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New RVs can often have unremarkable interiors with neutral colors and standard fixtures. And while that’s a smart decorating move to sell RVs, you may want something more personal and unique. These RV decorating ideas can give you some basic rules for determining how to decorate your own RV.
How to Get Started
Here are some broad RV decorating ideas to jumpstart your vision. Before you consider them in-depth, however, just look around and see what strikes your fancy. Save paint colors from a decorating magazine. Start a Pinterest board with RV decor that you like. Look inside friends’ homes or RVs to see what they did that you like. You don’t have to redecorate your entire rig right away. Spend some time gathering ideas before launching your makeover. You can also take your time with projects, making a small change when you have the time and money to do so.
1. Go with a Theme
Many RVers like to pick a theme for their home-on-wheels. Because the space is small, a theme can easily be carried throughout the RV with accessories. You could go for something like a beach or camping theme. Purchase themed throw pillows, bedspreads, shower curtains, and a few small knick-knacks to tie it all together. If you aren’t sure where to begin with your makeover, choosing a theme might be an excellent starting place.
2. Add a Splash of Color
Something as simple as a throw blanket over the couch or new covers on the dinette cushions can add character. A colorful rug over a stained floor or new pillows on the bed can add a pop of color to an otherwise bland space.
Plants are a great way to bring a little color into your RV. Along with being decor, plants are also a natural air purifier. Some plants that hold up well to travel include air plants, aloe, and edible herbs or greens. There are also lots of plants that fare well with minimal light and maintenance.
3. Hang Some Decor
Many rigs have plain brown or gray walls, which are fine, but monotonous. Spice things up a bit by adding some decor to the walls. Many wall decor DIY ideas are simple and inexpensive, and you may enjoy trying several of them!
When it comes to hanging wall art and decor, you’re not going to want to nail things into your RV’s walls like you would your house. A complex network of wires and other gadgetry is likely running just beneath the surface. You could also puncture the wall all the way to the exterior and create space for a water leak. Use wall mounting solutions, like Velcro Command strips. These are great for paintings, photos, and other lightweight, framed fixtures.
You can also secure art objects like vases and fruit bowls to counter spaces and tabletops using museum putty. This saves you from having to continually put those things in storage when it’s time to get underway.
Some of our favorite wall decor ideas include:
- Pegboards or Wire Wall Grids — These are a fantastic way to display cute items like hats, sunglasses, or purses. Pegboards and wire wall grids are also customizable, allowing you to hang additional hooks, shelving, and storage containers.
- Maps — Show your love of travel by hanging some maps. They can be put in lightweight frames and hung using Command strips, or used as wallpaper.
- Flower Wall — Lightweight, easy, and adorable, this flower wall idea from Sweet Teal is perfect for RV bedrooms.
- Pennant Banners — We’ve seen a lot of pennant banner flags used in RV makeovers. String one up across a big empty wall or even across the wall over your slide.
- Decals — Sometimes a wall decal can add the perfect finishing touch. They are also easy to hang without making holes, and don’t add weight.
- Photo Displays — Many of these DIY photo displays would be lightweight and easy to hang in an RV using Command hooks.
4. Show Off Souvenirs
Display souvenirs you’ve collected during your travels. You could collect magnets, hang a magnetic board on an empty wall, and use it to display your treasures.
Not only will these add a fun personal touch to your RV, they’ll also remind you of the memories you’ve collected on your travels.
5. Spruce Up the Bathroom
Fixing up the bathroom might be one of the easiest things you can do to give your RV a new look. Replacing the shower curtain, throwing down a rug, and adding a cute soap dispenser and toothbrush holder can make a big difference. And none of those changes require a big investment of time or money.
You can even add a backsplash behind the sink using peel-and-stick wallpaper, or you can purchase some peel-and-stick tiles to put over your existing bathroom flooring.
6. Change Up the Bedroom
You can make simple changes to spruce up your bedroom as well. Even changing the bedspread can change the feel of the room. You could also add a faux headboard made of wallpaper, placemats, a tapestry or quilt, or fabric.
7. Swap Out Window Treatments
New window treatments can drastically change the look of your tiny home. And, fortunately, changing your window treatments is a quick, easy project. For a DIY option, try this no-sew curtain idea by Ditching Suburbia. Prefer something premade? We highly recommend the HOPPVALS cellular blinds by IKEA.
8. Turn On Some Lights
All RVs come equipped with lights, but they’re not exactly the prettiest.
There are many decorative light options out there. Some of our favorites include:
- Firefly or Fairy Lights — These delicate lights are perfect for adding a magical twinkle to a place. Hang them over the head of the bed for light that provides calm at the end of a busy day.
- Battery Candles — Another calming light option is a collection of battery-operated candles. These are perfect for giving your home the warm glow of a candle without the danger of actual fire.
- Rope Lights — We love rope lights for adding light to the insides of cabinets. String the lights along the back wall of the cabinet and turn them on anytime you need to see into the back corners of your storage space.
You can even coil a string of fairy lights in a mason jar to use as a desk lamp or nightlight.
9. Change the Furniture
If your RV is older, it might be time to switch out the furniture. This can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. Most RV furniture is relatively easy to remove, requiring only a couple of basic tools. From there, you can add pretty much any furniture that fits. You will need to find a way to bolt your new furniture down so it doesn’t slide while you’re driving.
Some of our favorite brands of furniture for RVs include:
10. Deck the Walls
If you really want to give your RV a new look, a few coats of paint will definitely do the job. You can lighten the place up, add color, show your style, and clean things up, all in one task.
That said, painting RV walls can be tricky. The walls in motorhomes and travel trailers are very slick, and sanding is 100% necessary regardless of your paint or primer. Once you sand everything well, you will want to use one or two coats of primer before applying two or three coats of paint.
A quicker, more temporary solution is to install peel and stick wallpaper. Just make sure your wall surface is clean and dry before applying. If you get tired of the color or design, it’s easy to peel off and replace.
11. DIY Some Decor
There are lots of crafty projects you can do to bring some flair to your RV. Wine cork mini succulent planters make a quirky focal point. Corks can also be repurposed into fun tic-tac-toe pieces, which are great for rainy day games. If you have plants, it’s surprisingly simple to put together a macrame plant hanger. With just a few pieces of cotton cord and a brass ring, you’ll have a beautiful planter set up in no time. Check out the step-by-step written tutorial here to get started making your own.
RV Decorating Tips For Small Spaces
Even if you have just a small area to work with, you can still decorate it to suit your tastes! Here are a few RV decorating tips from Wander Free and Queer on how to make the most out of a small space.
Prioritize Function and Comfort
Allie and I aren’t very handy (even though we wish we were). When shopping for our RV, we knew the floorplan and function of our future home on wheels would likely stay the same. We admire people who can renovate their spaces, but we knew that we wouldn’t be heading down that road ourselves.
We ended up with our 2019 Keystone Alpine 3711KP because we loved the floor plan and the storage options. We had a pretty good idea of what we needed after living on the road in a smaller motorhome for a year prior to purchasing our fifth-wheel. We needed to have separate spaces for separate parts of our day-to-day lives and lots of storage to run our small business. We also needed to feel like we could move around comfortably. When we were shopping for a new RV, we would do a 30-minute rapid run through our day in the different models we were considering to see how daily tasks would work for us. We knew that life would continue to shift and change, but the basics would stay the same.
Pops of Color and Lighting
After deciding on and purchasing our new full-time home on wheels, we began thinking about ways to make it more bright and colorful. A lot of RVs are beige, beige, beige so we began by trying to find ways to add pops of color to each room. We hung some small tapestries and art pieces on the walls and across our living room windows. We also added colorful lanterns with LED lights in them. We love putting on our fireplace and lanterns while watching a movie or crocheting to some music. You can find ways to incorporate color through painting or by adding some art to your walls with velcro. Selecting bolder and brighter colors will really give that beige some contrast!
Decorating makes your space uniquely yours. In darker spaces, think about candles or small LED lights that might give some soft light to those corners and crevices. If you aren’t adding color through painting or wallpaper, think about ways to add colorful art to your space. Maybe postcards from your favorite travel spots? A scratch-off map of the places you have been? Perhaps a small collection of tiny pieces from local shops during your adventures? We feel like showcasing our National Park postcards and our scratch-off map reminds us of why we choose to live in a mobile home.
Permanent Versus Temporary Decor
If you move frequently, you might want to use command hooks to put items on the walls. For dishes, candle holders, and any knick knacks you can use velcro strips or double-sided tape to keep them in place. We use a small piece of double-sided tape to keep our candles from falling off our valance while we are hauling our fifth-wheel.
Choosing lightweight decorations, or ones that have multiple uses (perhaps a decorative basket that both looks good and holds your keys) are also good options for small spaces. If you have decor that you really enjoy but doesn’t seem mobile-friendly, you can have a small bin that you use to collect items as part of your drive day checklist. When you get to your new location, just take that bin around your tiny home and place your items back out. If you choose that last option, then you can even change up where you put things each time you move.
Decorate Your Campsite
When we pull up to a campground spot, we usually have some outdoor space to make our own. Most campgrounds come with a picnic table and fire ring, and some offer small grassy areas or even a cement pad. Many RVers we know have some outdoor items, including a rug, flags, plants, etc. One of the reasons a lot of us enjoy RV living is because we want to spend more time outside, so it might be important to have some things in your outdoor space that make you feel more at home!
Allie and I have a rug under our chairs as well as a small table with one of our favorite Buddha statues on it. We also proudly fly our rainbow flag at every campsite we have been to during our four years of full-time travel. Other things we suggest for outside setup are citronella candles, a tablecloth for your picnic table, lights for hanging outside in the evening, and your favorite coffee mug that you can bring out to sip your morning brew.
Holiday Decor for RVs
You might think that people in tiny homes don’t decorate for holidays or seasons. I mean, where do we keep all of those items when they aren’t in use? We are here to tell you that we DO decorate, and we DO store our seasonal decorations inside of our RV. Allie and I decorate for a few major holidays including Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Halloween. We also deck our RV out with extra rainbows during LGBTQ+ Pride Month.
We have one small bin for each holiday and choose our decor wisely. For Christmas, we have some wood trees that come apart and lay flat, a small ceramic light-up tree, and some festive plates and candles. Halloween decor includes a pillow case, a few small signs, and a skull candle holder. For Pride, we generally add some rainbow flags, candles, and knick-knacks, but let’s be honest and just say that we already have several rainbows out all year long in our RV.
Make It Your Own
Decorating a small space doesn’t have to be complicated, and we may not have bins and bins of knick-knacks or extra candles to put out, but most people like to make their space cozy. We decorated right after getting settled into our fifth wheel, and it makes us feel like we are at home with our rainbows and postcards and throw pillows.
RV Decorating Ideas FAQ
Still have questions? We’ve got answers. Below we’ve compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions about RV decor, along with our camper decor ideas. Hopefully, this section will help clear up any confusion so you can get started on your RV makeover and start enjoying your newly remodeled home-on-wheels.
How can I decorate my RV?
When it comes to decorating your spot, do what you love, and don’t let the opinions of others hold you back. We love the idea of DIY wall decor, colorful additions, and personal touches scattered throughout.
How do you decorate a small camper?
When decorating a small camper, we recommend focusing on replacing rather than adding.
For instance, you might replace the bedspreads, window coverings, and shower curtain, but skip adding wall decor, pillows, or extra lighting that could clutter the space.
How do I brighten my RV?
As we already mentioned, many RVs are pretty dark and drab. Try a lighter paint color, or simple swaps like a light-colored slipcover for the couch and light curtains.
How can I decorate on a budget?
Most people do their RV decorating on a budget. Here are a few suggestions to save some money:
- When shopping for items such as bedspreads and shower curtains, consider discount stores like Ross and Home Goods.
- When it comes to wall hangings, make your own. There are plenty of fun decor items you can make without spending much at all.
- If you’re working with old furniture, you might choose to recover what you have rather than shopping for new items.
- Want to paint the walls? Consider looking for discounted paint. Often, hardware stores will have mis-tinted paint available at a low price. Another option is to check out Habitat for Humanity for cheap paint.
