In 2017 we spent one year living full-time in a 17′ Casita Spirit Deluxe and have since sold this rig. We currently divide our time between our FWC truck camper and Desert Fox Toy Hauler.
When we bought our Casita travel trailer in September, we lucked out with a gently used 2012 that we bought from the original owner. It was clean, well-cared for, and really didn’t need any repairs or cleaning. While we could have left it aesthetically as-is, I wanted to make it feel more like home…since, after-all, it was going to be our new home. In my mind though, I thought there was no way I would convince Mark to make any kind of aesthetic changes when his list of functional upgrades (batteries, solar, bike rack, etc.) was a mile long. Not to mention, at the time, we were two short weeks away from needing to be moved out of our house. Well, I don’t know if the interior was just ugly enough or what but with a little bit of luck and persuasion, Mark & I found ourselves at Lowe’s at 8pm the night we bought the Casita, picking out paint and flooring.
The project took longer than we’d hoped, by the third day we were feeling a little irresponsible for not working on packing up the house BUT…it was absolutely worth it. It’s amazing how far a can of paint and some vinyl flooring can get you. It didn’t look like the same Casita by the time were done with it. The white paint gives it a fresh, clean feel and the vinyl flooring is so much easier to clean than the cheap, blue indoor outdoor carpet that was there originally. We’re so glad we took the time to make these changes and love how it turned out.
Here’s a look inside our 17′ home on wheels. The Before & After addition:
For any Casita owners out there that may be wondering what color paint we used, we went with Bohemian Lace by Sherwin Williams in high gloss. It nearly perfectly matches the fiberglass.
That’s all for now! We’ll be back soon with our next stop…boondocking between Sedona & Cottonwood, AZ.
Subscribe for free and receive weekly posts about full-time RV travel and unconventional living.
43 responses to “A look inside our Casita: Before & After photos”
Chris Walton
VERY nice!! I was almost blinded by the light. LOL.
Living in the Northwest where it rains a LOT, it is so nice to have a bright environment to help keep the spirits up. Chris
Nice! It’s such a huge improvement, isn’t it?! Funny you should notice the laptop holder, it’s one of my favorite purchases. It’s just a simple $8 file organizer from Office Max but really keeps the table space clean.
I am fulltiming in my Casita. Initially, I was keeping everything as is for resale ( when I found my 23ft used Airstream) ,but now I am making it mine and really want to tackle the unattractive wood doors.
Hi Michele, it looks awesome! We are thinking about doing the same thing with white paint. Did you sand or do anything to the wood or just slap the paint on? I saw another casita owner used chalk paint as she thought that was the best and simplest approach to not have to prep the wood first…
I am going to paint mine also..was going to leave as is for resale but may just keep and redo..thank you for these ideas..I do want to put curtains,but not sure how I can…any ideas?b
We simply applied latex paint with a foam roller over the top of the wood laminate. No prep or sanding. It looks great but took three coats and has peeled off in little pieces where it’s been scuffed. If I were to do it again, I may try chalk paint instead. I have several friends that have used chalk paint to paint their kitchen cabinets and have raved about the results.
This looks great, thanks for sharing! How did you remove the wood piece between the bed and chair? We can remove all of the cabinets but also wanted to paint the board next to the bed white as well. Thanks!
Just found your blog. Thank you so much for all of your recommendations! Insights etc.. We are in the presale stage of our home and as I sit here with my palm on my for head, stalking blogs trying to figure out how in hell do I shrink 35 years of life into an RV size life? Not to mention I am a crafter, I paint, crochet, work with resin, sew and do machine embroidery, along with macrame, wood working and the list goes on. So needless to say I have A LOT, no a tremendous amount of stuff to part with and cannot for the life of me figure out how to do this. Donating some is ok, giving away is also ok but the bulk of what I have is expensive, however, storing it in the long run I believe would cost me more than rebuying. :(. Any tips, or maybe even places to sell? Thank you so much! I’ll def. keep following your blog maybe we will cross paths one day. I figure that we are about 2-3 months away from our goal. (depending on the house selling, though I have not ever had trouble selling one). A story for another day, have bought and sold 7. I think thats a good indication I have a problem sitting still :). Good luck to you and your beautiful family. And I am so envious of that airplane, I will need to put that on my bucket list. To buy a private airplane, yes that sounds really nice 🙂 Sincerely, Lost in the clutter in Louisiana.
From a crafter.projects only. I reduced to planned projects. All the extra bits I donated to schools for art n craft. Ziplock bags, storage containers. Decide which closet or cupboard and you can fit everything in. There is a freedom of not having all that stuff. Just do it,Goodluck from donna
OMG, you’re my twin. Don’t leave out Mosaic and jewelry making. I just can’t imagine all the jewelry stores you’re gonna hit for stones! OH MY!
Yes I quilt, was doing pottery. Cute little studio here in Gainesville. Pounding clay, rolling out and making my pinch pots, ceramic stars, etc. Not a fan of the wheel. Had too much going on with the other stuff?
Crochet yarn, quilting fabric….what to do, what to do. Do I become a minimalist?
Let me know how you’re dealing with all the stuff
– overwhelmed Nancy
Nice job. Looks great. I don’t mind wood or white, but I also don’t like wood doors on white cabinets. It’s nice that Casita now offers a gray doors/trim option and I could live with that.
That was very brave to do and it’s awesome!!! I would LOVE to have someone give me measurements for the smaller table (width and length) and benches (height, width, length). We are getting ready to renovate a 2009 17″ Freedom Deluxe. We took out the captains chairs and want to make the dinette than can be made into a bed. Any help would be appreciated! I emailed the factory and got no response. My husband hates the wood too 🙂 thanks, Cathie
I’ve always liked the concept of Casitas but really don’t like the styling of their interiors. It looks so chintzy and way too busy for the eyes. What you did was magnificent. Could you give details on the flooring? Is that one piece of vinyl? If so, how did you cut it to size and glue it down? I’m planning on getting a Casita soon and want to do what you did. Great job!
LOVE IT! We JUST bought our first camper – a 2011 Casita Spirit Deluxe and it’s immaculate and the twin to yours. We have been looking for roughly 3 years, with the Tab 320, Scamp and Casitas in mind. So happy with what the little gem we found. The previous owners took excellent care and even put a deluxe mattress in it. Being that it’s just the two of us, we are glad for the comfort factor and we won’t be making up the bed every day as the small dinette is perfect if we need to be indoors. We spend most of our time outside when we camp. I really love the white bright finish! You did a fabulous job! I might have to work on my husband if I want to do the same. 🙂 Quick question, what do you use to clean all the fibre glass walls? I don’t want to damage or discolour them, nor do I want to spend a fortune on special cleaners if it’s not necessary. Any input would be appreciated. Maybe we’ll see you out and about!
I just bought my 2nd 17′ Casita last week, a 2003 with the exact same floor plan as yours. Was pondering for hour which direction to proceed. Should I keep it in its pristine, original condition or make some changes to suit myself. Then I stumbled on this awesome article of yours with before/after pix and am SO inspired! Thanks for pushing me over the edge and showing me how to do it.
Thanks Debbie! No, we left the carpet as is. It’s a funny look but we got used to it. I’d say my only complaint was how it retained scent after cooking.
Thanks Gina! We sold the Casita a few years back so I can’t speak to how it’s holding up. At the time, we noticed the paint was easy to nick but it was also easy to touch-up.
window.fluent_form_ff_form_instance_5_1 = {"id":"5","ajaxUrl":"https:\/\/twohappycampers.com\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php","settings":{"layout":{"labelPlacement":"top","helpMessagePlacement":"with_label","errorMessagePlacement":"inline","asteriskPlacement":"asterisk-right"},"restrictions":{"denyEmptySubmission":{"enabled":false}}},"form_instance":"ff_form_instance_5_1","form_id_selector":"fluentform_5","rules":{"email":{"required":{"value":true,"message":"This field is required","global":false,"global_message":"This field is required"},"email":{"value":true,"message":"This field must contain a valid email","global":false,"global_message":"This field must contain a valid email"}}},"debounce_time":300,"file_upload_settings":[]};
var fluentFormVars = {"ajaxUrl":"https://twohappycampers.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php","forms":[],"step_text":"Step %activeStep% of %totalStep% - %stepTitle%","step_completed_text":"Completed","is_rtl":"","date_i18n":{"previousMonth":"Previous Month","nextMonth":"Next Month","months":{"shorthand":["Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug","Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"],"longhand":["January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"]},"weekdays":{"longhand":["Sunday","Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday","Friday","Saturday"],"shorthand":["Sun","Mon","Tue","Wed","Thu","Fri","Sat"]},"daysInMonth":[31,28,31,30,31,30,31,31,30,31,30,31],"rangeSeparator":" to ","weekAbbreviation":"Wk","scrollTitle":"Scroll to increment","toggleTitle":"Click to toggle","amPM":["AM","PM"],"yearAriaLabel":"Year","firstDayOfWeek":1},"pro_version":"","fluentform_version":"6.2.12","force_init":"","stepAnimationDuration":"350","upload_completed_txt":"100% Completed","upload_start_txt":"0% Completed","uploading_txt":"Uploading","choice_js_vars":{"noResultsText":"No results found","loadingText":"Loading...","noChoicesText":"No choices to choose from","itemSelectText":"Press to select","maxItemTextSingular":"Only %%maxItemCount%% option can be added","maxItemTextPlural":"Only %%maxItemCount%% options can be added"},"input_mask_vars":{"clearIfNotMatch":false},"nonce":"cfeaeb804e","file_delete_nonce":"8fec34f6f0","form_id":"5","step_change_focus":"1","has_cleantalk":"","pro_payment_script_compatible":""};
var fluentform_submission_messages_5 = {"file_upload_in_progress":"File upload in progress. Please wait...","javascript_handler_failed":"Javascript handler could not be loaded. Form submission has been failed. Reload the page and try again"};
var fluentform_payment_messages_5 = {"stock_out_message":"This Item is Stock Out","item_label":"Item","price_label":"Price","qty_label":"Qty","line_total_label":"Line Total","sub_total_label":"Sub Total","discount_label":"Discount","total_label":"Total","signup_fee_label":"Signup Fee","trial_label":"Trial","processing_text":"Processing...","confirming_text":"Confirming..."};
var fluentform_save_progress_messages_5 = {"copy_button":"Copy","email_button":"Email","email_placeholder":"Your Email Here","copy_success":"Copied"};
var fluentform_address_messages_5 = {"please_wait":"Please wait ...","location_not_determined":"Could not determine address from location.","address_fetch_failed":"Failed to fetch address from coordinates.","geolocation_failed":"Geolocation failed or was denied.","geolocation_not_supported":"Geolocation is not supported by this browser."};
var fluentform_gateway_messages_5 = {"request_failed":"Request failed. Please try again","payment_failed":"Payment process failed!","no_method_found":"No method found","processing_text":"Processing..."};
var fluentform_submission_messages_global = {"javascript_handler_failed":"Javascript handler could not be loaded. Form submission has been failed. Reload the page and try again"};
var fluentform_address_messages_global = {"please_wait":"Please wait ...","location_not_determined":"Could not determine address from location.","address_fetch_failed":"Failed to fetch address from coordinates.","geolocation_failed":"Geolocation failed or was denied.","geolocation_not_supported":"Geolocation is not supported by this browser."};
//# sourceURL=fluent-form-submission-js-extra
Leave a Reply