Personalizing Your RV with Modifications

The original post was updated to include the new pantry cabinet, closet insulation, and slide toppers.

Making Your RV Your Home

You go to RV shows and see all the latest models, with extra features and lots of space. You visit dealerships and eventually narrow down your selection to the make and model that will be your home on the road.

You take possession and move in your personal items. That’s when you notice there is really no good place to put your spices. Or the sink cover when you’re using the sink. The kitchen cabinets weren’t that shallow at the dealership. Right?

The majority of RV owners make modifications to their RVs. We add hooks for keys, clothes, and dog leashes. Furniture is removed and replaced by desks or a place for our pets. We remove the ‘fancy’ bedding and replace it with something more comfortable and familiar. Like stick and brick homeowners, we like to show them off and share our ideas.

In the month prior to leaving on our extended trip, we made several modifications. While living in our RV for the last 2 ½ months, we have made more. Here are some of our favorites:

Built-in Desk

We shared how we removed one of the queen-sized sleeper sofas to build a desk in RV Renovation – Slide Out Desk. The picture in that post showed the desk after it was finished, with nothing on it. It looks quite different now.

I rarely sit when I am at my computer and the desk is the perfect height for me to stand. Andy prefers to sit, so we bought a cushion for his chair to make it the correct height.

Organizing the Pantry

After trying several ways to organize and store our spices, we bought 2 ESYLIFE 3 Tier Wall Mounted Spice Rack Organizers from Amazon. They fit perfectly on the pantry door and make finding spices and other smaller items much more manageable

The glass door panel is 13 inches wide and the spice rack is 17 inches wide, allowing plenty of room to fasten the frame to the door. We installed one rack above the doorknob and one below.

In addition to the spice rack, we organized the pantry using plastic baskets with handles. They are great for smaller items, such as teas, mixes, and other items in pouches. We found the baskets at Dollar Tree. We also have several of these baskets in the bedroom closet.

Adding a Cabinet

The space above the top shelf in the pantry went to the ceiling. Perhaps they designed it that way for very tall items. We found that after getting the right angle to place a tall item on the shelf, it was difficult to get it down. For us, it was wasted space. So we turned the space into a cabinet.

We used a 16 X 20 picture frame with a two-inch outer frame for the hinged door. In the picture above, you can see the door and the cut lines drawn on the wall.

The opening was cut through both layers of the wall. Until we ordered a metal print to place in the frame, we used the cutout piece from the front side as our ‘picture.’ The door is held shut with magnets, one on the wall, and one on the inside of the door.

Here is a front view of the frame without a picture installed.

The next step was placing the brackets for the shelf.

The plywood used for the shelf was cut to fit, then placed on the brackets.

After the shelf was in place, Andy finished the opening by covering the gap in the wall with trim. At this point, we placed the cutout piece of wood into the frame/door.

The clamps are holding the trim pieces in place while the glue sets.

The finished pantry, with extra storage up top.

An Extra Benefit

After the new cabinet was completed, the two bottom shelves in the pantry were reorganized. I was also able to move items out of the crowded cabinet over the microwave.

Storing the Large Sink Cover

We like the sink covers and use the larger one when wanting to expand our counter space. However, when using the sink for dishes, we had trouble deciding where to place the large sink cover. After putting it on the counter a few times and not liking that option, we brainstormed a way to hang it on the side of the island. This is one of our favorite modifications.

We found stainless steel cabinet pulls at Lowe’s. The length needed to hold our large sink cover was 224mm center to center. The entire length of the pull is 16 inches. 

To place the cover, insert the top into the pull first.

A Place to Hang the Dish Towel

On the opposite side of the island, we installed a towel ring for a hand towel. We like having a place other than the oven door to hang towels. We found the towel ring at the local Walmart.

A Handy Place to Store Knives

Our knives were in a butcher block at home. We didn’t want to use counter space for the block in the RV and only brought the knives. We also didn’t want to put the knives in a drawer. This magnet bar works great! We’ve left them on the bar while traveling and have never lost one. The bar is from Harbor Freight.

Fixing the Slippery Steps

The steps are wooden and tended to be slick. Our terrier mix refused to walk down them and would stand there and whine until one of us carried her either up or down.

After slipping down them, we installed the carpet. We had leftover from our basement steps that matched. Andy made a template of the steps, cut the carpet and fastened it to the stairs with heavy-duty Velcro. We wanted it to be removable for cleaning or replacement.

Modifications to the Doors – Inside and Out

Ever open your RV door to go outside, only to have a gust of wind catch it? Hard to grab it by those small handles, isn’t it? We added Camco 42183 Screen Door Cross Bars to the inside of our screen doors for that reason. We had installed them in our previous 5^th wheel and liked how much easier they made closing the doors.

The other enhancement we made to our doors has let us sleep in on sunny mornings. The SunShield Reflective Door Window Cover is attached with Velcro and can be removed on those days you want the extra sunshine.

We added one last accessory to the door. On the outside door handle, we installed EZ Open Assist Rail. It lets you open the door from either the ground or the bottom step, depending on your height. The grandkids love it!

Motion Detection Porch Light

After frustrations with the not-quite-bright-enough amber porch light, Andy installed an Ever Brite motion detection light over the front door. The light has helped him find the keyhole when working the late shift and I am already in bed. I just have to remember to leave the porch light off so the motion detection light goes on. We purchased the light at Home Depot.

Adding Reflective Insulation

Our closet is on the back of our RV and gets very cold in the winter and hot in the summer. To help moderate the temperature, we installed insulation on the walls. We used our handy glue gun to attach it to the wall. The insulation made about a 5-degree difference.

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Installing Slide Toppers

It was late July in Bryan, Texas. The temperature had been in the high 90’s and low 100’s for several weeks. The front slides in our Solitude were hot. Really hot. Slide toppers were not standard with our model, so after researching the benefits and the cost of installation, we ordered custom toppers for the two front living room slides. Then, we decided to install them ourselves.

On a hot Saturday morning after the toppers arrived, we started the installation. The first topper took longer than expected to install and the heat didn’t help. We waited to install the second one on Sunday morning. Learning from our mistakes, that topper was installed in about half the time. Here are a few pictures of our topper installation.

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And a couple of pictures of the finished project. This picture shows the top of the slide. And a somewhat dirty roof.

This picture was taken after we had settled in Springfield, Missouri in September.

We hope that some of these modifications will be helpful to other RVers. If you would like more information on any of these changes, please add a comment, and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

If you have some favorite accessories or modifications that you want to share with our readers, we would love to hear from you.

Thanks for stopping by! Safe travels – enjoy the journey.

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