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RV Remodel Ideas and Design Plan

Alright, it’s time to dive into the RV remodel! I’ve had so many RV remodel ideas swirling around in my head, but I managed to narrow them down and come up with a real, tangible design plan. My husband and I didn’t buy the RV with any intentions of remodeling it, we just planned on using it to camp with our four boys…that is now out the window. Way, way out the window, blown down the street, and probably out of the state by now.

Remodeling this gloomy beauty just sounds like too much fun.

RV Before Pictures

RV Remodel - before

camper remodel ideas

RV remodel ideas

RV renovation ideas

Did y’all notice all the brown? I mean, you have to look carefully or you’ll miss it, but it’s there.. being all brown on greige on camel on tan, with little burnt sienna and brick red thrown in for good measure.

Even though I fully appreciate that the designer was able to cram so many shades of the same color into such a small space, I plan on breaking up this brown party.

 

RV Remodel To-Do List

  • Repair and paint the cabinets
  • Replace blinds with curtains (most are broken anyway)
  • Paint the walls
  • Replace the main mattress (already did this as well, I bought this one and it is 100% better)
  • Replace/reupholster dinette cushions (by far the most intimidating part)
  • Accent walls in the dining nook, TV wall, and headboard area
  • Kitchen backsplash
  • Build drawers underneath the banquette
  • Paint laminate countertops and table
  • Decor and storage

 

I went back and forth for a long time, trying to decide if I should take the RV in a completely different direction than my normal design aesthetic (which sounds really fun), or I should do the usual because it’s what I love.

Ultimately I decided to stick with what I love, for two reasons –

  1. I want to do this remodel for as cheap as possible, which means using lots of stuff we have leftover from the house.
  2. I want it to feel like our home away from home, which means it should look like, well…home.

 

RV Remodel Ideas and Design Plan

So here is a mood board I put together with all the elements I’ve picked out…

RV remodel Ideas

It’s going to look SO different. I can’t wait.

 

The Inspiration

So let’s talk about the details, starting with the fabric for the curtains. 

lizard gecko fabric

I LOVE the fabric. Yes, all caps…that’s how you know I’m serious.

I first found this fabric a few years ago, and I his it away in the back of my brain, waiting for the perfect place to use it. The colors are the exact palette for my house, I could literally put a throw pillow of this in any room and it would coordinate perfectly. Home away from home…nailed it.

I like that it’s a playful fabric (perfect for a fun RV filled with little boys), but adult enough that Adam and I don’t feel like a coordinated Disney bedding set exploded all over our RV.

Also, those geckos are cute as hell.

gecko fabric

I’ll pull all my colors from the fabric, which will be blue/gray, orange, black and white.

 

The walls

Here is the wall color, Silvermist by Sherwin Williams.

SW Silvermist - wall color for the RV remodel

We used this exact color in five rooms of our house, it’s a great muted blue. We have about three gallons leftover from painting the house, so it was an obvious choice. I can’t wait to see how different this little space looks without the sponge-painted yellow-ish brown walls.

 

The floor

The floor is the only part of the camper that we plan to leave the same. It isn’t something that I would have picked on my own, but it’s already there, is in great shape, and hides dirt like a boss.

camper makeover ideas

 

The cabinets

The cabinets are going from (a very fake looking) wood to white. Our RV doesn’t really have that many windows and is really dark inside, so this will go a long way in making less cave-like. Adam and I are actually 90% finished with this and it was a giant pain in the butt, but looks so much better. I’ll write a post with all the details once it is 100% complete, but here is a sneak peek!

Remodeling a travel trailer

 

The countertops

Next up are the countertops, which are currently a stone look laminate. Don’t let the picture below fool you, the countertop and floor don’t match…they are actually very different colors and patterns. One of them needs to be a solid color, and since the floor is staying the countertops are the lucky winner.

RV countertop and floor - before remodel

My first idea was to cover them with a thin layer of concrete, which I think would look great. You can buy a kit (which is rated really well) and Google is full of tutorials. After doing more research I think the constant movement of an RV would cause them to crack though, so instead I’m just going to paint them black.

I’ve been looking at countertop paint kits and this one has really great reviews, but I’m also not sure something that expensive is necessary for such a small amount of counter space. If anyone has experience painting laminate countertops (with a kit or without) I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

 

Accent walls

In a few areas, I plan to skip the blue paint and instead make them accent walls. The dinette alcove, behind the TV, and the headboard are going to become wood-planked walls. I have no doubt that these small areas will be the shining stars of the entire renovation.

I’m using a product called Stikwood, which they have agreed to donate to the remodel in exchange for being featured on the blog. I’ve had my eye on this product for years, and am really excited to finally have a place to use it. Stikwood is real reclaimed wood, cut super thin and applied by simply sticking it to the wall. There are no tools required, plus its feather light and doesn’t really add depth to the walls…perfect for an RV. There are a ton of finish options, and after ordering some samples I ended up choosing Reclaimed Sierra Silver (thank you to everyone who voted on Instastories!).

Stikwood reclaimed sierra silver

 

Dinette cushions

The current dinette cushions aren’t great…they are thin and flat, plus the fabric is ugly.

camper remodel ideas

I plan to add new foam and reupholster them, probably using dropcloths from the hardware store (like I did on my barstools years ago).

RV remodel ideas and plans

Fabric dropcloths are cheap, thick, clean up well, and are a nice neutral. I’m not great at sewing and don’t enjoy it though, so this part of the remodel should be… interesting. Replacing all the fake leather trim, painting the table black, ripping out the carpet, and building drawers for usable storage under the seats are also on the to-do list for this area.

 

RV Remodel Timeline

As far as the timeline, I’m going to be a hopeful realist and say we should be finished before the new year. I don’t want to drag it out, but this is an “in our spare time” remodel, and we all know how that goes. The to-do list for the camper is pretty extensive, but it is such a small space that it hopefully goes pretty quickly (now that I’m nearly finished with those dang cabinets!). Fingers crossed!

 

Update…it’s finished! Get all the information about the RV remodel by clicking the links below.

RV Remodel Posts

 

RV remodel

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26 Comments

  1. Can’t wait to see it! I painted my master bathroom countertop with craft paint and sealed it with 4 coats of water based varathane. It has held up well. I sanded it well and primed it beforehand. It has been about 3 years since I completed it. I may put a couple fresh coats of varathane on it, but for now it’s all good. I used a couple different colours of craft paint and sponged it to look like granite.

  2. We painted regular Formica countertops at our last house. They held up pretty well for about 5 years under hard use in a family of 7. We got a special primer from Benjamin Moore that bonded to the Formica and then used oil based paint on top. The only place it showed wear was next to the self rimming sink and we were careful to not cut on the countertop.

  3. The white cabinets really brightened up the place! I’m currently in a rental travel trailer while waiting on home repairs from a massive water leak in my house (all covered by insurance, thank goodness). I am so OVER brown, but sadly can’t change it since it’s a rental :-) When it comes time to redo your cushions, I suggest looking at Sailrite (www.sailrite.com) – they have lots of videos and I’m pretty sure they have one or more on cushions. They are not that hard, even if they seem intimidating. There are lots of colors of marine vinyl (if you’re going to replace the vinyl with vinyl), I’m sure you can find one or more to work with your color palette. I’m looking forward to seeing the end result!

  4. Why do they make these campers sooooo butt ugly?! lol Love your ideas…. I’ve painted 4 laminate countertops, all just using a high adhesion primer, then regular old latex paint and then a good poly clear coat. The clear coat being the key to longevity! What a fun project, can’t wait to see the finished space

  5. My daughter painted our bathroom laminate counter tops and they have stood up really well after almost 6 years. She used a Benjamin Moore kit that she got at the time that had different colors that she sponged on after a black base coat and it turned out great.

  6. Exciting! We have a little old camper that we travel with a few times a year and it’s not as brown as your RV but the cushions and curtains at a minimum need new life breathed into them. I’m very interested in how your “home” turns out. Great call with the stikwood stuff! Perfect application idea.

  7. Very good blog, really like you’re ideas and details. Just a thought, what about dying the dropcloths. Just a suggestion.

  8. We used those paint kits on our counter topside the kitchen. I enjoyed the process and love the color I did (a grey/white box) and for the most part it has held up great. There is one corner of the counter that we use the most and after 3 years it has started chipping off in spots but overall it looks great. I would bet in an RV that’s not used daily it will hold up great!

  9. Super excited to see how it all turns out. Also, it would be nice to know how the drop cloth seat covers work. We currently live in a 5th wheel and may need some ideas down the road (pun intended)

  10. I’ve watched a few YouTube videos on a resin countertops. Looks interesting and beautiful. Leggari Products. It would look great in your RV.

  11. A very inexpensive way to do your countertops is stone look spray paint. I did this in the masterbath at my last house and it looked great. It had black formica countertop so I sanded, primed, and sprayed a coat of white stone spray paint. Then I sprayed some brown stone spraypaint randomly just for highlights. Let it dry and spray again until you get the effect you want. Then a several coats of sealer. Looked great and under 20 bucks.

  12. So have you painted your walls yet? We have some kind of vinyl type wallpaper on all our RV walls? Thinking if I put an oil based primer first & then paint walls shouldn’t buckle/peel?

  13. We have had water damage in our RV, would love to remodel but seems like a huge undertaking. Hubby and I aren’t the best at DIY so any ideas would be of great help! I love what your doing here could you include the steps you took in each project? Thanks and great work!

  14. Already it looks so much brighter with the white cupboards! How fun to redo such a little space – the jobs will hopefully seem really quick compared to in your home.

  15. I absolutely love your taste. And guts! We just bought a 2013 Rockwood Mini-Lite 2109S in hideous brown. I am holding myself back from painting just yet…..I don’t even have the title yet. I want to see how we actually function in it a little bit before I tackle the major stuff. But I do need to have bedding. Did you stick with the short queen? What do you recommend for a bedspread/pillows? Ours is on full display. ….And I love the white wall/cabinet look, but am afraid in such tight corners and camping conditions, it will get too dirty. Thoughts? Thank you so much for blogging. I am fully addicted already.

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