How Have You Changed Your RV?

We have entertained the idea of modifying our motorhome in several different ways...But after three years, it's working pretty well the way it is! We have a Tiffin Phaeton 40QTH, and really, the design has worked well for us...

We have a dinette table that has become multi-use. It's sometimes Sparky's crafting corner (you mean ALL the time! fusses E.) where the computer desk sits in the corner by the fridge...We have two Flexsteel sofas that we have left alone--one is for Sparky to relax on, the other is for Eldy to relax and watch TV.

We thought about taking the jacknife sofa out, the smaller of the two, and replacing with a Lazy-Boy and table, but never got around to taking that step. A lot of people do take the sofa out and put Euro chairs or other types of furniture in....We'd love to hear what you have done to customize your RV. Hello, Two to Travel's Phaeton Journey!  They've done some modifications to their Phaeton and have a whole section in the blog devoted to "mods".

Elkhart, IN, Eldy's old stomping grounds, is a great place for renovations to be done if you are interested in changing the interiors of your RV. Middlebury and Shipshewanna, IN are loaded with Amish craftsmen who can personally design different interior wood products, matching your existing wood grains and finishes and customizing cabinetry that more suits your needs.

For the last two years, we went and made the rounds of the Amish builders in the northwestern Indiana area, in Shipshewanna and Middlebury where they are concentrated, looking to see what we could do to customize our coach...In our first coach, a Damon Challenger, we decided to do a minimal amount so we just had wooden cup holders installed as it didn't have any in the living room at that time. The company matched the wood interiors perfectly! Once we got the Phaeton, we started dreaming a little bigger. But again, we decided against taking out the sofa. It seemed like a LOT of trouble to get the sofa out the door, or out the window, so we ended up keeping what we have, the two sofas.

We have not used the following sources but thought it might be helpful to publish some of the companies located in the heart of Amish country in Indiana if you are interested in some custom work being done on your rig. Some sources for custom remodeling work and custom wood products for your RV located in Indiana: Custom Wood Products,  Duncan RV Repair, Mastertech RV Service, Recreational Customs  Incorporated, in Goshen, IN. Lambert Chairs in Shipshewanna, they don't have a website, but they do really great work. Focal Woodproducts in Napannee, is the company that did our wooden cupholders for us. Their showroom is amazing with lots of cool furniture storage and cubby and desk ideas. Carlyle Lehman is the master craftsman there who will customize and build anything in the way of cabinetry you need for your RV. They do have a website: focalwood.com  Carlyle did a lot of work for Geeks on Tour.

There's also a whole website devoted to all kinds of modifications to an RV, more about mechanics than furniture, it seems, but it's interesting to view, too...ModMyRV. And there's a new show called Rock My RV on the Travel Channel, which REALLY modifies RVs....We saw it for the first time last week. Sometimes the mods are extreme, but it still is amazing what they can do for some older coaches. Bret Michaels, a singer for the rock group, Poison, is the host of that show....

Let us know what you have done to make your RV more liveable for you...We'd love to see photos and  hear comments! If you don't want to mess with posting photos--not sure how you could do that in a comment anyway, you could send them to Sparky via email, and she'll do a followup blog if some photos come her way...We'll do the bragging for you!  :-)

Bye for now......