While most people don’t think twice about going up and down the steps in their RV, we couldn’t help noticing what a waste not to use the area above the steps.

Adding an extra four-square foot doesn’t seem like much, but when you consider there aren’t many options in maximizing your floor space besides the luxury slide outs most RVs have.  But why would this be important, and isn’t it too much trouble?

There were several reasons why we decided to gain an additional floor footage.  First, our kitchen sink has an extended table that hovered over these steps.  We really couldn’t use this for cutting or preparing our meals because we would be standing 8″ lower if we tried.  Second, if we aren’t paying close attention, it would be easy to misstep or fall down the steps which could be disastrous. And third, it makes a great platform for our dogs and cat to walk around or lay down by the screen door.  How can you deny any pet of smelling the fresh air on a soft, breezy day?

So, Michael, being a design engineer in his early career, decided to measure and design a portable platform to sit on top of where the steps are.  The goal was to make this sturdy, portable, secured and homely.  By homely, he used leftover decking materials we had it built on our stick and brick home.  This brings a reminder of what our deck looks like, no matter where we go.

This platform has become quite useful during the day or evening when our dogs are lounging around.  Sometimes on a cold night, we will leave this on top of the steps to help keep the cold air out.  This really does help, plus we used rigid insulation boards underneath the steps in the battery compartment for extra protection.