RV Tours

See how this renovated Crossroads travel trailer was decorated for the winter season

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about this RV renovation

Type of RV: 2020 Crossroads Sunset Trail 331BH

Renovated by: Ben and Kari Orvis (@aseasonoftents) / Timeline: 2 months / Budget: Too Much

Ben and Kari Orvis took a leap of faith when they resigned from pastoring and decided to pursue RV life. I hope their story will inspire you to have faith in your own dreams.

Today we’re taking a peek inside their renovated Crossroads travel trailer, which they decorated for Christmas. This renovation includes several features they personalized to make tiny living work better for their family, including a custom laundry chute!

Tell us a little about yourself and who you share your RV with

We are a Fulltime family of four. Ben is a videographer/content creator with his YouTube Channel, BenOrvis. I am recording our Journey on IG @aseasonoftents. We are traveling with no backup plan, just following our faith in God, our dreams, and adventure. We have no steady income, just a promise that if we followed God, He would show us where to go and supply our needs. 6 months in, we still are going strong, and he has done just what he promised.

What inspired you to experience #RVlife?

We resigned from 13 years of pastoring in upstate NY and went to look to buy our first home…traveled up and down the east coast and found nothing except our love for travel. That’s when it hit us. Take the home along! Now we live one day at a time, not worrying about tomorrow but just having what we need for today.

How would you describe your design style?

A mix of farmhouse and country with rustic touches…we like things clean, bright, and organized. We have a few things we added to our home to make this small space work for us: a fold-up school table and dining table, laundry chute, Ikea Trones, toy bins behind the bunk ladder, etc.

What are your favorite places to source products and decor?

Hobby lobby, Amazon, Ikea

Do you have any favorite Christmas traditions?

We did when we lived in NY, but this is our first Christmas in the RV, and we are still readjusting. We open Christmas PJs and stockings on Christmas Eve and have certain snacks like pigs in a blanket and perogies and shrimp.

What do you love most about your crossroads travel trailer?

That we remodeled it into a space to fit our needs. It really feels like our home. And when we are inside, and the curtains are closed, we can be anywhere in the world, and it don’t matter cause it’s our space, and we are together in it.

What’s the most meaningful or splurge-worthy item you incorporated into your RV interior?

We originally remodeled the interior in July, but after you live in a small space, especially a travel trailer, you learn about what you need/don’t need.

So we realized we needed a washer/dryer combo, Ben needed an office space for editing, we needed a bigger couch, and we also really wanted a mudroom. To do this:

we changed the outdoor kitchen to a laundry room with a “laundry chute” coming from the inside
we changed the 1/2 bath to a mudroom with coat hooks, 4 Ikea Trones for shoe storage, and a laundry chute hidden behind a picture
we replaced the dining nook with a desk for Ben’s office and made a fold-down dining bar off the kitchen island with stackable Ikea stools
we found a beautiful Ikea sofa off FB marketplace for our bigger couch that looks perfect in our big slide-out

Do you have any tips for decorating an RV during the holidays?

YES! My #1 rule is to decorate for seasons, NOT HOLIDAYS. The reason for this is, of course, storage space. And travel trailers have like 40% storage space compared to fifth wheels. So for Christmas, I decorate for winter, using pines and neutral winter colors…and we leave it up till March!

Do you collect anything during your travels?

Mom and Dad: Memories

Kids: anything they find that others would view as trash 😉

What piece of advice would you give someone about to start an RV renovation?

First of all, take your time. GIVE yourself plenty of time. We only had one month, and we had to get out of the house that came with our job we resigned from, so it was extremely stressful. We needed six months but crammed it into one…not a good idea.

Second, paint is key. Though newer RV models are catching on to the lighter color schemes, most are so dark inside. If you can lighten up the walls and cabinets, take down the window trimmings, and replace carpet and furniture, it makes a huge difference. But because RVs are small spaces for living, GO WITH LIGHT COLORS. Light paint reflects light; dark paint absorbs it in. And if you have kids and worry about dirt, we used Sherwin Williams extreme bond primer and their Satin Enamel paint. It’s been great. Just give it time to cure (time was not something we had).

We do not renovate RVs for a living. In fact, Ben hates this kind of work, though he is good at it. He just did it for us so we could have a beautiful home.