The stereotypical RVers are couples that are either retired or working from the road. But more and more frequently we hear of families like ours living and working in their RVs. So how do WE make it work in such a small space?
When we started discussing our options for living without debt or renting under the mercy of a landlord, living in an RV wasn’t our first thought. But the more research we did the more we discovered other families like ours who are rejecting the “American Dream” of owning a home or renting for the rest of their lives.
It took us several months of looking at every possible RV layout, including those in coaches and trailers, to finally find what we were looking for. We ended up purchasing a fifth wheel with a quad bunk layout that we’ve modified to work best for our needs. We’ve got some more work to do in the months ahead that include removing our dining area to install benches, but so far the changes we’ve made have worked great.
What were we looking for in an RV?
First, a short explanation about our family dynamics. We have one pre-teen boy, an elementary school-aged girl, a toddler girl, and my husband and I. Shortly before we moved we had combined the girls into a single room (instead of the youngest sharing a room with us), while the oldest had his own room. We wanted to keep it that way when we moved into a trailer, so we knew we would have to have two separate spaces for their sleeping area. We didn’t like the idea of having to make a bed every day by converting a dining booth, and we saw some amazing layouts that had mid-bunk layouts with lofts but those were always too long (we were looking for a trailer at 32′ or shorter). So we narrowed our search to a rear double or quad bunk layout.
As for the master bedroom, we needed a layout that either had a king size bed or could be modified to fit a king size bed. You see, a few years ago we had purchased a very nice (and very heavy!) king-size latex mattress that we simply could not part with. We love it and had to take it with us. So the master bedroom space in a potential trailer was very important.
Our final must have was a bath tub. When you have small children it just makes it so much easier to bathe them when you can soak them in a couple inches of water.
What did our trailer look like when we purchased it?
We ended up purchasing a 2006 Jayco Jay Flight 30.5BHS fifth wheel trailer. The screen shot above shows a schematic layout of it. In the rear you can see the bunks in an L shape. The top bunk across from the TV cabinet is our son’s space, the bunk below that and behind the pantry is the toddler’s, and the other bottom bunk is our middle child’s space. The remaining top bunk is being used for storage.
Below you can see a few pictures of what the interior looked like when we brought the trailer home. That same weekend we tore out the sofa and built a desk in its place. We also tore out the queen bed and frame and used the wood from our existing king bed frame to rebuild the frame inside the trailer. This included removing the wardrobe cabinet on the left side across from the TV shelf.
How is the kids’ space organized?
In order to keep our youngest from falling out of her bed (which has happened!) we put up a baby gate in between the outside wall and the rear wall of the pantry. It’s a removable gate that gets stored behind her clothing storage unit, which is just a three-drawer cabinet the fits above the storage box in the corner of the girls’ bunks.
In our son’s space we installed a curtain rod between the rear wall and the pantry wall from which we hung a couple black-out curtain panels we had purchased a while back. These work great for keeping his space private and for blocking the light to our toddler’s bunk for daytime naps.
In the TV cabinet we installed a rod to hang the girls’ clothes on, and below the cabinet the older two kids have their socks and undergarments stored.
Underneath the bottom bunks is basement storage that can be accessed from either a hatch on the side of the RV or under the bottom bunks.
How is the living area organized?
The one piece of furniture we brought with us, besides our king bed and frame, was a vintage Singer sewing machine we acquired a few years ago. We built the desk with enough space to place the Singer between it and the dining booth.
We recently deconstructed our dining table and keep it in the bed position, but we’ll be replacing this setup with benches and a table this summer. There are two pull-out drawers under the dining benches where we store books and miscellaneous things. Above the dining area and the desk are more cabinets for storage.
Across from the dining table is the pantry and the refrigerator/freezer. This is a standard RV fridge that runs on either propane or electric. There is also a storage cabinet above the freezer that we use as additional pantry space.
Next to the fridge is a 3-burner stove, the microwave, and another cabinet. We have never used the microwave and plan an removing it this summer. Below the stove is more storage for pots and pans.
Finally there is the sink with the kitchen cabinets above, where we have all of our dishes, and below where the kitchen tools drawers are and under sink storage (and the classic junk drawer, of course).
What about home schooling? How do we keep it all organized?
The home school books we are not using are stored in the pull-out drawer underneath the dining bench on the back wall. Since we don’t use our TV on a regular basis, we transformed the entertainment center into a home school area where we keep the books and supplies we need every day. We need to figure out a better arrangement for this space, but we’ll work on that after we replace our dining booth.
School work is completed wherever the kids are comfortable doing it. That could be on their own beds, on our bed with us, or at TV trays in the main living area or outside.
How do we have any privacy in the master bedroom space when the lavatory is right next to the bed?
We actually haven’t had much issue with this. The toilet and shower are behind a closed door, and we can close the sliding door at the top of the stairs if we need privacy while getting dressed. There is also a partition between the sink and edge of the bed that we can close when needed.
We are lucky to have kids that sleep soundly and don’t wake to a lot of noise, so when the sliding door and their bedroom door is closed we have all the privacy we need.
Since we had to remove one of the side wardrobe cabinets to get our king bed in, the storage across from the toilet room is used for clothing instead of toiletries. The bed is elevated for additional storage underneath.
Speaking about the toilet room…
Shortly after we moved into our fifth wheel we replaced our RV toilet with a Nature’s Head Composting Toilet. You can read all about that here and here. The tub has worked great for us so far and we don’t have any more changes planned for this area of our home.
The layout of our fifth wheel has worked out well for our family of five. If and when we replace this trailer we definitely won’t go longer than 32′. It’s been the perfect length for us and we even wish sometimes that our trailer was shorter. As I mentioned earlier, we have a few more modifications in mind in the main living area and the kids’ bedroom, so stay tuned for more information on those!
When we purchased our fifth wheel we never looked back. Do you have any questions about how this works with our family? Please let us know in the comments! Or you can email us at alicia@simplejoyfuljourney.com. We’d love to hear from you!