Editor’s Note: John and Lisa Lloyd / Kageyama are members of LTV’s sponsored content team, The Leisure Explorers. Do you own a Leisure Travel Van and enjoy writing? Learn more about joining the team.
As frequent RVers, we knew that our RV needed to have all the functionality of a traditional home and then some. For the most part, newer RVs come with all the bells and whistles to make life on the road abundantly comfortable. The challenge that we had with selecting our next RV was that so many of them leave much to be desired aesthetically, both from an interior and exterior perspective. Layer on the challenge of wanting to have a smaller footprint, and a Leisure Travel Van was the no-brainer choice. The clean, simple designs and the richness of materials make for a great foundation, allowing your LTV to reflect your personal style. The nice thing is that it does not take much to give your rig a decorated look.
Choose a Color Pallet
This was the first step that we took before making any of our purchases. Pinterest has seemingly unlimited inspiration for color and corresponding products that fit within the palette that you select. For our rig, we opted for a desert-inspired color palette with a mix of different shades of terracotta, mustard, and deep green. We were influenced by our many months of traveling through the south western portion of the United States, specifically, Sedona, Arizona, where the richness of the red-colored dirt is intensified against the olive vibrancy of the Verde Valley. Like many RVers, we wanted our décor to reflect our experiences from the road.
Soft Goods Will Complete the Look
Rugs, pillows, and throw blankets will bring all the comfy, cozy vibes to your small space. While RVing draws us towards the outdoors, there are rainy days, nights, and rest days that keep us within the small confines of our space. It should be welcoming and enticing. A decorative rug can decorate a whole room; it is as simple as that. Also, the dogs love them. We used a small 2-foot x 3-foot rug for our lounge area and another in the kitchen. Other layouts might benefit from a runner. Pillows are great for comfort but can also add a splash of color and offer some much-needed texture. We purchased three small pillows, and while they primarily stay in the lounge area, we use them in the dining area while working for extra back support. Finally, a throw blanket, is both functional and can be that one item that says, “snuggle up and watch some Netflix.” It can add a pop of color, or it can help protect the Ultra Leather from getting dirty. All these things can be collected throughout your journey so they can truly reflect your experiences on the road. To start, we took our LTV to various stores like HomeGoods, Target, and Urban Outfitters so that we could “test” the look and size of them in our LTV and promptly return anything that didn’t work.
Bring the Outdoors In
We love the way both fresh and faux plants look in our RV. It’s an easy way to bring color into the space and fill some of the open shelving. Our love of plants might be a bit over the top for some, but we absolutely love the look of our herb garden in our kitchen. We removed the television in the front of our LTV Rear Lounge and replaced it with the Ikea Hultarp system of hanging pots. To cover up some of the holes from behind the television, we filled them, then applied a peel and stick tile in a hexagon Carrara style to make it look finished. Because we cook most our meals, the herb garden is another fantastic way to add freshness to scrambled eggs, salads, and soups. We use museum putty to keep plant vessels in place so there is no need to bring down the plants when moving the rig.
Add a Personalized Touch
Little personalized touches will be the things that people comment on when visiting your LTV. For ours, it’s definitely our spice jars. Ours are simply Ikea Rajtan spice jars with DYMO embossed labels. On a few of the spices, we’ve made some humorous spice puns such as “Old Bae” and “Oregano Gangsta”. Other personalized touches might be family photographs or framed paintings. Regardless of which route you choose, these personalized touches are good conversation starters (not that RVers ever need much of an excuse to strike up a conversation!)
Don’t Forget Your Patio!
While storage can be a challenge for some floor models (looking at you, Wonder and Unity Rear Lounges!), if you can fit a couple of items for your outdoor space, it’s worth it. We don’t have much storage, but we do keep a couple of essentials on hand and bring some of our items outdoors onto our “patio” on occasion. We have a fun printed outdoor rug in black and white that matches our Euro Sport color scheme and a couple of folding chairs. We have a larger folding table that we use for working or sharing meals. On occasion, we bring out our ottoman-style table and use this as a little side table to set our drinks and/or small cheese and charcuterie platter on. Some of the plants will come outside to add to the ambiance. It’s good to sun the plants but it also makes it looks like you really have done up your patio. If you have ample storage space (looking at you Wonder Rear Twin Bed!), you might want to bring along hanging lights for your awning, a small propane fire pit, or solar tiki torches. The options are limitless, depending on how much time you spend outdoors. Just remember, if you don’t have a tow vehicle, that you will probably want to keep a modest patio set-up, because packing up your outdoor space can quickly become cumbersome if you move often.
Ultimately, it doesn’t take very much to brighten up your space and making it your own. In most cases, less is more when RVing and the same goes for décor. LTV has exquisitely designed these spaces for optimal functionality, so anything more than a couple of items will only hinder the design. These few additions are simply to help reflect your personal style and make the RV more comfortable for all the traveling you will be doing.
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