RV Bunk Room to Office Transformation: How To Modify a Travel Trailer to Add a Workspace

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Converting an underutilized RV bunk room to office space is one of the most practical renovations for full-time RVers who work remotely. This comprehensive bunkhouse-to-office transformation documents how I turned the bunk area in my 32-foot travel trailer into an efficient workspace that serves my daily needs. This bunkhouse renovation provided enough room for a custom-built desk, comfortable office chair, and ample storage solutions. By sharing my step-by-step process, I hope to inspire other digital nomads to reclaim their unused bunk rooms and create productive office environments that make working from the road both possible and enjoyable.

Converting an RV Bunkhouse into a Functional Office

If you’re a full-timer like me, or even a part-time nomad who needs to work from the road, you may have found yourself pining for a dedicated office space in your RV. My first one was a simple hospital under-bed table that held my desktop computer while I sat at an uncomfortable dinette seat right next to the door of my 20-foot travel trailer. The second was just the kitchen dinette in a 23-foot rig, which was a bit more comfortable but very awkward, as it was too much to have to dismantle and re-set-up each day, so I had to live around it.

The third incarnation was again at the table of my dinette in my 27-foot TT, until I renovated the narrow (28”) bunk space. It was a decent renovation, as I was able to re-route the copper propane line to allow a tiny computer desk to fit toward the back. But at just over two feet wide, it was anything but comfortable. The fact that the window was too far in back of me to even enjoy any views during workdays was disheartening, so I ended up back at the dinette anyway.

So, in my current 32-foot TT, I resolved to immediately tear out the more spacious (54” x 70”) rectangular bunkhouse that I had no use for, and turn it into a far more usable office than I’d ever had. Unlike many of the projects this site is known for, this was not necessarily a visually beautiful renovation. I suppose it could have been, in more capable hands than mine, and with a larger time and money budget; but my priority was a practical, functional workspace that I
could enjoy sitting and working in all day, that didn’t make me feel as though I’d been banished to the dark, cold nether regions of my rig. And that’s exactly how it turned out. I made it as aesthetically pleasing as I could inside a tight time frame and even tighter budget, and though it’s no one’s showplace, it’s not ugly, either.

So let me guide you through what I did and how I did it, so you can perhaps get more use out of any space you may have that’s not pulling its weight in useful service to your lifestyle.

Efficient and Cost-Effective RV Bunk Room to Office Project

It goes without saying that function was my #1 priority in this reno, but immediately thereunder were the twin goals of making the best use possible of the somewhat odd space, and doing it with the tiniest cash outlay possible. I had just relocated across country from Arizona to West Virginia via the West Coast, so I’d just spent plenty of cash and wanted to ding my wallet as little as I could in this venture.

I also needed to perform this project while I was actively working full time, so it took far more time to complete than it otherwise might have. I was also fighting the onset of winter, meaning I had to keep most of my tools and materials in the trailer to avoid rain, snow and often high winds of late fall in the region. This made it difficult because I had to live around the mess, which was located adjacent to the living room/kitchen and the bathroom.

There was just not any way to avoid this awkward, but mercifully temporary living situation; but it gave me incentive to keep going and get the RV bunk room to office project finished. So, please keep in mind that I mostly performed this work in the evenings and some weekends during the winter months of November, December and January, which is why so many of the photos are rather dark.

The Rules of Play

The main strategy I used to both hold costs down and to produce as little waste as possible (because our RV park charges for trash overages) was reusing many of the wood and paneling members removed from the bed structures. I believe this was one of the more successful goals of this project for me, but it required a great deal of forethought and planning to implement, and I still messed up a few times.

I avoided, when I could, bending screws or breaking wood pieces during removal. I tried especially hard to keep the larger pieces as intact as possible, in case I would need to reuse them, but it simply wasn’t always possible. Overall, though, I’m really satisfied with the way I was able to work with what I had to re-construct what I needed. I only had to buy one short sheet of plywood to complete the job, and that wasn’t structurally necessary; I just wanted the back bench to look nicer.

I count this decision as the best one I made regarding the entire project. It took as much time to think and plan ahead as it did to do the actual demolition and rebuild, but was totally worth it. So my most important tips for this type of project are: Take your time planning, and reuse your materials.

Pre-Planning: Decide How to Turn the Bunkhouse Into an Office

Just as important as planning the use of materials is planning how you’ll attack the work. I cannot stress enough that, if you skip this step, you will not only cost yourself time and money down the line, you will double or triple your frustration. So, don’t begrudge the time and effort you have to expend at this step; it will be well worth your while at every point downstream.

I began by first doing a double-measure of the width and depth of the room.

Then I removed the mattresses and put them on the bed in my old trailer, which was without one because I had
previously moved that existing mattress to this rig’s bedroom when I moved in. If you don’t have the ability to do that, you can dispose of your mattresses either by putting them in the “free pile” (a practice common among nomad groups in dispersed camping areas, where we discard usable items we no longer need, for others to take); donate still-usable ones to local thrift stores; or take them to the dump or transfer station in a nearby town. Please don’t just
leave them somewhere for someone else to deal with.

Next, I lifted the top board that had formed the mattress base, to have a look at what was underneath. What I found informed nearly every decision I made from there on: The soil pipe from the toilet to the black tank ran directly into the space beneath the bottom bunk. Running about 8” away from the left wall, it wasn’t something I’d be able to move easily, so it became the major obstacle I had to work around during the entire project.

I decided I would build a chase around the entire pipe. This would protect it, as well as forming a platform on which I could place small plastic drawer storage units. I would build it so it could be fairly easily disassembled, in the unlikely situation that I’d need to get at that particular part of my rig’s plumbing. The only problem was that the chase would restrict entry to an already-narrow opening.

Follow-On Decisions

I now had to figure out whether the remaining floor space could realistically accommodate an office chair. I measured out from that inner wall, along which the plumbing ran. The chase would have to accommodate the entire length of the soil pipe, plus where it disappeared into the floor to run into the black tank. I realized that building the chase would eat up a precious 13” of space from the wall, leaving me just over 40” of floor space in which to locate and maneuver my chair.

I knew that most simpler office chairs have bases about 20-24” across, so although it would be a tight fit, it would work. I could still move a chair enough to get into it and work at the computer. This was the one area where I really caught a break in expenses: The following week, at a rummage sale in the local Harbor Freight parking lot, I found a beautiful black microsuede office chair with a high back, comfortable padded arms, good lumbar support, and a 24” swivel base on casters. It was in primo condition and cost me just $5.00. The guy even helped me put it into the back of my SUV. I was over the moon, as I hadn’t had a truly comfortable work chair in almost a decade, and this one had cost me less than a Big Mac!

The other result of building the plumbing chase was that I had to follow the original curve of the front of the bed base, to allow the adjacent bathroom door to open fully. This was one of those times when planning ahead to reuse materials really paid off.

When I had removed the original base, I was careful to keep the curved paneling intact, so I simply cut it down to reuse it for the same purpose. It had originally been about 20” high, but now it was just shy of 6”. Worked perfectly and looks good, too.

The second strategic decision was how to build the desk area. Ideally, I would have loved to build a rectangular counter that would accommodate my desktop computer and screen, plus an area to hold my printer and another flat, open space to do paperwork. That just wasn’t going to happen in this very limited space, so I resolved to construct a minimal corner/triangle shelf to support the computer, screen and peripherals (I run a Mac Mini, so its roughly 8-inch-square
footprint was manageable). The small external drives would tuck behind the screen with the Mini.

Lastly, I needed to decide how much of the top bunk to remove, and how much to leave as a storage shelf. I had learned from my previous rig’s office reno that RV top bunks are extremely sturdy (obviously, they’re built to support at least 200 lbs. and sometimes more). Given that, and that they’re already in place, it’s smart to figure out how you can best use them, instead of just tearing them all out. I wanted to make both windows accessible, so I ended up leaving
roughly half the top bunk intact. That matched what I’d left of the bottom bunk, which contains the water heater and space for the shore power cord to coil during storage.

These most important decisions out of the way, it was time to start removing unwanted structures.

Phase 1: Lower Bunk Demolition

After removing the mattresses and figuring out how I would fit everything in, I began tearing the bottom bunk base apart. The top ¾” OSB platform was the first to come up, which was fairly easy; I just removed a bunch of screws and lifted it off. These really large pieces I had to take outside, because there just wasn’t room to keep them inside. I covered them with tarps to protect from rain and snow.

I was careful not to damage walls when tearing out the plywood support structure, but did use a pry bar to help me pull as much at one time as possible. I did cause a small bit of unavoidable damage to the outer wall because there was nothing else to pry against; but I knew I’d be able to cover it up later. When you get into a situation like that, it’s best to slow down and make small movements, using a flat piece of wood or metal under the pry bar to spread the force over a larger area.

All of this occurred while I still needed to store things on the rear part of the bottom bunk that wouldn’t be torn out, and a whole bunch of stuff up on the top bunk before I removed that.

Keep in mind that the bed structures—like many others in RVs—are built from the outside before the trailer walls and sheathing exist, so many of the screw heads for crossbar supports will face away from the inside. This means you’ll have to pry the wood apart and later cut off the screws.

I know that the siderails supporting the bunks would likely be better off remaining, not only because it would save me a lot of work and look better, but also because they could be used to either support later insulation of the cargo bay door and “wainscoting” I would add later. So, I removed only what absolutely needed to go away.

Removing the Curved Bunkhouse Entry

The last part of the bottom bunk demolition was taking out the curved structure that blocked entry to the room. I kept in mind that I’d need to retain the left-most part of it to build the soil pipe chase. First, I removed the crescent-shaped plywood top, then took out the framing members.

Most of this work was done with a prybar and various saws, including a cordless handheld 4” rotary saw, a regular annual wood saw, a hacksaw for finer work, a heavy-toothed drywall saw for some of the OSB work because it was in a very tight corner, and a Dremel tool with cutoff wheel to cut the screws with hidden heads that I couldn’t get to.

Phase 2: Creating a Diagonal Bench for Added Office Storage

I wanted to make a smooth transition from the rear wall bench I’d created from the back half of the bottom bunk to the plumbing chase I was about to build. I figured the best way would be to create a diagonal bench. Not only would this make good use of existing structure, it would also provide a bit more space on which to put containers or books or whatever. I knew flat space to set things would be at a premium, so creating even a few more inches of it was a good call, especially in what would otherwise be wasted space.

First, I measured where I wanted it to go.

Since I didn’t have the proper tools to perform these exact angled measurements, I used a large piece of paper and a ruler to trace out the angles, then used that as a pattern to cut the bench top. Next, I measured and cut the horizontal bench support, reusing the paper template to get the angles right.

I realized the bench would also need some vertical support, so I measured, cut, dry positioned and finally secured these in place with screws I’d pulled from the bed structure.

Then I used the paper template to cut the bench top itself out of the ¾” OSB from the bunk top.

Lastly, I used the same template to cut a piece of the dark brown paneling to go on top for a more finished look. I secured this with double-sided carpet tape I carry with me. (Tip: This stuff is handy for a multitude of things, wherever you need double-sided adhesion without requiring removability and when desiring no thickness.)

Phase 3 – Plumbing Enclosure Demolition and Redesign

At this point, the main bed support was gone, and I had access to the soil pipe. I would need to tear that out and replace it with a lower-profile chase that would protect this plumbing and allow future access, while taking up as little space as possible. The first pieces to come off were the crossbars that had secured the framing to the larger bed support. Removing those gave me better access to the pipe area inside.

This access allowed me to quickly add insulation using some 1” EPS foam board that was left over from adding a winter skirt to my rig. It may seem early in the process to do this, but I was working in the far back room of the rig, where heat doesn’t easily reach, and the cold filtering in from below made it unnecessarily uncomfortable. So I stopped that up as best I could right away, then continued tearing out the framing.

At that point, I finished insulating the outfall so it was even with the floor, which left the area clean and ready for me to insulate the back wall and close off any potential pest pathways with HVAC aluminum tape.

For that, I measured, cut and stacked 1x2s to about 6” high, also re-using long screws to connect them. This both framed it out and created sturdy walls in one step. Because I only had these screws to work with, I connected two members at a time and staggered the holes to allow a strong bond in several locations. This also prevented me from weakening or splitting the wood with too many holes too close together. Then I re-used the paneling to recreate the bowed front section that would accommodate the bathroom door swing. It’s a little hard to see in this photo, as it’s looking directly down onto the bowed section.

Finally, I measured and cut a piece of the ¾” OSB bed platform, using that as the chase roof. There was a great deal of measuring and re-measuring, and attempting to determine angles on this piece. I’ll admit to a bit of by-guess-and-by-golly, but the end result worked, so I was happy. I stood on top of it to be sure it would adequately protect the pipe from crushing. It is quite solid.

Phase 4 – Finishing the Back Bench to Add Office Storage

I intended all along to use the rear half of the bed—which I had to leave intact to accommodate the water heater, PEX plumbing lines and shore power cord storage—as a sort of bench, on which I would put filing drawers to store my office supplies and arts and crafts materials. But I didn’t want it to be ugly.

Before taking care of looks, though, I needed to focus on function, by moving the incoming Internet cable from where I had originally brought it in through the lift hole in the ¾” OSB.

I ended up drilling a new hole in the front face of the bench, once I had everything in place (sorry, didn’t get a photo of that), and just tacked it in place along the chair rail to our router on the front wall of the office. It’s so discreet in appearance, you really need to be looking for it to even notice it’s there.

To make the top of the bench somewhat attractive, I first tried simply staining the OSB, but it was still raggedy-looking. So I bought a $7 piece of ¼” luaun from the local Lowe’s and stained it. It doesn’t cover the whole area, but it doesn’t need to. I just positioned it toward the front, and the storage containers cover the rest. You can see, too, how I pieced together what was left of the paneling (yeah, I know I cross-positioned the grain). Again, it’s not beautiful, but it gets
the job done and still looks better than bare 2x4s. And now that I have a chair in there, no one can even see that part. Generally, I’m not a “good enough” kinda gal, but with RV DIY work, I’ve learned to live with it when I need to. And I really needed to get this done.

Phase 5 – Finishing the RV Office Walls & Adding Wainscotting

I needed to backtrack a bit off the interior finishing to pay attention to the outside wall; namely, the cargo bay door. I would no longer use the door, so I locked it permanently from the outside. Then I cut a piece of the green 1” EPS foam slightly larger than the inside contours and pushed it hard against the aluminum frame. That created indentations that formed a perfect cutting template.

I used a box cutter with blade extended about 2” to cut just along the inside of those lines, and boy howdy, did that work well! I was able to push that insulation into the door opening so that it fit perfectly. No voids, and it didn’t move. Very happy with that. I simply locked it in place with some HVAC aluminum tape, and that part was done; probably the quickest part of this job.

This next step was probably not necessary, but I’m glad I did it. I found a leftover piece of the green foam that wasn’t in great shape, nor was it the perfect size; but I Liquid Nailed it to the part of the outer wall that was between the cargo bay door and the front wall of the office. I knew my legs would be under there most of the winter, so why not use that ugly but still useful piece to help keep them warm? After all, RV walls are nothing but 2” of that same foam sandwiched between either fiberglass or aluminum.

Then I went outside and cut up one of the sliding bedroom doors I’d removed and stripped it of most of its paneling, so I could turn it into poor man’s wainscoting for the bottom of the walls. It covers the insulation and hides a multitude of scuff marks, while classing the place up a bit. I felt okay using screws to install it, since I knew I was going to run a wide molding along the top to finish the edge, making it look like residential chair rail while covering up a bunch of gashes from demolition.

Lastly, I ordered a laptop holder bracket set from Amazon (Yes, I’m a Prime member. Can’t imagine doing this life without it, though I know people do.). I mounted it along the bottom of the wainscoting, high enough that I knew it would avoid the chair legs. It makes a fantastic, space-saving storage spot for my laptop.

Phase 6 – Top Bunk Removal

I had progressed as far as I could on the bottom half of the space without having the top bunk out of the way. So, I took advantage of the fact that I’m currently stationary for an extended period, and put up a portable storage tent. I removed most of the stuff I had stored on the top bunk into it, making room for me to work without having stuff fall on my head. The rest, which would ultimately stay inside, I shoved to the back.

I first used a cordless drill driver to unscrew the top platform, once again ¾” OSB. That exposed the interesting structure used to create a sturdy but lightweight top bunk. After that, it was mostly just a very physically demanding exercise with the pry bar to loosen and pry off the many individual blocks of lumber. 

The liberal use made of long, heavy duty staples in this piece was almost unbelievable. Just when I thought I had gotten them all, one more would make itself known. This was literally an hours-long job in itself, over the course of 3-4 evenings. Making it more difficult was the fact that I had to get on a step stool to get any leverage on that bar.

There were three sheets of OSB laid horizontally to make up the platform. I removed just the front one, and left the 2×4 crossbar, on which the second one laid. That would allow me to use the chair and desk freely, while retaining as much storage shelving as possible. Any cutting done used the same basic saws I previously described. Due to the awkward cutting angle, I also ended up using the drywall saw to refine the edges of the OSB in preparation for finishing.

Said finishing consisted of two cheap and straightforward solutions. I didn’t want to spend much on something that would essentially just be functional and largely buried under storage drawers, so I just went to Walmart and picked up a roll of generic woodgrain-pattern Contact Paper for the top surface. It’s not lovely, but it does the job. For the edging, I ordered what I’m still not sure is either extremely thin wood veneer, or extremely thick embossed, printed paper (I lean toward the latter), but it came in a 3-inch, self-adhesive roll from Amazon. It was extremely easy to apply (I used a box cutter to trim and a wood lithography roller to burnish it down), and I think it looks okay. Later on, after I began using the shelf, I realized I needed to protect the edge of the Contact paper from rolling up, so I revisited Lowe’s to bring back some simple L-shaped, ½” wooden edge molding. I stained that, as well, and now I’m very happy with it. It looks much more finished.

Phase 7 – Built-in Desk & Office Chair

Now I had some room to move around comfortably, to measure and build the desk and bring in the chair. You can see that I had the outer wall and the original half-wall divider that made up the desk area to work with. I knew that most tables are more or less 30” high, and the table I use now and my other computer desk were 29”, so I used the latter as the desk height I wanted to build.

I drew a line at 29” off the floor and positioned a small board in place temporarily with duct tape. Then I put my office chair in there and slid it underneath, to make sure it would have comfortable room for my legs. My little supervisor, Abby, promptly took up residence on it.

Knowing I was going to be using another diagonal-cut shape for the desktop, I screwed small pieces of 2×2 toward the ends, and used pre-made brackets from Amazon for the middle supports. I could have made those myself if I had a workshop, but for $7 and free shipping, it was worth it to just have them delivered, ready to go. I had to try several positions for them, before finding one that would accommodate my knees underneath. 

In this photo, you can see the little lantern I used to supplement the onboard lighting as needed. You can also see that the wainscoting isn’t done at this point. I had to do quite a bit of hopscotching between different tasks as glue dried, or I waited for materials to arrive. Not everything was as linear a process as this article makes it sound, but this is mainly how it went.

I cut off a corner of the door I had taken apart for paneling, to make the desktop. It was lightweight but strong (to stay light, they are made with a honeycomb of corrugated cardboard sandwiched between paneling). The edge as shown in this photo is ugly, but I later covered it with that edge tape, and now it looks pretty good. I also stained all the supports. This gives a very nice view of the finished wainscoting and top molding/chair rail.

The next photo gives a view from the chair of the finished desk with computer and monitor in place. That was before I finished cutting off the original screws from outside when I left the top rail support in place. I later stained that and use it as a narrow ledge where I keep my metal ruler and some small things. I also use it to tack things in place and hang sticky notes from. To the left of the monitor you can see the top of a plastic phone holder that was a brilliant addition, if I say so myself. I love that thing. It has a slot at the bottom for the charging cord, and is so handy!

Finally, I used the other side of that diagonal cut piece of OSB to create a top shelf for my printer, since there wasn’t any room down below. I just covered it with more of the Contact paper I used on the rear bench. Again, it’s not gorgeous, but it’s not ugly, either, and looks hella better than the raw OSB at no extra cost. In this image, you can also see the insulating blanket I created for the window (I’m in West Virginia and it gets very cold here at night) by sandwiching a bunch of layers of bubble wrap together and bordering with packing tape. Yes, I know all about Reflectix, but I didn’t want to keep all the light out. During the day, even if it’s cold, I take even that out, because I like to watch the birds visiting a platform feeder I placed just outside.

Phase 8 – Bunk Conversion Complete: The Finished RV Office

Now that I’ve had some time to use and settle into the new office space, I was able to get some photos of it finished, down to the wall decorations. The first shot of the left wall (against the bathroom) also shows the shelf I installed at top to hold my metal detectors. I’m an avid detectorist now for 21 years (and wrote the field guide Metal Detecting for Beginners: 101 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started, which topped the Amazon charts for the first three years it was out, from 2014-17), so that was a must-have.

I’m also an artist, and used two of the 15 lb. Heavy Duty Command Strip square plastic hooks to hang each of my two field packs; one for drawing, one for painting. You’ll also note about halfway down the wall, I’ve installed a rechargeable light to help brighten the space at night when I need it. There’s another one underneath the top shelf, toward the middle. You can also get a good look at how I’ve set up my storage areas. I have since cleaned up that mess in the left corner.

The red curtain is a blackout model from Walmart, and replaces the ugly stock one. Because it’s a thicker blackout curtain, it also has some insulating properties for both heat and sound. I pull it closed overnight so my heaters don’t have to work so hard, and if there’s any noise coming from outside, I pull it closed while I’m working, which seems to dampen it a bit.

The second left wall view is of the floor portion and lower wall. You’ll notice I mounted a fold-up drink holder at arm’s height while sitting down. It’s far from my keyboard, to prevent any costly accidents. I really love it there. Above that, I have my NOAA Weather Radio mounted. And this is a great view of how I used the top of the plumbing chase to store supplies and have a conveniently positioned trash can.

The third image shows the upper part of the back and side walls, including the top rear shelf. The original ceiling light fixture is now somewhat obscured, and I’m about to relocate it and add another one to extend useful light more toward the middle of the room. I love how this shows the beautiful sunlight streaming in. For someone like me with Seasonal Affective Disorder, even though the room is small, this light makes it a boon for my mood and general wellbeing. 

I do have the top window partially obscured with a beautiful beach wrap I bought in Jamaica about 20 years ago. It’s very lightweight, and I can vary how much light comes through by how many times I fold it. This light located high on the wall can often stream right in my face or on the computer screen, depending on time of day, so the versatile shade is very handy, while also being pretty. This shot also gives a nice view of my beautiful office chair, which I just love. It couldn’t be more perfect for this space if I had custom-ordered it.

I like this fourth image because you get a good view of the special arm-mounted keyboard that is attached to the chair spindle and swings in and out, to and from the chair itself. It also inclines as needed. This not only solved the issue of not enough desk space to accommodate a keyboard and trackpad/mouse, it also greatly improves my sitting posture, so I can work far longer and get more done before my body starts complaining. It’s also easier on my vision.

The top of the outer wall is shown in this image, and contains my business registration certificate (display required), a look at the printer on its dedicated shelf, and the multi-outlet 120AC/12v USB power panel that extends the usefulness of the stock outlet at top.

This lower wall view shows what it looks like when walking into the office and looking right. I still need to figure out how to deal with all the cable spaghetti under my monitor, but for now, it works okay.