Renovating a Brand New RV

How Patience and Compromise Made This Reno Work

By Marissa Moss

“Let’s sell our house and live in an RV!”

When my husband, Nathan, approached me with the idea of RV living, I was totally on board and excited for the journey. We sold almost everything, bought an RV, and have been traveling full time around North America with our two kids since May 2015. We’ve also renovated a few older RVs for our family travels along the way.

Our current home on wheels is a 2021 Grand Design 378MBS, and it’s perfect for our family. The mid-bunk layout provides separate sleeping spaces for our growing kids, and the amazing large windows are our favorite part! RV manufacturers have come a long way in terms of decor in recent years, and even though this particular RV was modern and sleek, it was not the personalized space we always strive to create for our full-time RV-living experience. I totally get that it feels wrong to make changes to a new and already beautiful RV, but I explain it like this: Would you want to walk into someone’s house and have it look exactly like your house? I loved our RV, but it was mass produced on an assembly line, and I wanted it to reflect our personal style and be individualized to our family’s needs.

Because the RV was brand new, we decided to wait a year to make any changes. Once our one-year commitment was complete, we were nervous and excited. Yes, we had experience renovating RVs in the past, but renovating a brand new RV was intimidating! We are somewhat handy, but for this project we enlisted help from our friends @livingsmalldreamingbig. They had lots of reno experience and had recently renovated their own brand new RV, so bringing in expert help gave us the confidence to take on this project.

We worked together, creating a vision board of design styles and color pallets, and started the process of bringing it to life. My husband and I have very different styles, so merging them is always a challenge. He is a hardcore minimalist and even brought up the idea of using bean bags as chairs. I’m not actually sure if he was serious, because I honestly shut it down very quickly. We found solutions, such as our leather couches from Article that we love. These couches were the perfect combination of cozy and comfy, and the leather became the focal point of the room, keeping it minimal and industrial at the same time. We searched far and wide for a couch that not only fit our style and comfort desires, but was also a comfortable place for guests to sleep, because it replaced our pull-out bed. We enjoy having family and friends join us on our travels, so the extra sleeping space is very important. One aspect that makes these couches super comfortable is the extra width! This allows for a great family lounging area to read books or have a perfect movie night, as well as provides extra space for guests to have a comfortable sleeping arrangement. The back cushions are also removable for even more usable sleeping space.

Let me share a little piece of advice we learned along the way on this remodel. We of course measured to ensure our couches would fit our living room space perfectly, but we missed the second measurement we needed, which was—you guessed it—the front door. We tried everything possible, but because of the mid-bunk layout, we didn't have the space to make the turn. We went back and forth on what to do and finally decided to go through the window, which meant unsealing and removing it. Thankfully, our friend has a background as an RV tech as well! In the end, we were so happy with our decision to unseal the window, put our dream couch through it, and reseal it back as we found it. If you learn anything from our experience—first of all, measure the front door, but second, don't be afraid to get help moving residential furniture through the window if it’s the only way to get your dream furniture in!

Although we had some challenges to overcome, which happens in almost every reno, we couldn't be more happy with how it turned out. We broke this renovation down into three phases, starting with spraying the walls with a fresh white, adding a custom wood accent island and dining space, and replacing the bulky RV lights with residential lighting. We did add some weight with the wood, but we removed more weight than we added to keep it safe. In phase two, we sprayed the kitchen cabinets with a fun pop of color and created some open shelving. We removed the wine rack and replaced it with more functional wire baskets to display and store fruits and vegetables. Phase three will complete the renovation in the coming months.

I wanted an RV space that brought us joy and housed our memories

Just like our sticks-andbricks home we sold to hit the road, I wanted an RV space that brought us joy and housed our memories. RVs don’t necessarily have to be renovated to do that, but we have found that creating a personalized space allows us to feel at home anywhere. Even though the scenery and ZIP code may change, our family space and the comfort of home remains. Our RV is the vessel that allows our family to create these amazing memories together across the country.

Follow Nathan & Marissa on Instagram and YouTube @lessjunkmorejourney