We got the RV on sale because its floors were rotting, so we replaced them ourselves.
We use every inch of the RV, which has three beds, a full bathroom, a living area, and a half bath.
When my family embarked on a yearlong RV trip around the United States in 2016, we had no idea it would snowball into a lifestyle. Years later, we're still traveling full time.
The longer we were on the road, the stronger our desire to nest grew.
So in 2019, we looked for an RV that would be a more suitable home and landed on a fifth-wheel trailer. At 400 square feet, it had ample storage for our mountain bikes, backpacking gear, and paddleboards.
We found the exact rig we wanted on sale, but there was a problem: About 20% of its flooring had completely rotted. Knowing this, we lowballed our offer and decided to repair the flooring ourselves.
My partner and I wanted to renovate the RV anyway, so we were actually excited about the opportunity.
Shortly after buying the trailer, we got to work and completely gutted the inside of our new home.
In the RV's front room, we installed new flooring and replaced the dated furniture with a stylish couch.We changed the flooring of the living area in our RV.
Christian Axness
With the rig stripped down to its bones, we began implementing all the ideas we'd drummed up over the years.
We trashed all the pontoon-boat furniture that came in the RV and brought in more residential furnishings, trading overstuffed recliners for an actual sofa.
After installing durable vinyl-plank flooring, we rolled out patterned area rugs to give the interior a warm feel.
In an effort to brighten the space, we sanded and painted the cabinets; replaced the chrome hardware; and swapped the dark-brown, contractor-grade products with more colorful, high-quality alternatives.
Once we got rid of the pleather love seats, we built two beds for the kids.My daughter's bed is tucked by a window.
Christian Axness
Our last RV lacked personal space and privacy, but the new one has two bedrooms and two separate bathrooms.
The room in the front of the RV was originally a den with two dark-brown love seats. We removed the pleather pieces and used the space to build each of our two children an elevated bed.
Underneath the beds, we have plenty of room to store toys and stuffed animals. Each child also has their own floor-to-ceiling wardrobe, where we keep everything from shoes to homeschool curriculums.
I finished off each lofted bed by painting the plywood, taking inspiration from Japanese capsule hotels.
The kids' room has personalized touches, like a rock wall for my son and a craft nook for my daughter.My son's bed has storage below it.
Christian Axness
I built a rock-climbing wall around my son's bed, along with a custom Lego desk that allows him to save his creations instead of breaking them down before each travel day.
While removing a veneer wall, I found a hidden space in the nose of our RV. I transformed the area into a small craft nook for my daughter, complete with a chair and desk area.
We upgraded the master bedroom by adding open shelving, roller shades, and bedside outlets.My bed in the RV has storage above it, too.
Christian Axness
While renovating this area, we removed a wall of cabinets and replaced it with open shelving so we could display items from our travels.
I removed all of the bulky, upholstered valances from the windows and replaced them with simple, light-blocking roller shades from Ikea.
We gave the bedside tables a facelift by replacing their laminate tops with stained wood. As a finishing touch, we added outlets on both sides of the bed.
To reach both bedrooms, we have to climb sets of three stairs, which we realized were completely hollow during the remodeling process. I replaced them with live-edge oak and added hinges to the steps to create a hidden storage space inside them.
In the bathrooms and kitchen, we swapped wallpaper for subway tiles.The washing-machine area has wood accents.
Christian Axness
One of the best parts about our RV is that it has a full bathroom directly off of our bedroom and a half bath off of our kids' bedroom.
We upgraded the half bath, full bathroom, and a few kitchen walls by ripping off the textured wallpaper and installing subway tile.
My partner and I added high-quality appliances and more open shelving in the kitchen.The RV's kitchen has some appliances we use often.
Christian Axness
It's no secret that many RVs have subpar ovens and other appliances — my wife had pretty much given up baking sourdough in our old kitchen — so we installed a fancy German steam oven during the renovation.
Renovating our 400-square-foot trailer has made the vehicle feel like a home on wheels.Our vehicle feels comfortable and like home.
However, my family didn't want to completely sacrifice comfort or live in a cramped space. Our RV allows us to travel almost anywhere a car can go, and we were able to customize it to create a space that helps us feel right at home.
This story was originally published on June 10, 2023, and most recently updated on April 21, 2025.