On September 19th, 2020 we decided we wanted to travel full time and live in a motorhome. Three days later on Tierney's 26th birthday that dream came true when we purchased our 2004 Fleetwood Bounder 34D. It was a spur of the moment decision but it may have been one of our best yet. A good majority of our friends were buying houses but we decided we weren't quite ready to settle down in one place. The bounder had 70,000 miles and needed some serious love on the interior. We went into the search knowing whatever we bought we would be remodeling to our liking. This Fleetwood was exactly what we were looking for, great mechanical shape and plenty of room for us two and our dogs to live in full time.
The Fleetwood Bounder 34D is a thirty-four foot class A motorhome. Basically what those words mean is that we bought a school bus with an apartment in it, instead of the rows of seats. The Bounder has a full bathroom, kitchen and one large living room slide out. It also has two AC units which is a plus for when we are traveling/living in warmer climates. We were also excited about the onboard water heater which gives us the luxury of having a hot shower just like you would in a normal house. These are just some of the features that led us to purchase this specific motorhome. We would highly recommend doing your research before purchasing one as there are so many makes and models and it's important to find the one that will fit your needs.
After our purchase came her maiden voyage with us as her new owners, an hour and a half back to Tierneys' parents land. This is where the tear down and rebuild would begin. We bought Roo on a Tuesday and began the demolition Thursday of that same week. It was a clearance sale and everything had to go. First up, the very worn sofa, recliner and dining booth. All of which had to be pieced out and unbolted from the floor to fit out of our very narrow door. Next, we had to tear out all of the hideous box blinds on every window. With all of the large pieces out we moved on to removing the cabinet doors for painting and the very worn out carpet. Lastly, we tore out the very yellow stained bathtub and the huge, full-sized fridge installed by the previous owner.
Now that the Bounder was stripped down to a clean slate we could begin putting together our vision. Firstly, we sanded everything so that our new paint colors would adhere properly. We started with painting all of the walls and overhead cabinets antique white. Next, was the kitchen cabinetry, which we painted a beautiful alpine green. We finished off the cabinets by replacing the hardware with new matte black sets. With all of the painting and cabinetry done we moved on to installing our new vinyl wood flooring. We chose this specific flooring for the ease of instillation, durability, and light weight nature. We had also decided to install a shower pan with a smaller footprint than the original tub. This allowed us to build in a new shelving unit to improve our bathroom storage.
With all of the basic pieces finished it was time to begin building in the details. Starting in the kitchen, we bought cutting board style wood to replace our kitchen counter. We cut it to size and sealed it with butchers block stain. Once that was installed, we dropped in a beautiful black stone sink and matching black kitchen faucet. Next we installed a new smaller black fridge and matching microwave. We chose these appliances to give us more room to build in cabinets, a pull out pantry and a shelf above the fridge. We finished off the kitchen build by applying a white hexagon faux tile backsplash.
After the kitchen was put together we moved on to the bedroom. Fortunately, we didn't have to do too much rebuilding here, as the layout was good for us and had plenty of built in storage already. We started by matching our bedside table tops to our kitchen counter which meant pulling off the old vinyl tops and replacing them with cutting board wood. Next, we applied a simple white and grey wallpaper to the wall opposite of the bed and mounted a reclaimed wood headboard that was made by Tierneys' dad. We replaced the outdated brass light fixtures with matte black Edison bulb fixtures, Lastly, we finished the bedroom build by creating a new barn wood style sliding door that matched the style of the headboard.
Our next project was the bathroom. We had the frame work done and the plumbing run to our new shower pan. We cut and fit new shower walls from tile stamped waterproof board. Then, we installed a new brushed steel shower faucet and matching shower head. To complete the shower we put in a new flexible ceiling mounted shower curtain rail. Lastly, to bring the whole bathroom together we added a new reclaimed wood mirror frame.
Finally, we moved onto the build out of the living and dining area. We started by building a little corner booth for our dining seating. This allowed for storage under the dining seating and took up less room than the original dinette. Next, we bolted down a small square shelving unit to separate the dining from living are while adding more storage. We replaced the last brass light fixture above it to match those in the bedroom. We then replaced the TV mount and panel at the front of the RV with a small chalkboard made by Tierneys' mom. For our TV, we built a new custom cabinet door that we mounted it to that was across from the seating areas. We polished off the living area with barn wood stained custom molding on the slide out.
Our new home was finally coming together, and we got to put down the power tools for the first time since we bought it. The next project was to bring in our new furniture and drapery. We began by hanging new cream linen curtains in the living area and black out curtains in the bedroom. Next, we mounted a TV on the wall of the bedroom for rainy day movie marathons. We moved onto furnishing the slide out, by bringing in a new camel leather sofa from Article and a modern round dining table. The final touches were a small rattan ottoman, a boho style floor pouf, a cutting board topped kitchen island and lastly, a wood burning stove styled electric fireplace.
Everything was in place and the days were counting down to our move. All we had to do was bring in the final touches. We finished the living room with a boho rug, some great wall art from local artists and new seat cushions for the dining booth. In the bedroom, we brought in new bedding to tie our color scheme together and hung our collection of full brimmed hats on the wall. In the bathroom, we hung our shower curtain, put in new matte black towel rods and added beautiful satin white counter top accessories. With everything installed we finished off our motorhome with a few incredible pieces of wall decor, and brought in our small collection of plants. It finally felt like home.
With our build complete, we loaded the rest of our things for our new life and the 20 hour drive ahead of us. Before we could hit the road we needed to name our Fleetwood Bounder, because that is just too wordy. The Bounders mascot is a kangaroo and since we would be towing our Jeep behind us on the journey we came up with the name Roo for our motorhome and Joey for our Jeep. And on December 31st, 2020 we began the road trip of our new lives.
This was a broad stroke explanation of our remodel and does not come close the the effort and time put into this build. We had help from family and friends, stayed up late into the night and hit a lot of pot holes along the way. We will be going into more detail in the future of each of the projects for those interested in remodeling their own motorhome. Feel free to reach out to us with any questions you may have and we will be happy to answer. Thank you for reading and remember to never stop moving.
Special thank you to Jon and Shiela Plasencia, we could not have made this happen without you.