I don’t know how many of you out there actually cook in your RV… but we never do. We use the microwave, sure… but its such close quarters… the thought of trying to fry or bake something up in that little propane oven of mine sort of freaks me out!

I ended up using the oven as a storage area,a small one at that. I spoke with our RV repair guy, Kieth…(who is awesome by the way!!) and we pulled that oven right out and had a custom cabinet put in its place. THis was one of those projects were I assisted by checking to see what he needed, watching over his shoulder and taking pictures.. lol… I was too scared to do it myself as I thought for sure I would blow us up! heehee
According to Kieth… nothing in an RV is EVER built squared…. everything has its own set of angles and such going on…. so it took a little work and a few extra adjustments…. but he got it done.

I am really excited about getting my kitchen back in order… The next item on my list is removing the Microwave and making even more space!!

The hole that was left….

The final product… a new cabinet…. with two shelves for tons more space!!!

When we are full timing in the RV…. we need extra room for the kids to go to. Somewhere in the shade.. but not really out in the weather. Somewhere that has a table and some space for them to do their thing, give us all a little breathing room.

We decided to provide this extra space, we need a  reliable shelter/canopy set up. Here is a picture of one at Walmart.com, that is under $150 and has received some great reviews!

When we make our decision and ultimately our purchase we will do a practice run to make sure it will fit what we need it to fit. It will be set up outside the coach doors and will have a pic nic table in it, as well as our little ones toy box and play kitchen set. There will also be some lighting for when we are enjoying the night air.

Another pro to this is the protection from the mosquitoes! Last year.. we were eaten alive every night! Those bugs were the size of dragon flies by the time they moved on from our family! lol….

This particular product shown has privacy screening, which we really like for sun screening depending on the weather. Here in Arizona it’s not always just about being hot. It can get cold.. and it does get really windy!

Will keep you posted on what we decide to get, the specs and how it works out!

SO for the last few months we have been parked. A friend from church had a 1100 sq foot guest house that was sitting empty. SO I drained our tanks… bleached them out, emptied the water heater, and we parked. It works out well. It gives us time to make some adjustments and modifications to our RV while providing much needed help for our friend.(Childcare and house cleaning help!) =)

In case you don’t remember, or are not familiar with my RV, let me refresh you. I have a 1987, 24 foot  Honey RV. It has a chevy engine and sleeps 4-5.

Now we spent 6 months living in the RV on a local farm. We learned a few things during that time. We also got to do a lot of hands on maintenance during that time. It was fun though.

During that time we replaced our AC unit, we replaced the toilet, we replaced some water tubing/pipes, and we tore up the floor and put down laminate “wood” floors. We also went through a phase of wanting to redo our roof, but it cost to much to under take right now, so we just learned how to be really good sealers. Ha!

For this next time we are a little more prepared. In the closets there is no normal closet clothes rod. Its more like a single metal bar across the top with little bitty holes in it. You put the hangers thru the holes.

There are a few problems this presented:

1. We had all plastic hangers and they were two big to put more than one into th hole. SO we had to switch out to all metal hangers. What a pain!

2. You can fit two to three hangers in the holes using the metal hangers, however… this also means your clothes are extremely smooshed together!

I decided to prevent these issues from happening again, I am going to go real simple like and put in some tension shower rods. They cost anywhere from $7.99 to $11.99 at your local Target. And the best part.. it only took about 5 minutes to install! Love it!

Another issue I want to correct before we move back in is the whole oven/stove top issue. My issue with this appliance is my own. No one else in my family has this issue.

I am scared to death to cook on the thing! lol… I am much happier with eating RAW, using the microwave and using the propane grill outside!  Just the thought of trying to cook in such a small area… and it being propane… I just know I will manage to blow us up somehow!! lol…

Because of this I used the oven as a small storage area. It really wasn’t very big at all. I am going to change that though.

Before we move in to the RV full time again, I am going to RIP that oven/stove top out! I am going to build in a shelf or two, put on a cabinet door, and fill the hole in my counter top with a butcher block type slab top.

Make sense? I Hope so!!

Stay tuned for pictures and info when that project gets underway!

So we had to replace the toilet. The seals were old and cracked. They were leaking water, not pouring, but leaking. A slow and steady sort of leak. We had to put a towel down around the base and within 3-4 days it was sopping wet.

Enter Kieth the RV Mobile Repair guy. He is the bomb diggity! I don’t mind being a do it yourself… as long as I know where to start. Kieth has no problems with telling me where to start and how it should end up.

So apparently they don’t make this size, and brand of toilet anymore. I asked Keith to keep an eye out for me and get us a good deal. For $150  we replaced the toilet. And it only took about 10 minutes or so to do. It was amazingly easy!

You unscrew the bolts, and pull the toilet up and off! Plug the hole with a rag or two to keep any smells from escaping. Oh and it is very important you turn the water off before doing anything else!! Wipe the area clean from any debris, and place your new toilet on the hole. Don’t forget to remove your rags.

You can also purchase “lifts”… this is a piece that will “lift” your toilet up about 6-8 inches higher than factory height. This is something good for those with bad knees, but for us.. with the kids.. it was an option we will wait on. You can purchase a lift at your local RV stores for about $20-$30.

The new Throne

Needless to say we are lovign our new throne! THe baby (3 yrs old) was so happy! She loves the pedal flusher. Going to the bathroom was never so mcuh fun! ha!

Cleanliness Space is next to Godliness in your RV

Today I want to share with you my thoughts on our RV shower. In our case… we don’t use it… well, not in the typical sense. Some RV’ers do use their showers and some do not. We happen to be of the mind that if the place we are staying has hot water we don’t have to pay to heat up… by all means why not!! Plus there are 5 of us in this 24 ft space.. and trying to shower is beyond comprehension in here to me. It would definitely be worthy of America’s Funniest Home Videos to say the least.

When we moved into our RV, we looked at the shower, and realizing the potential of that unused space I decided to turn it into storage! You could easily go cheap, and use blocks and boards, or even a couple of empty crates turned on the side… Or you could splurge and go buy some shelving that would fit the dimensions you need.

We went half and half. We had one of those silver fake metal shelving units that go behind your toilet (in a stick house of course) with the two shelves for towels or whatever. It fits perfectly in our shower space. We have about 12 inches left on each side. Then in the middle on the floor of the enclosure, I put a big block. On top of that block I then carefully balanced my storage bins. These are regular white plastic storage bins that stack on top of each other. You can find them at your local Target or even Walmart.

They fit just right under the towel shelves. I used the block to raise them up enough so the lip of the bottom shelf was even with the shower enclosure otherwise it would block the bottom bin.  I then used one of those travel bags you can get at Walgreens, to store our hair stuff and combs and brushes and such… Its the kind you would normally hang on the back of the door, but we have it hanging on the shower rod. 

 
I also have a pretty Dallas Cowboy Blue cloth shower curtain hanging there. When we have company coming.. I can close the curtain and it makes it look all matchy with our bedspread and curtains, like we planned it to be color cordinated…(we did of course..)
  

Now I use the two top shelves for our towels.. and then we use the bins for extra clothing. My hubby had no room to put his socks or shorts into and these bins worked perfect for that! You could use them for just about anything though.

My kids tease and say we are so redneck (I think frugal is a better suited word)… but you could do so many different things with this sort of project. I like to have colors I find pleasing… but it has to be cost effective and functional (which is as inexpensive as we can get without settling for bad quality)! So now that I’ve shared my shower with you, tell me… what are you doing with your shower? =)