Her Bohemian Camper Van Tiny House - Solo Female Van Life On The Road

Hi, my name is Brenda, I'm a Ranger and we live in this 2012 Ford E350 pickup truck called Copper. Well, welcome inside Copper. I wanted to start here at the front, so I chose to put a wall between the

house

area and the. cabin area just to give you a feeling of separation make sure when you come back to the

house

you feel like you are in a house not a car but this is a sliding door that slides into the cabin and we made it in a nice little bow. Also in the door, just to give it a little cuteness, down here we have shoe storage that opens up and then I have probably seven pairs of shoes that slide under the passenger seat, so I take advantage of all that space down there, here Upstairs is where I keep. all my clothes as you will see I have a lot more clothes than I possibly need there is a cape here there is a cape behind it as well that also has summer clothes winter clothes formal dresses in case I decide to crash a wedding swimsuits scarves everything what I need and then here's another cabinet for more clothes.

I just have little touch lights in there, tank tops, hats, socks, etc. So here, for safety reasons, I wanted to show you that I have a fire extinguisher or a fire alarm. and a carbon monoxide detector in there and my fire extinguisher is hidden behind this curtain, so all these safety precautions are hidden. I actually use this table as my office because I work a traditional nine to five job, so I just sit in the hammock. and I have my little desk set up there, this is where I keep all my toiletries and bathroom items, so this is basically my bathroom that I take out when I need to use it in the morning and at night, this is where I keep my makeup and my jewelry, so everything is safe in there and I have a hole specifically for all my coffee beans and my pouring equipment and all that, so I tried to incorporate as much copper as possible into the van because I named it copper on honor to my favorite dog. fox and dog character, but I was literal with the copper here and the knobs on the curtain rod here.

It was so much fun learning how to use copper and working with it and soldering it and everything that my dad helped teach me and then up. this is where I have all my groceries stored and again a nice little touch light for the night so welcome to the kitchen this is a slightly unique factor in my van. I think I've heard that having the kitchen in an L shape is a little weird, I decided to put the sink in the corner just to make the most of the counter space, so I have two surfaces for cooking or for the bathroom.

I have a toaster oven here that is 110 volts, so it actually takes up a lot. of power I only use it during the day, but I can heat up leftovers, make toasted bagels, I actually baked a cake, I burned a cake a couple of weeks ago and then down here is my portable toilet, so I only have one type of RV for standard camping. The toilet here, um, just number one and then in this cabinet is where I keep my trash. It's also where I can access my 30 gallon water tank to see how full or empty it is.

It's all down here and then I chose a 110 volt refrigerator. It also requires quite a bit of power and I'm learning to work around that, but I wanted just the basic refrigerator instead of investing in the 12 volt one right away, so okay, I chose to use a full-size refrigerator. big faucet here, a more traditional faucet that has the extendable arm, it also swings out and I can use it outside to shower or wash the dog or I had to rinse the ranger off the other day. I have a very large and deep sink. I did the undermount option here, thanks to my brother-in-law and then we put a spice rack here again with the copper fittings.

I wanted to touch on how I keep everything on the counter because all of this stuff stays. on the counter when I drive and I haven't had any problems with it tipping over so I have the velcro strips under each bottle and then I don't know if you can see it but here is some fishing wire that is attached to the hooks of command below. the shelf for the plant and both bottles to hold on to this is attached with velcro so it works great. I haven't had any problems. I also have an outlet here if I ever want to plug something in there originally.

I put a coffee maker in there, but I decided to go with the pour-over option, so it's just covered and camouflaged, so down the hall I have some storage for my pots and pans, and also the butane stove that I use to cook everything. I have a bed tray, I have plenty of storage space in both baskets and then we made a custom house for a ranger at the end of the hall, so that's where the arch door idea started, it was from the guardhouse. dog, but he has his own little house here and when I need to leave him in the truck to go shopping or on a walk, he may not be allowed in, I secure him there and then the sounds don't bother him as much when he comes. out of the van as a post-van adjustment after living in it for a couple of months, I realized that while I can comfortably sleep on my side in the van on the weekends, I really like to stretch out like in the pose from Superman, so I decided to extend the bed this way we hid a little board, I guess you would call it here under the bed so it can be pulled out.

I can drop a pillow here and then sleep all the time whenever I want and remove this too and so all this space. it just becomes part of the bed and it's multifunctional because I take it out and put it here and put some grippy material on it and the ranger can access the bed very, very easily, he can just jump from the ground up here to the bed without hurting your precious knees, so the multifunctional option here slides right in and you never know it's there. My dad and I built this entire truck ourselves. Luckily, he actually works for a body shop, so we had access to the facility. to work and we had several lifts to take it up and down when we needed it, it took us approximately 42 days to be precise to do the complete conversion from start to finish.

I documented it all on my Instagram so you can see it. I'll tell you that if you feel like it, but that was even while we were working full-time jobs, he and I were both working full-time, so a lot of those days were just three or four hours that we spent with my dad. I'm very lucky. He is clearly a talented man and he is a finisher, so he wanted to do this quickly. I actually didn't have Ranger for the first month because I was staying at my dad's house, so we had that schedule too. As soon as I was able to live in the van I was able to go pick up the ranger, so that definitely sped things up too, but yeah, I'm really proud that it took me 42 days to make my dream house and I'm incredibly happy with it, everything. well, welcome. to the bedroom area, so this is my place where I sleep, it is also where I rest.

It's very multipurpose and I'll show you everything, but I chose to forego cabinets around the entire upper area mainly because I don't want a lot of stuff in my truck and the more storage you have, the more stuff you accumulate, so I chose shelves again, the copper wire, lots of terracotta plots, potted plants because I love plants and greenery so even if it happens to be in the city I still have some nature with me and my favorite feature in the van which I invested a significant amount of money, it was the skylight here, it's actually a marine skylight hatch, so it opens 90 degrees and I can jump off it and sit on the roof whenever I want to watch the sunsets.

It brings a very good air flow from the skylight to the vent in the front. I see stars in my bed almost every night, so I love it. this feature, so I chose to use a Japanese sleeping pad, it's a three inch thick pad instead of having a full mattress that I would have to trim or customize, so it's actually long enough to roll up a bit in this side. and it gives a bit of a tilt to my head area. I also have my power system monitors here so I can always check my solar and battery charging here and some storage for lip lotions etc. and then obviously you always need to have some. a bit of security, so I had my Taser on hand just in case, but it was important to me in the van to make sure it was really cozy, felt homey, comfortable, so I made it smaller and more enclosed. the bed space and I made sure I had good ambient lighting so I have copper LEDs here behind the plants and then I also have some twinkle lights and then I have this little solar charged flashlight that I use when I'm relaxing. in bed too, so I'm one of the few van users I know who has a traditional nine to five job that is technically sedentary in Portland, but since we've been working from home lately, this is my home, so I'm Working from there, I only have my laptop, I use my Verizon service as a hotspot.

I have expanded my service. It comes with 15 gigs of hotspots, so I bump it up to 30 gigs of hotspots a month and have had more. more than enough capabilities to work and also watch Netflix in bed at night whenever I want, so it's been very convenient when I have meetings, I do them on my cell phone instead of my laptop because then I don't have to use my point Access I only use my unlimited data on my cell phone, so I haven't had any problems and it has been working really great. I always have to make sure I'm parked somewhere where I have at least two bars of Verizon service so my internet is fast enough to function productively, so in the driveway of the van we have my water fill area, like this which I just remove this little piece of wood and pull down the hose here and I have the hose in the back of the garage.

Attached here this is also the overfill spout so if I ever fill it too much it just drains out the side and then I set up an outdoor table here as well which is just on a little chain where I sit and have my coffee . or wine and watch the sunset, so that's a nice little addition. However, I will let you know that these little rugs are great for wiping your feet, they are not as comfortable to sit on, they are very rough, so keep that in mind and on this wall. I installed three different hooks for all of the ranger's gear.

I have your straps. They actually just stick to the hook so you can untangle it and he's just stuck to this hook and can only go the 30 feet of the leash. It's really convenient because it turns out he's a racer, so keeping him tied to the van is really nice. I put the kitchen light switch right here so that every time I come in, if it's dark outside, I want to make sure I can do it. just turn on the light very quickly from outside so this controls the kitchen lights. I have an outlet here in case I want to be in my front yard.

Okay, this is my garage or where I have a ton of storage. I'm not into extreme adventures so most of my gear is just hiking gear, lots of hiking shoes, I carry a hammock everywhere I go on all my hikes, I have a lot of shower gear which is very funny because I don't really shower. frequently, but this drawer is for all my shower curtains, so I have the option of using magnets and putting a shower curtain between the back doors. I also have a bath mat, a bamboo bath mat and then I have a toddler. pool here, I think it's actually intended for a dog bath pool, but that's what I use to shower inside, so I think it holds five gallons in a small kiddie pool and then I hang curtains from I swim around in a circle and I have a solar shower bag and a little makeshift shower with weed sprayer too so I can do that when I'm in remote places uh this again is more hiking gear.

I have an inflatable float tube if I'm ever on a lake and then I have all my campfire gear, this is just extra copper gear. You see, I actually have extra tiles here, extra curtains, etc. and then office equipment. I have a toolbox here, since you need it on the

road

, just equipped with your basic equipment. assorted tool sets and then in this container here there's more recovery type equipment, so I have toe straps, ratchet straps, I also have maximum recovery tracks under the truck in case I get stuck off the

road

, um I have my heater I have my vacuum cleaner only I actually have a piano I have a keyboard back here um I haven't gone out yet but I really wanted to live in the van and not have neighbors to bother when I play the piano soI plan to take it out here in the desert and get in shape.

At this door we have all my equipment to fill the water tank, so I have an extra RV filter that I still need to do. Use it because I already have two filters in the truck and then my hose, I have puzzles and games, an air horn just in case, safety first and then this is the special trick my dad came up with so originally we came up with This idea is so I can put a bike in the van if I ever wanted to take one on an adventure, but it actually works to turn my bed into a couch or lounge mode, so let me show you if you just pick this up and pull from this.

With the leg extended, this entire space can be folded up to a 90 degree angle because we have a piano hinge, so a bike will fit back here if I ever decide to do that, but more so than ever. actually just put this in lounge mode in sofa mode and sit there. I also have a projector so I can watch movies from bed and it is again one of my favorite features. I have so many and I also installed the touch lights here. so that when I'm in the garage and I need to check things I have light available if this video resonates with you this

life

style this dream that has changed my

life

I highly recommend that you keep watching videos listen to podcasts follow people on instagram learn everything you can I was learning about this for three years before I was finally able to do it, so I think it's really important to learn a lot and then just do it, like just take the leap, buy a van.

Throw away a mattress if you want to start living on it for a while. before you do too much conversion because it's surprising how differently you use the space than you think you would, um, but yeah, dive in like it's the worst thing that could happen. You own a truck, then you sell it and that's the worst it can be. If you are interested in following my adventures and my journey and all the ups and downs that come with this lifestyle, feel free to follow me on Instagram. I am the way through my eyes on Instagram and I also have a blog linked there where I will share good, bad and funny stories about my name Brenda, thanks for watching.

Alright, that concludes our van tour. Thank you very much for watching and we look forward to it. see you on the road someday soon