How To Renovate an RV On A Budget

See how we made a huge impact on a small budget with this RV renovation. You won’t believe the before and after photos!

Holy. Smokes. 

This RV renovation was the longest, hardest, most rewarding project I’ve ever taken on! 

It was exhausting and frustrating and I even shed a few tears throughout the process BUT…it’s done and I couldn’t be happier or prouder of the way it turned out. 

I am so thankful we took the plunge and bought this little camper so our family can make fun memories together. 

I grew up camping. 

My parents have had an RV from the time I can remember and some of my greatest memories were spent at a campground. 

I remember when Greg and I were thinking about buying a camper, my Dad looked at us and said, “the only mistake I ever made with an RV is not buying one sooner.” 

That was all we needed to hear! 

A few weeks into our search we found the perfect 29’ Palomino Puma and brought her home.  

The demo was the easy part. 

It only took a few hours to get everything out we didn’t want which, honestly, was most of it.  Ha! 

We removed all of the window treatments, the huge, bulky pull-out sofa, the dinette and all of the light fixtures. 

We also removed the cheap trim because we knew we wanted to replace it with something nicer. 

Then the reno started! 

Check out the before and afters + all of the details for each space below.

The Kitchen

Our main goal with this project, like most of my DIYs, was to make it beautiful on a really small budget. 

I challenged myself to transform the entire RV kitchen with paint only! 

Other than new hardware, that’s exactly what we were able to do.  

I chose Revere Pewter for the kitchen cabinets and painted a faux stone wall for the backsplash (you can check out my “Camper” highlight here for that tutorial). 

We used Rust-Oleum Appliance Epoxy spray paint for the sink and I applied Rub ’n Buff in the color European Gold on the faucet. 

Giani Inc. graciously gifted me one of their Marble Countertop Paint Kits and I was totally floored by the results. 

It truly looks like real marble! 

I also painted the refrigerator inserts and removed the microwave and vent hood.  We rarely use a microwave and I knew removing it would really open the space up.  

The Bedroom

The only cosmetic changes we made in here were paint, new hardware and a shiplap wall. 

Both walls and cabinets are PPG Willow Springs. 

I still want to add lights on either side of the bed and maybe a treatment over the mirrored door. 

But, for now it works!

The Bunk Room

This was maybe my most challenging space. 

I had the hardest time deciding what to do in here. 

My first thought was to remove the bottom bunk completely and make it a play area for the kids, while leaving the top bunk. 

But then I realized the water heater and outdoor storage is under the bed…and I also thought we would eventually use the second bunk. 

So, then I decided to remove the floor divider and turn the full bed into a twin.  I think it opened up this space so much and I’m really happy I decided to leave 2 beds in here. 

I built the ladder and rail out of 2x2s and stained them using Minwax’s Early American.

The Beddy’s bedding on these bunks totally completed the look!

The Dining/Living Area

Removing that bulky dinette and sofa made all of the difference in the dining area! 

We decided to remove the upper cabinets and my Dad had the genius idea to drop them down and make a bench. 

No lost storage! 

I found a small, inexpensive table on Amazon and ordered chairs from Ikea. 

I knew I wanted a cute loveseat that had high legs to make the space feel as open as possible and I found the perfect one here! 

The Bathroom

We used the same Marble Countertop Kit on the bathroom countertop and painted the cabinets Revere Pewter. 

Then I added 2 wall shelves, a towel ring and a cute shower curtain and called this tiny space done!  

I also removed the dated medicine cabinet/mirror combo and replaced it with a more modern mirror.

There are still several things I would like to do in this little camper and maybe I’ll get to those soon.

We’ve been enjoying our camping trips this summer and I can’t wait to start booking trips for next year!

If you want more detailed tutorials, I saved a few Camper highlights on my Instagram page.

I’d love to know…have you renovated an RV?

If not, would you ever take on a project like this?