A Women's RV Forum run by Women RVer's!

How do you feel about renovating to suit your needs or refraining from making major changes with resale in mind?

As I sit here day after day watching my DH slowly whither away my thoughts turn more and more to retiring early so I can enjoy life while I still have my health.

I am thinking of keeping my 24' Rockwood and making some changes to give me more storage space. I usually end up using my couch for everything but sitting on it. I am thinking that I should take it out and have some cabinets or drawers built in its place. Right now I put plastic storage drawers on it and they do not look that great and do not stay level enough to be useful. It would also extend my counter space another 5-6 ft.

I have a sleep number bed in the house which I can't transfer to the camper because it is full queen so I also plan to replace the mattress with one and am also thinking of doing something with the dinette, maybe replacing it with a desk and comfy chair that is easier on my back after a day of driving.

Am I being to ambitious with this?

Deb

The biggest thing you probably have to worry about is total weight, and if that is okay, you also need to think about whether the weight will be properly balanced.

Any changes I made I had either planned for them to be temporary or with an eye towards resale. But I know that this is not my last trailer so I don't want to damage resale too much. However, I have made one major change to make the trailer more livable for me. We had the top bunk taken out before taking delivery. It was cut back to even with the alcove that the bunks go into next to the bathroom. That part we turned into storage. But by cutting the bunk off, we were able to make the lower bunk more of a daybed and it's actually where I sleep. One of my latest mods was to replace the dinky thin bunk mattress with an 8" memory foam Serta mattress.

Like you said, life is short. I say go for it but do keep in mind what was said about weight and weight distribution.

Go for it. Like Colleen stated, just keep weight and weight distribution in mind.

Speaking as someone who has been trying to sell their rig for months now, resale on these babies usually sucks so I say do what will make you happy. The things I did should have only increased the value - made slipcovers for sofa and dinette that could be removed and washed; painted all cupboards to get rid of the orangey color; had carpet removed and vinyl put in; had cordless cellular shades put in. If I can sell its gonna cost me several thousand from my savings since I'm still paying on it.

You want to add storage, I say go for it. Most TT's and MH don't have enough. How wonderful to have more counter space as well. Reading other RV forums, you find a lot of people change the interior to better accommodate their needs. I see no reason your ideas would hurt your resale value at all. You want and like these changes, so will a future potential buyer. Linda

Mine is brand new, but I am taking the dinette out and replacing it with a recliner for comfort. I was told to keep the old dinette in storage if I could so it could be replaced when I sell it. It will go into the storage unit with the best of my old condo furniture and family things like photos.

However, I am hoping that selling it will be many years away, and in the meantime I want to be comfortable, so I am doing what I want to do for me. Ditto for buying new instead of slightly used.

I got a lot of advice NOT to take the dinette out, but for me it would be wasted space, so I did this anyway. (I can't believe that somewhere out there, there won't be another person who hates those dinettes.) I think you have to make the decision for you, and then balance out the lost selling price versus the number of years you would have what you want for a comfortable life.

I don't care for my dinette much either. Thinking of having some tall shallow cabinets and a nice table installed. A couple of executive desk chairs would make nice dual purpose seating & I'll get nice matching leather ones from the used office furniture place. Bungie cords around the table legs for travel... Hmmm. I think I am definitely going to do this. After May. Cross your fingers that my estate sale on the 20th & 21st goes well!