Decor
You buy an RV because you want to be comfortable when you camp, or as we like to call it, fake-camp. You’ve probably spent your fair share of time in a tent sleeping in a sleeping bag. That’s all fun, but you’re ready to be comfortable! You’re also on vacation. You don’t want to spend a bunch of time after you arrived setting up and straightening up.
We recently purchased a new fifth wheel. I have been having a lot of fun getting to make it ours and organizing cupboards and drawers. This is now the third rig I’ve set up and personalized. I have gotten way too many ideas of what to put into this blog post. So, I’ve decided to break it down into 4 posts: Décor, Kitchen, Bedroom and Bath, and Favorite Things for Storage.
Let’s start with décor since many of you may already have everything set up efficiently enough for you. We purchased our first trailer in 2004. RVing was nowhere near as popular as it is now, and décor was stuck in the early ‘90s. Trailers came in dusty blue or mauve. Bleh! Our sofa had mauve and burgundy flowers with green leaves. I hated it, but there was no good reason to pay big bucks to re-cover it. So, I had to work with it. I did everything I could to pull out the burgundy parts of the flowers and the green on the leaves. I used green and burgundy throw pillows and then, tried really hard not to look at the pink flowers for the 10 years we traveled in that trailer. Thankfully, the RV industry has gone more neutral in their design and it’s much easier to add décor touches that are actually yours – not the mauve version of you!
I’ve recently joined the Facebook group for our trailer manufacturer and have seen some over the top re-decorating including re-wallpapering, re-upholstery, painting, etc. I like to save that effort for my house and work with what I’ve been given in the trailer (since I had so much practice with the mauve and number). Keeping it simple will also save you money so you have more to spend on actually going places.
There are a few things to keep in mind when you’re decorating:
- You’re preparing for an earthquake – OK so not a real earthquake, but when you hit the road, whatever you’re towing has an earthquake every time you hit the road. Don’t put anything in your RV that you are worried about getting broken.
- Décor can add a chore to your set up if you let it – I try to avoid too much nick-knack type items that have to be taken out to set up when we arrive and put away when we get ready to go. I’m on vacation already! I don’t want extra chores! I save this chore for very special items, like a favorite photo of my kids.
- You should love it – This is your vacation home! Only decorate with things you love. I love being in my trailer! It’s been a thing for all three of them! I love looking around at my “vacation home” and enjoying my surroundings. Of course, it helped to be sitting on the ugly mauve sofa so I couldn’t see it when we were in our first rig. If you can’t sit with your morning coffee and enjoy your surroundings, fix it! Find something you love and put it in your RV! For the record, in the featured photo of our sofa. My husband loves the “dead animal” pillow and I love the Pottery Barn pillow. I love the “dead animal pillow’s” colors and how it represents so much of our travels around the Western US. They’re sort of pulled together by the red leather pillows. We decided we didn’t care if it wouldn’t be approved by Martha Stewart. We love it – even if it might be breaking some interior design rules!
The biggest bang for your buck in décor are things like throw pillows, rugs, towels in a color you like, or a throw blanket on your bed or over the back of your couch. All of these things can be easily changed out if you get tired of them too. My mom was a super decorator. She would put new curtains in everything she touched, including my first trailer! It was a good thing! The first set of curtains faded quickly. She made some really nice ones with linings. Now, I’m seeing less curtains and more shades in trailers. There are often curtain type valances that are easily replaced with a little sewing know how. Don’t let curtains or fabric valances be deal-breakers when choosing your trailer.
In our new rig, we used mostly things we loved from the décor we put in our old trailer such as throw pillows, the quilt on the bed, pictures from the walls, etc. We are National Parks geeks and we’ve been collecting greeting card versions of the posters. I frame them and we hang them on the walls. It’s a cheap way to decorate! It’s also fun to decorate with souvenirs from our travels.
Hanging things on the walls is a bit of a conundrum. Trailer walls aren’t like the walls at home. For wood frames, we drill all the way through the frame and screw it onto the wall with 4 attractive screws. We’ve never had a problem with a picture coming off the wall. The rub is, when you go to sell your rig, you either have to leave the pictures or holes in the wall. What we did was, took the frames down, pulled the pictures out, and screwed the frames back up. So, the new owners of our trailer will have frames to fill with their favorite pictures.
For our new trailer, I bought a metal sign that I absolutely love. It didn’t have a good way to hang it from a screw without compromising the design. I used command picture hanging tape and it’s working great. I’d be leery of using it with picture frames with glass. Trailers get exposed to such big temperature extremes. I just don’t trust the tape for something breakable. I’ve heard from others that they’ve had no problems.
Kids and general activity can cause a disturbance in the décor. There are wallets, cell phones, cell phone chargers, sunglasses, brochures for things to do, the pamphlet that the RV park gives you with all the rules, the paper with the code to the “big potty,” etc. All of that can clutter things up and drive you nuts (or not – I am a bit of an OCD neat-freak so these things drive me nuts). Here’s how we keep it under control.
- Baskets are a big help– Our first trailer had open shelving. I didn’t want to see everything on the shelves. So, we put things in baskets. It looked great and our stuff stayed put. We also have a little basket for the keys and wallet so we can always find them. In our new trailer, I found a spot for a flat-ish basket. Our plan is to keep all of our brochures and RV park papers in it.
- Magazine Rack – A magazine rack that can be attached to a wall is a great way to corral all of the miscellaneous paperwork, magazines, maps, and such that come with your travel. Just remember to clean it out every so often. When we were moving out of our trailer, I found things that were 5 years old. We probably didn’t need to save them.
- Cute recycle basket – We had an issue where we had empty water bottles floating all over the trailer. We would also pile recycling into the corner of the counter and it looked awful and was also in the way. So, I bought a cute, small, narrow basket that fits by the door of the trailer. It fills up at least once a day, and we empty it (or when we had a kid along, we’d send him to the recycling. We kind of miss his recycling services.) It really helps to keep the recycling clutter down.
- Trash can with a lid – One of the best splurge-ish things we ever bought for the trailer was a butterfly lid Simple Human trash can. We mostly bought it because at the time, we had a dog that liked to get into the trash and it was Daisy-proof! The beautiful thing about this trash can is, you can’t see the trash, it’s nice looking (as trash cans go), and it’s easily accessible for us to use. We also spend the extra money on the Simple Human trash bags because you also can’t see them! We really love our trash can! Weird, but true!
If you’re refurbishing a vintage trailer, or fixing up an older used trailer, you’ve got a much bigger project and might need to do things like sew new curtains, re-upholster, re-wallpaper, etc. That could be a fun project! I love this show called “Flipping RV’s.” Check it out! They refurbish old, sad trailers and do some great décor. You might find some inspiration. Even if you’re not into vintage trailers, it’s a fun show to watch.
If you’re still shopping for your trailer, when you step inside a rig you like, sit somewhere in it. Imagine yourself with your morning cup of coffee and decide it it’s worthy of becoming your vacation home. Think of what you might be putting into it that you love. Will it get along with the décor the rig comes with? Remember, it’s your vacation home! You don’t want to feel like you’re renting someone else’s vacation home.
Whatever you’re doing, I hope you love it and that it makes your trailer into your vacation home! Happy setting up!
Next Trailer Girl Blog Post: Setting up your RV Kitchen – Maximizing Space and Efficiency
Trailer Girl's Guide to Happy Camping 