Abby's Big Reveal!

The day has come at last, my friends! Time to unveil Abby the RV's new look! I've created side-by-side comparison pictures so you can remember where she was and see how far she's come! We've had her for just under six months (March 29th will mark 6 months since we said yes to the RV!) and we've worked hard in these last six months to give her a makeover. We've had fun working together, learning new things, and putting a touch of Shafferland on our very first Shafferland Shuttle. 

Ready to see?? (Click on any image to make it larger.)

Here's the bedroom makeover! We're probably going to add a couple more pillows to the bed. The bedding set came with shams, but we ran out of pillows to put them on. I would like to finish it off just a bit more, so we will probably get some cheapie pillows to stuff in those. This little corner is SO COZY. The bed is surprisingly comfortable, actually. The bed is also surprisingly impossible to make. So that will be fun when we're on trips. It's a built-in workout! 

Makeover included: painting the walls blue and the cabinets and bed frame white, installing new, updated hardware, adding bedding, removing the cornice boards, and adding sheer curtains. (The shades were there when we bought the RV...they were just pushed up in the first picture.) They're kind of hard to see here, but we also added a couple of small fabric baskets up near our heads, since we don't have bedside tables. We can store snacks in there. ;) 

Kitchen area!! So much brighter, now! We actually ended up not changing as much in here as we had originally planned, mostly because we couldn't find replacement parts for what we wanted without doing a much more invasive makeover. We'd planned to change out the sink for a deeper one but couldn't find one with these dimensions. We also tried to find a flat stove top - but again with the dimensions. We decided we would be just fine with what we have, and we really do love how it turned out.

Makeover included: painting cabinets white, adding new hardware, and installing a peel-and-stick backsplash in the entire kitchen area. You can also see the old, smelly, discolored carpet is gone! We do have one more thing yet to do in here, and that's to install an updated faucet. We have it, but the RV is currently winterized, so Ryan will change that out when he unwinterizes. (Is that even a word?) 

The wet bath! This wasn't our first choice in an RV, but it was what was available in what we could afford, and it will be more than adequate. We didn't change anything in the functional part of the bathroom (toilet, sink, floor, drain, seat) but we update it just a little bit on the inside. 

Makeover included: painting the walls with a water resistant paint, installing a new shower head and hose, painting the door and hardware, and installing a shower curtain so the door doesn't get wet when the sprayer is on. 

Similar view with the door shut! I lovingly call this the hallway. :) Most of this area is storage, but I feel like it's much brighter now, and that makes me happy. I'm also happy with how much storage this RV has inside for as small as it is. That big door to the right of the bathroom door is a fairly decent sized closet, with a cabinet above and below. Then the long skinny door has a slide out pantry piece for canned food, etc. 

Makeover included: painting the walls blue and the cabinets white, installing new hardware, and replacing the flooring from an old faux tile linoleum to a faux hardwood tile. 

The other side of the kitchen and the living room! I loved how this part turned out, too! We painted the refrigerator and freezer with chalkboard paint, both to break up the look of the wall and so we could leave each other love notes on there. :) You can also see the new couch up there, though you'll see that better in an upcoming photo. And I love the runner rug we found for the living room area, which you can see on the bottom right of the picture. You can also see a little black spot in the cabinets above the couch. That was a plain panel that we also put chalkboard paint on, and that's an area I plan to use for photos!

Makeover included: painting the cabinets white and the refrigerator/freezer and blank panel with black chalkboard paint. Old carpet and couch are gone and new flooring, couch, and rug are in place! 

The view from the back to the front! It's a pretty big difference, I think! We love our new couch, which does not smell like it's drowning in cleaners. We were able to reuse the old chair, because for some reason it did NOT smell like it was drowning in cleaners. The runner rug covers the two holes that are still there. (They are for the table when it's in place.) And we're excited to have our privacy curtain now! 

Makeover included: new flooring to replace the nasty old carpet, new runner rug to cover the holes, new couch to replace the smelly one, new white paint on the cabinets, blue paint on the walls, new hardware throughout, new upholstery on the side panels, new privacy curtains between the cab and living space, and new chalkboard paint behind the TV. 

A bit of a close up at the chair side. We received the key and mail holder for Christmas, so we hung that up this week. (We haven't done a ton of decorating yet, but this is a fine start, right?) We hired a local person to make the curtains for us. Those and the side panels are made from gray drop cloth! They do pull and drape perfectly on our seats for when we're driving or want to see outside. And we love this new flooring so much. I think it shows up well right there, how much that really did change!

Makeover included: painting the walls blue and cabinets white, new flooring and runner rug, new privacy curtain and upholstered panels! 

Another view of the living area. I do plan to hang some things on that blue wall back there, but I haven't decided what. We received the blanket as a Christmas gift, and it's SO cozy. It's kind of hard to see, but down on the lower right corner of the after picture is a box. It actually doubles as a very tiny ottoman with storage inside. 

Makeover included: new paint on the walls, new curtains, new couch, new flooring, new runner rug, new storage box. 

And here is our final before and after:

Top picture: the day we test drove. Bottom picture: first quick trip around town just to see how everything looked and sounded. 

We were so very relieved on that quick trip around town to find that she seemed relatively quiet. You may remember that back in November, we drove her to my parents' house to pick up all our Christmas decorations stored there. At that time, we'd just finished painting, so there was no couch, no bed, no flooring, even, other than the subfloor. The ride was SO LOUD and we feared we would have to yell at each other throughout every trip for all time. But it turns out that having a floor, bed, couch, chair, and rug to absorb the sound makes a WORLD of difference.  (Below is a picture of that November trip with nothing to mask sound:

We just love her. We can't wait for our adventures. 

And here are a couple more pictures, just for fun. This is what the RV looks like with the table in place:

And this is how she looks at night with the cozy twinkle lights on:

And because the angle didn't allow you to see it super well earlier, here is a better view of that backsplash work we did.

This has been one of our favorite projects we've ever done. We are still pinching ourselves that we've come this far. Can't believe it! :) Thanks for sharing in our excitement! We hope you love her, too!