What if You Don’t Want to be Limited to the Furniture that Comes in Your RV?
Many people wonder if there are improvements that can be made to make their RV more comfortable and livable. Even if you only spend a few weeks each year inside your RV, finding ways to make it feel more like home can make your adventures far more rewarding.
Do You Have to Keep the Furniture that Came with Your RV?
RVs come equipped with standard furniture. Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect to receive in your unit, regardless of whether you have a travel trailer, fifth wheel, Class C or a Class A.
Living Room
Your living area will usually come with some form of couch or sofa. Of all the RV furniture you’ll encounter, the sofa is likely to be the least comfortable. This is partially because of the need to conserve space within a small living area.
Another part of the problem is the need to extend sleeping options. Most RV sofas are designed to fold out to make a secondary bed. That also has the effect of making the sofa less comfortable when in the sitting configuration.
RV sofas are also less deep than your sofa at home. For tall or larger people, this makes for an uncomfortable experience. Some options include a reclining feature, which helps. But if you’re thinking of lying back for a movie night, you are likely to be disappointed.
Dining Area
Most RVs come with a built-in dinette instead of a traditional table and chairs. This consists of a booth-style seating area with bench seats on either side of a table for four. These units are on the small side, again to try and save room.
Beneath the bench seats you’ll usually find drawers or cabinets to increase your storage options. This can be helpful when it comes to packing your RV for a trip, but because the bench is secured to the flooring, you don’t have a lot of options for spreading out or accommodating larger or taller people.
Bedrooms
RV beds are also secured to the floor. They almost always consist of a platform to hold the mattress and a large storage area underneath.
Most RV sleeping areas also have lots of cabinetry to store clothing, extra bedding, and other supplies. This helps make room to take everything you need for a comfortable trip, but can also limit your room to move around in an already confined space.
What Furniture Can I Replace in an RV?
If your RV furniture is worn out, uncomfortable, or just not to your taste, you can replace it with other options. There are companies that sell replacement RV furniture, but the sticker price can be something of a shock. You can sometimes find used options, but your choices are limited.
What most people don’t realize is that it’s possible to replace some of your RV furniture with household furniture. Doing so simply requires some forethought about how you use your RV and how to make the swap safely.
Living Room
The living room is probably the area where most people want to make a change. Because RV sofas are so uncomfortable, they are usually the first thing people want to replace.
Doing so is possible, and can make a world of difference in your daily comfort. If you don’t need to use your sofa as an extra sleeping solution, you’ll have more flexibility when choosing a replacement.
Your first step is to measure the space available for a new sofa. You might also measure the dimensions of your home sofa to see what depth you find the most comfortable. Then go into your RV and use painter’s tape to mark the floor to see how much more room you might need.
This gives you the information you need to get started shopping for a replacement sofa. Once you find a unit that is comfortable and fits your decor, double check the measurements.
It’s also important to consider whether the new sofa will fit through your RV door. Options that come disassembled are a great option, since you can move them into the unit and assemble them in place.
Amazon, Wayfair, and IKEA are all good options for replacement RV sofas.
Dining Area
The dining area is also a good place to consider replacing the existing furniture. If you can do without the extra storage beneath the benches, replacing the RV dinette with a small table and chairs will give you much more flexibility.
Here again, measure the existing dinette space to see how much room you have to work with. You can extend outward into the living area a bit, but you’ll want to leave plenty of space for moving around.
There are many places to find small dining sets. Because you won’t need all of the cabinetry that sits beneath the seats, you might even be able to shave off some weight, which helps your fuel efficiency.
Bedrooms
You won’t have a great deal of flexibility when it comes to replacing your bedroom furniture. The existing cabinetry is secured directly to the walls, and removing it is a challenge.
There isn’t much use in replacing the bed platform with a standard bed, because you’ll likely lose the storage and need to make significant changes to the build-ins.
However, replacing your RV mattress with a home mattress can be a great upgrade. There are many foam mattresses that are incredibly comfortable. Most don’t even require a boxspring, and can sit directly on the RV bed platform.
Best of all, memory foam mattresses come from the factory packaged in a tight roll. That makes them easy to get into the RV, then you remove the packaging and the mattress expands in place.
Safety First
One thing to keep in mind when replacing RV furniture is how to secure the new pieces in place when you are on the go. There are many large brackets you can purchase to secure a new sofa or table in place.
When it comes to sofas in Class C or Class A RVs, remember that a replacement sofa won’t have built-in seatbelts like many RV options come equipped with. You won’t be able to safely sit on the sofa while the RV is in motion.
Get Started Customizing Your RV with New Furniture
Now that you know how to swap out your standard RV furniture with new pieces, the fun part begins. Look around online or in home decor magazines for inspiration, and once you have your measurements in hand, it’s time to start shopping.