Interior cabnetry/decorating mods

Replaced all drawer and cabinet handles – 27

We didn’t like the knobs and handles that our Tiffin Open Road came with. They had edges that hooked on pockets. We found a set we liked and cleaned out two big box  hardware stores to get enough inventory.

Install reflectix in all cabinet backs, behind drawers – 28

This helps with both cold and heat. Reflectix seems to make a 10 to 15-degree difference. In smaller spaces, we simply cut it a bit larger and pushed it in. For larger areas, a heavy-duty stapler worked fine.

Insulate doghouse and replace trim around doghouse – 29,30

In order to cut down on the engine noise, we pulled the doghouse cover and added a layer of sound-deadening material (that product is no longer available). This is a similar product. We cut off the carpet they stapled to the floor with 100 staples. In its place, we put a vinyl cove base – wide side down – with double-sided tape. The corners we glued together with superglue. I’ve seen Facebook examples where they created wall-to-wall carpet for the front, which could also trim out around the doghouse.  More about our doghouse adventure here halfway down the page.

Build new doghouse cabinet – 31

We hated the plastic console Tiffin supplied. Our coffee cups wouldn’t fit on it, no place to set anyting etc. Having seen others building cabinets, we also built our own.  There are a number of plans on the internet.  I don’t actually have decent plans for mine, I’d have to recreate them from sketchy sketches.

Change dash access panel – 32

from plastic to wood – we wanted to mount our GPS, dashcam and TPMS plus an additional Rear View Camera monitor, but the plastic surfaces are rough and not conducive to suction mounts. Further, we wanted to be able to screw some mounts into a hard surface.  We took the plastic access panel out, bought and cut a nice piece of plywood, stained it and that now forms the basis for our dash electronics.

Moved front side shades forward – 33

To better cover window and clear seatbelts. The shades left a large gap of window showing on the forward side and got tangled up in the seatbelt mounts. Moving them forward solved both problems.  I simply unscrewed the two screws, moved them forward and drove the screws back into the wood above.  In theory they can just be slid forward but one of my screws was loose so I took them down to explore..

We made a dinette table salt, pepper and toothpic holder(and pen cup) – 34, 35

My mantra is to have as few things to put away when we move as possible. We found a votive candle holder and drilled the holes deeper, double stick taped it to the dinette where it now holds our salt and peper shaker and toothpic holder. We also took an old Pilsberry Dough Boy cup (Deb’s childhoold) and VHB taped it to the table to hold pens and pencils.

Dinette carpet chair mat – 36

The carpet under the dinette gets the dirtiest the fastest, especially with grandkids around. We picked up a chair mat, cut it to width and slid it under the dinette.

Couch left shelf – 37

If you sit on the forward (left) side of the couch there is NO place, even for a phone, let along a drink. I made a table that has wide aluminum plates that slide between the couch and the back of the dinette seat and rests on the “arm” of the couch and is quite stable.

Couch right shelf – 38

At the other end of the couch, there was a space – oddly 
shaped because our couch wasn’t bolted in square with the wall. I made a shelf, custom fit to that space as well.  There is still room to slide a folding stool, and various other items in at the end of the couch.

Foam matress – 39

In the couch instead of air mattress. We didn’t, at first, have plans to use the fold out couch and its air mattress very much.  But the thought of having to inflate it every night of use wasn’t appealing. Plus air mattresses have to have just the right amount of air to be comfortable. We gave it away and bought a good quality piece of foam about 5 inches thick and put a mattress cover on it. There is 9 inches or so between the folding frames so it closes easily. We don’t remember which one we bought – probably a Walmart something or other.

Refoamed couch cushions twice – 40,41

The cushions in the couch as suppled were like concrete. Too uncomfortable to sit through a TV show. We bought new foam and used them for a while, but they were too soft.  I still had the original cushions, so I split them horizontally down the middle and used half original foam with half the softer foam on top. Not thrilled with them, but they are acceptable. Good foam is expensive: you need to get a good feel for what is going to work before you buy.  Our older puppies didn’t like the slickness of the cushions so we purchased some inexpensive slipon covers from amazon.  We use them on our dinette seats as well.

Footstools with storage – 42

We wanted footstools for the couch to put our feet up  – and there is never enough storage.  Our footstools provide extra “kitchen storage”: paper plates, air fryer parts, etc. On travel days, they go in the hallway between the bathroom and shower – not entirely convenient, but we can still enter the bathroom.  Alternatively, one can go under the dinette with the water bottles we carry as well.

 

Cut down and recovered living area valances – 43

Valances that hang down to the bottom of the window just get in the way. We removed the vallances in the living room, took off the vertical sides, cut the valances DEPTH down then covered them with thin polyester batting and sky/cloud material we found at a fabric store. They make it a little harder to reinstall the shades, but we manage and the valances are lighter and smaller.  They really light up with our mood lights and are certainly more fun that the formal pattern Tiffin chose.

Replaced black shades – 44

With our pictures – we really didn’t like the black shades. A big part of each room was all plain black. AND when the sun was shining, it seemed blocking the sun with black shades was silly. So, being photographers, we went through our pictures for sizes appropriate to each shade and ordered outdoor banner material with our pictures printed on them. It is a little bit of work to change them out, but with really good, memerable pictures, we don’t get tired of them.  If we do, we can just change them!  Its on my todo list to publish the process to do this.  If you are the DIY type and want an advance version, let me know.

Added towel rack – 45

to refrigerator – Tiffin installed NO towel rack in the kitchen area. I epoxied a bolt into each end of a standard towel rack, added a magnet with a tapped hole to the bolt, cutting it off flush and we stick the rack to the fridge door. Now there is no reason you couldn’t just screw short screws into the fridge door either, but go on, just try to tell your wife you are going to drill and screw into her new refrigerator!

Replaced kitchen valence – 46

Tiffin has a nice large window behind the kitchen counter in our 2019 32SA – but it seems they were afraid we might see the window frame so they put this huge, very heavy, stone tile valance in front of the window with a small opening. Everything about it was wrong – it even took up 4 inches of counter space. We pulled ours, tossed it out (about 80 pounds worth) and built a new one out of 5/16th wood, painted it white and with an opening that allows us to see out of the whole window and only takes up 1.5 inches of counter space.  It could be wrapped in some sort of wall paper or painted some whimsical pattern.

Added spice rack – 47

Spices need to be handy. I built this simple rack – could have been bigger but this works fine for us.

 

Paper towel holder – 48

Tiffin also failed to install a paper towel holder. We like this one, it holds the roll enough to tear off sheets cleanly.  I works nicely behind the kitchen sink faucet.

Converted pantry slide to shelves – 49

When we got the RV, the sliding pantry was too stiff to comfortably operate. I tried several times to re-align the slides – then just gave up. I pulled the slide, added a shelf and converted the slide door into a cabinet door. Works great for us and has so much more usable space.

Added pseudo tile wall paper in kitchen – 50

We wanted to brighten things up, so the wall between the cooking area and the fridge got covered with a white pseudo tile wall paper.

Replaced three drawer boxes in bedroom – 51

The bedroom drawers were way smaller than they needed to be. Clothes were always falling out over the back of the drawer to the floor inside the cabinet. They could easily be several inches taller and 4 or 5 inches deeper. I bought some cabinet quality plywood and mimiced the original drawer boxes, only bigger. We also added longer better quality drawer slides.  It is possible to buy premade drawer boxes but I don’t know if you can get the exact size you’d need for these drawers.

Added essential oils rack – 52

Yes we use essential oils sometimes. They need their own storage rack designed for the smaller bottles.  This is in the bedroom, under the TV on the wall that backs up to the shower.

Carpet in bathroom – 53

I know, I know, Carpet in the bathroom? you say. Yes – it’s nice on those cold night trips in bare feet (we also have a runner between the bathroom and shower into the bedroom).  We buy a 4×6 carpet scrap with sown edges at a hardware store.  I stated by making a cardboard pattern of the bathroom floor. Then I used that to make a rough cut – making sure the sown seam edge was in the doorway and in front of the toilet. Then I put it in place and do the final trimming. Every six months or so, we change it out, using the old one as a pattern for the new one. I do put the waxy carpet tape on the floor, but the room is so small, it probably isn’t needed.

Added shelf in bathroom towel cabinet – 54

The towel cabinet above the toilet needed a shelf in the middle, and so it got one.

Change from 2 to 3 shelves in medicine cabinet – 55

The medicine cabinet only had one shelf – which was great if your primary need was to stand up your toothbrush. BUT, if you were going to have three people in the RV sometimes, there was no place for three sets of items. I took part of the pantry slide left over and split the shelf space in the cabinet into three spaces. We added some plastic trays to store and organize bathroom items on the shelves.

Moved mirror opposite toilet to outside wall – 56

It made more sense for us to have the main mirror between the window and medicine cabinet. Removing it from the wall left a huge mess, so it was immediately covered up with a nice picture.

Changed furnace inlet grating to metal – 57

The furnace return air vent under the refrigerator was made up of  8 wooden slats. They were all warped and looked pretty bad. We bought a piece of stamped sheet metal from the hardware store and tossed the wood.  For simplicity, I trimmed it to fit and hot glued it in place.