My Colorful RV Makeover • 50 Shades of Gray Down to 38-ish

1 day ago

3 min read

Blame Willie Nelson

Our home on wheels at a Deadwood campsite — the RV, the red Jeep and a picnic table wrapped in rainbow covers, because of course it is.

When I was 8, Willie Nelson was on television — that's how we learned about our celebrities back then — and he gave a tour of the bus he lived on, the Honeysuckle Rose. As he walked the camera through it, something in me locked into place: THIS was the only way to live. I've been shooting for it ever since.

I'm not kidding about "ever since." When I dated people, I would ask if they'd jump in an RV and run away with me. A wrinkled nose or a "you're nutters"? In the words of Liz Lemon, DEALBREAKER! Then I met a guy who is basically the kid from Pixar's Up, all grown. He was (and still is!) a fit. We raised our girls, sold the house and 85% of everything we owned, and took off. There's no storage unit holding 25 years of our crap — there's a single shelf in my mom's basement, and that's about it. We miss nothing. It's been a year and a half of this lifestyle and we keep on keeping on.

Before the colorful RV makeover: the all-gray interior, fifty shades of dentist's office.

The Before: Fifty Shades of Gray

When we decided to pivot our lives, we went gangbusters on the research and figured out exactly which RV would fit our needs — and being the visually ridiculous person that I am, I required the white interior. Naturally, we found the EXACT right model at the VERY right price and SUPER CLOSE location...and the interior was gray. Fifty shades of it, to be exact. It looked like a dentist's office.

If it were up to me, everything would be pink. Everything. But alas — there are other colors that make me happy, and my husband is sweet, handy, and handsome, and let me offset a great deal of that gray with a giant handful of my Rainbow Brite Couture. We are now down to approximately 38-ish shades of gray. Progress not perfection.

The delightfully stripey washable rug in pink, red, blue, and lime — styled with my red high-tops, because it really pulls the room together.

The Fixes: Where the Color Went

I started with this delightfully stripey washable rug — because color you can't clean is color you'll eventually fear, and we fear nothing in this RV. The recliners and the dinette got custom covers in fun fabrics I scoured Spoonflower for weeks to find. My dear husband painted the cabinet fronts a charming shade of ocean and the transformation is REAL! Goodbye dentist office and hello Madge Central!

The Pièce de Résistance: The Bathroom

And then there is the bathroom.

Colorful RV makeover bathroom, before and after: plain gray-teal walls transformed with retro swimming ladies wallpaper and a marquee light.

I found wallpaper at Spoonflower with larger than life retro swimming ladies from Emily Grogan, and the size juxtaposition with my itty bitty RV bathroom got me revved. I contacted the artist to recolor it for my palette. I sent her a photo of the aforementioned stripey rug — it really pulls the room together, as The Dude would say — and she came up with this amazing solution. It reminds me of my Grandma Dotsy, and the red lips are my signature, so the whole room is basically my heart in wallpaper form.

My custom retro swimmer wallpaper with a framed Taylor Swift Fate of Ophelia homage — red lips, sunglasses, and one very good coincidence.

Months after I secured my made-for-me wallpaper, Taylor Swift released the video for "Fate of Ophelia," the synchronized swimming scene came on, and I LOST IT. That was my bathroom. On my screen. Great minds think alike — so naturally there is now an homage to Taylor prominently displayed in there, because the connection makes my heart sing.

The bathroom is now my favorite space in the RV. I go in there when I'm sad. I'm aware of how that sounds, and I stand by it.

Unfinished Business: The Bedroom

I've injected glorious amounts of color into the main spots, but the bedroom is still waiting for the right treatment. It's the last stand of the gray, and I want to get it RIGHT.

So — ideas welcome. Genuinely, truly, send them: comments, DMs, feral raccoon. What would you do with my bedroom on wheels? The best suggestion may end up in a future post with full credit and my eternal devotion!