Home, Sweet Home!

In the six plus year that we have now been on the road, I have come to the conclusion that one of the common things among those who made a successful transition is the making of the RV into a home. No one would buy a new house and then leave everything just as they are in all of the other houses in the neighborhood, yet many RV owners find the RV decorated, so they do very little by way of personalizing the RV. If it is to be your home, it must reflect the people who live there.

When you enter our home, you immediately see a couple of things that my talented wife did to change the appearance to our home. Notice the sand painting clock, the god’s eye and the window valence and curtains. Like most motorhomes, ours came with the standard padded valences. This one is now vinyl with cloth curtains. Next you would probably notice the drapes up front, custom made for our home, by Pam.


Pam’s kitchen is decorated with flowers and with pigs, just as it was in our land locked home. Most of the flowers are now of plastic, but not all. The pigs are from her collection of many years, along with a few that have joined the family in our travels.

In every home there is somewhere located the gallery of family pictures. In our home those pictures of our ancestors are in the hallway and one wall of the bedroom. Our kids and grandkids are located through out our home, and move as more current pictures replace them. And there is also the usual refrigerator art, sent to us by our grandchildren.

Pam recovered the bedroom valences with deer hide saved from my hunting days in Wyoming. She then added kachinas that she made in punch-needle and then appliquéd to the leather. The sand painting is one from an Arizona Indian reservation

The final touches are some pillows Pam made and a comforter to match

And the last pictures are just a few from around the house. This truly is our home!

There is also one final touch that you would find at any of our longer term sites. We carry with us a bird feeder that is hung in a tree near by, a yard light that we set up with a dawn to dusk setting and usually a few hanging flower baskets in a nearby tree.

A typical look for our front yard when at The dusk to dawn light that is normally near our home.

It is time for a remodel of our home!

Just as is true with a house, our home wears and things change and we also tire of what we have been using! the firstchair couchbig change came about two years ago with reupholstering of the driver, passenger and my chairs.  That followed less than a year later with the replacement of our original couch with one of a new color, because the old one was developing "broken spring syndrome." It had been very well used and the padding was also beginning to break down, so it was clearly time.

 Our next project was to address the bedroom, where the original spread had been worn our long ago and replacements used. While Pam is the master decorator at our house and also the seamstress, and main talent, this time I even got involved, to some degree beyond the giving of opinions!  One thing which we had never been fully happy with in or motorhome was that the bed had no headboard and if we were to prop up with pillows to watch TV or read, it left our heads right handy to bump against the release handles of the emergency escape window. There was also some concern that one of us might one day accidentally release one of those handles. Not a good thought for us! 

bedroomThe project began with me constructing a headboard from plywood, spacing it away from the all just enough to clear the release handles and making it tall enough to come just below the handles and slightly inside. This allows room for grasping the handles in an emergency, but prevents bumping them or a pillow ever getting under them. Next my very talented wife padded the headboard and then covered it with the same materials that are used in the new draperies.  To view the headboard you might want to double click on the shot and expand the picture. The headboard shows most to the left of the pillows.

We removed and threw away the old valance assemblies and took out the day/night shades which we have come to right sidehate. Being fresh air people, we replaced the shades with blinds which allow privacy and air movement at the same time. We chose blinds of plastic as they are less noisy than the metal ones. This was followed by installation of the new curtains which Pam had already made for the windows. 

Last came a new quilt and matching pillow shams. At this time Pam is also making a new throw rug to go on the floor at the entry to the bedroom. We really are enjoying the new look to our bedroom, and look forward with anticipation to the next phase of the current redecoration project. Just old dinetteone quick hint, the dinette is currently in process of gaining a totally new look. My very clever lady has previous experience at re-upholstery by taking the old apart carefully and then using those pieces as a pattern for new. That is exactly the project that is in process just now. At this point the backs of each bench are complete and the seats will be next. In addition, I will be doing some dis-assembly to gain access to some parts of the trim. I will post one small picture that shows the new back pad and the old seat cushion, and just a little of the trim. Stay tuned as there is more to come soon!

 Stick around and check back and I will share with you the heat experience of life with such a talented lady as i married!