How To Redecorate RV Design Tips

I love my RV and I love decorating, the two were made for each other. There are lots of great ideas on how to decorate and redecorate an RV all across the internet, from a 14 foot iCamp Elite to a 45 foot Grand Design 5th Wheel Toyhauler or even a Dream Marathon Coach, the options seem endless and overwhelming! So how do you even begin? What's your muse? What inspires you? How do you take a small space and make it your own without going overboard and creating chaos? Below are a few decorating tips and questions to get you started on your great RV Decorating Adventure!

Printable Worksheet: Tips & Questions Designed to Get Your Design Style Going! (no pun intended :)...

Pick your design style, how do you want to feel when you are in your RV?

1. Calming design in small spaces uses a limited palette of colors & textures that feel soothing to you, which may not be the same colors for everyone, but in general softer colors, more muted, lighter colors are calming: grays, browns, creams, white, black and a pop of one other color generally works well like Teal, Yellow, Green or Lilac. This is why many RV's today are decorated in those base colors leaving you to add that pop of one other color. For Textures, what do you like to look at? Wood, Raised textures, Modern lines, Metal sheens, etc.

2. Exciting design in small spaces use bright colors &/or luminescent against duller backgrounds ensuring an awakening of the senses occurs. The greater the contrast the bigger the sense of WOW. For example super bright Red against White or Black will surely wake you up!

3. Homey design captures components of the design you already use in your own home, only in smaller doses. Pick the room in your house you love the most and recreate that in your RV.

4. Inspired Design captures elements of your inspiration, whether it's your love of family, Camping, Travel; hobbies like Golf, Sports, Motorcycling, Hunting; career Arts, Racing, Music.. or even just one picture that so inspires you, you can design around your inspiration by taking elements of it and incorporating them into you design.

5. Party Design: if you love to host parties think about the kinds of parties you normally have or want to have, what elements are usually present, which of those can be permanent decor & serving pieces?

Write down what inspires you: ________________________________________________________________________

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Elements of your design: Are there colors &/or textures associated with your inspiration? If so list them here, if not list. your 3 favorite colors & 2 textures: ________________________________________________________________________

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Ratio of design to space.. to reduce the chaos that can easily happen when too many designs are competing with each other for your attention in a space try to keep your decor to 30% of the overall space. Lets say your have a couch in a slide out, a window, valance & a bit of wall space, and you like Lilac & Flowers & the Beach.. if you put a flower wall paper design on the wall in a Lilac & black design, then beach blue stripes on the valance, recover the couch in a multi flowers cloth that has some lilac, and hang a Photos of your family on the wall in a pretty ornate seashell frame it's likely to look really busy. The eye and brain won't know where to look first and focusing becomes difficult, it becomes work. Another way to do this could be a striped pillow with a nice shell design and some lilac in the blues, textured or painted lilac wall, a plain couch cover to rest the eyes, and still hang your beautiful seashell frame, match the valance to either the couch or the pillow.

But I like to collect knick knacks? What do I do? Have a special place or places to display them and frame them with quieter space around them, that way they are a focal point and get the attention they so greatly deserve!

Decorating Ideas:

Easy Decorating: Find objects that match your inspiration: pillows (invest in a couple of 18x18 pillows and buy pillow covers to swap out the decor for the seasons, the covers store in minimal space too), tablecloths, placemats, wall decor (posters, lightweight frames, knick knacks, wall decor that can be hung with 3M removable tape), greenery, flowers, etc.. buy your add on appliances, dishes, drink ware in the colors/textures you chose (coffee maker, toaster, coffee grinder, chopper, etc.), add a splash of color on the windows using a spring rod where you can. If you have stainless steel appliances you can use magnets to add color and hang posters, You can also have a favorite photo printed on removable vinyl to add to your refrigerator or any smooth surface. The great thing about this type of decorating is it is not permanent, so if you change your mind in the future you can swap out these items with less effort and money than if you did a full renovation and if you were to upgrade your RV you could remove many of these items quickly for resale.

Scroll through some Examples:

Pillows: These pillows & pillow covers can be found here.

Coffee machine decor: If you have a cricut or vinyl cutter you can find these designs in Cricut Access! Materials are available here. If not you can google already cut removable vinyl stickers.

Tin mugs: are unbreakable and perfect for hot coffee, coco or even a night time sip of your favorite beverage! These are available here

Crafty Decorating: when you can't buy exactly what you want, try to make it! Removing the valance in your RV is usually a simple matter of unscrewing it, then you can recover it with other materials, add HTV vinyl, or replace it, depending on your skill! You can recover couches with slip covers too. You can add vinyl to many items, add something to the non heating part of your appliances like your coffee pot, add something to your Glass doors, whether it's words or a design, it's another way to bring your colors into your so loved Recreation Vehicle because Vinyl comes in dozens of colors!

Full redecorating: when what you have is no where near what you want you can gut your RV and start over or you can do some major changes like repaint walls & cabinets, remove (or sand) wallpaper and use Gripper Paint to prime many surfaces so that you can paint them any color you want. Change your backsplash or refresh the tile that is there with a strip of new peel & stick tile. Change our your faucets & light fixtures. You can even use residential lighting in an RV as long as you use the same light wattage and the hanging mounts are the same size. Swap out the standard bed cover for one that speaks to your inspired design, maybe matching pillow shams or play off that design with something similar but adding in another of your listed elements. Here is a list of great RV products including peel & stick tiles!

Example of Peel N Stick Tile to add color & texture to a space!

Pinterest has hundreds of design ideas for RV's, click here to check them out!

Join a Facebook RV Group to see what others are doing and ask them how they did it! RV Interior Ideas is one I belong to, I find it very inspiring.

If your still stumped take an online design style quiz, this one is from Modsy

Decorating Worksheet

List the items you need to find or buy, working on one room at a time:

Room: ___________________________

Item, Color/Texture, Size & Where will it go:

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5. ____________________________________________________________

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Be sure to sit back and Enjoy your newly Decorated RV! Join and upload photos of your creations!

Note: some links are affiliate links that do not cost you more money to use but do offset the cost of running this blog!