1. Dewalt Cordless Drill and Bit Set
One of the first things that we did when we jumped into the renovation was take off all the hinges and doors. This was a time consuming process, but it would have taken A LOT longer if we didn’t use an electric drill.
Not only did it come in handy when removing the screws, but also putting them back in place once the painting was complete. Some tighter spaces we still needed to use small manual screw drivers, but overall the electric drill was a huge help in saving time and hand cramps from twisting a screw driver all day.
2. Scotch Blue Masking Tape
If you’re about to jump into a remodel of any kind, one thing you will need for sure is a bunch of masking tape.
I recommend having at least four rolls from the start, though you may need more. We went through five even though we did a lot of hand edging with the paint brush.
Personally, I like the Scotch Blue. I’ve never thought the green tape worked that well for surfaces that had texture.
3. Box Cutter/Razor Blade
Scissors can be helpful when trying to cut and shape new vinyl wood flooring into the right shapes and sizes, but we found that using a box cutter was much more effective!
You’ll find a box cutter helps getting the old carpet up, cleaning varioand of course, opening boxes.
4. Staple Gun
Laying down the new carpet would have been a lot more challenging if we did not have a staple gun. It was so easy to place the carpet where we wanted it and just simply staple it down with the gun.
5. Sanding Supplies (Electric sander, sandpaper, and liquid sandpaper)
If you don’t already know, some of the wood in RV’s is real wood, while other parts are fake/plastic. In our RV the doors on all the cabinets were real wood, while the frames of the cabinets were composite. Before priming and painting the doors, we used an electric sander and liquid sandpaper to scratch off the outer coating of the wood and prepare the surface for paint. This worked best with the real wood doors, but we also did this with the composite as well. It didn’t completely scratch off all the surface coating, but it did make it a little more rough to give the primer and paint something to hold onto once it was applied.
6. Putty Knife or Painter’s Tool
When it comes to covering up holes and creating a smooth finish, a putty knife is the perfect tool to get the job done.
It also doubles as a scraper tool or even popping open paint cans.
7. Shop Vac
When sanding, the last thing you want to do is inhale all of dust flying into the air, and when you’re working inside of a tiny space (like an RV) it is almost near impossible to not get dust all over everything inside.
To prevent dust from coating the floor, counter tops, and our lungs we used a shop vacuum to suck up all dust falling from the sander.
This appliance also came into good use when pulling up the old carpet because there was so much dirt locked beneath it (yuck!) and it began to shed small pieces of carpet everywhere when we pulled it out.
8. Paint Supplies (Brushes, rollers, primer/paint and drop cloth)
Painting all of the walls, doors, and cabinets was the most time consuming step during the entire renovation; therefore, having the proper supplies was vital. The best product we used on the walls and doors during the painting process was Kilz paint primer. This worked great for coating all of our surfaces with a base layer before adding the top coat of paint.
When coating the walls we used a paint roller and pan liners to help reduce the mess and cover as much space as possible with one stride. When it came to painting the detached cabinet doors we knew that using a paint sprayer outdoors was the most effective way to get an even coat of paint on the doors and reduce the streaky look that paint bushes can leave behind.
When it came to painting all the small crevices around windows, light fixtures, and outlets we used a 1″ paint brush.
(Note – Although we didn’t use Beyond Paint for our project, many people recommend skipping the elbow grease portion of the work and going with Beyond Paint instead. According to some, it provides a solid coating on walls and can even be used on counters.)
9. Measuring Tape/T-Square
If you’re about to jump into a remodel of any kind, one thing you will need for sure is a tape measure. We used it when measuring the floor spaces where carpeting would go, measuring the vinyl wood flooring space, the length of the couch, the length of the wall for back-splash, the dinette cushions, the dinette tabletop…you get the point, we used it A LOT!
A t-square was helpful when measuring and cutting the new vinyl flooring to the right shapes and sizes to fit all the corners and curves of the tiny kitchen and living space it would be going into.
10. Screw Drivers of Various Sizes
If you’re about to jump into a remodel of any kind, one thing you will need for sure is a tape measure. We used our tape measure to measure almost every portion of the RV. We used it when measuring the floor spaces where carpeting would go, measuring the vinyl wood flooring space, the length of the couch, the length of the wall for back-splash, the dinette cushions, the dinette tabletop…you get the point, we used it A LOT! We also found a t-square was helpful when measuring and cutting the new vinyl flooring to the right shapes and sizes to fit all the corners and curves of the tiny kitchen and living space it would be going into.
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