5 Budget-Friendly RV Upgrades that Make a Big Impact

Whether you’re trying to maximize the value of your RV when you’re ready to sell it, or you’re  planning to keep it for a few more years and you want to improve your camping experiences, here are a few budget-friendly RV upgrades that will both enhance your camping enjoyment  and increase your RV’s value when it is time to trade or sell it.  

Styles and Designs Change 

The interior designs of all RVs (like interiors of new homes) reflect whatever trends are popular  at the time. Believe it or not, there was a time when cutting edge interior design included  mustard or avocado colored appliances. And whatever the current home design styles are, those trends will be reflected in all the new RVs built in that same time frame. Current RV  design trends are readily discernible in the fabrics, floor coverings, draperies, color schemes,  wall treatments, and hardware. By upgrading these features, you can completely change the  look and feel of your RV and many of these upgrades are relatively inexpensive. Most RVs  don’t need structural upgrades, but the interiors can quickly become dated.

Don’t despair. Even if you don’t have a smidge of design savvy you can still confidently  proceed with many budget-friendly RV upgrades. If you’re not sure exactly what to do, just  look up a few RV manufacturer’s websites. There you’ll see all the current trends, colors,  styles, fabrics, wall treatments, pillows, upholstery, and hardware. Use these images as a guide  for selecting the most modern styles for your upgrades. Of course, all these choices will  eventually also become dated but at least you will have caught up with the current trends.  

These 5 areas (plus a bonus suggestion) are a great place to start your budget-friendly RV  upgrades. 

1. Exterior  

2. Hardware 

3. Cabinet Faces 

4. Draperies/Window Coverings 

5. Upholstery 

6. Bonus Upgrade – Floors 

Exterior Condition 

This may seem like a no-brainer, but the exterior of your motorhome, travel trailer, or 5^th wheel,  creates the first impression and if it’s showing a lot of wear, dirt, or damage, it immediately  creates a negative impression, in your own mind and the minds of any potential buyers. If your  RV has obvious visible damage it would be a good investment to have those defects corrected. 

This of course may not fall in the budget-friendly category if it involves a significant amount of  body work, but most exterior upgrades will only involve repairing minor damage, like torn  awning fabric, or replacing foggy double pane windows, and thoroughly cleaning the exterior.  Additionally, it might be worth the expense to have your RV professionally washed, waxed, and  detailed. Of course, to save money you could do this yourself and some people would prefer  to do so, just to know that it’s been done correctly.

But either way, whether you hire it done or  do it yourself, it makes a huge difference in your attitude when your RV looks new, clean, and  inviting. In that condition, you’re more apt to want to use your RV and to continue taking better  care of it. As a side note, I’ve heard that people who routinely wash their cars have fewer accidents because they’re more attentive and careful in their driving behaviors, and this might  spill over to RVs as well.

Admittedly, washing and waxing your RV will not keep you from  hitting a deer, but having an RV you’re proud of might help you remember to slow down and  swing wide around those large rocks or trees that are often way too close to many RV park’s roadways. 

Hardware 

The hardware in an RV like all the other design choices reflect the styles and trends of when the RV was built. Every year, RV manufacturers pay thousands of dollars to interior designers  to create “warm and modern” interior designs. Unfortunately, trends change quickly and that  means your RV is soon dated by its interior design features. An avocado colored refrigerator  face might have been cutting edge in the late 70’s but it’s jarring and off putting 50 years later. 

A light blue carpet in your motorhome and large floral print upholstery looked great around the  turn of the century, but no one would choose those interior treatments today. In the same way  the hardware in your RV can quickly become dated. For a small fee, drawer and cabinet pulls,  and facets can easily be updated to more modern tones, finishes, and shapes. 

Additionally, there may be other reasons you’d like to upgrade your hardware, even if the  hardware is not dated. For example, we bought a new motorhome in 2019 and immediately  changed all the drawer pulls because they were square with sharp corners which dug into your  hand every time you tried to pull a drawer open.

In addition to the square corners being  uncomfortable to use, we had a dog with poor near vision and many of the drawer pulls were  at her eye level. We didn’t want her to turn quickly and catch her eye on one of those sharp  corners. Replacing all that hardware cost less than $40 and the new fixtures were easier on  our hands and on our dog’s face. 

Cabinet Faces 

Many older RVs feature deep colored cabinet faces like Cherry Wood or Walnut. Even the  lighter Maple colored cabinets have become dated over time. The current trend is toward very  light slate, white, or alabaster cabinet faces. If you have an RV and want to modernize its  interior style just paint all the cabinetry in a lighter color. It might be a bit time consuming but  it’s a budget-friendly upgrade that won’t cost much. For best results remove the drawer faces  and cabinet doors so you can paint all the visible surfaces including under all the hardware. And do that work outdoors to avoid paint spills and exposure to harmful fumes. 

Draperies and Window Covering 

Many RVs have very dated window treatments, in terms of style, color, and fabric but there are  many budget-friendly ways to upgrade RV draperies. The simplest might be to replace all the  shades with day and night roller shades. These window coverings are fairly easy to install and  once they’re in place, they retract out of sight behind the valance when not in use.

A popular alternative to roller shades are pleated fabric blinds. These are also easy to install and retract  behind the valance like roller shades. The roller blinds are mechanically retracted with a spring while the pleated blinds are lowered and raised manually. Even replacing the strings in the  pleated drapes is an easy DIY project. In our 1999 RV we eventually had to replace the strings  in almost all the shades. It involved watching a couple of YouTube videos, buying the repair  kits from Camping World and taking the time to remove the shades and replace the strings. 

On the other hand, repairing a defective roller shade in our newer RV was beyond our ability  and when one of them stop retracting, even after watching numerous YouTube videos, we finally just had to order a replacement blind. There is another type of window shade that was  often used in older RVs and may still be a viable alternative. These shades are very popular in homes as well and are made of PVC slats that are retracted with a pull string on the side. 

These come with either vertical or horizontal slats and in many contemporary colors. My opinion of this option is they are suitable for any type of trailer, but not ideal for motorhomes  because they can rattle when you’re traveling. The less things banging around in your  motorhome (whether it’s glassware, cutlery, or drapers) the better. Even in a trailer, PVC drapes can bang up against the windows on a windy day. And this RV drapery style originated  in the 60’s and 70’s so they are already dated.

Some people choose more traditional home style drapes for their window treatments but be advised, the wrong colors and patterns in  these homespun solutions can quickly degrade the visual appeal of the RV, so be careful to select modern colors, patterns, and drapery hardware.

Upholstery 

Modernizing the upholstery may be the least budget-friendly upgrade in your RV but it will have  a huge impact on the look and feel of your RV’s interior. All the fabric on soft surfaces may  need to be replaced and that may involve hiring an upholstery specialist. But it is certainly  within the range of possible. In our new 2019 motorhome we immediately started having issues  with the upholstery on both the driver’s seat and the passenger seat. This seemed like an  insurmountable problem for us, but Newmar acknowledged the defect (not just in our RV but  all of them manufactured at that time) and they arranged for the seats to be reupholstered.

We dropped the RV off at the upholstery shop and picked it up a few hours later with the work  completed. Unfortunately, we continued to have the same upholstery issues in other soft  surfaces in our motorhome, like the dinette and recliners. It seemed overwhelming to us that  they would need to remove the dinette or even the recliners, but when we took the RV to the  Newmar factory it was just another day in the repair shop for them and they quickly disassembled the furniture and replaced it all. Professional upholstery can be a little expensive  but the overall impact and the overall aesthetic appeal, is well worth it. 

Bonus: Final Budget Friendly Upgrade – Replace the Floor Coverings This upgrade is recommended if your RV is old, or if the carpet is so shabby and dirty that you  can no longer clean it. Also, if you find yourself chasing a water leak that has seeped into the  subfloor, it’s the perfect time to fix the leak, the water damage, and replace the floor coverings all at the same time.

If you’ve already replaced or painted the cabinetry, and replaced the  fixtures and window coverings, upgrading the floors to a contemporary style will complete the  interior aesthetics. It might be a larger budget item but you should be able to recapture that  extra expense in your overall enjoyment and the resale value later on. 

Ready to Upgrade?

The cost of any or of these upgrades will, in part, depend on how much you can do yourself  and how much expert help you’ll need. It will also depend on the quality of the parts and  materials you use for the upgrades. My advice is don’t skimp. Saving $.30 per drawer pull, or  $12 on a cheaper vanity light or faucet won’t significantly impact your long term budget but it could compromise the quality of your upgrades and lead to future new repairs. These  upgrades suggestions are intended to be budget-friendly, not cheap.