Our EXTREMELY tiny new home ;)

I've heard stories of people doing this before... Moving into an RV in order to get out of debt or build a house mortgage free. It sounded brilliant and crazy. Definitely not something I was considering doing!

But, then one day (after running the numbers,) Nick and I looked at each and said, "What on earth are we waiting for?! Let's do this thing!" 

Becoming debt free wasn't happening as quickly as we wanted, and our dream of building a house in the country seemed so far in the future... Who wants to build a house for their family just before they all graduate, get married and move away? If it was gonna take that long to accomplish our goals I really didn't see the point. So... We decided to sell most of our possessions, rent out our home, and move into a travel trailer on my parents property. 

Not having to pay our mortgage alongside the profit from rent each month is going to enable us to reach our financial goals about 10 times faster. It's exhilarating! (A feeling extremely necessary to inspire one to move their family of 5 into a 8' x 28' dwelling.) :D

We got a sweet deal on a used travel trailer and love it so much we have no plans of selling it after we build. The interior was so much more beautiful than anything could have hoped for- but the fabric was not to my taste, so, of course, I did a little remodeling!!! 

So, if you are like me, all you really want to see is PICTURES! Here are some before & afts:

Bedroom Before:

Bedroom After:

Having a window directly over my head while sleeping felt odd to me, so I removed the cornice and covered the window with a headboard I built specifically for this space. Tip: when building things for an RV, your goal should be to keep things as light as possible. I used thin pine wall paneling as opposed to 1x4's for this headboard. Total cost: $12.

Here's another view of the bedroom:

Kitchen Before:

(This kitchen totally sold me on this rv!!!)

Kitchen After:

The cabinets and flooring were already great (thank goodness!) so mainly what I changed was all the fabrics inside and the wallpaper border. I left the cornices in the kitchen and covered them with a blue geometric fabric. (I bought 1 curtain panel from Lowe's and cut it up to make all my curtains. I actually did no sewing on these- just gluing and utilizing the hems already present.

 I applied this border directly over the old one:

This is a paintable wallpaper border I purchased at Lowe's (which I just left white.) I felt it had a wood moulding sort of a look and really dressed it up without any added weight or difficult application. It was $7 a roll (I think) and I used a little over a roll. A friend if mine used this exact stuff on the fronts of her stairs and it's gorgeous! Can't tell at all it's not wood!

Here's the Living area Before pic:

(And my little cutie checking out the place :)

See all the green?? And tan?? And ugh?!

Yeah, I had to change all that.

Living room after:

I removed the cornices in here and put up small brushed nickel curtain rods (cheap ones from walmart.) I slip covered the dinette cushions with canvas drop cloths purchased at Lowes. That was the most time consuming part- but I'm glad I did it! Still thinking of changing that light fixture...

Here's what it looks like with the table in: (which we don't use all that much except for school. I just prefer it as an open couch type of space)

The table folds down and the dinette makes into a bed which is where the kids sleep. Most of time I just remove the edge cushions and they sleep like that with Gabe's playpen slid in that middle section (perfect fit!)

Here is another angle of the living space:

The toilet room:

And here is our bathroom area and shower (this is a before pic, but not much has changed in this area. I am considering doing a peel and stick backplash at the sink...)

And here is the outside:

(Which I was pleasantly surprised to find out after we had purchased it- has an outdoor shower!! Perfect for hosing off muddy kids pre-bath :)

Well, that is all. I may do a video in the future explaining where we keep our stuff and how we function in this small space. I've learned a lot from rv living Pinterest boards. 

Bye for now!!