Monday, April 30, 2018

Making Our Cabin-On-Wheels Ours

A few weeks ago I gave you a sneak peek at our new cabin-on-wheels. (Click here if you want to see what I shared.) I promised to show you changes we made and how we've begun to decorate it and make it feel like home. Life keeps moving along and we've had a lot going on, including some trips away in our cabin-on-wheels. So, finally, I slowed my pace and took some photos to show you what we've done. I took photos a on a gorgeous day last week. It was sunny and bright - and difficult to get the best photos because of the extra light and glare. But, inspite of that, you can get an idea of how we live when we're on the road. There are more things to do but this is a start. As with any home I think there will always be something to change or rearrange or organize. When I asked my sweetheart what kind of decor he would like in our new trailer he said, 'hunting cabin'. I suggested we do a more vintage cabin feel and not so much hunting. He liked that idea so you will see how we've added the cabin feel to make this our cabin-on-wheels.

Here's the way the kitchen looked straight from the dealer. I shared that we ordered it without the black, glass back-splash. Soon we will add our own back-splash - and it will be worth waiting for!
This is my kitchen with a few things added.
We eat a lot of fresh fruit so we always love to have a bowl of fruit on the counter. I found this colander at the Goodwill and knew it would be perfect. It holds our fruit but it also adds a pop of color to my kitchen area.
We bought this spice rack at World Market and my sweetheart attached it firmly to the side of the kitchen cabinet. It's so secure that it travels just like this without a problem. I need to add more spices and one of these days I will get matching bottles with cute labels. I decided not to use glass spice bottles because of the weight so I have my eye on some cute plastic containers that I can dress up with my own labels.
It's always nice to have an assortment of handy kitchen tools available. I needed something fairly lightweight to hold my kitchen utensils. When I found this cute grater planter at Hobby Lobby I knew it was just right. I have plans to replace a few of these utensils with some that have more color. I always love to brighten a spot with color when I can.
I had a plain stainless steel teakettle on the stove in our cabin-on-wheels. It was practical but it wasn't anything exciting. One day my sweetheart and I were walking through Walmart when he spied this Pioneer Woman teakettle and decided it was just what I (and my little kitchen) needed. I love it!  Do you see the daffodils on it?
This sign above the microwave is another Hobby Lobby find.
And I found this cute magnet at The Dollar Tree as I walked through the store one day. It's a cute addition to my range hood. The directions say: 'Mix well and serve with love'. Tips: 'One cup full of hugs. One teaspoon of kisses'.
I always wanted a small lamp on the dining table and I found this on sale at a local store. I knew it would be perfect and it adds a bit more light. It's perfect for soft light in the evening. The cabin piece was a gift to my sweetheart from our daughter.
This is the way the dinette and entertainment center looked in the basic model. Since we ordered our cabin-on-wheels we chose some options that we haven't regretted at all.
This was something special that we dreamed of having and it was an add-on option we chose. A fireplace! It's electric so we can heat our cabin-on-wheels without using propane when we're plugged into power. We can have the 'fire' on without heat for ambiance, or we can have the 'fire' on with heat to keep us toasty warm. I couldn't avoid reflections on this very sunny day but you can get the idea.
On our first trip with our new cabin-on-wheels my little dog, Joey, pulled his doggie bed over in front of the 'fire' and decided that space belonged to him!
The fireplace has a little 'mantel' so my sweetheart and I decided to decorate it a bit. I added two little battery-operated candle lanterns (a yard sale find!) and my sweetheart chose this sweet little sign on a recent trip to Hobby Lobby. I'm still thinking about ways to hide the cords. I'm sure I'll come up with something.
He also found a holder for the remotes (for the television, stereo system and fireplace).
There isn't a lot of wall space in the living area of our new cabin-on-wheels so I had to be a bit creative. I found these two burlap and metal pieces on the clearance table of a local store so I added them to the cabinet doors above the television.
This sofa was what came with the basic model of our cabin-on-wheels.
My sweetheart and I decided to add the 'recliner' option and we are sure glad we did. These chairs are pure comfort and we feel right at home when we enjoy time here.
On the wall beside the recliners (to the left in this photo) is a sign my sweetheart found at Hobby Lobby. We thought it would be perfect here. And it is. It's a good reminder to relax and enjoy our 'cabin'.
I showed you this control panel that is on the end of the upper cabinet just inside the main door. I wasn't thrilled to see it there with all the buttons and switches and monitors in plain sight. I had hoped it would be a place I could decorate with something welcoming. But it wasn't so I had to be flexible. In each of our other two trailers my sweetheart has wanted a hat rack - a place where he could hang his hats. That wasn't the best idea in my opinion but when he and I talked about how visible this control panel is he made a suggestion and I jumped on it right away. He added two Command brand hooks above everything and - viola- instant hat rack! He's happy and so am I. And it's easy to access the switches when we need them.
I showed you the little bathroom area with the ugly shower curtain that came with the trailer.
The shower curtain was one of the first things I changed. I bought it long before we brought our cabin-on-wheels home.
We changed the shower curtain rod, too. We bought an Extend-A-Rod that's made for RVs. The rod has two 'elbow' joints (where I added arrows) so it can flex. It goes in and out of the way when the shower isn't being used. It makes the little bathroom feel a tiny bit bigger and it lets more light into the room through the skylight. (We also added a tension shower rod across the top of the shower so we can hang things to dry. It's great for wet coats when we come in from the rain!)
When we're ready to take a shower we move it out and we instantly have more elbow room while in the shower. It's been wonderful!
This model didn't have any cabinet or storage area for bath towels in the little bathroom so I decided to get creative. I found the perfect wire and rustic wood box at an outlet store. My sweetheart screwed it securely into the wall and I rolled the bath towels and it works great. I'm looking for a flat metal sign of some kind to add below - something that we won't hit our heads or backs on when we use the potty!
As I shared in the sneak peek before, the bathroom sink is in the hallway across from the bathroom door. You can see it in the photo beside the old shower curtain in the photo above. There is a lot of space in the medicine cabinet but someone didn't space the shelves to allow tall bottles to stand. So we thought about it for awhile and decided to add something to the side wall. This little rustic metal box from Hobby Lobby is perfect! It's handy and things travel in it without falling out. And I still have unused decorating space above it.
Our bedroom really reflects the vintage-y cabin look we wanted. Every new RV comes with a bedspread and most people I know quickly replace it with something else.  I spent a lot of time looking for what we wanted and I finally found it - in the children's department at Target! I was really surprised to find a queen-size quilt in the children's department. Notice the throw pillow that my sweetheart found on a clearance table at a local store. We had decided that we would only add one throw pillow on our bed because there's not much space to put them when we go to bed at night. I knew he really wanted this pillow and it adds to a bit of 'hunting' to our bedroom.
We have big nightstands on each side of the bed. That's something most RV's don't have and we were thrilled to have these. I found this cute little battery-operated lantern in the Christmas clearance aisle at Walmart. It has a timer and it makes a great little night light for evenings when we might go in and out of the bedroom. I wish there had been another one for the other nightstand.
I have a bit of decorating on the bedroom walls but there's more to come. We found this cute sign and it didn't take long to decide to hang it on my sweetheart's side of the bed.
My sweetheart found a vintage-style poster on canvas on a clearance aisle of a local store.
We both loved it immediately and knew it had to go on the biggest wall of the bedroom. It hangs at the foot of the bed and I plan to hang some of my own photos around it. 
There was one 'prime' decorating spot that I had plans for in the bedroom. When we did the walk-through on the day we got our new trailer I was surprised that this spot had been claimed for something I hadn't expected. But it is necessary. We added a solar panel to the roof of our cabin-on-wheels. It recharges the batteries that run the power we use when we're not plugged into land power.
So, I lost the decorating spot between the cabinet doors above our bed. The solar panel controller needs to go inside near panel that's on the roof above the bed. While I lost a decorating spot, it's OK. I'm getting used to it and I'll appreciate it when we are camping off-grid.
I enjoy having lights that add to the cozy feel in the evening. A girlfriend gave me some battery-operated lights that I added at the top of the slide-out dinette. We enjoy having them on when we spend an evening 'at home' when we're on the road.
And the fireplace and little candle lanterns on the mantel add just the right mood for those evenings in.
There are more projects and things to add to the decor planned but - like in any home - things take time. I'll share more when things begin to happen.

7 comments:

  1. Love it!!! I think you've done a fantastic job! I think I'm ready to tag along. ~Jeanne

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  2. lovely transformation from factory direct
    to personal cozy cabin. nice nice nice!
    love that you switched out the couch for
    recliners .. and every other element of
    decor. every single one. :)

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  3. You have done an awesome job girl. I love it all. Yes I love that tea kettle! So many sweet things you have done to make this be home! Love it. Well done girl. Hugs and blessings, Cindy

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  4. What a wonderful cabin! A came over from A Joyful Cottage Blog.. saw that you live in Oregon (so do I) so wanted to visit! Do you still have Daffodil? I loved reading all of your posts about her! I want to subscribe to follow your blog but don't find anywhere to subscribe. How can I follow you??? My hubby and I are just starting to remodel (as much as we are able) an old vintage cab-over camper for our little truck. It's in pretty good condition and neither of us are very handy! You are so lucky to have your "sweetheart" to make so many wonderful changes to Daffodil! I live in central Oregon..... Marilyn (pinkpapercottage@yahoo.com)

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  5. OOO, your RV is sooo pretty. You have done a fabulous job of decorating it. I love all the extras, too.
    Some of the best times Mr. Sweet and I had were in our tiny camper. I loved it so so much. It was a pull camper and small but had lots of livin' in it. It finally got too hard for him to set up and we sold it. I cried the whole day it sold. I still miss our times in it but, of course, there comes a time when we have to face reality and know when "to walk away"...so, go in it every chance you get...even just to a local park or lake...enjoy it as much as you possibly can. xoxo

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  6. i love it! The fact that you have a fireplace is incredible! Have a great week!
    http://travelingbugwiththreeboys-kelleyn.blogspot.ae/2018/05/tiptoeing-through-tulip.html

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