Arrows and bow – Beautiful RV remodel

This inspiring Camper Remodel RV by Ashley Petrone and her husband Dino will make you forget this is actually a home in wheels.

If you look for inspiration in Pinterest for RV remodels, there are probably 99% chances you run into this beautiful remodel by Ashley Petrone. 

You can find her on Instagram under @Arrowsandbow and also in her website Arrowsandbow.com where she blogs about life and home decor.

In the spring of 2017, Ashley and her family sold their 5 bedrooms home and moved into a 180-sq-ft 2003 Cougar Keystone RV trailer that they placed on 2.2 acres of land while they waited to build their dream home.

Her style is so lovely and while she and her family no longer live in their RV, her IG account and her blog feature some amazing pictures of their very stylish camper renovation.

 

Some of my favorite post about the renovation that you can find in her blog are:

• Her top 5 renovation tips
• This post sharing when they were working in their remodel
• The process of how the painted the exterior of their RV.

 

Ashley and her family currently live in a lovely Spanish bungalow, and she continues to share her life and house projects along with her adorable Casita Airbnb.

 
 
 

THE ARROWS AND BOW RV REMODEL

While looking for inspiration for our camper renovation I found several interviews that Ashley gave while they were still living tiny in their RV, so I thought it would be cool to summarize snippets and share where I found them so you guys can check them out as well.

Their renovation only took them three weeks to complete, they purchased their RV for $8,000 and invested $3,000 for their renovation, and the result is a testament that you do not have to sacrifice style when going tiny.

 

First off, tell us the story about how living in the RV came to be!

Well, my husband likes to call me the gas and he’s the brakes. I was on the hunt for our next project, but I didn’t know it was going to be this extreme. We bought land, sold our five-bedroom house, and decided that while building a home, living in an RV sounded the most exciting.

When most apartments were more than our mortgage was, it made it pretty simple. Plus, we were ready for an adventure.

 
Source:Theglitterguide.com Interview

 

Details abour your RV

We bought it for $8000, and put $3000 into renovating it. We did a lot of the work ourselves. I designed it all, and then hired out any work we didn’t want to do. I love finding deals so it was fun for me to furnish the inside on a budget.

We designed the trailer to stay stationary. My goal was to make it feel like a home, and having the house be stationary really helped with that. But, our best friends have a big truck, and if ever we need to move it, they help us out.

 
Source: Designmom.com Interview

 

What was the inspiration behind the design of the RV? 

I did a lot of prep work beforehand online, read a lot of blogs about what people did and the advice they gave. I knew I wanted to paint it white, because it’s such a small space I wanted it to stay bright and open feeling.

But the best thing I read was from an older couple that lived in their RV, they said to make it feel like you would your home. Otherwise, it will feel like a foreign place and it won’t be comfortable.

So I picked things that represented me, while also going a little bit on the risk-taking side. I figured it was a good time to experiment with patterned tiles, fun light fixtures, and fun textiles.

 
Source: Francoisetmoi.com Interview

 
Keeping the trailer clutter-free is also high on Petrone’s list, as just-cleaned spaces can quickly go awry when you’re living in a 180-square-foot home with four other people. While tidying up at the end of every day and hosting ”family cleaning weekends” definitely helps keep the home looking neat, so do frequent purges.

“I’m constantly cleaning out. If the kids get gifts or I get new clothes then we have to get rid of other clothes,” she says. “When we moved in I made sure there was room in every cupboard and every space to grow.” To freshen things up in the living room (without accumulating too much stuff), Petrone will switch out pillow covers every few months to make the space feel new.

 
Source: Domino.com Interview

 

Any tips for readers who are upgrading from a smaller space to a bigger one and looking to have some fun in the design process?

My best tip would be to take chances! Life is too short to play it safe. Play around with different ideas and if it doesn’t work, eliminate until it does. Sometimes I bring multiple things into a room and end up removing half of them, but needed to see them all in there together first. And I would also choose well! Don’t buy just to buy. Make sure whatever you’re bringing into your home and keeping is what you really want!

 
Source: Theglitterguide.com Interview

 

 

What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned living ‘small’ as a family of 5 so far?

Patience, constantly! I’m challenged by it daily. And who wants to “learn” patience… it’s not fun. But I know it’s good for me. I’ve also learned to allow myself lots of grace and to make sure I carve out my own time. There were a few weeks there that I thought I was going go crazy. So I set up times regularly for Dino and I to go on dates etc. We need our own time away from the RV and the kids.

 
Source: Francoisetmoi.com Interview

 
“If I learned anything about my design skills while living in the RV, it’s that sometimes doing things differently and out of your comfort zone, lead to the best and most rewarding results.” – ASHLEY PETRONE
 

 
“The most surprising thing has been what it has done for our family and my marriage,” she says. “Imagine being locked in a small room with your entire family … people are going to get in your way, get under your feet.” But, she says, the tiny space forces you to deal with those kinds of conflicts on the spot. “It’s 180-sq-ft. There’s nowhere to hide, so you can’t go to bed mad.”

And not only do the kids think it’s a fun adventure — though they do have moments when they ask when the new house will be done — they are learning valuable lessons, she says. “The kids don’t have toys: they have crafts, books and some Legos,” she says, adding that this year they didn’t get gifts for the kids for Christmas because there’s no room for them. “A little part of me feels bad about this but I know it’s a good thing.”

What’s more, “they’ve learned how to play together better — they have to — they use their imaginations.” And she jokes that while she used to have to “push the kids outside to play and lock the door,” now “they stay outside for an hour at a time — they have no other options — they’ll play soccer outside until dark.”

 
Source: Marketwatch.com story interview

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you are as inspired by this transformation as I was when I first ran into Ashley on IG, and remember to follow her for more inspiration and style pictures.