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These RV owners decided to remove their dining booths. Here’s what they replaced them with.
Replacing an RV Dinette with a Table and Chairs
Replacing the dining booth with a traditional table and chairs makes a camper or motorhome feel less like a vehicle and more like a house, as seen in these photos:
Replacing the Dinette with a Couch
The dining booth in this camper was removed and replaced with a custom-built sofa that adds additional seating as well as an extra bed. The drawers from the original dining booth were kept and used to create storage underneath.
(To see more DIY sofa ideas, check out this blog post.)
Removing the Dinette to Add Storage
The owners of this RV used two Walmart bookshelves bolted together to create a custom eating space. After painting the shelves and covering the top with wood grain contact paper, they set a separate long table in front which they finished to match.
This eating and work station was made from kitchen cabinets with the center doors removed.
The owners of this RV constructed a bar area out of cabinets as well.
Removing just one of the booth seats allowed a bookcase to be added to this fifth wheel.
Removing the Dinette to Free Up Additional Space
Paint isn’t required for a drastic makeover! A pub dining set, accent chair, and fresh window treatments make a huge impact in this RV.
By removing the table and reconfiguring the benches, this dining area became a living area that can still be used for eating with a stowaway table.
Adding a piece of countertop and some stair railings along an existing kitchen counter created a new eating space, allowing the dining booth to be removed and the space to be used for other furniture.
Replacing the Dining Booth with a Retractable Table
This retractable desk and storage unit was custom built by Amish furniture maker Focal Wood Products for RV owners John and Kathy Huggins. You can see more photos of it at their blog.
Motorhome owner David Barber built the unique cabinets and folding table pictured below. You can see photos of the process here.
After removing the dining booth from their motorhome, RV owners Eric and Katie built this combination entertainment center, dining table, desk, and fireplace. You can read about how they removed their dining booth and made it on their blog.
Trading the Dining Area for a Coffee Station
As part of the process of turning her RV into a Tiny Home, this RV owner removed her dining booth and replaced it with a baker’s rack to use as a coffee station. A small electric fireplace shares the space to supplement the trailer’s propane heat.
If you often eat your meals outdoors or sit on the couch to eat, why not use the space for something else?
Custom Built Murphy Bed/Bar
After removing their dining booth, this RV couple designed and built a bar that folds out to convert to a bed. The bedding and folding bar stools all fit inside during travel.
ok i dont own an rv but these are brilliant!! so creative. maybe i should buy an rv now? if i do, i’m totally coming back for more inspo xo
Courtney There are plenty of great used RV’s out there to suit any budget…but before you buy one you may try out someone else’s first through peer to peer RV renting at sites like FlowRV.com Good Luck and may the joy and adventure of RV travel be in your future.
we have a u dining area three benches how would we convert it I love these ideas it was great with the grandkids but now its just us seats 7 again it was prefect then takes up a lot of space
This is awesome sauce! My mom always talked about wanting a RV but I highly doubt it would of been like this. You have to have an eye for this type of designs! Like I don’t have a big family of my own but I sure would like one of these just because! LOVE IT!
We plan on getting or first motorhome next year. I love inspiring remodels like this. You can turn an old motorhome so modern and cute
I camped 3 times in my early life and it was in a tent. If I had one of these RVs, I would have done a lot more camping!
Haha I hear you!
I’m a full time river. I’m looking for ways to make money on the road. Anything will help. Thanx
Hi Robert, check out my resource page about earning money while RVing! You’ll find lots of ideas and resources there!
This is so neat. I don’t own an RV but this looks really comfortable and homey. I’m loving the transformations.
The transformations are very cute and homey. This gives the rvs a more homey and comfortable feeling. I don’t own an RV but these are neat!
I did this in my motorhome a couple years ago…… twice !!! first made a desk where the booth was then re-designed it again for more room….. felt great 🙂
Would love to see a photo if you have one!
We took out our dinette on our RV too. We opted to replace with an additional sofa so we have more seating & sleeping area, so our super slide is all sofa. When we eat, we bring out small folding tables we bought at BJ’s (the rectangular plastic ones) that we put up and take down in a flash. Much more comfortable to eat than being squished in that dinette!
That does seem like a smarter use of the space, especially with all the multi-use furniture that’s available nowadays – sofas with hidden storage, coffee tables that lift up for eating, etc. I’ll bet it’s nice to have extra comfortable seating.
Those are the same RV? The flooring r different, so r the light fixtures and where did the upper cabinets go?
We did a major overhaul – new flooring, light fixtures, furniture, and we painted SO MUCH. The cabinets are all there, but we painted them (the angle of the shot isn’t the same, so you can’t see them in the “after” picture. I’ve attached another that has a better shot of the cabinets. If you want to see more pics of our renovation, you can see them at this link.
can you tell me where you bought those gorgeous tan sofas ???
Certainly!! Here is the link.
We have an RV as well would like to do the same. Where did you buy the sofas?
Which sofa are you referring to exactly? When we replaced our RV sofa we bought one from Ikea (but it’s not pictured in this blog post). We liked that our Ikea sofa came unassembled so it was easy to move through the door. I actually have a blog post about sofas that might work well for RVs, too, if you want to check it out: 8 Space-Saving Sofas
I love this!!!! Can you tell me where you found these sofas?
Hi! Which sofa in particular are you referring to? Or do you just mean where to get sofas for RVs? You can use any kind of sofa in an RV as long as you’re mindful of weight and can fit it through the door.
We bought a sofa from Ikea for our own RV that was much lighter in weight than the one we replaced, and getting it through the door was no problem because it came unassembled in boxes and we put it together inside our RV. 🙂 Wayfair.com has a lot of sofa options, and most of them come unassembled. The descriptions usually tell how much they weigh as well as the dimensions.
This one I like. I use my dinette for sleeping area for grands, so I didn’t want to do away with it totally, adding sleeper sofa would work. I like it! Thanks for sharing.
Where did you get the replacement couches
Where did you buy these sofa beds ?
Nice ideas, have had several RV Trailers always replace the booth. Current one had furnace under one bench ,air duct, and water pump under other bench. Custom built cabinets to accommodate those items, put a modified counter top on top, shelves underneath, then used countertop to make a table that slides out, added two padded chairs and waalaa.
I did the same thing! It added so much more storage room and floor space! Also took out the sofa and built a work station!
I’ve got a newer travel trailer with the horseshoe style table. It’s nice for us as there’s storage under each side seat and the back seating area can be rolled out and used as a foot rest. If I were going to change anything at this time I would make a swing out tv stand as the tv currently turns but doesn’t allow people sitting on the couch on the left to see all of the tv.
I am curious how this furniture travels – does it move around much – do you have extra ways to secure it when you travel? All looks great but what about movement?
That’s a great question, and one that I can’t answer directly since I’m sure the answer is different for each of the RVs pictured here (and none of them are my RV). However, I do know that many or most of these RV owners DO travel….to ask people who have replaced or added to their RV furniture exactly how they travel with it I would suggest posting your question in the Facebook group called “RV Interior Ideas” as many of the people whose photos are in this article are in that group! You could even search the group for the names of the people who own these RVs (their names are given below each photo).
I have a tiny 18 foot camper with my husband and two dogs. I took the dinette out and used the cushions to build a storage couch. Didn’t lose a bit of storage and now have a lot more floor space and comfort. If you’re interested in looking at the pictures I’ve got a lot of pictures on my site. http://WackyPup.com
Thanks for sharing! The storage couch you built is so clever, and your photos showing the process are super helpful as well. Here’s a direct link to the blog post about dining booth project for anyone else who is interested.
Hmmm! I can use some of these ideas for my cargo trailer conversion! WOW, thanks
Awesome! You’re welcome!
We have a different problem The couch within our smallish slide out (Class C, Winnebago, on Mercedes chassis) is way too deep for her legs to reach the floor without sliding her back away from the back of the couch, creating back pain, quickly. We were looking to replace the convertible couch, with a dinette with storage capabilities under the seats, and perhaps a smaller bed conversion, from the dinette. I have been told leg room may be an issue. Any thoughts? I guess we could get a dinette from one of you followers, who are removing them.
So you’re wanting to replace the couch with some solution that can be used for eating, sleeping, and storage? What about a more comfortable sleeper sofa (maybe one from Ikea) paired with a lift top coffee table? What is your current eating space in your Winnebago like?
How do you have such great ideas and courage to jump in! Our slide out is a horseshoe dinning area that we would love to change – recliners??
I get most of my ideas from other people, which is why I like to pass along good ideas when I find them! 🙂 As for courage, sometimes I have to work up to that! Sometimes it helps me to think through my “worst case scenario” so I can be prepared to face anything that goes wrong, or realize that I really have no reason to worry after all!
I think if I had a horseshoe dining area I would want to replace it with a very small drop-leaf table (because I prefer to eat at a table rather than on the sofa – my personal preference) and another piece of furniture – maybe a comfy chair, a craft desk, or a small chest of drawers (anchored to the wall if needed).
That is the same thing we did. Adding a jack knife couch and we store folding tables behind it. It is amazing how much more room there is without the dinning booth.
We removed our couch it was too small for my 6.5 foot brother so he removed it and replaced it with a queen blow up it helped his back as well which of course we are on the lake… he passed away in October from leukemia and its heart breaking but he really loved camping will still leaves it out….
Air mattresses these days can really be quite comfortable; we have one that we use when guests visit. I’m glad you were able to find a more comfortable solution for your brother; so sorry to hear about his passing.
Where can I get plans for the Murphy bed/bar????? I really need something like this!!!
Isn’t it great? These people designed and built it themselves! Are you in the Facebook group RV Interior Ideas? If you search in that group for the name of the woman who took the photo, Kimberly Bales, you should be able to find where she posted photos of the bed and talked a little bit about how her husband Joel made it. I am not sure any plans for it exist, but you might be able to ask for advice about building one yourself. Good luck!
I re-did my rv inside and love it so much more, painted made some of my own curtains, put down new flooring, with a nice area rug, works great for us! A lot more room! 🙂
These are so cute and I love how much more space it seems to make. I have lived full time in a 1988 Jayco 5th wheel for about 8yrs now. I am looking at doing some remodel/redecorating. I love some of these ideas however the only thing I am concerned about is loss of sleeping space. I am single and I rarely have guests but I want to keep my options open. My table and bench seats can be taken down and made it into a bed and I wouldn’t want to lose that extra sleeping space. The Murphy bed bar seems to be the only option to keep an extra bed available.
There other sleeping options for guests. For example, we replaced our sleeper sofa with a regular sofa, but we have a queen size air mattress that our guests use for sleeping. Maybe you could do a folding table and chairs, or a wall-mounted drop leaf table like this one, so the table and chairs could be moved to make room for an air bed?
If you fear jumping into a project keep in mind you may find a new treasure. We flipped the eating area to the opposite side which allowed more functional space and replaced the couch with rattan furniture for a tropical feel. I used the fabric and foam from the couch to make cushions for the new chairs and kept the color scheme in tact. When disassembling the booth on the used unit we bought from a dealer, I found a tightwad a papers in a corner and was going to toss the pieces. It was between a brace and the walls of the storage benches. We owned the unit for 14 years by this time and had been in and out of the storage area several times. The tightwad turned out to be $100 bills. We tried to locate the prior owner but found that he had passed away. It turned out to be a significant amount of money. We bought a toad to pull behind the RV. I redid the kitchen backsplash with the sheets from homedepot that look like antique tiles. They look great and can be easily removed if I grow tired of them.
Wow, what a cool story about how you found the money! And I love your idea of reusing some of the materials, too. Your dog sure looks happy! 🙂
The kitchen backsplash
Your backsplash looks great! Not sure why the photo loaded sideways…I need to try to figure out how to fix it….
This seems to be the current trend. I prefer my dining booth to table and chairs. I have quite a bit of storage space in the drawers under my benches that I wouldn’t want to give up. The dinette converts to a bed for kids or guests. I put add-a-drawers on the underside of the table, and I like the larger sized table for games, paperwork, etc. I guess to each his own.
Yep and I have even seen people with a table and chairs wanting to buy a dining booth! 🙂 I always request to sit at a booth instead of a table when I go to a restaurant, so I might really like having one in my RV, too! 🙂
I have 4 recliners in a slid out. I’d like to remove 2 recliners and add a dinette & seats. Any ideas?
Maybe you could try posting in some of the RV Facebook groups to ask if anyone near your location is planning to remove their dinette soon so you could have it? If you can’t find one, you might have to build one – you could look at the pictures in this blog post and try reverse engineering the process, or you could modify these plans. You could also potentially modify this one. My last idea would be to watch Craigslist and other sites for someone pulling one out of their RV, or a restaurant selling one. Hope that gives you some ideas to work with!
all of these ideas are great but,when you have to stop in a hurry these thing become flying objects and can become dangerious,theres a reason why these rv are designed the way they are ,for safty.now if your going to keep your rv in one spot ,it’s ok but if your going to move it down the road you better think some thing differently.good ideas ,BUT!!!!!
Good point that it’s important to think about how furniture might shift while an RV is in motion. We use bungee cords and tie-down straps to secure the furniture we added to our RV to make sure it stays in place.
My Dining booth has a water tank hidden under it, would it be hard to relocate it?
Hi Carol, this isn’t something I have personal experience with, but I would imagine it would simply involve re-routing the plumbing. I would consult with a plumber to determine whether or not it would be possible. Another option might be to build something to cover it that looks like furniture, like a side table or cabinet.
Ashley, I love all the ideas, but I do have one big question. How do you keep the big furniture and chairs from shifting while driving. Those could be a real hazard if you have to stop fast. Is there something I’m missing about fastening them down?
Hi Giuliana, that’s a good question. I’m not sure what other people do, but we use ratchet straps and bungee cords to secure our furniture while the RV is driving. For example, our RV sofa came with a strap to go around it that hooks into D-rings on the floor of our slide, so we just use the same system for our new sofa. And we also run a strap a strap around the armchair and table we added and find a place to hook it. You could even screw eye rings into walls, cabinets or slideout trim if needed.
They must not have grandkids to take camping which we love doing. I didn’t like any of the redos, I guess I’m the only one who thought they were tacky.
We just purchased an 86 Comfort Light 5th wheel. We are looking for a table for it since it came without one. With all these updating possibilities, we sure would love to find one someone is throwing out!!
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These are some great ideas! I love how creative RVers get. I think it’s be fun to terminate something like a fifth wheel where you don’t have to be as careful about weight restrictions. We have a family of 11 and travel during in a travel trailer with a Chevy Express can, so everything we do has weight in mind.
We did a renovation on our Passport Ultralight to add sleeping and seating space. Now we have two long sofas that fold out into beds and two small hideaway tables. It’s kind of hard to explain, but we did a YouTube video on The Travel Bags channel here:
https://youtu.be/08dmyy5U9R0
If this is spammy, please delete it. 🙂 I found you in Pinterest and I’m sharing.
Not the smartest idea. Cabinets, beds, dinettes, etc are all designed to be part of the integral structure. By removing or modifying, you are weakening the structural integrity of the camper. I have personally seen two campers that have come apart on the road because someone did something just like this.
Please, please! Can you inform me of where I can get these seat belted seats that form the couch, then bed. I have been trying to find something like this for quite a while.
Here are some jackknife sofas on Amazon – let me know if that’s what you’re looking for or if you’re thinking of something else?
I could be mistaken, but I believe the seatbelts are bolted to the floor and poke through the couch where it folds.
How did they insulate and cover the doors to the outside that go to the space under the booths and behind the sofas?
Not all RV’s have these doors (in fact many don’t). Also, many RVers only travel in warm or mild weather, so perhaps they aren’t too concerned with insulation. I would probably solve this problem buy cutting a piece of foam board insulation a little bigger than the door and taping it in place over the door (on the inside) using HVAC tape (because it is removable). If it was in a place that would show, I might hang some fabric or a curtain or something to cover it.
Under my booth is storage and a door from the outside. I would love to replace the dinette with a functional couch but not lose the storage because it is already so limited. Is there a decent couch that when butted up against the wall can there be storage underneath it, accessible from the outside?
I don’t know of a couch like this, but maybe you could build one? Check out this blog post about DIY RV sofa ideas!
Cute ideas, but not practical for families who need more than 2 seats.
That is probably true!
Tried to sign up for your emails and it fails with “TypeError: Failed to fetch” in a alert box.
Sorry about that, and thanks for the heads up! I’ll have to look into it! I’ve added you to my list using the email address you provided here; if you want to update or change your subscription just reply to any of my emails and I’ll get it taken care of!
I live in Lake St Louis, MO. We just removed the dinette and couch out of our Thor hurricane. The fabric needs replacing. We have decided to buy new rather than reupholster.
What have you guys done with the bolts left in the floor for the seatbelt frame? I would like to redo the floor, and since these are in the slide, can’’t just cut them off.
Also, anyone want the old dinette? Contact me through my website. Gabrielebaberart.com
Can the bolts be unscrewed and the holes filled? Or are they attached from the bottom side of the floor?
That would be obvious. The bolts come from the bottom of the slide, up.. no access.
Thanks for clarifying!
We kept the seat belts in place and wound them tight. i did a double folded sock the same color as the flooring and tucked the belt into the sock. I have put a loveseat where the dinette was and used one set through the bottom of the loveseat to make sure it doesn’t move during the travel. I have used each set with separate chairs at one point in time. During travel I just turned the chairs to accommodate the belts and if needed can use for passengers as well.
We live in our RV full time and are making space as time allows. We took out the dinette that came with it replaced it with a full size table that we could use for cooking a desk small oven coffee maker coffee station. Would love to have more ideas.
Hi Scott! Have you been to my website’s Archive page? There you can browse all the other blog posts I’ve written to get more ideas!
We loved ditching the booth. We put in recliners with side tables & drawers, and put a lift up tv right across for easier viewing. We just use tv trays now. Here’s the before and after!!
Love how it turned out! So much space now!
Thank you! My neck is bad, so this helps when relaxing and watching TV. It’s so comfortable now!! And we ditched to tv in the front and installed another cabinet – yah for more storage.
The TV placement seems like an afterthought in many RV’s! I bet it’s so much nicer to actually be able watch it without having to turn your head!