a peek inside the van project

I shared a while back that we bought a Ford Transit van and we have slowly been converting it into a camper van for our family adventures. Back in June I shared some of the process and today I thought it would be fun to share another peek into the van project.

So I have to remind you that at this point in our lives, the van is for fun small(er) trips. Since we have a toddler, we won't be living out of it for months at a time. This has given us a little more flexibility be simple but creative with the interior. In the van conversion world, many people turn their vans into something that will work as a full time home or will function for months of travel on the road- this is not us!

We wanted a few key features for our family- a queen size bed in the back with storage underneath (for camping gear, surfboards, a cooler, etc), a potty chair for long road trips and cabinet with a sink.

We also wanted the inside to feel really creative! I drew pattern all over one of the walls. For the adjacent wall I wanted to do something a little different so I designed my own peel and stick wall paper from Spoonflower.

I wanted to bring a little of the outdoors inside so I photographed some of my favorite trees in our backyard, I did a little creative editing in Photoshop and turned that photo into a repeat design. I then uploaded my design to Spoonflower and created a roll of peel and stick wall paper. It was SO easy to install- as simple as peeling off the backing and sticking it to the wall.

The peel and stick wall paper is made from 100% polyester which means you can dust and wipe it down!

If you recall, we designed the back of the van to have a large platform for a bed that has two bench seats attached. Underneath one of those seats is a camping flush toilet. The adjacent bench now holds our clean water/plumbing for the sink that Andy built.

A feature that we really wanted was a small cabinet and sink for hand washing and food prep.

Andy built a small cabinet that has a sink bowl and pump faucet. Below the sink is where we keep the bottle for grey water (or the used water from the sink). The clean water (attached to the faucet) comes from another bottle under the bench.

The next project is to add a removable cutting board/cover for the sink so we can have additional work space when we are not using the sink.

The sink was a MAJOR game changer for the space. Since we spend a lot of time hiking and outdoors (often in places there are no bathrooms) it has been really nice to have the ability to clean up!

The other addition we made was installing lots of hooks all over the van for hanging extra clothing, backpacks and mesh bags for storage. For me this has made a big difference in keeping the space organized.