RV- upholstery & curtain (and Life) Changes

Well, once again it's been a long time since I've blogged here. Life just has a way of taking over. Between the crazy re-start up of my Real Estate career, visiting our beloved family members fighting cancer, the kids growing insanely fast, the start of homeschooling first one of them, then two of them, now all three of them....well, let's just say, I let my writing here lapse. But the adventures have never stopped!

We just returned from one of our favorite trips so far! Over 3,000 miles, 14 days, 7 states (okay, I cheated and used the one we live in too, but really, we passed the sign...TWICE! :) ), and 5 national parks. But it all started with Zion. And what an amazing start!!

Due to all of the craziness mentioned above, I was a little apprehensive about departing on our trip. But I tried to build off of my husband and kiddos enthusiasm, and we got to work prepping for the trip.

It's now been over 7 years that we've been RV'ing in our little Winnie. When we started, our little guy was a baby. We had 3 carseats! Now, our oldest is a teenager! We have used that dinette non-stop on all of our trips, and the now threadbare cushions and flattened foam seats are just starting to show their wear. So we treated ourselves (and mainly the kids tuckuses) to an upgrade. We could NOT be happier with the results!

Here's a close-up of the curtain fabric before:

I managed to score some amazing room-darkening curtains from a Pottery Barn end of year clearance sale. They were all the wrong size, and various hanging styles. But the fabric was very high-quality, and had the room-darkening backing we were looking for. We measured the rv, and were able to buy panels which were originally $160 each, for $7 per piece. That is cheaper than I could even buy fabric! So we were very excited about this find. I measured, and cut, and re-sewed the curtains, but I sitll think it was much easier than starting from scratch. 

And here's after:

We have plans to upgrade the flooring eventually too...but time and money...have to be saved up. 

And the upholstery... Before: 

 The re-upholstered seats were done in a black leather (to match the captain's chairs that were already done in the cab). Upgraded foam makes it so much more comfortable for long drives, and for sleeping!

After pics: 

With our growing kids, we also felt that a privacy curtain would make changing easier for everyone. It was a huge hit on this trip!

Here it is closed--

 We installed a track on the ceiling, and sewed attachments to the curtain. This is a much better solution than our previous mod using a shower curtain rod, which kept falling down during drives.

 We installed snaps on the wall behind the dinette seat, so the curain is easily tied back when not in use. The master "bedroom" already had a snap (receiver) in place so we just put a corresponding snap part on the new fabric strap and voila!

Now that we're utilizing the cab for a sleeping area for our youngest (more to come on that), and the overhead bunk for our oldest, we replaced those old curtains as well. The overhead bunk used to have a curtain that clipped in with metal, hard to use clips. We installed another track system and are thrilled with the results. We chose to make the curtain a bit longer for privacy and darkening.

Here she is closed:

And opened:

I am a "halloween costume" and "necessity only" seamstress (and I feel like a fake even calling myself a seamstress but I couldn't think of a better term here) and still this project was doable, and we are all VERY happy with the results.

Here are some pics during the process:

Adding snaps (those are my man's hands, not mine ;)

More snapwork (and more man hands. My arms aren't that hairy.)

The changes we made were small, but they hugely improved living conditions for this long trip. Much more privacy, extra space to change in, an ability to close off sections of the rv at night for earlier bed-timers, and a super swank & comfy ride for our 3 passengers. All in all, an excellent upgrade!