RV Living Room Makeover

 The living room is the first thing you see when walking into our new-to-us motor home. The first time I walked into it I wanted to throw away what might have been the ugliest home conversion of a sofa made in all of time. This motorhome didn’t have the original sofa by any means. They had to have done their own RV Living Room Makeover, if that’s what you want to call what this was.

I am speaking mildly by saying what the previous owner must have been thinking here…

“I am going to mold 3 pieces of different sofas together as a Hippie Hodge-Podge mix of crap in the slide-out area”.

“Sleeper Sofa” that was actually 3 different sofa’s put together somehow. Wow! Just WOW! LOL!

 

 

HOWEVER, I have a vivid imagination and I could see potential! HA-HA! Which is why we decided to do this RV Living Room Makeover!

 

 

Furniture

Needless to say, when I got the camper home and showed Angie, we decided the couch wasn’t salvageable and we tossed it out! I won’t say what Angie’s reaction was to the sofa the first time she saw it. HA-HA!

 

 

The Barrel Chair

The barrel chair was in good shape, so we decided to keep it and have it reupholstered. We did this in the same black vinyl to match the front captain and passenger seats we had done. The barrel chair would give us a extra seat when traveling, so we thought it was important to keep.

 

Very BLUE Barrel Chair BEFORE

The Theatre Seating

We spent a lot of time looking and trying to decide what furniture to put in the slide out to replace the “Sofa Sleeper” that was there. The size of the slide-out didn’t leave many options. If you have looked into replacing a sofa in a motorhome with smaller slide-outs, then you know what we were going through!

 

 

Angie ended up ordering 3 different theatre recliners and ALL 3 orders were canceled because they were no longer sold! Eventually, she went back to the very first one she found and loved called the Octane Seating Cloud XS850 Home Theatre Reclining Chairs in black bonded leather. They are a space saving design, and allow you recline from only 4″ away from the wall thankfully! These are the theatre seating recliners that she originally wanted but was concerned about them being too large in depth for the slide-out. They actually fit much better than we anticipated, however, I did have to make some slight adjustments to the seats. I did this by taking 1×6 inch pieces of wood, routered the edges in a look I liked, installed them, and paint the wood black to match the window tapestries that we reupholstered.

FINALLY A WIN!!

 

Accessories for the Octane Theatre Seating

What makes the Octane Theatre Seating so unique is the Octane Exclusive Accessory Docks that hold accessories such as TRAY TABLE, WINE GLASS HOLDER, SWIVEL POPCORN BOWL, TABLET HOLDER, LED FLEX LIGHT, and more! Additionally, there are cup holders built into the seats which is a huge plus in a motorhome with limited space for even a small side table.

Purchasing the optional iPad holder and optional tray tables (all pictured in photo below) were an absolute MUST for us!

 

 

The tray tables alone are a big hit and save us from having to lug out that heavy table and poles to put into the floor. Angie also loves that there is a trim of grey leather material that goes down the front each leg of these theatre seats which matches the front cab vinyl perfectly!

 

After bolting them down to the frame in the floor and making them safe to travel in with seat belts, the living room was turning out great!

 

Flooring

If you have been following SOWLE RV’s RENOVATION, REMODEL, AND MAKEOVER, OH MY! Series, then you know I replaced the flooring throughout the entire motorhome. The living room carpet was the first to go out as well as the slide-out carpet. 20+ years of the same carpet was not a pretty site. You can read more about that in Removing and Replacing RV Flooring. I had to remove the barrel chair that sat in the corner and like I said before, the sofa was thrown out, so this opened the entire living room up to put new flooring in. However, what I found when I removed the old “sofa” was infuriating!

 

What I Found When I Removed the “Sofa”

When I removed the sofa, I found out that the slide out window had leaked. This rotted the wall paneling on the inside of the wall behind the sofa. The damage was really contained to the lower 30 inches of the wall and was covered by the previous owner.

 

 

What I found behind the “sofa” (Excuse the lack of quality of photo).

So, I decided I was going to do a partial replacement. The area I was covering would be blocked from the theatre seating we were installing so I didn’t feel it necessary to replace the entire wall. I did basic caulking along the edges and just painted the whole inside of the slide-out white using the same PPG Paint that I used through out the entire Motor Home.

 

Ceiling

The fabric ceiling in the living room was no different than the rest of the motorhome. There were excessive water stains all over. You can read more about that in How to Remove Stains from RV Ceiling Fabric.

 

The Slide-Out

The front edge of the slide out was missing the side trim that covers the aluminum framing. This is what closes out the look of the slide out when extended. I got that all replaced and looking nice again.

 

 

Hardware

We updated the hardware with the same as we used in the Bedroom Makeover to keep things flowing throughout the RV. You can read more about that in RV Bedroom Makeover in 7 Easy Steps (the hardware replacement is in Step #3).

 

Trim Boards Behind Captain and Passenger Seats

The last piece of the puzzle was the two trim boards that cover the walls in front of the slide-out and barrel chair. I reused the same wood that was cloth wrapped in blue before and wrapped it in grey vinyl to match the upper bunk cushions.

 

 

 

Window Coverings and Curtain

In the photo above, you can see the “open” look of the Deconovo Light Grey Blackout Curtain Panels Angie picked out and hung between the front Cab Area and the Living Room. She also replaced the original Curtain Hanging Clips with new Stainless Steel Curtain Clips with Hooks.

 

Below is what it looked like closed BEFORE and AFTER. We only close them at night for privacy.

 

Curtain BEFORE

Curtain AFTER

 

 

Finishing Up

The living room project was finished out with a TCL 32-Inch LED TV that is on a VideoSecu TV Wall Mount Kit with Articulating Arm. This allows us to watch TV as a family in the living room space or it can be watched by someone who gets the upper cab bunk to themselves. We also purchased a Warmtec 750W/1500W 14″ Mini Electric Fireplace Heater so save on Propane in the winter months. It certainly does! We were pleasantly surprised how warm the living room gets with this set on its lowest setting! Awesome product for sure!

 

 

TV in Bunk Area on Swinging Arm that extends into the Living Room

 

Conclusion of BEFORE and AFTER Photos

Just so you can see this as a comparison of all photos, here are the BEFORE and AFTER photos!

3 PARTS SOFA BEFORE

 

THEATRE SEATING AFTER

 

BARREL CHAIR BEFORE

 

BARREL CHAIR AFTER

 

LIVING ROOM WOOD LOOK EVERYWHERE

 

LIVING ROOM AFTER

 

FRONT OF MOTOR HOME AND LIVING ROOM BEFORE

 

LIVING ROOM SPACE AFTER