Everywhere you look, it seems like everyone is renovating an RV. From tiny little travel trailers to 50ft fifth wheels, RVs all over the country are getting a makeover. The budget range can vary dramatically. If you’re wanting to remove a bunch of cabinets, walls, and furniture to replace them with custom-made pieces, you can expect your budget to sky rocket quickly.
But that’s not always a realistic game plan. Maybe your skillset is limited. Maybe you just don’t have the time. But more often than not, the budget just isn’t there for a completely custom look. That’s why I’m excited to share our top 3 tips for renovating an RV on a budget. Create a completely different space without breaking the bank.
In our case, we had the budget. We just didn’t think it was necessary to create a completely custom RV. Here are our reasons why:
- We’ve been intentionally pursuing a more minimalistic lifestyle. And by doing a completely custom RV renovation, we felt that it was taking away from the lifestyle we were trying to achieve.
- RVs are honestly not a great investment. Regardless of how beautiful you make an RV, it will depreciate quicker than a car will. We didn’t feel like it was smart to dump a bunch of money into something that wasn’t going to give us a good return on our investment.
- We didn’t have the time. Even if we did want to create a completely custom look to our home on wheels, we simply just didn’t have the time. We were in the process of selling our house, and we wanted to get the RV done quickly in case we had to move out sooner than anticipated.
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Renovating an RV on a Budget
What was our budget? After estimating the cost of flooring and paint, we factored in a bit extra for personal touches, new bed linens, and decor, and we came up with a budget of $3,000.
To give you some perspective, we have a 35ft 2016 Heartland Bighorn 3270RS fifth wheel. That’s a little over 300sqft of living space. And even though I thought $3,000 was a generous budget, it was still tough to keep my spending to a minimum. I spent hours (like many many hours) scouring the internet for the best prices for what I was looking for.
As I was designing this renovation, I always kept three main ideas in the back of my mind for maximizing our budget. So if you’re thinking about renovating and RV, here are our 3 biggest tips for getting the most out your hard-earned money.
Do a Thorough Inspection Before Buying
I know, I know. Probably not the tip you were expecting, right? However, it is, by far, the most important part. Budgets get busted quickly when the excitement of starting a project overrides doing your research on what you’re getting into.
RVs are notorious for their less than impressive construction. Lightweight materials and mass production are a recipe for disaster when it comes to poor construction, water leaks, and so much more. Let’s just say, we have never owned a brand new RV that didn’t have any issues within the first couple months. It’s just the nature of the beast.
The good news? There are definitely brands that produce consistently good products. Our favorites are Keystone and Heartland. Keystone is very well-known for their amazing Montana fifth wheels. We’ve owned one before, and we absolutely loved it. However, our Heartland Bighorn has been our absolute favorite RV we’ve owned so far. We’ve been through 6 different RVs ranging from a Class B van to 19ft travel trailer to a 42ft fifth wheel. So the fact that we are calling our Bighorn our favorite, really says a lot.
If you’re renovating an RV, we highly recommend not buying new. On the flip side, we also recommend no buying any RV that’s older than 5 years. Why? Basically, the older the RV, the more likely you are to run into serious problems like water leaks and mold. That’s not really a good recipe for renovating an RV on a budget.
We highly suggest doing extensive research on brands, and search their reviews for complaints about leaks and other serious issues. There’s no bigger budget buster than having to replace every square inch of sub-flooring in your RV when you pull up vinyl and realize it’s all rotted and creating mold. We’re happy to report that we ran into zero issues when pulling up the flooring of our 2016 Heartland Bighorn.
If you’re not savvy when it comes to remodeling and construction, bring a friend with you who is. They’ll be able to notice warning signs (such as soft, spongy floors) that will help you steer clear of a lemon in disguise.
Less is More
We’ve all heard it before. “Less is more.” But if you’re anything like me, it’s so hard to ignore all the incredible Instagram accounts displaying these gorgeous renovations. Rest assured! It more than possible to design a beautiful space without having to put in all that extra time, effort, and money! The two changes that we would suggest investing in to maximize your dollar are flooring and paint.
Flooring
When shopping for flooring, don’t assume that high quality means high price tag. You have three main options for flooring:
- Laminate – This type of flooring will require tools like a circular or table saw. And if you’re not already handy, they may not be tools you already have in your possession. You can always try to find a friend who has those tools and is wiling to help you. If the laminate flooring you choose has a good, solid locking system, you’re good to go. But a lot of times, budget-friendly laminate may require gluing it down to keep it from separating due to the amount of movement and flexing an RV experiences while in transit.
- Sheet Vinyl – Probably the least expensive way to make a big impact on your space. It requires little to no specialized tools. As long as you have a utility knife, you’ll be set. Don’t shy away from sheet vinyl. It’s come a long way since your typical tile-look floor at your grandma’s house. There are some gorgeous wood-look designs these days. And the best part of sheet vinyl is that it’s super easy to clean!
- Vinyl Plank – Again, tools are simple, but there is a skillset required. We suggest getting glue down vinyl plank. Working with glue has a learning curve, but is totally achievable by anyone willing to learn.
We chose to go with this glue-down vinyl plank flooring from Home Depot. It wasn’t the cheapest, but it also wasn’t the most top-of-the-line option out there. It turned out beautifully, and I couldn’t be happier with it. In total, we spent just under $500 on flooring and supplies.
Paint
Now, let’s talk about paint. There are ways to save, even when it comes to painting. It takes a little bit of planning on the frontend. Here are my biggest tips for saving on the cost of paint:
- Find an RV that already has beautiful cabinets or wood accents. When we were RV shopping last fall, I already knew I wanted to find one that had beautiful wooden cabinets that weren’t finished with that ugly orangey-yellow stain. I was looking for beautiful, warm-toned brown wooden accents and cabinets. I knew that by finding an RV with wood accents I loved would end up saving us 100’s of dollars in paint by not needing to cover up ugly cabinets.
- Pay attention to ceiling color. Much like the cabinets, I was also paying attention to the color of the ceiling when shopping for our RV. I knew that if I could find a light-color ceiling, I wouldn’t feel the need to paint it.
- Keep it simple and plain. We always choose white. Or in our case, I chose more of an off white that would pair nicely with our creamy ceiling color. The problem that you could run into if you’re painting with a color is not liking how it looks when you bring it home and see it in your space. This can lead to unnecessary spending on extra paint because you didn’t like the first color you chose. Instead, bring color in with decor and textiles.
We used Sherwin Williams Westhighland White for the majority of the things we painted (walls, and some cabinetry). Our black accent was SW Tricorn Black in a matte finish for some of the black accents that we did throughout the RV. We ended up spending around $350 on paint and supplies.
Wait for Sales
Our third tip for renovating and RV on a budget is waiting for sales. It’s a simple rule to follow, but it’s not always the easiest rule to follow. We so often get swept up in the excitement of a project. We want to see it finished, fully styled, and Instagram ready, right?
You have to practice patience if you really want to stick to your budget. Some companies hold regular sales, and most have sales around all the major holidays. You usually don’t have to wait long to save on the item you’re wanting.
Waiting for sales will also give you time to live in your new space for a while. A lot of times, after I live in a space for a while, I start to realize how many of the items on my “Want List” aren’t really needed.
We ended up spending about $200 on all new bedding (sheets, duvet cover, pillows, and blankets). It should have cost at least double that.
You can shop our bedroom here!
So there you have it! We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about our 3 tips for renovating an RV on a budget. Hopefully this was helpful and gives you the confidence for sticking to your budget.
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