Wise Nomads

It’s been a month since I’ve written anything and life has been crazy! Between work, going to school and doing some renovations on the camper, we have been busy. So let’s catch up on how RV life is going for the Wise Nomads…

Workamping is going great! We are working at a beautiful resort style campground that is right on a river, has a creamery and mini golf as well as a water park. Working the Labor Day holiday was crazy because the park was pretty much at capacity and with over 1,000 sites there were a lot of people on the grounds. It has slown down a bit, but we are gearing up for the Halloween season here which is BIG at Bethpage Camp Resort. The campground goes all out for Halloween to include 3 themed weekends complete with a haunted maze, trick-or-treating, and costume contests. I have been told by other employees that it is a very fun time and I am excited because this is my absolute favorite season. The crisp air, leaves falling, and pumpkins just bring a warmth to my soul that no other season can.

Right after all the Halloween we will be slammed with the local town’s Oyster Fest. Supposedly it is the biggest thing this town does every year. We will be at capacity here in the campground and will even be doubling up campers on sites because of how wildly popular this event is. I’ve been told that Oyster Fest is so popular that even residents in town will rent out their front yards for campers to bring their RV’s and dry camp in their yard!

So we will be busy for the next month and a half and have been enjoying the slower weeks here at the campground. We have done some remodeling of the camper to make it feel more homey. We took out the U-shaped dinette and horribly uncomfortable couch and put in some Ikea pieces! We chose Ikea because the furniture came in boxes that was small enough to fir through the RV door. That is very important when considering a new furniture purchase for your RV. Another reason we went with Ikea was that it was more cost effective than the aftermarket “upgraded” furniture from places like RecPro and Thomas Payne. We loved their stuff, but we got a couch and dining table/chairs set for less than what we would have payed for one Thomas Payne couch so we settled for the more economical option.

I don’t know what was easier, doing the demolition or putting together the Ikea furniture. We were surprised to find out that the slide was carpeted all the way underneath the old dinette and couch. This was a relief because all we had to do was rip out the old furniture and put in new without having to worry about the floors. This made it super easy to do this transformation!

Check out our before and afters of our slide renovation below!

So that was one project we’ve been working on! We also tore out the bunks in our bunkhouse recently and made more room for some hanging clothes and other storage. The one thing I miss about the U-shaped dinette that we took out was the fact that it had a lot of storage in it. We lost all of that storage when we went for the bigger couch, because that meant we didn’t have any room for cube shelving or anything on the slide.

Previously we had been using the top bunk for added storage and the bottom bunk for our kitty condo. The top bunk as storage just wasn’t practical and it was difficult to get to things up there. And let’s face it, does the cat REALLY need that much space? It was also driving my husband crazy that he didn’t have much room for his hanging clothes beside the bed. So we decided to rip out what we could and make room for hanging clothes and more storage while still preserving some of the cat’s space.

It wasn’t as easy to take out the bunks as it was the dinette, but we still got it done in one day. We weren’t able to take the whole bottom bunk out because part of it was covering up some of the outdoor kitchen. So we decided to preserve that as counter top space and a place for some of the kitty’s things. We put some finishing on the edges and around the wall and have plans to finish the top as well as paint the walls. We now have space to walk into the area and get to our storage and clothing as well as having a place for the litter box on the floor. Both of these renovations make the camper’s living space feel so much more open! It honestly feels like a brand new camper. I am loving making this place feel like HOME!

Check out the before and after of our bunkhouse renovation below!

Another upgrade we made has up sleeping on a cloud! We were tired of our stock mattress. No matter how many mattress toppers we had, the thing still felt hard as a rock. Neither of us were getting good restful sleep, so we decided to invest in ourselves. Making our other renovations more cost effiecient made it possible for us to get what we really wanted when it came to the bed.

We bought a Aurora Luxe Cooling mattress with a pillow top from Brooklyn Bedding and are loving it! The great thing about Brooklyn Bedding is that they manufacture mattresses in RV short queen sizes, which is what we have to have with the layout of our bedroom. If we got a full-sized queen mattress we wouldn’t be able to walk around the bed. It is a hybrid mattress so it has both foam and coils. We also had the pillow top added to it and I love it, although my husband thinks it’s a little soft. I think he will get used to it though!

The mattress shipped quickly from their warehouse in Arizona and arrived in good condition. My husband says it was easy to set up as it came compressed in plastic. All he had to do was remove the plastic, put it in place, and let it decompress. We have slept on it for several nights at this point and my honest opinion is that it might be better than the Sleep Number we had when we were in our sticks and bricks. Only time will tell as the mattress gets broken in, but for now we love it!

We also invested in Beddy’s bedding for our new mattress. It’s kind of like a sleeping bag, but built for mattresses. This all-in-one bedding design is genius because our bed was always looking a mess with a traditional comforter set. Anyone who owns an RV knows that making the bed is a workout in and of itself and is extremely difficult to do alone. Beddy’s makes it so much easier. It is all one piece that goes around your mattress like a fitted sheet and then has zippers on the side like a sleeping bag so that you can get under the covers.

We got the Luxe London Beddy’s with the very soft minky blanket on the inside. It is so comfy! The sheets are cotton and breathe really well and the blanket keeps you cozy all night long. The best part is that in the morning all you have to do is zip up your bed, fluff your pillows and start your day! The ease of use is incredible and the luxury is unparalleled.

Check out the pictures below to see how crazy our bed looked before, our mattress, and what it looks like now with the Beddy’s!

Thats what we’ve been up to! So, what upgrades or renovations have you made that were totally worth it and made it feel like home in your RV?

Let us know in the comments below!

Until Next Time,

Wise Nomads