“Real Art”

Who says you can’t have “real art” in an RV? As Ive been traveling this new world of owning our own RV, and my uncontrollable need to decorate and make it my own, Ive come across some rather interesting and completely inspiring ideas. When you think about decorating an RV you usually think about the retro style trailers with whimsical or colorful themes, these are the inspirational, do what you like looks. They certainly excite me and make me need to look at fabrics, which is what got me in to this mess.

Theres the direct from the manufacturer look, a lot better than it used to be, with modern touches in lighting and furnishings that are reminiscent of home. These are the majority of designs you seem to find while shopping for a current RV. This is where our own design project started, a modern couples coach with the perfect amenities for how we like to use a travel trailer. As anyone with tell you, finding the right trailer is like shopping for a new home, just condensed and on wheels. Finding the right layout is much more important than the perfect interior details, says the picky designer. Its true, I look at things with the idea that I can change or fix the things I don’t like, so long as I have good bones. This is exactly what we found, great bones… horrible window treatments, minimum personality, basicly a blank canvas.

As I started researching RV style and the do’s and dont’s about everything from organizing and finding more storage to decorating and how to handle thin walls. There’s a trend in adding minimal screws and nails or attachment’s to walls for a variety reason from avoiding damage to the items or the walls, to ease of moving things around. With thin, new walls of my own, I decided protecting them was key, but I needed to use art that I loved. Visiting Taos, NM for Memorial Day was the perfect inspiration for both.

As I wandered the long isle of local artists with all there beautiful hand made wares, each made with love, I was quickly drawn to a table filled with color. The table of artist Mieshiel, filled with many colorful pieces, inspired by the desert landscape. As he told of his history and explained the journey he and his art had taken, I was immersing myself in his work. Before long I was sure a couple of his pieces would be perfect. Both for the beautiful work, I just had to have, as well as the fact that he was selling gicle prints, signed though not numbered. It was a perfect combination of beauty and thrift, as a print in an RV is much easier to use than a pricier piece that will be risking fading and hard use while traveling.

My many trips to Pinterest, showed me the wonderful world of heavy duty Velcro. A quick trip to Hobby Lobby where I found the perfect set of frames. Removed the regular hanging items from the back, added the Velcro according to the directions, using a level to set them perfectly and voila… ART! Art that makes me happy and reflects our travels and will be the inspiration for the rest of the design.

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