Unlike many vanlifers these days with decked out Sprinters and high-end school buses, we bought an older van that was already converted. Wanting to spend more of our budget on travel than renovations, we kept the existing layout of the interior of the van and focused mainly on aesthetic upgrades like painting the cabinets and ripping out all of the god-awful green carpet trim.

You really can’t anticipate what you might need or want to do differently until you move in and start living. We’ve been quite lucky with how our van is set up because the flow really does work well for us. That being said, if we were to gut the inside and start fresh or begin with a blank canvas like an empty Sprinter, here’s a few things we’d change.

1. Have a designated sitting area that’s not the bed

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Our bed is super comfy and surrounded by windows that allow us to feel like we’re in a glass bubble even when we’re inside. It also doubles as a dinette in a classic RV style where the centre of the bed attaches to two metal poles to form a table and the header and footer of the bed become bench seats. In theory, this is an ideal set-up for making the most out of a multi-purpose space. In reality, we rarely ever make the bed into a table and just end up sitting on the bed to eat dinner, work on our laptops and just hangout. Especially being wintertime, we have so many layers of blankets on the bed that it can be a bit of a hassle to put them all away when we want to use the table. You can call us lazy but at the end of the day, we would really value having a bench seat of some sort to give us a place to sit and to not have to cram everyone onto our bed when we have friends over.

2. Insulate the floors properly

Although we didn’t build out our van from scratch, we did remove a lot of the existing finishes and kind of regret not completely tearing up the old floor to add a layer of insulation. In the interest of time and head space, we installed our faux wood floor directly on top of whatever thin wood was below the old carpet. Justin already can’t stand up in the van so losing another ½” in height in exchange for a warmer floor might be a worthy trade-off.

3. Have an overhead storage compartment over the driving area at the right height

Our overhead storage in the front is fantastic for storing our shoes, snacks and other quick-access items but has one major flaw: Justin can’t sit up completely straight while driving without bumping his head. Before you think we’re dummies for not measuring that properly, the shelf was already installed when we bought the van and is something we’re seriously considering raising up a couple of inches. Most people slouch a bit while driving anyway, but at 6’4”, sometimes you just need to stretch out your back.

4. Install an extraction fan

For anyone who’s gone down this road, you know the name Maxxair and you know their price tag. No, they’re not thousands of dollars but they’re not cheap (especially in Canada) and we’ve been putting off investing in one in a while. We might need to pick one up sooner rather than later because proper ventilation while cooking is pretty important and with the freedom to even use it in the rain, it would help a lot in getting the air in the van circulating and reducing condensation build up.

5. Have a slatted bed

Moisture is a huge issue we’re battling with now that the air is cooling and our breath isn’t. Every morning I tent up the bed cushions to allow some airflow under them since they quickly get damp from our body heat. It’s an inevitable problem that even million dollar RVs deal with that doesn’t seem to have a clear solution unless you have access to shore power to run a dehumidifier. If we had a slatted bed then at least the bottom of the mattress would get a chance to air out and (hopefully) not get as damp. Because our bed is also our table, we can’t really swap it out for slats unless we want to ditch the dinette system altogether.

Now for some of our favourite things…

Every home is a work in progress and the more new things you do, the more your needs may change – especially when you’re travelling from the dry deserts of Arizona to the damp rainforests of BC. Even though our van is constantly adapting with us, we have made a few small changes that have been huge upgrades:

Even after switching all of our light bulbs to LEDs, they were still consuming more power than we were comfortable with. Although fairy/string lights are usually just decorative, we decided to hard wire them directly into our battery and install a switch. They use little to no power and light up the entire van at once, all while looking magical!

Along the seam of where the metal body of our van meets the fiberglass high-top, we added some wood all the way around with white MDF trim to create a shallow shelf that’s perfect for storing things like cords and spice jars.

We opted for a peel-n-stick backsplash in “the kitchen” to make it easy to wipe clean while still giving 3D texture like real tiles. We didn’t want to fuss with grouting or the weight of real tiles so this made for a cheap and easy solution.

Securing things like our utensil jar and garbage can has helped to keep things tidy and not have to worry about things moving while we’re driving. We used to have magnets glued onto our counter top to secure the utensil jar but some of the dirt roads we travel on gave them a run for their money. Now we have a hose clamp screwed onto the side of our cabinet so everything we need is fastened and accessible while the counter top stays clean.

We think it would be really fun to start on a blank canvas after learning from the mistakes and design flaws we’ve already made. If you’re just getting started, the best advice we can give is to make small trips before your van is complete and test your plans before you set them in stone. Things can work great theoretically but you’ll never know how they’ll fare for you until you put them into practice…ahem, our dinette bed.

Have you made any small changes that made a world of a difference? Designed something that didn’t really work out? Let us know in the comments below and we can swap stories.

As with any renovation – be it on wheels or fixed into the ground – good bones are crucial. We already loved the layout and how much storage we had, we just didn’t love the dark wood…and the brown and orange striped cushions…and the floral linoleum floor…and the 30 year old green carpet trim…and the fact that we discovered that it used to be brown. Luckily these were all aesthetic things that we were excited to clean up and modernize to prep for van life.

We started off by staring the green carpet right in the eye. This unfortunate design choice made by the conversion company in the early 80s went almost entirely around the perimeter of the inside of the van to conceal where the high top meets the original van roof. Thankfully, the carpet was attached to pieces of wood that we were able to paint and use a base for our narrow shelf that now wraps the whole living space. We picked up some MDF baseboards at Home Depot and attached them to the outside of the wood, creating a 2” gap from the wall and enough of a lip that things don’t go flying off of it while driving. It’s just the right amount of space to keep our Bluetooth speaker, some extra notebooks and a deck of cards close by. Originally, we had a bunk above the table/bed area but it was missing a piece so it’d only be useful for a small child with a death wish. Removing the front piece that slid out freed up the back ledge for becoming a great extra storage space for our bedding and linens. Finding a place to stow away a duvet when you want to sit at the table can be a pain (oh, van life!), so this worked out really well. We also doubled up on the wood base above the cooking area and used a wooden dowel and some plumbing fixtures to create our spice rack. It’s super handy for storing dishwashing supplies, spices (shocking!) and whatever else will hang on an s-hook.

Carpet surprise #2 arose when we removed the Berber carpet to reveal mint-condition but not quite our style, brown floral linoleum flooring. We had already planned to put down laminate but this discovery really solidified our decision. We opted for a self-adhesive vinyl flooring that was stylish and stupid easy to install. It’s nice and light, easy to cut and cheap (with less than 100 sq. ft. of walking space, we only needed to buy two boxes). We added some additional adhesive in high-traffic areas for extra security and considering our entire renovation was done below 0°C, it’s stuck on there very well. 10/10 would recommend this type of flooring.

And that brings us to paint. Although it was probably the biggest transformation, it was also the biggest headache. Actually, it’s still an ongoing headache.

We used latex paint because there’d be no chance of oil paint drying in our not-so-warm (bitter cold) temperatures. Small anecdote to illustrate the coldness: our paint FROZE in its bucket, rendering it unusable. It also became normal to have to thaw our paintbrushes out before getting started – something all painters face, right?

Anyway, the coverage seemed fine until it started chipping like a mother***** with minimal contact from shoes, tools and even fingernails. The fresh white paint also began to reveal oily stains on the fridge and doors. Even with multiple thick coats, there was no hiding them. We’ve decided that we will re-paint the cupboards and doors with oil when we get somewhere warmer. We are greatly looking forward to repainting pretty much everything (sense my sarcasm). Alas, the biggest pitfall of the latex paint was its complete surrender to water. It would be a lie to say we were ignorant to the nature of their relationship, but we thought it would be ok anyway. Long story short, we bought a spray topcoat to create a more durable surface for the two countertops to spare us from the tears that ensue when you do the dishes and your countertop peels off – and then more of it peels off from the tear residue. We originally thought we were cool and were gonna do a faux-stone (read: fancy!) effect on the countertops and table but that didn’t pan out so well. It’s hard to find the words to describe how garbage it looked but let’s just say that that spray can should have just stayed at the store.

Our final painting adventure was the most beautiful transformation of all. We always knew that the quilted vinyl ceiling was a tad dingy, but as we began whitening the cupboards and doors, the ceiling and walls became increasingly…yellow. Spray painting was our ticket. With a couple coats on the ceiling and fiberglass walls, it looked so much brighter and cleaner. The fumes were pretty intense but they say the spiritual discovery is worth it. Wait what?

With all the major stuff out of the way, it was looking like a new van! We put up an adhesive subway tile backsplash, added some new shelves into the cupboards and put down new rubber mat flooring in the cab area. The rubber was sold by the foot and cost us 15 bucks so that was the clear choice over custom mats that go for $100+. We are cheap bastards after all. Speaking of being economical, we gave our fridge a quick facelift by removing the wooden face panel and replacing it with some shiny silver gift-wrap from the dollar store behind a frosted plastic sheet. It’s no stainless steel but it’s clean and adds a little twinkle to our otherwise white kitchen.

We decided to preserve the upholstery on the driver and passenger seat because the cushions are comfy and it reminds us of the previous colour scheme of our beautiful 80s rig. This upholstery didn’t stand the test of time on our bed cushions, however. Not to say that they were in bad shape, they just weren’t ideal for Clementine’s new getup.

I sewed up some new cushion covers from different types of denim and a denim-esque duvet cover I found at a thrift store. It just wouldn’t be possible to get that amount of fabric for that price had I bought it by the metre. We ordered a gel memory foam mattress topper on Amazon and put it on top of the existing cushions for a thicker and more comfortable booty-support system and snooze station. Can confirm that memory foam produces an A+ sleep. I also sewed up all of our curtains from different types of heavy denim to help keep in heat and block out as much light as possible when they’re closed – magnets and Velcro help to keep them firmly in place. I cut straps from suede and used snaps to roll the curtains up when they’re in open mode. The window on the high top is the only one I opted to dress with a traditional curtain using sash wire. For this I used 12oz. Japanese selvedge denim that a friend brought back from Asia. The selvedge makes a beautiful and strong edge along the bottom. I could speak ad nauseam about these curtains and denim in general, but I’ll save it for another blog post.

All in all, we’re super stoked about how everything turned out and are excited to share it with you! Feel free to ask us any questions in the comments or shoot us an email on the Contact page. Let us know if you want to learn more about any aspect of the reno or van life and we’d be happy to do a little write-up on it.

Here’s a gallery of additional photos for your viewing pleasure: