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Holy cow are you in for a treat today! Okay, I know I say this often, but seriously, this modern Toy Hauler remodel is gonna blow you away!
And if you’re on the fence about traveling in an RV, it will convince you it can be done in style.
This RV belongs to the Lincoln family – Brad, Irene, Amelie, and Penny. They are indie filmmakers, designers, DIY enthusiasts, and adventure seekers traveling across the United States.
They renovated their first motorhome a couple of years ago before selling it and purchasing this 5th wheel.
Some of my favorite features include the birch plywood kitchen cabinets, wall-mounted faucet in the bathroom, and the earthy color palette used throughout. I also love how they reimagined the layout by transforming the main bedroom into their daughter’s bunkroom and converting the garage into their master bedroom.
In all honesty though, I love everything about this home on wheels!
Family-Friendly Toy Hauler Remodel
Type of RV
2008 Keystone Raptor 3602 Toyhauler
Budget:
Roughly $7,000
Reno Timeline
On and off, while living in it, one year.
What made you decide to go “tiny”?
After buying our first home in Central Florida, we fell into a routine of work, school drop off, and extracurriculars. We were leading worship at our church, and heavily involved in ministry. We felt truly fulfilled, but something was missing. The routine felt suffocating, and after taking a trip to New Orleans, we knew that we wanted to see more of the United States.
As a family of four, flying can get expensive, so we started looking at getting a motorhome and stumbled upon the coolest community of full-time RVers. We instantly knew that was the answer to our wanderlust. We put our house up for sale, traded in both cars for a Jeep we could pull behind the motorhome, and sold/donated all of our belongings.
It was so exhilarating and freeing to experience such a drastic change. We found an old 2002 Winnebago Brave that had been partially gutted. It was the only thing in our budget, and it felt serendipitous that the renovation process was already started for us. Our house sold a month later, we bought the motorhome and started working on it immediately. We began our travel journey with that motorhome and sold it while in California so that we can buy a truck and fifth wheel. We began renovating the fifth wheel while in southern California in January of 2019 when we found some black mold and leak issues in the upstairs master. Once we finished fixing the slide, we decided to stop so that we can enjoy our journey up the west coast. We finally finished our renovations in January of 2020 and are so happy it’s finally done! We really wanted to create a minimalist and modern space that still felt warm.
How often do you travel?
We travel Full-time, although we have been hunkering down in Florida for the winter.
What has been your favorite place to explore or a place you’re excited to explore in the future?
We are so excited to visit Utah and Colorado in the future and see the East coast during the fall!
If you work on the road?
Brad works as an online instructor for a college. This allows us the flexibility to travel!
How would you describe your decorating style?
Budget Modern Eclectic
Did you draw inspiration from anything or anyone specific?
Inspiration came from our time spent in magical Sedona, AZ. Irene fell in love with the red rocks and the clay dirt. We also drew inspiration from the redwoods in Northern California and the lush Pacific Northwest. Irene often found herself looking at a lot of sleek airstream renovations and earthy modern homes made of clay.
What are your favorite places to shop for décor?
Target, Homegoods, Amazon, thrift stores, Ikea
What is something you’ve learned about yourself from #RVlife?
We can do hard things and we can definitely live with less.
What do you love most about your Toy Hauler Remodel?
We love that we got to create a little dream home on wheels. Brad likes that we removed the half bath and converted it into a more multifunctional space- it is now a master closet, a pantry, and an entertainment center. Irene loves the way the kitchen and the bathroom turned out.
What’s your favorite aspect of interior design?
Problem-solving. I love RV’s because they constantly provide design challenges that need to be surpassed. It forces you to really get creative. Form and function are very important. I also really enjoy creating something unexpected, which is why I love RV renovations.
What was most challenging about this 5th Wheel renovation?
Finding black mold in our upstairs bedroom closet was devastating. It rained non stop for what seemed like a month, and we had a leak that we didn’t know about until it was too late. We had to quarantine the bedroom and sleep in the unfinished garage of the toy hauler until it stopped raining. We then had to take apart the slide, remove all of the damaged plywood, and completely build a new slide-out with insulation and plywood. It was not a pretty sight!
What project made the most difference in your Toy Hauler remodel?
Completing our kitchen made the most difference. Obviously little things like paint and flooring completely transformed the space, but once our kitchen was complete, it just felt like home.
What’s one item you couldn’t live without?
A working toilet!
Do you have any future projects or changes planned for the interior?
We would like to add a fireplace under the TV with a mantle, possibly a TV lift in the master bedroom that stows away and becomes a bench, and adding a sliding door to our garage door so we can use it like a balcony.
What’s your favorite aspect of tiny living?
Freedom! Freedom from stuff and freedom to travel. I love that we get to tow our little house behind us wherever we go.
What’s your least favorite aspect?
Clutter! It gets messy really quickly if things don’t get put away immediately or if they don’t have a place where they belong. Oh, and dumping tanks.
What piece of advice would you give someone about to embark on an RV renovation?
Stay pumped up! Renovations are harder, take longer, and are more expensive than one thinks. It’s kind of a marathon not a race, so it’s important to stay excited and hopeful. Also, always walk the roof of an RV before purchasing to make sure there aren’t any soft spots or potential leaks.
Most asked about product sources:
Our blinds are from Ikea. They have been discontinued, but that is our number one asked question. Paint used- Kilz primer, Valspar 2000 paint and primer in one in High Hide White and Blueridge Fir (green accent walls). Our kitchen cabinets were custom built by Brad using 3/4 inch birch plywood from Home Depot. We didn’t stain them, just sealed them with wax. Our shower head system is from Amazon and you can find a lot of the amazon items we used on our amazon storefront.
Follow @thelincolntribe
Follow Irene over on Instagram to see what this amazing family is up to and for more photos of their modern toy hauler remodel. Be sure to watch their Insta story highlights for awesome tips and tours! You can also follow along on Facebook or check out their previous Motorhome Tour on Youtube.
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Love love love this renovation! They did a beautiful job! My burning question is about weight. Did they weigh the RV before and after the reno and are they still within the safe RV weight rating. Especially as they Travel with it… thanks for sharing. It’s just gorgeous! And I love those before and after image sliders!
I’m sure they did, but don’t know for sure or the results. They may have mentioned it on their Insta page somewhere. Although, if I had to guess, I’d say it may even weigh less than it did before. It’s all about being mindful of what you take out too, and they took out A LOT of those bulky heavy upper cabinets and appliances. And the kitchen has half the cabinets, plus the lowers are made of birch plywood which is likely lighter than the previous cabinet fronts. At least I know when we removed some of our cabinets and other bulky built-ins, they were often heavier than what we replaced them with. I agree though, it’s absolutely beautiful! Doesn’t help my obsession with 5th wheels either… oh to have such high ceilings and no cab area in your living room… haha.
Damn, how cool it is. The main thing is that it is not only beautiful, but also functional. Nothing more, just what you need when traveling. Somehow I will get a track in which I constantly banged my head about different things, haha, my height is not small: 77 inches. I had to sell and buy another. But this did not save, as one designer I found on this resource told me: “https://contractorfinder.bradfordwhite.com/contractors”, in such cars there should be nothing superfluous, everything should be necessary. And I converted everything inside and got a great result. What these people did is simply pleasing to the eye.
This couple certainly has a flair for decorating and organizing! It’s one of the best redo’s I’ve seen, IMHO! Thanks for sharing! Would it be possible to ask them the specific ‘green’ color they used on the entrance wall?? Thanks again!
I couldn’t agree with you more! And the paint they used is Valspar 2000 paint and primer in one – Blueridge Fir 🙂
This is one of the nicest remodels I’ve seen. Do you have any before pictures? Great job!
Agreed, it’s gorgeous! If you slide over the images in the post with the “After” text on them, you can actually see the before photo of that area. I’ll link to their Instagram account below though which has even more photos:
https://www.instagram.com/thelincolntribe/