While we have been home, Tom and I did a dinette renovation on the RV.  You might remember that we looked at a motorhome in February that was too expensive for us to consider buying.  We decided at that point that we would make a few changes to our current, paid-off RV instead of buying something different.  We have lived with the current RV for five years and could continue to live with it as is, but decided to make a few changes in hopes of making it even better.

Tom and I each chose one thing we wanted most to change about the RV.  I wanted the bedroom to be less stuffy.  Running the air conditioning all the time is very noisy.  But we are heading into summer and I know it is going to get hot during the day.  Cumberland Gap National Historical Park is a place that cools off nicely at night, but there aren’t any windows you can open in the bedroom.  One option, about a $4,000 fix, is getting a quieter air conditioner.  We might still decide to do that.

A less expensive option is to put a fan in the bedroom that will pull air in or exhaust it out.  We have a fan in the bathroom that exhausts air out, but no way of pulling cooler air in.  Putting in a Fantastic Fan in place of the skylight seemed like a good thing to try.  Tom thought about putting it in himself, but it involved running wires through the ceiling.  So I convinced him to let us take it to our dealership, RCD RV.

Fortunately, putting in an upgrade does not require the months long wait as getting something repaired.  They had the RV about two weeks and did a great job of installing a Fantastic Fan in the bedroom.  It looks very good.  We haven’t actually tried it yet, but I’m sure it will work well.  If not, it is under warranty.  And it was only a fraction of the cost of a quieter air conditioner.  I am hoping it will make the bedroom more comfortable during the summer.

Tom wanted to do a dinette renovation.  We had a J-shaped dinette.  With just the two of us, there were only two places that we ever sat and all the rest of the space was a stuff-collecting mess.  We also wanted to access the storage under the benches.  While the RV was in the shop getting the fan installed, we had them move an electrical outlet that had been in the middle part of the J.  The outlet had never worked and we also wanted them to fix it.  Turns out there was a wire loose at the fuse box, which they were able to repair easily.

We considered taking out all the benches for the J-shaped dinette, but decided we could do that later if we wanted a more extensive renovation.  The dinette chairs have extra seatbelts attached in ways we didn’t want to mess with.  So we left the two benches in to provide seating.

Once the outlet was moved, Tom took out the middle section of the bench.  We got a butcher block board and finished it ourselves, with Tom installing a base.  Now the table is moveable instead of being locked in to one place in the RV.  We ordered new cushions.  I wanted something more colorful, which I was able to find for the single seat but not the double.  RV benches have some odd dimensions.  Tom also drilled a pull-hole so we can lift up the board on the double bench and access storage underneath.

We are both very pleased with how the dinette renovation turned out.  The RV feels more spacious and comfortable.  This summer will be a good test of whether everything we changed is working and whether or not it is an improvement.  We can always do more.

What home improvement projects are you working on this summer?  What is the #1 thing you would change about your home if you could?