Who is Nigel?

We spent a total of 8 grueling months in 2017, renovating a 25-year-old Toyota RV.  His name is Nigel.  If you are a 90's baby you probably remember this name from the Nickelodeon show Wild Thornberrys.  And, yes our Nigel is absolutely smashing.

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Why a Toyota RV?

There are so many different options for travel and full-time living, and for us we needed something compact but with enough room for two humans and two dogs.  We run several wood working businesses out of our RV, so space isn't something we could take very lightly.  Toyota motorhomes offer the perfect amount of space for us to live comfortably, and to keep our work organized and accessible.  Tommy has always had a soft spot for Toyota's, so the first time he saw a Toyota camper he couldn't stop researching them.  They get good gas mileage (for an RV) -- we generally get around 12 mpg but on our best day we can get closer to 14mpg,  parts are relatively inexpensive, all shops have worked on these Toyota trucks, and they are super reliable, this model is justttttt tall enough for Tommy to stand up fully, and there is an incredible community amongst the owners of these rare motorhomes.  Toyota manufactured the chassis for about 20 years or so, and would sell them to RV manufacturers where the rest of the motorhome would come together. 

We saw an ad on RVtrader.com for a 1992 Toyota Odyssey right outside of Seattle, WA, and within days Tommy was flying out to see it in person

Good Bones

Before Remodel

Before Remodel


25 Years of Carpet...

Here is a peek at the original interior.  Blue carpet and wallpaper was anywhere and everywhere you could imagine.  I mean literally, the shower was built on top of carpeting...But, aside from the dated interior the coach of the RV had good bones and only a few damaged areas from leaks.   

Before Remodel

Before Remodel

Wasted Space...

You'll see in the remodel photos of how we addressed storage and how we added as much as we could, but this back couch area was our biggest change.  We wanted to create an abundance of storage for our work tools, paints, and any other work related items and dedicate the wasted space below the window to that.

Before Remodel

Before Remodel



This was the original exterior.  There was nothing technically wrong with it.  A lot of Toyota owners cherish the nostalgic look of an older RV, and I agree that it is cool to see older RV's thriving and hanging with all the new sleek modern travel rigs, but we just didn't like the yellow the fiberglass had turned over the years, and lets just say the racing stripes had seen better days.  The awning was falling apart and all the window frames were a brown color that we weren't loving.

We always knew Nigel had the potential to be an amazing home!

Like most things, he just needed some TLC



Artwork by @our.little.chinook

Original listed price on RVtrader.com : $11,500

Price we bought it for : $7,500

Miles on the odometer at purchase : 58,000~