When you’re deciding on an RV, or just describing one to your friends, understanding the floor plan can be a great help. Do you know the answer to the question: What is front living?
The term ‘front living’ typically refers to a floor plan option within 5th wheel trailers where the living room is nearest the front of the trailer. This space is usually used to house the primary bedroom but some manufacturers give the option to make this the living space instead.
If you’re looking for an RV with a floor plan that matches your lifestyle, its important to understand the benefits of different models like front living! In this article, we’ll go over what front living is and its benefits.
Definition of Front Living
Front living is a shorthand way to describe the floor plan of an RV that has the living room area in the front.
Front living is popular because it gives you the feeling that a traditional, stationary home might. Think about it: when you walk into a friend’s house in the suburbs, the first room you encounter is typically the living room.
That’s because most floorplans in the common house give the living room a central location.
Front living in RVs duplicate this feeling nicely, allowing the living room to be front and center while the bathroom and bedroom are located in the more private ends of the RV.
Benefits of a Front Living Floorplan
A few of the benefits to owning an RV with a front living floorplan include:
- A Traditional Living Room Feeling
- Varied Entertainment Choices
- Easily Accessible Dining Area
- Higher Bedroom and Bathroom Ceilings
- More Privacy in Other Rooms
Let’s take a closer look at each of these benefits to having a front living floorplan.
A Traditional Living Room Feeling
Having a floorplan that gives the living room top priority means more couches and more dynamic seating space, ideal for having guests in your mobile home!
One of the downsides of other floorplans besides the front living plan (like the open floorplan) is that the kitchens and living areas tend to feel merged, with very little distinction between spaces.
On the other hand, a front living plan lets each area stand on its own. This can be helpful if one person is working on a meal while another is trying to watch television.
Varied Entertainment Choices
If your floorplan is front living-styled, there is typically enough room for a widescreen television, a table for games, or even enough floorspace to play charades, depending on your family entertainment preferences.
Easily Accessible Dining Area
While the kitchen of most front living floorplan RVs is separated from the living area, it isn’t in the rear of the RV or on opposite ends like some plans might entail.
Being closer to the kitchen is always a good thing, and having the centralized living room that a front living floorplan offers allows you to have that option!
Higher Bedroom and Bathroom Ceilings
Typically, because the front living plan allows bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchen spaces to be on the sides of the RV, the ceilings are higher up!
If you take a moment to envision what this means, you’ll realize that the area where you’ll usually spend your time sitting has lower ceilings. Meanwhile the bathroom, where you take a shower, will have nice tall ceilings. It’s a win-win situation!
More Privacy in Other Rooms
A living room isn’t often thought of as a place for privacy, but both the bedroom and bathroom are!
With the front living floorplan, the bedroom and bathroom are a little less easily accessible to the first person stepping into the RV, and therefore more private.
Most front living floor plans have a curtain that sections the living area off from the rest of the RV.
Imagine how helpful this can be: if you have an extra guest joining you, they can easily sleep on the couch without running the risk of being disturbed by anyone in the master bedroom.
What Types of RVs have Front Living?
Not all RVs can boast this homey floorplan, but there are three excellent models which do not disappoint! Check out the list below to see which RVs have front living.
- Travel Trailers
- Fifth Wheels
- Destination RVs
Let’s take a closer look at each of these models to see if their front living floorplan matches up with your lifestyle!
1. Travel Trailers
Travel trailers, or a regular camper, are usually towed behind another vehicle when traveling. They are popular for two reasons; the first is that they can be detached from your vehicle to offer more freedom; the second is that they come with a variety of floorplans!
Travel trailers make great family options, especially as one of the premier camping mobile home models. They frequently feature the front living floor plan, too.
With the front living floor plan, inviting new camping neighbors over to sit in the easily-accessible living area is no problem!
2. Fifth Wheels
A Fifth wheel RV, also called a fiver, is different from other RVs thanks to the hitch it uses. This hitch is centered on the truck’s actualy bed, which means the 5th wheel is detachable from the truck itself.
That makes the length of the RV as a whole shorter, since it is designed to overlap with the bed of the truck. Fifth wheels are famous for their creative floorplans, and usually include front living with convertible furniture!
3. Destination RVs
Last but certainly not least, a destination RV is the most fancy, luxury RV on the market. They are known for their large size and enhanced appearance packages. This means that the destination model RV has large, welcoming front living floorplans.
In Summary
To wrap it all up, front living is a phrase used to describe a popular RV floorplan. The front living floorplan offers the living area in the center or front part of the RV.
This means that in RVs which adopt this floorplan, such as Travel Trailers, Fifth Wheels, and Destination RVs, owners can have the benefits of a traditional living room.
The front living plan allows an extra measure of space for entertainment, privacy for bedrooms and bathrooms, and more profitable ceiling heights!
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(feature image: heartlandrvs.com)
Erick is a freelance writer and outdoor enthusiast. Growing up in Nairobi Kenya and now calling Glasgow, United Kingdom home. Sipping on homemade spiced swahili tea and enjoying a good book is his idea of bliss.