Before we even made the offer to buy this motorhome, I was imagining all the updates I would make to it. High on my list was getting rid of the heavy dark valances and paint the walls. The curtains were easy. I bought new panel curtains for the living area and altered them to fit the RV windows. I made Roman draw style black out shades for the bedroom. The painting was another story.
I researched the blogs of those who had painted their RV’s and learned as much as I could before undertaking this project. The vinyl wall board used in RV’s is a challenge. I took my tips from the blogs of those brave souls who went before me. I taped paint swatches from Lowes all over the camper. After a couple of weeks, I settled on a primary color and a darker contrast to add some dimension.
I hate doing core exercises. I do like the result, so I do them anyway and reap the reward of a strong core and less lower back pain. Painting is much like Pilate’s for me. I hate doing it, but love the outcome. Painting is tedious, and tedium is the devil to me. Painting in an RV is a level of tedium that is nearly incomprehensible until you do it. A 3” roller is as big as is needed and it’s not needed that much. Small brushes and all the cute trimming gadgets are your tool kit. I even got into my craft stuff and used a couple of small detail brushes. The area is small, so one can easily be tricked into thinking that the job will go quickly. How long can it take to paint walls in a space less than 350 square feet, anyway? Nine hours, that’s how long. Forget doing one room at a time, all the rooms meld together. Start early and strap in! The space is small, every full-timer knows that. It is impossibly small when you start painting. At one point I realized my love of yoga was helping me stand in some of the comical positions required to get to certain areas.
If you decide to paint your RV let me say, “Go for it, sister!” My first piece of advice is get a good primer. Don’t let anyone convince you paint/primer hybrid paints are enough. They absolutely are not. I tested the theory by skipping the primer step on the surface under my headboard where it wouldn’t show. The difference was striking and would not have given me a good result had I skipped that step throughout the RV. I was satisfied that I spent the extra time and effort to prime first. I read a good deal about it before starting this project. I chose a Bullseye primer made specifically to bind to surfaces like wall paper. It was the best time and money I spent for the project. I used my go-to Valspar paint/primer after the primer dried. It performed as well as it has in the multiple houses I have painted over the years. The second piece of advice is wipe down the walls with a good microfiber towel wrung out of warm soapy water. It was amazing how much dirt clung to the texture of the wall board. We had just scrubbed the unit floor to ceiling 10 weeks prior when we bought it. Still open windows let in a lot of dust and pollen.
The weather was cloudy and about 80 today. All the windows were open, and the central fan ran all day to exchange the air, help the primer dry quickly and keep the paint smell at bay. Buster and Annie spent the day outside. They knew something was going on inside and they wanted nothing more than to come inside and rub on the wet walls, drag their tail through the paint pan and track paw prints in the colors of Seashell Gray or Heather around the camper. We did not accommodate their request and listened to them protest most of the day when we went outside to fill paint pans or clean brushes
At noon, the RV looked like a warzone. The driving compartment (the only area with no wall space to paint) was piled with everything from the mattress to the curtains and anything else that was in the way. There was about 9 miles of Frog tape outlining the place. Cups of hardware from taking down towel racks and shades sat around. The litter box was on the porch, Adult Alternative on DirecTV was blaring from the sound bar the cats were mad and we were both working away at the transformation. At 3:00 the painting part was done. At 4:30 we had the bed back in place, the curtains back up, pictures back on the wall and were ready to get cleaned up and go out for dinner. It is 8:55 now and I am sitting on my couch writing this, pleased with the result of the task we set out to accomplish at 7:00 this morning. The vision I had the first time I stood in this space at the RV dealership has been realized.
In a nutshell, here are the key ingredients to getting through this project if you decide to undertake it. Put good music on and play it loud! Keep your work space organized by putting things away when you finish. Don’t have anything out that you are not using at that moment. There simply isn’t the space to let clutter accumulate. If you aren’t typically organized, this is a good time to work on that skill. Get a good primer. If you think you bumped into something it was probably yourself, get used to it. The spaces are small and fragmented, don’t leave an area till you are completely done with it. Get a good primer. Take your nose out of the paint pan every now and again, to stand back and take in the progress and delight in the transformation. Did I mention? Get a good primer!
Here are some before and after pictures. If you paint your own RV, keep your sights on the end result but don’t call me to help. I may come and watch from a lawn chair and offer moral support. I think I’ve had enough painting for awhile 😊
Until next time…
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