Click here to see where our RV bathroom started!
Check out how we added storage to our bathroom cabinet, as well as how we added flair!
Check out the new custom wood shelves we built in the bathroom!
As I said before, we wanted to do away with the crappy RV countertop and cheap sink-faucet combo. Mind you, there was nothing really wrong with either of them, they were just too ordinary to be representative of Danny’s and my home. We are both creative-types who like our lives to be colorful and interesting – not only in how we live, but also in where we live. We wanted each space in our RV to be representative of who we are.
So, here’s where we started:
You can see that there are no obvious cuts or stains in the countertop, and that the sink, although quite yellowed, is still in workable condition. But, holy hell, how booooooring.
While Danny was continuing with his efforts toward dismantling the sitting area / kitchen where the rot and mold had taken hold, I continued my work in the bathroom. The plan was to re-do the entire bathroom cabinet, so I got started by taking off the doors to make the workspace a clean one. I then disconnected the faucet plumbing, realizing that one of the small plastic pieces was broken and would need to be replaced. To keep the plumbing parts together, I taped them to the interior of the cabinet. From here, it was easy to pop the sink/faucet combo out.
After removing the sink, I next had to remove the countertop. This proved much more difficult than you would imagine it would be (or much more difficult than it would be in a standard house). In an RV, any furniture that is up against a wall is attached with screws that come in from the outside. The furniture (and therefore the screws) are put into the RV before the exterior siding goes on, so they are protected from the weather and the outside of the RV looks screw-free. This makes it an absolute bitch to remove the furniture from the wall without ripping holes in the exterior walls. Granted, they would be under the siding, but still not okay.
The left-hand side – where the sink had been – was much easier to remove than the right-hand side. The left side pulled up and off fairly easily, though one of the 1″ x 2″s that it was connected to (on the side closest to the tub) came off in the process. The right side, on the other hand, was a total bitch-and-a-half. After much swearing and beating on the thing with a hammer like a mass murderer on holiday, the majority of that side was removed. It took more wrenching and teeth-gnashing to get the remainder of the pieces off, but after about an hour-and-a-half of working on it, I finally had all the pieces gone. I used the reciprocating saw to sheer off the screws coming in front outside, as I wouldn’t be able to use them on the new countertop, and they’d just be in the way.
We wanted a nice wooden countertop rather than formica or some other cheap material. I researched ideas on Pinterest and found that our best bet (easiest, cheapest) would be to use wood tongue-and-groove flooring. So, we set off to Home Depot and Lowe’s in search of some. Our efforts were not rewarded though, since it seems that both stores no longer carry that type of flooring unfinished. Nobody wants to finish their own floors anymore (can you blame them?!). So, we decided we’d have to go to a smaller flooring store, and went about collecting the other items we needed.
While we were looking at lumber, we came across the most perfect pieces! They were slabs of wood that had been glued together and sanded into one piece. They had the perfect width for us (it was 16″ wide, which was exactly what we needed). Overjoyed, we took our prize home and set about our other tasks.
A couple days later, I came back to this part of the RV project and measured out the piece to be cut. Since the left and right sides of the cabinet weren’t even, a section would have to be removed to make the new countertop fit perfectly. So, without putting the unfinished piece onto the sink (like I fuckn’ should have), I measured out what I thought was right and made my cuts. I took the piece in and set it down – and can ya guess what happened? YUP. I cut it WAAAAAY too narrowly. For some reason, in my head, I had thought the piece was 19″ (not 16″) and would need to cut some off the full length. YUP. Ruined. $13 down the drain, just like that.
My roar of frustration brought Danny into the bathroom. After he finished laughing at me, we agreed that, on all future cuts, I’d measure, then he’d check my measurements, THEN we’d cut. YUP. The first rule of carpentry (measure twice, cut once) and I fucked it up on the first cut I made in the damned RV. Luckily, we can use what’s left of the piece on the shelves we’ll be building in the bedroom, so at least the whole thing isn’t a total write-off.
After another trip to the home improvement store and another purchase of the same exact piece, we re-measured (twice!) and I cut the new piece. Where the original countertop had had a curve, I also put a curve. Using our jig saw, it was pretty easy to go slow and carve out the curve, and after sanding, it came out nearly perfect. I then measured out the two pieces that would make up the backsplash, and cut out the notch for the outlet.
I applied the stain (Minwax Early American) and two healthy coats of polyurethane (letting each one dry thoroughly in-between, of course). We wanted to make sure it would hold up to water since it was going in the bathroom. Just as with the other woods we’re putting into our RV, this was a mixture of one type of wood for the countertop slab (not sure what kind) and standard pine for the backsplash, so the stain came out a bit differently on each wood, which you know I like.
Once the countertop dried, I measured out the sink area so the hole could be cut. I didn’t want to do it more than once, so I was extra careful with my measurements and cuts. This time, my curve didn’t come out so smooth or natural. In fact, it came out kind of lopsided. So, I got reinforcements and asked Danny to line out where it should be shaved down for a rounder / better fit for the sink. With his guidance, we made the hole nearly perfect, though it was still too wide on one section. Luckily, it was toward the back, so we were able to fill the area in with the caulk that we used to attach the sink to the new countertop, and are just hoping that no one will judge us on the shoddy cut.
As I said, we caulked in the sink, which was the coolest sink we ever could have. In looking for a replacement, the same kind of cheap plastic RV sinks were crazy-expensive, especially considering that I found this awesome thing on Amazon for $29 (no shipping)!
WWUUUUUUTT?! IKR?! This beautiful piece was handmade in Egypt and cost less than any RV sink I found, so it was a natural choice. Plus, with the penny floor we planned to put on the bathroom floor, the color and design were absolutely perfect. Since a pet peeve of Danny’s is things falling into the sink from the countertop, we made sure to caulk the sink in about an inch-and-a-half above the actual countertop, so nothing would accidentally fall in. For the faucet, we searched high and low for an affordable copper or bronze item, and ended up settling on the Pasadena from Pfister, which pfit with the psink pfantastically. Danny liked the clean lines, and the dark-bronzed color was perfect.
Next, we attached the countertop to the cabinet base with caulk. I didn’t want to nail it in just in case it ever had to be removed, and there’s so much caulk on the damned thing, it’s not going anywhere any time soon (I hope!). We nailed the two backsplash pieces together and caulked them into place (against the wall and on the countertop itself). The shorter piece of backsplash was actually cut an inch shorter than the width of the slab, so that we could insert the new wood shelves on top – having them mesh together on top of the countertop perfectly.
Before placing the sink, we had discussed where to put the faucet. The original sink had been right up against the outer edge, and we’d chosen to put ours a few inches in. We knew this meant that the faucet would not go directly behind the sink, and when Danny suggested we put it in the corner at an angle, we knew we had the perfect solution. We planned out where it would go and drilled the holes. It took a couple separate tries to get the holes wide enough and spaced correctly to get the faucet in, but overall it went in quickly. The offset piece gave the whole thing the eclectic look that we love, while keeping it from being hard to reach behind the sink (because we’d kept the sink raised).
All in all, the project went fairly smoothly and turned out better than we both had imagined. In the pic above, you get a glimpse of the penny floor that’s also going in, but we’ll talk more about that later (when the epoxy finally dries!).
THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING ALONG ON OUR JOURNEY AS WE (TOO-QUICKLY) REBUILD THIS RV SO WE CAN MOVE INTO IT AND TRAVEL ACROSS THE COUNTRY TO DO GREAT THINGS.
Namaste, my friends, and happy travels!
DISCLAIMER: We do not endorse or represent any brands or products, nor do we have any sponsors. If you are interested in sponsoring our journey or our nonprofit foundation, Vuja de Enterprises Foundation, we welcome your kindness and generosity!
Gypsy Rangers 
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