Back in 2020, we decided to buy and convert a luton van into our home on wheels. With no prior experience, it was new territory for us! Buying, designing and converting a van can be overwhelming and can leave you feeling like you have not got a clue where to begin!
We have put together some tips to help you begin the process of designing and converting a van whether it is to live in full time or used for occasional adventures.
Choosing the right van
The first step for any conversion is to choose the right van for you. Once you have worked out what your budget is, you can get an idea of how much you can afford to spend on a van. Think carefully about space and how much space you require for your needs. Because we were looking for a van to live full time in, we needed to look for a van with ample space to convert. Whilst a VW T4 might suit us as a holiday van, it is not the right van for us to live an off grid, nomadic life. That's not to say it wouldn't work for you- it just wouldn't work for us!
Designing your van
Staring at you is a big empty space with a million different ideas of how to arrange the space! This part of the process is arguably the most important part, therefore ensure that you do not rush. Once you start building your conversion, sometimes there is no going back, therefore it is crucial to get the design right. At the start of our design, we made a list of our priorities:
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Everyone had a place to sleep
Lots of clothes storage with a clothes rail
Bathroom area
Oven
Top tip: Think about how you can fully utilise the space you have. Think about ways that you can build something that has multiple purposes. For example, the side wall of our wardrobe pulls down to create a bed.
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From there, we sketched out lots of different design ideas to see what layout we liked best. Once we decided on one we liked, we used masking tape to measure and mark it out to make sure we were happy with the space.
Due to living in the van, we wanted to have static spaces to sleep and whilst some may argue that this can waste space, it was a compromise we were willing to make.
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Be flexible
Even though it's important to have a clear understanding of your priorities, it is important to understand your plans are likely to change hundreds of times! This might be to do with priorities changing, materials you can source or your budget. Our plans changed constantly because of these factors. It is therefore important to be flexible during the design and conversion stage and try to enjoy this creative process! Some of our changes included scrapping the bathroom area and adding an extra bed.
Reuse and Repurpose
​After purchasing our van, we did not have a big budget left to convert the van. It was therefore important to us to try and source as much as we could for as little as possible. Things like the oven, fridge, batteries and solar panels made a huge dent in the budget leaving us even less. At the start of our conversion we were contacted by a local carpenter who was retiring. He gave us lots of off cuts, including an off cut of a kitchen worktop which was the perfect size for our little kitchen! We were extremely lucky to get this for free and it went a long way in our build. We continued to reuse and repurpose any materials where we could throughout the build. We sourced our kitchen shelf from a scaffolding company and used left over copper pipe to create a tap and light fixtures.
Utilise your resources
As we mentioned, van conversion was new territory for us. We had no prior experience of converting a van or any type of trade for that matter. If you are in a similar situation, fear not because there are so many valuable resources around you!
YouTube is your best friend! - If you need to work out how to do something, I can guarantee that you will find the answer on YouTube. There are some fantastic van conversion Vlogs out there including our dear friends The Road is Our Home who helped us in every stage of the conversion. Check out their Youtube account for van conversion tips.
Call out to the van community!- There is a huge online van community out there with a wealth of knowledge that you can utilise to help you with your van conversion. Instagram and Facebook groups have a huge number of people who have converted vans or are in the process of converting. Don't be afraid to ask questions, talk to people and share ideas, tips and knowledge.
Utilise the skills and knowledge of your family and friends!- Whilst we didn't have any prior experience in van conversion or different trades, we had a number of friends and family who did. We are extremely grateful for their advice, ideas and help during our conversion.
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About 4intheVan
We are a family of 4 living and travelling full time in our self converted Luton van.Â
Our aim is to provide other families information, guides and top tips to help them on their next adventure, whether that's world travel, van life or home education.