. If the TV show or movie was dark you could not see what was happening and high quality shows like The Planets would look very blocky. Playing Xbox was almost impossible with maps in the bottom corner unreadable and you certainly could not play two-player.
The other issue we had was if the slide was in due to poor weather conditions, we could not sit on the sofa and see the whole screen. So we decided it really needed to be changed.
Unfortunately these days you can’t get very many good quality small TVs. We ended up deciding on a 43″ screen with an extending adjustable arm tv mount.
Shelving
Olivia is a little book worm so we carry quite a few books with us. We added another shelf to her little library so she can have more books.
Hob Shield
The hob came with a metal hob shield which folded in two. It was noisy when we drove and could not be used as a kitchen worktop space which is not helpful. We removed the metal one and made a new wooden one which works well as an extra workspace and can be easily lifted off when you need to use the hob.
Pictures
We have put up several picture frames with photos of our travels. At Ikea, we found some lovely frames that look like old fashioned film negatives, and we also bought a few simple black frames. We already had a scratch map of Europe that George was bought as a Christmas present which we have put in a black frame. So that they are not a permanent fixture and can be removed at any time we have used Velcro Command Strips to hold them up. They are amazing and leave no marks or nail holes.
Postcards
During our travels, we have been collecting postcards. To display these and brighten up the main bedroom I have Blu Tacked them around the mirror. It’s so nice to have memories of where we have been.
Olivia’s Art Work
We have also added some pieces of Olivia’s artwork to the walls. Again, using velcro command strips so they can be easily removed if required.
Beds, Duvets and Blankets
We have added mattress toppers to both beds for an extra level of comfort. We dress the beds with lovely duvets and covers on both beds along with blankets just like we did at home. Olivia even has her dinosaur pillow.
Conclusion
There are lots of ways you can make an RV homely. We think that our RV is homely, we are all very comfortable in it and can easily relax. There are a few more things we would like to change but it all takes time.
