We bought a 1997 37 ft Fleetwood Bounder with a 14 ft slide. If anyone remembers the trends of the ‘90’s than you will easily envision the large cornflower blue flowers that adorned most upholsteries of furniture in homes with wheels as well as homes without wheels. Our motorhome was no exception. It also came deluxe with cornflower blue carpet, valances, countertops and laminate flooring. I mean this thing was BLUE. But because of its age and us being the third owners it was also tinged with a topical shade of dirt. All in all, the blue had to go.
Fortunately Jeramie has a few years of experience in remodeling homes so what could have been a mess no normal person would tackle became just another weekend project for us. So, out came most all of the interior. With the help of Jeramies dad we had a clean slate and new interior in only a short weekend.
Most class A motorhomes come with a master bedroom and additional sleeping space at the dinette and fold down couch. But we have three little kids and with Jeramies long work hours we knew that that particular arrangement just could not do. So here is what we did….
We replaced all of the carpet with new more neutral tan colors in the bedroom and on the slide floor and under the drivers and passenger seats. The main floor living space has wood laminate flooring and we put down tile on the floors in the bathroom. The bathroom originally had carpet and I really cannot understand this. I mean, the average toilet in a motorhome doesn’t really leave any room for a 7 year old boy to overshoot his target. I do understand that most motorhomes do not house seven year old boys longterm but it seems to me that it is still a factor to consider in the planning phases of development of a recreational vehicle. But since the big guys at Fleetwood didn’t plan for that, we made the adjustments ourselves.
We pulled out the master bed and built a bunk bed three racks high on one side of the room and put in a simple desk on the other side. This allows for storage of all things that fit in steri-lite containers (mostly toys).
We ripped out the dinette and couch on the slide and replaced it with a built-in murphy bed for us adults. In case you aren’t sure what exactly a Murphy bed is, it folds into the wall when not in use and folds down out of the wall to the floor when needed from hinges placed at the back side of the bed frame. It looks like a wall when folded up. We trashed the couch and replaced it with a more trendy black faux leather couch that will still fold down into a double bed. It has a middle arm that folds down with built in cup holders so the kids have a place for their drinks while traveling. So technically, our RV now sleeps seven and it originally only slept six. Since we no longer have a dinette we use a resin fold up table and resin folding chairs that can easily be put away during transit and in between meal times. It allows for every extra inch of space that we can get our hands on that is free and clear of cumbersome built-ins. When the Murphy bed is folded up we get the extra square footage back in free space.
The bathroom got new tile counter tops, a new porcelain sink and better quality faucet along with the new flooring.
The kitchen also got new tile counter tops, back splash and faucet. Since my usable counter space in the kitchen was about 12 inches in width, Jeramie built me a folding peninsula counter extension that is attached to the cabinetry and folds down when not using it. So now my kitchen is more of an “L” shape instead of the standard single wall sink to stove arrangement.
The living space had an additional chair and side table behind the front passenger seat that we removed and put in a locking file cabinet for our personal papers and school books.
Jeramies job requires an office set-up. Since there is so much wasted space at the front of class A’s we took advantage of the passenger seat as a desk chair and built a 4 ft by 5 ft desk that lends enough space for our computers, printer, etc.
We replaced the electronics with new flat panel T.V.s and insatlled it with the “necessary” media equipment. You know, for rainy days. Movies, the occasional video game and every now and then whatever on the Wii. Basketball is not the easiest game to play with the limit of a 7 ft ceiling but we get a good game of golf in regularly.
Propane is not cheap so we stopped using the central forced air unit and have been using regular space heaters and nobody has frozen yet. We also equipped the hot water heater with an electric modification to decrease the propane usage and that has been the best investment.
I think that is about it. This RV is definetly not the same rig we bought. But we got a super deal on it because it wasn’t very clean on the inside (mechanically it was a smokin’ deal) so the little money in materials we put into it was justifiable. We are fortunate that we had the skill and aptitude needed to make these changes built-in to Jeramie and his dad. In addition, we were able to customize it to our needs instead of trying to live around an inadequate floor plan for a family of five. If we were to do it over again I would do everything exactly the same. I love our little house on wheels and will be sad when the day comes for us to park it and move into something that is attached to the ground.
