Small space inspiration: navy bedroom & a statement ceiling for our alcove bed

cc left to right: my own | amara.com | Piccolomini Library floors by jehane on flikr | Scrovegni Chapel ceiling by Viaggio nel blu| scenicwallpaper.com | hm home

I’ve been wanting to experiment with a navy bedroom for nearly 5 years now. Why so long? Well, a move was always on the horizon—3 moves actually, including the big one abroad—so I painstakingly did the adult thing and waited. But it’s finally time to indulge that daydream. We’ll be making over our RV bedroom, which is really just an over cab bed, into a fairytale nook fit for a castle. (A Moorish-style castle that is…keep reading!) I know painting your bedroom a dark color can be quite intimidating for some, especially in small spaces. So I wanted to walk you through my decor inspiration and reasons for going bold.

Painting our small space a dark color is a functional decision

You can see the “BEFORE” of the alcove bed in our Youtube RV reno tour

True, I’m a total romantic and it shows in the way I design. But when advocating for tiny living, I always emphasize function above all else. So here’s the hidden logic behind going dark for our alcove bed: I’m a crap sleeper and I need all the help I can get. After doing some research, I’ve discovered the importance of minimizing light exposure to help you fall—and stay—asleep. I don’t just mean screens in your face before bed, but UV rays on your skin too. Painting our bedroom a dark color will help absorb light and create a space that feels safe to rest and encourages deep sleep.

In general, dark paint is such a versatile design tool. Inky walls can make an expansive space feel cozier and, when used in small space design, can help walls visually recede in a way that makes the room feel bigger. The latter is especially handy when two adults are sharing a teeny over cab bed and one of them is prone to claustrophobic panic attacks. (Yup, it’s me.) We’ll also be color-matching the bedspread and the curtain that divides the cab from the living space. Going monochromatic will help it feel like a dedicated room and reduce visual noise within the tight space.

Playing with pattern will also help make the space feel bigger

It’s not just going to be a solid navy color. You may think I’m nuts for suggesting a statement ceiling in a <4 foot crawl space, but stick with me here... Using depth of color, large shapes, or long lines can play tricks on the eye, helping to distort the perception of space and in our case help make it feel bigger. We can’t take ourselves too seriously—I mean we live in a van—so we’re going to lean into it. Adding pattern is so whimsical and layering patterns will add to the country home vibe we’ve gone for in our RV. The challenge is finding a motif that will add interest and depth without feeling oppressive.

The obvious place to start was to seek out wallpaper options but, given the low ceiling, the walls get banged up. You dirty minds! I mean from climbing in and out or making the bed. Wallpaper wouldn’t stand up to the wear and tear or exposure to the elements you get in an RV, so I couldn’t justify spending hundreds of dollars. I felt stuck for what to do next, so instead, we took a breather from renovating and hit the road over the holidays.

We’re looking to history and nature for specific inspiration

We weren’t sure what style to choose until we saw this Moorish-inspired palace. It snuck up on us while we were traveling! We’d stopped to see the Casa de Pilatos in Seville, a 15th-century palace built for the Dukes of Medinaceli. Parts of it were inspired by Arabic design and lavish in detail. But what I loved most was the indoor-outdoor feel—very relatable for van lifers like us. The inclusion of nature also helped make the overload of ornate decoration feel less pretentious. But there was one room in particular that stopped us in our tracks. We both looked up at this statement ceiling and then at each other, thinking, “that’s it!”

My photo of the Pilate’s Cabinet room in Casa de Pilatos in Seville, Spain

A navy ceiling with a variety of deep, medium, and light blue hues was dotted with shimmering-gold, star-like shapes. It’s historical relevance to the country we call home is meaningful to me and its likeness to the night sky feels hyper-relevant to the lifestyle we’ve just adopted. We loved the idea of reinterpreting the striking pattern for our own space. Simplifying the intricacy a bit will help it fit nicely with the other patterns we already have in the space and will add depth to the ceiling without it feeling “in your face”.

In the end, infusing our personal story is what makes our home singular and special

Fast forward to the post-holiday blues and I’m itching to get back into our RV renovation. I’ve started to pull together more examples of the style we’re hoping to capture in our so-called celestial ceiling. I’ve even seen some people refer to this look as “modern day mystic”. How cool? You choose whichever label you prefer, but I’m calling it my Velvet Sky.

cc @nomadbeautiful

You know that time of day—just after dusk—when the night sky turns a shade of navy that feels like if you reached out and touched it, it’d be made of velvet? That’s why I call it my Velvet Sky. It’s one of my favorite everyday, magical moments. Maybe because it’s usually when I’d be heading out to meet friends for a drink or strolling with my Love to dinner, but it’s an utterly romantic time of day for me. At least at this stage in my life. It reminds me so much of falling in love with Chris and I love the idea of capturing that essence, especially in our bedroom. It’s just kinda sexy too, no?

In the end, part of the fun of working with small spaces is how they force us to be super intentional and subsequently end up packed with thought and meaning. Like many folks, home wasn’t always a comfortable place growing up or as a young adult, so now that I’m homemaking for my own little family, I love to spend the extra time making it utterly ours.

So what do you think, would you be crazy enough to try this in your caravan or tiny home?

Update: check out the final over cab bed remodel on YouTube

RV remodel before & after: our #cottagecore inspired DIY RV kitchen

We picked up our 2001 Mercedes Elnagh motorhome the day Barcelona announced its second lockdown. Originally, we’d planned on living in the RV for a while before starting renovations. But after the orders to stay in place, we figured “hell, what else do we have to do?” and dove headlong into our DIY RV renovation. After some initial demolition, the first big project we tackled was our RV kitchen remodel. Because this wasn’t just a ‘weekending’ vehicle, it needed to be ultra-functional, but even more so, we wanted it to feel like Home.

We’d had nearly 2 years of discussion and daydreaming about full-time RV life before we actually had our hands on our van. This gave us ample time to gather inspiration for the interior design. Though we do plan to live around Barcelona long-term, we don’t consider ourselves Beach People, so a beachy bungalow or boho vibe wasn’t the right fit. We prefer to soak up the sun and the sea from high up on the oceanside cliffs. In other words, we’re Mountain Folk and predictably have a soft spot for cozy cottages. I’ve long loved ancient stone buildings and traditional old world interiors, and with Chris’ Scottish heritage, it just felt right for us to go with a country house feel. Lived in and well-loved. Minimal on the kitsch, but extra helpings of warm and cozy. And I think that’s exactly what we managed!

Here she is, the transformation of our RV kitchen then & now

The caravan was in pretty good condition when we bought it, despite her 19 years. In the hunt for the perfect tiny house on wheels, we narrowed it down to a few really important must-haves. They mostly centered around: engine condition, off-grid capabilities, internal layout, and budget. We knew we wanted a bit of a cosmetic project and Ida (our van’s name) ticked all the boxes, while still giving us the room to play with paint, textiles, and personality.

How we chose the paint color for our farmhouse-inspired RV kitchen

Dish by Caterina Roma and curtains from Maisons de Monde

Because it was a small space and would need to be road-ready within a few minutes, I couldn’t rely on knick-knacks and lots of decorative pieces to communicate the aesthetic we were going for. Instead, I needed to be really intentional about paint color, kitchen hardware, and the few functional kitchen accessories we’d have space for.

Early on, we agreed to avoid painting everything white and realized we both loved the idea of farmhouse-green cabinets. (Funny enough, they’ve blown up in popularity since.) I love the pastels of French country estates and the wheaty accents of paired-back, modern farmhouses. And Chris is partial to color with a little more saturation. Those were our guidelines for picking the right shade of green for our kitchen cabinets. Looking back, it’s ironic that despite choosing not to go with beachy vibes, our color scheme nods to the ocean hues of our seaside city anyway—something we both love in retrospect.

Another key element to achieving the #cottagecore kitchen of our dreams was to add new kitchen hardware to the RV cabinets. The original push to close latches were a dated chrome finish and lacked character. So I swapped them for more traditional brass handles that could patina with use to give us that well-loved farmhouse look. To my surprise, what was meant to be a quick fix turned out to be one of the most time-consuming projects. If you want to replace your RV cabinet handles check out my easy tutorial to save yourself some time. In the end, they added the charm I was hoping for, especially paired with new brass hanging bars.

Why we installed hanging bars for the perfect storage solution in our RV kitchen

Storage is key to full-time RV living, so it was something we were keen to add more of during the renovation. Some people choose to park up in a single locale for a few weeks or months at a time, but we knew (after COVID) we would be traveling frequently for fun and to scout out a plot of land for our one-day bricks and sticks tiny home. With that in mind, we’d need to get as much of our day-to-day stuff secured or put away, so we wouldn’t be wasting tons of time shuffling things around every time we wanted to hit the road.

Adding kitchen bars was the right solution for us. It served multiple purposes like, keepings items organized while being easily accessible at all times, securing things in place but still allowing them to gently swing without breaking during transit, and it also gave me the opportunity to display accessories that were beautiful and meaningful, but not too stuffy—like items you’d find in a family cottage or farmhouse.

Items from Ja Ceramics, Coffee Sock, Ikea and Muy Mucho

It was so fun to hunt down just the right pieces. We tried to repurpose a lot of kitchenwares from our previous flat, many of which were gifts. We chose to commission a couple of important pieces (pictured left), so in the end, we only had to buy a couple of new things. Now, our very personal display consists of:

• custom-made ceramic coffee scoops and a charcuterie board

• sustainably-sourced cotton coffee socks

• varying sizes of wooden cutting boards

• blue and cream french-inspired tea linens

• little bits of leather, twine, and brass throughout

• and a place to display dried flowers from bouquets Chris has bought me on special occasions

I’ve adopted the Slow Home ideology with this home, so I’m sure this collection will change and evolve with our travels and as our family needs change. And I love how that’ll help mark our chapters.

We also upgraded our countertops with contact paper for a budget-friendly RV kitchen remodel

Of course, renovating the RV while we were living in the ~160sqft (14m2) space had its fair share of challenges: constant mess and dust, sharp tools and tripping hazards, lack of running water, and sometimes noxious fumes. Because of this, it required that we split our renovation goals into 2 phases: The Right Now and The Ideal. Though it’d be beautiful to add a butcher block countertop—in an ideal scenario—we’d have to investigate it more thoroughly because of installation and weight. It wouldn’t have been realistic to rip out the countertop, reinstall the water system, and replace the gas stovetop without the proper power tools or a safe place to escape to at night.

So instead, we went with a budget-friendly fix of paint and contact paper for upgrading the RV kitchen countertop right now. Even then, it did require we go without running water for over 2 weeks so we could repaint the sink (and bathroom shower)! We relied on the campground for bathroom breaks, showers, and cleaning dishes. Once it was thoroughly dried, I applied the contact paper and sealed the edges with silicone for protection. It was my first time doing it, so it didn’t turn out perfectly, but it looks a hell of a lot better. It’s livable and definitely much prettier now too.

Final touches, we used rugs and curtains for that lived-in coziness in our DIY RV makeover

Part of what attracts me to cottages and farmhouses are their heritage charm. I love that almost tangible feeling of familial love and collected memories in old homes. And though our lifestyle is a rather creative solution to challenges facing a modern world, I wanted our home to have that same essence. After all, just because we can change our exterior surroundings with relative ease, these 4 walls are still where we live out our lives together—laughing, crying, growing together.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this peek inside our little home. And that it helps you to get creative and rethink the space you’re already in, or just maybe, it’s inspired you to dream up a whole new reality for yourself. Whatever is right for you in this season of your life. Just like this is right for us, in ours.