A brand new RV!

Okay, so I am exaggerating a bit but we did almost buy a different RV.  We felt that after all this time we were ready to go and get a new (to us) RV.  We were also getting some soft spots in the floor that it seemed were become problematic. More on that later though.  We have looked forever but have never found one that we both liked and thought that we could make work for our family.  So, that was it.  We found it!  We drove the 1+ hours to see it a few times and had plans to remodel it and make it for our family.  We were going to redo the front bedroom and make it a bunkroom and a few other changes.  We put money down on it and told her that we were going to go home and sleep on the decision and do some praying...so we did.  Throughout the night, we felt that it was not the best decision for us and that it was best if we let it go.  We called her the next day and broke the news.  We then moved into a different mode.  Instead of spending all of that money on a different RV, why not just redo ours?  The reality set in though that this is not a house and not made with the best quality materials.  We had a list of items that we wanted on a new/different RV.  We now considered which of those we could incorporate into a remodel of ours, did some research, drew up some plans and went shopping.  We were going to only do the living room/dining area and that evolved into the whole RV.  We pulled out the "couch" (it's not a real couch but three different sections of wood and metal.  Then we pulled out the dinette and table.  This proved to be a chore and we had to call Jayco and ask for some documents on how the walls were structured and how the floors were supported.  The obliged and emailed us everything we needed.  We pulled carpet up and wondered what we would encounter once we got into the slide.  Things went very well though.  We put some paint on the wall and installed new pad and even had the chance to insulate a few spots that we found needed it.  The remodel then migrated into our bedroom and then into the kid's bedroom. 

This is what we started with.  We had covered the couch with some fabric and also covered the back of the dinette cushions.  You can see the plain ol' RV linoleum and cheap, nasty 8 year old carpet.  

Stained and flattened carpet leading to the kids upper bunks.  

Couch and dinette.  It's not even a real couch!  We did love the storage drawers in the dinette though.   

Looking back into the bedroom.  

The demolition begins!

These floors were nasty underneath!

Staples and padding removal.  

They had a great time taking it all out on the couch!

This is where it got fun.  We had to move an electrical box and get rid of one we added a while back.  

Everything out of the slide.

Starting to put the hard floor down.  

While we were inside and cramped, Zachary washed and waxed the entire RV!

Happy working kid...getting some alone time too.

Shopping for furniture.  

Doing a little bit of primer.  

New paint on the walls.  

Getting the new binded carpet and double pad into the slide.  This was much easier than we thought it would be.  

We couldn't find the "right" furniture so we spent a few days without.  We made sure to keep the cushions from the dinette and the table top.  Worked well!

Dinner time!

Putting the futon together with some great helpers.  

The new setup.  We did end up getting a different futon after this that was shorter and a bit lighter.  This has worked so well!

Caleb found the need to protect some wires near our new outlet and took it up himself to create a box.  

His completed, protective box.  

A little jousting with the carpet rolls.  

The kids's new floor.  They love it!f

Our new bathroom and bedroom floor.  So much nicer!

We love it!

We didn't have to pull the linoleum up and had to do some extra research on the "soft spots" in the floor.  Everything we read shoed that it was the foam backed floors that get smashed.  We actually didn't have that problem, after investigation, we found that the soft spots were only where the plywood came together on the floor.  The problem was that we couldn't reinforce it because so much of it is inaccessible from underneath due to holding tanks and such.  Anyway, we decided to put down an engineered floor that would add support from the top.  It is working great and looks marvelous!  The carpet we bought was also a great choice.  We love the color and texture and chose to replace the carpet in the slide unlike some others do.  We ended getting it binded and you can't even tell that it is not original.  It has also added insulation because of the better carpet and we doubled the padding.  It is much nicer to walk on than the other old, nasty stuff also. 


Where the couch was, we chose to buy a futon and put it on risers for added storage underneath.  We actually lost a lot of storage when we got rid of the dinette.  We ended up with a version two futon because the first one was just too big, this setup is working very well.  For the dinette, we found a $150 table and bought that for $37. I took it back, chopped a few inches off the legs and removed one of the leafs.  For seating, we have a storage bench on one side and two other seats on the other side (one is a storage seat) plus a folding chair.  It looks great and is already loved more than the old setup. 

Along with the remodel, we bought a few things that we had been missing.  We bought an electric oven finally.  I have wanted one for some time but we didn't have room to store it.  We now have a perfect spot under the futon.  It has already paid for itself and the kids are loving to bake!  There were a few other minor things that we did but all in all, we did quite well with a tight budget (we even bought the paint on clearance at Lowes!) and were blessed enough not to pay regular price for just about anything! 

We are so much happier and actually feel like we have more room.  It looks like a small studio apartment now instead of an RV.  The neighbors in Grand Forks, ND wondered what we had been doing and why we had so much trash but they loved the outcome.  The kids had a great time being involved also.  From demolition inside to demolishing the furniture outside, they had a great time and we all worked through it together.  I will say that we had a few days where we were cramped (please realize that when someone in an RV says that they are cramped, things and QUITE CRAMPED!) but we had fun with it and added to our story. 

I realize this post is a little out of the ordinary and less family focused but that one is next.  There are so many people online that are interested in RV remodels that we wanted to put this one up separately.  Please feel free to ask questions about any of it or send an email.  We learned so much about our RV, we were able to fix a few things we didn't know we needed to fix, and have a great story to tell. 

I will be following this post up with a family post.

Until next time...