Jenny McQueen

I’m giving you a peek into the nitty gritty of our hunt for an RV. This list copied and pasted directly from our google doc that we created when we first started researching.

Before we even set foot on an RV lot, we tried to think about our priorities, and how we wanted your day-to-day life to function. It was really hard to envision what we might need, considering we had never even rented one…yes we were those people with absolutely no clue where to start!

Spoiler alert; there is one small thing we sort of didn’t get, but overall, our Salem Hemisphere literally checked ALL the main boxes for us. I am so happy we didn’t settle-we looked at over 400 floor plans before finding our dream RV!!!

(Note this list does not include specs, like weight, amps or trailer length. I’ll save that for another time)

1. A kids room with a door that closes. This was an absolute non-negotiable. We knew we wanted to replicate the sleeping situation for our twins as much as possible. In our traditional house, (I don’t think I’ll ever be able to bring myself to call it a sticks and bricks y’all), they slept on floor beds in their nursery. We needed a closing door to make sure they stay put, and also as a sound barrier for living in such close quarters. There were a LOT of fabulous floorpans that quickly got crossed off our list because they only had a curtain to portion off the kids room.

2. Double bunks in the kids room. By this we really meant two upper bunks, and this was planning for the future. We know that eventually our twins won’t sleep on floor beds, and we didn’t want them fighting over who gets the top bunk. The floor plan we ended up choosing has two upper bunks and a fold out queen mattress on the floor, so it’s absolutely perfect. for our needs. We just toss a mattress topper in the remaining floor space at night, and the twins sleep like champs!

3. A kids room that can convert to an office space. My husband works remotely, and so we knew this room would have to do double duty. We weren’t exactly sure what that would look like, but he needed to be able to set up his computer screens and have enough room to spread out. His set up is still being tweaked, but currently he works standing desk style on one of the bunks. We will probably make some updates to the room as we settle in to make it more office friendly, but it’s totally functional for now!

4. A good size fridge. Again, this is a lifestyle choice I really didn’t want to negotiate on. I love to cook, and we didn’t want to lean on eating out, or frequent trips to the store. I was flexible on just how big, because residential size fridges come with extra weight & take up valuable floor space, but I knew a standard RV fridge would be too small. What we ended up with was in the middle, 16 cubic feet to be exact.

5. A dinette across from the kitchen. This is one of those oddly specific things that is about nothing but visual preference. I wanted the eating & cooking area to feel cohesive, and a kitchen table in the living room felt weird to me! My husband agreed that it made the most sense, especially with our plans to be cooking 3 meals a day.

6. A good main living space. For us, this meant a dedicated living room area, TV placement that wasn’t awkward, and a good sized couch or a booth dinette that converts to am L shaped couch. We ended up negotiating on this a little bit; I wouldn’t quite say it checked the box, because our booth does not convert to anything except a bed, and our couch is on the small size. However when we fold it out into a bed, it’s comfortable enough for all 4 of us to pile on and watch TV. It’s our favorite rainy day activity now that we’re on the road! And we can always change out the couch in the future.

7. An Outdoor shower. This makes us laugh now, because we didn’t realize that all RVs come with a water connection on the outside that can function as a shower. So this was an easy check off the list!

8. A decent size bathroom. So technically we negotiated on this, but not really, because we got TWO full bathrooms, including a spacious shower for us, and, drumroll please… a small bathtub for the kids! The main bathroom is pretty small, but the big shower and the skylight make it just roomy enough. And not having to give toddlers a shower is a huge relief.

9. Windows in our bedroom. Light is everything to me, and so this was a necessity. I envisioned someday we would be waking up on a boondocking adventure in the middle of nowhere, sunshine pouring in as I wake up. Plus I’m mildly claustrophobic, so feeling boxed in is not a good way for me to get rest.

10. A main bedroom door that closes. This is not just privacy for Mom & Dad, but to have a space that we could store things that need to be out of toddler reach. We also knew we would need to have someplace to retreat to when alone time was necessary.

11. An outdoor kitchen. This sounds small, but was our final and MAJOR non-negotiable! In our minds, the whole purpose of moving into an RV was to get more time outside, and who doesn’t love dining al fresco? I didn’t want the family to be enjoying beautiful weather and I had to go inside to make dinner. And this wasn’t just a me thing; I mentioned that I love to cook, but so does my husband; he has years of experience as a line cook, and can tear it up on a flat top grill.

And now on to our bonus item. This was something we wrote down as a selling point, like we would be SO excited to find, but not a deal-breaker. We weren’t going to miss out on the perfect RV for it. And it is, a king size bed. We are both tall people, and one of us (ok, it’s me) likes to sleep star fish style, so it’s for sure a comfort thing. What we ended up with is called a short king; large then a queen bed, but not as big as a traditional king. And we’re so happy with it!

I’ll save the story of how we found our dream RV that checked all these boxes, including the bonus item, for another post. But we LOVE our Salem Hemisphere 356QB! I can’t picture a better fit for us, and I’m so excited to settle in with my family and hit the open road!