Easy And Creative Tips That Will Make Your Little RV Feel More Like A Home

RV ownership is a big deal in America. More than 40 million Americans are among a group that regularly engage in adventurous RV living, with over 1 million people residing in RV units full-time. As the warmer weather returns, millions of people will be shaking off the cold by preparing for a summer of exploration in their mobile living space. 

If you're a current RV owner — or someone hoping to get into the lifestyle (brush up on crucial facts an RV dealer would never tell you) — some personalization and upgrades can give your RV a facelift. The typical recreational vehicle is spartan when you first step into it. Without a few finishing touches to make the space your own, finding comfort in this mobile living space is sometimes difficult.

Fortunately for RV owners, you can make creative, small changes to improve drastically your quality of life on the road. Little modifications can go a long way when making a mobile living space feel like home. The introduction of better equipment in the kitchen or bathroom might be a priority, or you might want to add simple and tasteful pieces of artwork or personal pictures. Across the board, plenty of great tools exist to help you get the most out of your RV.

Although it may not bring an immediate improvement to your RV experience, the best way to begin making impactful alterations is to start by doing nothing at all. Instead of seeking immediate changes in a new RV (or one you've owned for some time), sit with things in their existing state to better understand the space you're working with. This is particularly true for RV owners who have a new vehicle out on the road. 

You won't necessarily have to live with problematic features for long, but giving yourself a few days or weeks to explore things in their current state can make a world of difference as you look for impactful additions or alterations. This is great from a financial standpoint, too. Buying a new RV of any size is a costly undertaking. If you start making changes to the vehicle right away, you can easily balloon that cost in short order. Spending just a bit of time to live with things as they stand may illuminate specific options that will work well for your needs. 

Another option in this same vein is to rent an RV before purchasing one. Here's how to decide between renting a camper and a motorhome. This limits your ability to make significant alterations and makes you focus on the features you like and those that would need to go if you owned the vehicle. Trying this option helps you to modify your RV strategically — and within budget — when you finally purchase one. 

That being said, some elements shouldn't be put off for too long. Organizing is one of them. Tackling organizational tasks right away or shortly after you've given the camper some breathing room allows you to start your adventures on the right foot. Organization is important in any place you'll spend a lot of time, but it's essential in a smaller living area. As your space condenses, you'll need to think about keeping your belongings in a coherent organizational framework. Living in a messy environment can quickly become stressful, and the troubles only compound when you have to navigate around personal belongings. 

Early on in your RVing adventures, it's crucial that you take some time to consider where things should go. Some tasks are simple: Your clothes should be in your bedroom area, while kitchen equipment belongs in the cooking space. Other staples of road-based adventures, like your Bluetooth speaker, deck of cards and board games, or DVD library, may be harder to pin down. Everyone will have their way of doing things, but putting off the task of finding your groove in this arena is a surefire way to exist in a sea of clutter that will only take away from your RV experience.

A new RV will come with a variety of fixtures and amenities included in the sale. Many of these features, however, are generally less than desirable. Flimsy cheap curtain rods, thin curtains, small chairs, and other basic features may be standard in the model you have your eye on. But this doesn't mean you should change your approach and seek an upgraded RV instead. Rather than spending more money upfront to integrate better features, it's far easier and more cost-effective to target those amenities separately and specifically.

Opting to change specific features rather than ruling out certain RV models in your search is a great way to expand your horizons and get exactly what you want. Pulling off curtain rods and altering other amenities like cabinet handles can go a long way in making your space feel more comfortable. These small details mean a lot when setting the mood in your living space. At home, these kinds of features are often focused on during furniture upgrades and renovation projects. However, in many cases, they are underappreciated when sprucing up an RV. Keeping these small details in mind will make a big difference when it comes to the comfort you experience while on the road.

Another feature that is often overlooked when making alterations to an RV can be found in the bathroom. You might be tempted to leave this room as it is and deal with whatever limitations may already be baked into the experience. But there's really no reason to settle for certain minimizations of comfort. While your RV bathroom is likely smaller than its equivalent space in your home, it doesn't have to be scaled back just because you aren't stationary.

The shower, in particular, is a space that can be upgraded easily. Your RV may feature a showerhead that doesn't feel all that comforting or premium. Fortunately, changing your showerhead is a genuinely simple job. Just unscrew it from the piping and install a new head with a greater range of settings or a better coverage area. While on the road, you may have to settle for a rougher and somewhat hurried experience in some regards, but this doesn't mean you can't enjoy a relaxing shower.

Throw pillows, blankets that provide ample warmth and coziness, and other comforts you typically use at home have a natural place in your RV packing routine. Adding these commonplace features on the couch, which may be less obvious while on the move, can immediately change the dynamic of your relaxation. These kinds of comfort staples serve two purposes. On the one hand, pillows and blankets are soft features that give you comfortable places to lay your head or keep yourself warm while sitting down to watch TV or play cards with your travel companions. This is, of course, a major factor in replicating the comfort level you experience at home.

But tactile feedback is only one aspect here, and the visual impact that these stylings bring to bear can be just as important. Placing throw pillows on your RV couch and adding blankets and other soft furnishings impart an important mirror image of the couch likely sitting in your home. The result is a mobile atmosphere that looks and feels no different from the living space that supports most of your relaxation time.

The importance of your sleeping arrangements can't be overstated. Many RV builds focus on communal areas and other critical functional elements of the traveling experience. The result can sometimes be a bedroom that lacks important creature comforts. Indeed, a camper van with solid gas mileage figures and space to move around in the community cabin provides the basic framework of a great vacation. But if you don't get a good night's sleep while traveling the country in this RV, you may be less inclined to hit the road as frequently as you might like. There's also a significant mental health toll that poor sleep can bring into the conversation. 

A simple solution to this problem is available. All you have to do is upgrade the mattresses found in the mobile home. Thin or non-breathable mattress material can wreak havoc on an otherwise excellent adventure. You may be exploring some of the most beautiful landscapes in your state or region, but much of the magic can easily be lost if you're doing it with a sore back or neck. Investing in upgraded mattresses for your bedroom and any other cabins that may be included in the RV's floor plan can make a tremendous and immediate impact on your experience. There's just no substitute for a good night's sleep. Most people invest in quality mattresses for their homes but forget to do the same for their RV.

Beyond the mattress, blackout curtains are another upgrade that should be quickly integrated into your RV's bedroom areas. Updating your curtains to feature a blackout function will significantly improve your sleep quality. Blackout curtains are an easy change to make in your RV. But they're often forgotten about by first-timers. This addition makes a huge difference in keeping you comfortable.

Shading sunlight is a big deal when you're sleeping in less-than-ideal conditions. This makes blackout curtains important for all RVs but is particularly useful in smaller spaces that may sometimes feel a bit cramped. These amenities aren't just for helping you keep the environment dark, though. They are also a solid insulation solution that helps keep your bedroom warm at night, and thick options even feature decent soundproofing qualities. This one installation can, therefore, improve your sleep and relaxation time in a variety of ways.

The decorating elements homeowners and RV enthusiasts can't get enough of are plants. Adding plants to your living space is an essential task. Plants introduce a feeling of liveliness to your home. They can also improve your mood and purify indoor air. The same features are true for a mobile home setting like an RV. This means that adding a few houseplants can make a huge difference in comfort level.

There's something tremendously invigorating about the color that plants add to any kind of home, whether it's a brick-and-mortar structure or something more agile. The calming effect that plants bring into the fold delivers enormous value to your mental and physical health. This is particularly important when traveling in a confined living space because plenty of additional stressors that don't exist in your regular home can be felt as you go exploring (one of many sneaky dangers of RV living). 

Perhaps ironically, the very freedom that an RV delivers can become suffocating in the wrong circumstances. Adding a few plants to your RV might be just what the doctor ordered. This is particularly true when it comes to reducing stress and allowing the natural environment RVers frequently seek in their travels to shine in all their glory.

As is the case in any place you'll spend time in, there will frequently be value found in bright illumination and tremendous comfort extracted from tamping down that brightness in other circumstances. You may not have the ability to install dimmable lighting in your RV, but that doesn't mean you can't take advantage of low-brightness solutions that allow you to better set the mood. Small bundles of string lighting are often extremely cheap and get the job done better than many pricier alternatives. 

Another option is to use color-changing LED lights that can be stuck magnetically or have removable fasteners to deliver a range of brightness levels. Many of these solutions also feature motion activation. You can set them wherever you want and let them do all the work.

Bringing additional lighting tools is a great way to revitalize your camping setup to closely resemble a glamping experience, and it can go a long way when sprucing up your RV, too. Warm light additions like simple string lighting allow you to turn off the main overhead lights and settle in for a cozier time. The result is a living space that delivers far more comfort and closely mimics the more nuanced experience of home furnishings.

Personalization is always important in any living space. Making your mark on a dwelling, whether affixed to a foundation or not, is what transforms a house into a home. As a result, there can be no denying the impact personal touches make when creating a comfortable living space on wheels. Pictures, trinkets from past adventures, and artwork reflecting your personal style can all transform an RV into your RV.

However, it's worth noting that additional steps should be taken when personalizing a mobile living space rather than a stable, immovable property. Small figurines and other souvenirs you may have brought home from your explorations can easily move around as your RV takes to the highway. The last thing you want is to have a delicate memory from your time elsewhere, fall and break. 

Placing these objects in a secured cabinet and potentially even using gripping solutions like command hooks to stick your trinkets in place can be enough to defeat the perils of movement. When it comes to pictures, there's no reason to avoid hanging frames like you would at home. The only difference is that you'll want to opt for plexiglass faces rather than traditional glass. This will introduce a shatter-proof element that reduces the hazards and potential cleanup requirements if a frame falls.

The reality is that RVs often roll off the lot in a basic and bland getup. The color and texture inclusions in the living space leave much to be desired. Moreover, the patterns featured in typical RV designs often feel outdated soon after they are implemented. Splashes of color that correspond to your design aesthetics are, therefore, a welcome and often significantly mood-boosting change. You might consider applying wallpaper with a textured design, for instance, to add new color and a stylistic change with multifaceted properties brought into the fold.

For those with a little less confidence in applying major changes, like wallpapering the whole interior, adding color in other ways can be equally valuable. Changing the curtains and pillowcases to add these colorful splashes and perhaps even finding adventurous dishes and other tableware can deliver a similar visual upgrade without forcing you to engage in significant DIY improvements. Tackling these kinds of alterations allows you to place your stamp on the RV and its living space in a meaningful way. The results can be dynamic and deliver an important quality-of-life upgrade without a whole lot of effort.