I've Finished Decorating Our RV . . . Finally!
It's been too long since I've been able to decorate a room, let alone several rooms! Last late-Summer after DD retired, we bought a 34' fifth wheel RV so that we could travel more and take the furkids with us. It's taken me awhile, but I've pretty much finished decorating it, and I had a great time doing it! So, may I share some of what I did here with you?
Here's what it looks like outside. It has 3 slide-outs: living room, kitchen and bedroom.
Here's the living room area, with the slides open. The fireplace is, of course, electric, but it has controls for specific temps or no temps but just the fire ambiance, We love it and use it pretty much every evening that we're in there. To the right in the below pic is a fold-out sofa bed for guests. The cabinets above it hold the linens for it. To the left are two easy chairs. If there is a decorating theme, it's our New Mexico Mountains. I've drawn the accent colors from the decorative curtains I remade (purchased and then recut and sewed them for what I needed) for the living and dining areas: turquoise, rust with some gold. I found the curtains, the four throw pillow covers, the rust lap throw for the sofa, the two "coffee tables", and the floor lamp (not in this pic) all on Amazon. Thank goodness for Amazon during Covid times!!! The tv and sound system came with the RV.
Next pic (below) is the other side of the living room and the dining area. The tabletop folds in half and then we lay it down on it's side when on the road. Dining chairs lay down, too. The living room's easy chairs are very comfortable with foot rests that pop up when needed. This is where we sit most of the time in the evenings. I plan on making matching short valances for the side windows sometime soon. All windows in our RV have privacy screens, and then over them, full window shades. So, the curtains are just for color and to set the New Mexican mood a bit more.
I'm not sure how many pics Houzz is going to let me add here, so I'll try one more and then add kitchen and bedroom pics later. As you probably already know, we love to collect and display NM art. Here in an RV, though, weight and breakability are major factors to consider. So, I had to order (again, via Amazon) lightweight picture frames with unbreakable plastic instead of glass. I also had some of my photographs enlarged onto canvas on lightweight wood frames. Every hanging piece of art you see here is secured with both Command hooks and museum putty. Here's one piece I just had to have, as it really says how I feel about camping in our RV, a favorite quote by John Muir. I've hung it above the fireplace with a similar print balancing it on the other side. And, yes, that's the museum putty I need to tuck under it better (LOL).
Well. I hope this thread actually shows up here on Houzz. It's been fun sharing a decorating project with you all. I'll be back to post kitchen and bedroom pics later.
Comments (36)
Related Discussions
I've been 'decatur buffed'....our living room photos....
Comments (20)Begoniagirl, I love it. The color, your furniture, your style. Your house is amazing. I agree with anele, you have managed to make the open floor plan look very traditional and cozy. I'm glad you hung so many pictures. Our house is like that (but not as pretty as yours) and I was starting to wonder about all the homes that have nothing on the walls. I am drooling over the furniture, too. Are the wooden pieces antiques? Thank you for posting. You should be a professional decorator; you have great taste....See MoreOur DIY kitchen is finally finished!
Comments (37)go figure- we actually had big probelms with the grout. We used a TEC grout recommended by the tile store, color was supposed to be charcoal gray. But it turned out very blotchy and really light gray in some areas. After some reseach I ordered "This Old Grout" online and re-colored all the grout. It worked great!...See MoreI think I've finally climbed out of the bottom
Comments (5)Thank you ljcrochet and a2gemini! I'm curious what everyone's low point was in their remodeling process. Before the remodel, we only had the main faucet.We have a whole house filtration system, but still, it's long ways for the water to reach the sink, not to mention there is a water softener in between. I always wondered how clean the tap water was for drinking. The old fridge did not have a water hookup. Well, last night, everything water related has been hooked up -- the new fridge that has filtered water and an ice maker, as well as an under sink filter and an instant hot that go to a hot/cold drinking water faucet (separate from the main faucet). DH took a glass, got some chilled water from the fridge door, dispensed an ice cube or two, then went to the drinking water faucet. Some room temp filtered water, and some near boiling instant hot water later, he took a couple sips of the mixture and uttered, "just perfect!" This post was edited by mudworm on Tue, Dec 18, 12 at 14:56...See Moresome antique quilts I've finished
Comments (22)There was no proscribed # of quilts for a girl to have.....this, as with so many other aspects of life would depend on her socio-economic situation and even geographic location. A family with little means would require all the children to work...to do their part for the family welfare, so those girls would simply not have the means or the time to prepare an elaborate dowry of linens. A girl from a comfortable family would be much more likely to have the means and the time to work on hers, and would 'add' fancier things like samplers (to use to help her when she marked all her linens), while a wealthy girl would spend her time, not on mundane household linens, but fancywork, to show her 'abilities'. As late as the late 1800s, this sort of thing was the case. My own grandmother, born in 1880, attended 'finishing school' where she learned to do fancy needlework, play the piano, paint china,etc - all considered 'ladylike' things to do. Her sister, my great aunt, wanted to go to teachers college and their father said absolutely 'NO"! So, she 'finished', and was given a wonderful string of pearls as her graduation gift, as all the sisters received from their father. My grandmother was married by this time, so her sister moved in with my grandparents, sold her pearls and used the money to go to college! What a woman! The 'moral' of the story is, I guess, each family was different, in what they could or would provide....See MoreLynnNM
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoDining Area across from the kitchen next. More curtains to add a little New Mexico color. I need to add cushions for the chairs. More for comfort. BTW, any decor on the table or shelves need to travel on our bed, surrounded by pillows, while driving. The floor lamp you see between the two easy chairs needs to be unplugged, laid across the chairs, and strapped down for the drive. it takes a good memory and at least 30 minutes to strap down and secure everything inside before driving away. You forget, and you pay the price!
A very special box (to me) that I bought at an antique shop in Michigan for our dining table.
mtnrdredux_gw
2 years agoLynnNM
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoWell, thank you for all your kind thoughts. It's been fun ~and challenging~ to decorate our RV. Trying to furnish it while keeping in mind that besides wanting comfortable furnishings, (1) things need to be kept lightweight and washable; (2) A lot of the furniture needs to be strapped down before driving. Even those 2 big, heavy easy chairs in our living room will wiggle their way into the middle of the room unless secured down together!; (3) All doors need to be secured! (4) Any decorative item needs to be packed away safely or secured down with museum putty before driving; and (5) You need to really plan ahead for meals . . . and keep all of the fridge and freezer foods secured as well. Paper plates, paper napkins, paper towels, unbreakable glasses and cups, ziploc bags, etc. make life on the road so much easier! Although I hate the waste, it does make life a whole lot saner.
Anyhoo, our bathroom is small and I don't have any decent pics of it. A sink, the narrowest linen cabinet imaginable, toilet and a walk in shower with a skylight overhead. The skylight is definitely a plus! The towels and rug are light turquoise. There are no walls to add art to in there (LOL)!
The bedroom has a door that opens into the "hallway" by the stairs, and also a sliding door directly into the bathroom. The bedroom originally had a king size bed, but the previous owners had it pulled out and a queen put in. Wood shelves were added on each side, which really come in handy. They never did get around to staining the wood, though. We did stain everything once we got to my family's compound in Michigan, but these pics I took of the room were before we stained. Bear in mind that now all the wood is the same brown color. This is what we started with (new mattress, of course):
I fell in love with these throw pillows, and so everything else had to work around them.
A cozy and washable comforter and shams in a light turquoise came next, along with a darker throw for the foot of the bed. Again, all via Amazon. BTW, the bottom half of the bed lifts up to store things under. It's a big wooden box down there.
Next I found semi-sheer scarves, also on Amazon, to use not as actual curtains, but to just add some color and visual interest to the windows. And, yes, I did fix that ribbon hanging down in the middle there.
LynnNM
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoAnd , here are are few more pics. When we first bought it. Large but shallow closet with sliding, mirrored doors. Down at the end there on the left is our washer & dryer. This is really the only wall space to hang anything. The small white hook half way down the wall there is to secure the "laundry room" door to with a bungee cord before driving. The closet doors have built-in locks at each end to secure them, as well. Like I mentioned, ALL doors must be secured. TV above the small 4 drawer dresser. I have a small lamp that sits on the dresser. It lays on the bed while driving.
I bought one of those clear plastic pocket shoe bags that hang on the back of a door, and used it to store all of DH's socks, undershirts, gloves, etc. in, as his two dresser drawers didn't hold enough. I could have used one, too, but this was the only door available. As you can see, the tie-down strap was still across the tv when I took this. Both tvs came with them already mounted.
Our washer & dryer. I used them for the first time on this long trip we took. As you can see, I ended up just adding large Command Hooks to the wall there to hang our hats on.
LynnNM
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoA few of you asked where we had gone for those 6+ weeks. Well, we drove up I-25 through the rest of Northern New Mexico, into Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and into the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan. We stayed in Menominee on Lake Michigan and then right on Lake Superior for a few days. And I introduced my DH to Michigan's Upper Peninsula’s famous Pasties (handheld meat pies). and Walleye (a fish).
Then down across the huge, long, magnificent Mackinac Bridge. . . in the fog and rain, to the Lower Peninsula!
Then two weeks at our family compound near Romeo, Michigan, where we had bonfires on the beach, walks and hayrides through our 27 acres there. And, lots of time with my huge family there, as well. It was wonderful!
Then, down through Indiana, Illinois, and to Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri for 5 days. That was incredibly beautiful! And then, through Kansas and over to Clayton, NM, for a couple of days to visit our longtime dear friends who own the beautiful, historic Hotel Eklund there.By the time we got back here, we were tired, but very happy! It was a great trip!
LynnNM
2 years agoThank you, NAP! I do love the throw pillows, both in the living room and in our bedroom. They really were the inspiration for everything else in both rooms. All, BTW, via Amazon.
lizzie_grow
2 years ago
robo (z6a)
2 years ago
jill302
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agolizbeth-gardener
2 years ago
amykath
2 years ago
LynnNMOriginal Author