Rethinking RV Interior Design For the Modern Luxury RV

RV remodels are trending these days. If you need proof of that, just head on over to Pinterest, YouTube, or your favorite social media site. Pop the words RV interior design into the search bar and you’ll have thousands of posts to scroll through.

Who can blame RV owners for wanting to mix things up? Open the door to an RV that’s rolled off an Indiana assembly line in the past two or three decades and odds are you’ll see an interior awash in beige, brown, or gray. In the industry’s effort to provide a neutral palette, they’ve veered right into a look that’s more drab than fab. If you have more modern or contemporary tastes, you’re out of luck if you’re buying a stock RV.

Ever since the launch of HGTV and social media, interior design ideas for DIYers have been plentiful, whether you’re looking to makeover a motorhome, fifth wheel, or a travel trailer. No longer do you need a degree from Parsons School of Design to turn your space into something you love. If you have the time, the funds, and the desire to get your DIY on, you can transform your RV into a space that reflects who you are. This is the mentality that’s driving a design revolution among RVers. But what if you could buy an RV with an interior that truly reflects who you are? What if you only needed to add a few finishing touches? With Bowlus, that’s possible.

The History of RV Interior Design
If there was one word to describe the history of RV interior design, it would probably be brown. From dark brown cabinets to brown flooring and beige furniture, shades of brown are undoubtedly the most popular RV colors. There have been some color experiments over the years in factory-made RVs. In fact, a quick scroll through social media will show you how people with older modles are renovating to remove the once popular avocado green (yes, that icon of the 1970s was embraced by the RV world as well).

RV interior design tends to lag behind home interior design by several years. The white, light, and bright interiors popular in today’s modern homes are still rare birds in the RV industry. Manufacturers tend to take a wait and see approach to interior design – if a color trend lasts more than a year or two, then it might be integrated into an RV’s color palette.

But RV interior design is more than just a color palette. It’s about the materials too. RV designers, whether professional or DIY, must make decisions based on weight and safety, not just looks. Solid surface countertops like those made of granite are a nice, luxurious touch, but they’re extremely heavy. If you’re trying to keep the GVWR of the RV down, that’s a factor that has to be considered when selecting materials. That’s why you wind up with walls covered with fake wood veneers that lack style and countertops that prioritize function over design.

RVers Take Interior Design Into Their Own Hands
If you drive or tow your new luxury travel trailer off the lot, you expect that it will be RV living ready. And while technically that’s true because you can immediately head out to your favorite camping spot, cookie cutter RV manufacturers aren’t exactly homey. It takes some effort to turn factory drab into the luxurious, relaxing experience you’re looking for.

Ask any camper that’s redone the interior of their RV why they did it and they’ll tell you they wanted to personalize the space so that it reflects their style. They wanted their RV to be warm and welcoming, however they define that. To some that means painting the cabinetry and interior woodwork white. It could mean adding a pop of color with stylish tile backsplash in the kitchen or covering wood veneer walls with a contemporary looking wallpaper. Other, more ambitious DIYers may even recover or replace the couch, dinette, or chairs with more modern and stylish RV decor.

An RV renovation can be a DIYer’s paradise – if you’re into that sort of thing.

The Downsides of RV Remodels
Of course, there are downsides to buying an RV that you know you’re going to want to restyle. First and foremost, it’s time consuming. Any time you spend painting, wallpapering, or replacing flooring is time you’re not out seeing the world in your RV. It’s also hard work, especially if you’re trying to squeeze your body, your tools, and whatever materials you’re using into a small space like the bathroom.

And then there’s the principle of the thing. You just bought a brand new RV, and now you’re investing even more time, money, and effort into making it your own.

Every Bowlus is Truly Move-In Ready
At Bowlus, we do things differently than the rest of the RV industry. You can see this in everything we do – from the way we build each Terra Firma and Endless Highways Performance Edition, to the way we think about interior design.

Every Bowlus color story is carefully thought out to ensure that our luxury travel trailers provide you with the warm, safe cocoon you need to escape the pressures of everyday life. But we also believe that when you buy an RV, it should reflect your personal style. Our luxury RVs are handcrafted, not sent down an assembly line, which means you can create your own custom space that speaks to you.

We offer two distinctive Bespoke Customization Programs for the Endless Highways Performance Edition. Our customers can work with our design team to select from an industry leading fifty-six million possible combinations. This means you can personalize your trailer, not just settle for the factory standard while dreaming about a remodel.

Good interior design also considers the texture and quality of the materials used in the different living spaces. To make an RV truly luxurious you have to select the finest materials that are cozy, durable, and provide timeless luxury. For example, our gleaming aluminum countertops in the kitchen and bathroom are lightweight, durable, easy to clean, and will never fall out of fashion. We use the highest quality materials that add luxury, but not a lot of weight to our RVs. This ensures we deliver a luxury travel trailer that can be towed with your mid-size SUV.

We take that design philosophy further by installing real birch wood on the walls and ceiling, rather than cheaper wood veneers. Our hotel style bathroom even has teak seating and flooring in the shower. We use durable, yet luxurious hand stitched upholstery on our furniture, and the linens are the same quality that you’d find in a five-star hotel. Standard RV linens typically include a thin, scratchy bedspread and some pillow shams. Bowlus luxury linens are incredibly soft and were selected because they’re ultra-comfortable. They help turn the bedroom into a zen-like space.

Good RV interior design stems from thinking holistically about the entire RV’s design. That means thinking from the outside in and adding exterior features that will transform the interior. Bowlus has large windows along both sides of our luxury travel trailers giving you both an unobstructed view of your surroundings and plenty of natural light. Our distinctive skylights in the living area add to the ambiance of the Bowlus interior. You’ll never feel like you’re in a dark cave when you’re traveling in your Bowlus.