VAN TOUR | FEMALE BUILDS VAN LIFE HOME - DIY SELF CONVERTED SPRINTER VAN

Hello everyone, welcome to a

tour

of my

self

-

converted

2006 Dodge Sprinter truck. I'm Logan, this is Frankie and I'm David. Let's take a walk around the outside and show you here is the

home

made solar panel rack that my dad helped. I make it to house the 200 watts of solar power on top of the truck and it's a great inexpensive alternative to any other solar panel rack you can find. This is where the toilet comes out so you don't have any smells inside. I kept the exterior of the truck completely original: I changed the color and everything that was previously chrome.

I painted it black just because I like the color. I'll show you under the hood so it's a 2.7 liter diesel engine and I chose the Diesel Engine because it can really do well on long trips, the maintenance is a little excessive but if you keep up with it the engine treats you very well and will last a long time, so I'm doing everything I can to give him all the love. as necessary let's take a look inside so this is Frankie's inside and I'm going to give you a

tour

of the kitchen now so I'm going to start with the storage.

I have these magnetic childproof locks, so if you can see. when i hold the magnet over them they open and then when i close it they can't open so this is great for driving over bumpy roads and stuff like that just hold the magnet lock it and go this is where i keep all the dishes, I don't really need that many dishes because in a small space it's a bit difficult to store so many dishes in here, so she doesn't just have a couple of everything and yes, the next cabinet is my storage, this is where I keep tea, soap for dishes, cleaning supplies, all that stuff and a hot water bottle which is the most important thing to have in a van, this is Toby, he is my Christmas tree, now he will live forever and he is growing big.

In the van I was a little surprised that he could survive here because it gets cold and then it gets hot, but he seems to love it and is growing quite a bit. This is my amazing super stylish hug that I got from my brother for Christmas, but it's definitely not the right place for it because when I drive it hits the side, so I definitely have to get another hook to realize that this is my amazing

home

sweet home poster David behind the camera. He made for me a store of kitchen utensils and various things in this drawer like a junk drawer, scissors, things like that, this is the utensil drawer and lighters for the propane and then down here I have one of those locks like well, it's Where do I keep my carbon monoxide detector?

I have a big bottle of propane down here and a fire extinguisher. This drawer here is where I keep the pots and pans and if I have a bag of rice or anything, I'll put it in. Here, so it doesn't fly away, is a fairly large drawer and here I also keep my oil. This is my amazing stove and oven. I knew that when I lived in a van I had to have a place to bake. things, so if you look inside the oven, I actually have a lot of space in here. I have a pan big enough to cook whatever I want and for me that was a big priority, so I did my best to find a stove. oven that I could keep in the truck and it wouldn't require a lot of propane, so that propane tank that I have down there I've had for nine months and it's not even low yet, so this thing is really propane efficient under here is like a little bit of space we had discovered, so we figured out how to put cutting boards down there and everything, these are my super cool cast iron knobs that I bought and if you look around the truck, I have a bunch of different style knobs what I was looking for and I definitely love this bird and the pineapple.

I have like a little eye hook on this side just because when I drive, this is a very heavy drawer and it prevents me from sliding open, so inside this drawer I keep all my pantry items. I have honey, lentils, oats, all that. This is like a snack drawer, a collection of rocks from places we've been and yeah, this next cabinet up here is another type of pantry. situation and in fact, if you look here, I haven't figured out a way to mount this light switch, but under the cabinet for the mug, yeah, the top cabinet is where these lights are, so I'll show you guys that I just turn them on. turn them on and off and they are great for when it's dark outside and you don't want a lot of light.

This is like vinegars, oils and all that. Now I'll show you my refrigerator, so I knew. I wanted a large refrigerator in a van, but I wasn't ready to have one of those traditional opening refrigerators, so I went to Kijiji and searched Kijiji is like the Canadian version of the Canadian version of Craigslist, so I searched the Internet to try to find found this refrigerator and there isn't much in here right now because it's not plugged in and it's winter, but it holds everything I need and is super energy efficient. If you look here I got the Van Life Ontario sticker from the meet and I'm hoping to fill this out with a couple of stickers later and this just magnetizes there and when I drive I have a simple and inexpensive solution.

A simple solution to keep it close, just put it on and it won't go anywhere when I drive. now i will show you the other side of the kitchen, this is my sink, it is actually my second faucet because the first one froze and exploded everywhere so i am more careful with this one, this thing is a perfect size because it can hold dishes if you don't want to deal with them, but it's big enough that you can wash things and not have water everywhere. I knew when I was moving into a van that I didn't want to have such a small sink because I prioritize cooking and doing. stuff so this is a great option and I'm not even sure what used to be down here is my water so a little bit about the water system while I'm here there's a pipe this pipe comes from the back of the truck Which I'll show you later, I connect to this and it sends the water to the faucet, the gray water goes through the sink and goes into this bucket.

This is a five gallon gray water bucket and my fresh water in the back is 20 gallons so but by the time I empty it four times the water in the back will be empty this is good because I don't want any odors left behind in the van so what I do is empty it when it's almost full and then put some dish soap it's biodegradable so it doesn't harm the environment and yes this is my trash, the one behind it is my recycling, who actually has nothing right now and I'm staying with my boys. I'll stick with my dish drainer. down here so when I'm washing dishes all I do is take this thing out, put the little spout towards the sink, everything's fine, so this is the portrait of Frankie that David did of me behind the camera and it's a perfect representation by Frank. is my favorite cabinet because I had an idea of ​​what I wanted this cabinet to be for you guys but I wasn't quite sure how to make it happen and then I just brainstormed for a while and came up with this idea so this is it my pantry spice cabinet and the toilet tree herbal medicine type cabinet.

I'll show you a little bit of what's in here, so if you just have spices down here with cans and stuff, and then up here I have my jewelry. toilet, toilet tree things and herbal medicines, and it's great because it's super accessible for anything I need and then I just lock it like this and well, it doesn't slide anywhere when I drive here in this cabinet. I have my s bar d2 heater so I actually partnered with heat to get this heater and I love shade for heat because they were great at making this happen for me so all I do when I use the heater is open this cabinet and leave it. open it up and I'll show you how I turn it on, let's press this button once.

I usually have it preset to the temperature I want. I press it again, that means heat, it's 20 degrees. I press it because I want it to be 20 degrees and I set the timer, I press it easily, it comes on and I have absolutely no problems with it, it keeps this truck very warm, it can be minus 25 degrees outside and probably about 25 degrees inside, there is no no problem and it's super nice because I never Freeze inside the van and I don't have to deal with all that winter stuff that would come with a Mr. Buddy heater or something so I'll show you the bench now so these are my benches and I love having this as part of the van layout because it adds so much room to hang out and I have this. table that slides out right here that I can work on, I can eat and I can have another person sitting in front of me or if there's no one there I can lay down and just hang out, obviously I'm not done under here.

The reason for this is that when you live in a van in the winter in Canada, you have to prioritize what you need and what you don't need. I have a work table and a nice big shelf under here with a lot more space than I could ever need, so finishing it like this is not a priority for me. I'll definitely finish it, but right now I'm not too worried about it, I'll show you guys down here, so if you can look back here. I have all my books, way more books than I could read in a month back here, yoga mats, blankets, storage, honestly way more storage than I could ever need, literally, I just have empty bins back here that I don't even use and If then.

Below I'm going to show you what I have, so the reason I have such a big shelf right here instead of a garage space in the back under the truck is because I have a heater and an air conditioning unit that come . with the van, so I did my best to integrate it into the van, built so that these little holes that you see under the bench can blow out the hot air if I press the button on the front and in the summer when the air conditioning is on . They can air condition the truck. The only downside to this heating and air conditioning unit is that it only works when the truck is running, so I would do it again, but I wouldn't do it again at the same time because I wanted to. more storage space for the garage since I'm not really using all this space, so the best way to occupy this space was to do something like this.

This is another bench seat that I can show you how it works, so I just push. on the wheels, someone else can sit here and then you have room for three people at the table. I use this small bench to store various things. I have my dirty clothes here, sheets, grocery bags, anything I don't need as often. I put it here and it's not a big hassle to get into when I do it, it just pushes in, pops up a little bit because the space is so small and then another thing to add is that I have even more. storage under this shelf because there is free space on each side and when I take out this bench I can reach my hand under it and put clothes.

I have a fan underneath, anything I don't need frequently. You probably need these things once a day. Three months, so I leave it there again and I don't touch it and it doesn't get in the way, so I really like a lot of different patterns on the vans, so I've decorated it with whatever pillow I found and fell in love with. and I use them as cushions on benches. I'll show you what's under this bench. This bench is like a storage bench where I keep coats and wall hangings and my instant pot is also another pantry space so I have like 10 pounds of coconut oil here olive oil hammock anything I don't need often I store here and then this side is my toilet so I knew when I was moving to a van I needed to have a space to go to the bathroom in the middle of nighttime emergencies that kind of thing and I wasn't prepared to buy nature's head yet so I tried my best to create my own type of composting toilet and this is what I came up with so this is a separate toilet seat um it diverts urine and solids so what What you do is pee or whatever here and throw away your urine and then throw out the solids.

They are both completely safe in the environment because I don't put any chemicals in them and it is a good solution if you don't want to spend a lot of money, but I guarantee that if I were to do this again, I could do it my

self

for even less because I know what I need Now, I also have a fan here, so if it smells bad. I just close the lid, click the switch on the side where the fan turns on and it shoots all the air out of the van and I don't have to deal with it, so I just do that, that fan turns on, it's inside this van. box and is shooting. all the air out, so now I'm going to show you this top cabinet which is like a junk drawer, but like everything in a small space it turns into a drunk drawer if you're not careful, so I have a calendar up here. a sign that I have wanted to hang on the truck I have planner notebooks a smallcontainer full of tools that I come with and that I need often I have I don't know four little holes screws and that kind of thing I have chargers and then here I have little games, crayons and art things.

Now I'll show you the bed. This is my super cozy bed. It's a really good mattress because I really prioritize getting a good night's sleep. So what I did was go sleep in the country and buy a good expensive mattress at a low price so I can sleep comfortably every night, so it's a double mattress that I can completely fit on. I'm not sacrificing any space in any case. I'm used to sleeping on a single mattress, so this is a complete luxury for me up here. I'm a clothes is my clothes, so I have all my shirts up here, which I definitely need to get rid of some of, but it's hard to get rid of. of clothes when you live in a small space I have the pants up here pajamas and trendy pants up here and that's basically all the clothes I have is my sweaters so what I do is I buy these amazing pillows at the thrift store they're just pillowcases, I wash them and now I keep my sweaters inside. which is a great trick for anyone who lives in a small space, if you find a pillowcase you like, just buy it and put sweaters on the side so you can put it on your couch, your bed, whatever no one knows about, and here there are some. more sweaters and anything I don't wear, so I have sweaters, I have tapestries and a robe.

I never wear a robe. I don't know why I need a robe. These are my homemade window coverings, they are just covered with reflectix. the material that I like and that I'm missing and what I do is I use magnets and I put them on my rear windows and then inside this rear space there are socks, underwear and swimsuits and all that. The reason for this cabinet is that the bed fits perfectly here and if I were to make these cabinets go all the way down I would be wasting space on the bed and would have to cut out the mattress or whatever so I just made some storage along to bed and it's really useful when you're watching a movie here or having a glass of water or something and you just want to lie down in bed.

It's a great space to rest so I'm really happy with the way it turned out I have the sign here from my truck that my parents bought me in Portugal and it's just a nice little addition to the truck with a little bit of heritage from my family. This is a hook for a reading light that I have yet to attach. but I have switches back here that control this with the bedroom lights, so I can turn them off and on and I can do the same from the front, so it's a three-way switch if I'm lying in bed at night. and I turned on the light up there, I don't have to get out of bed, I go to the front and turn it off, I just hit the switch and go to bed, I also have my little colored lights that go all the way across the truck and it's one piece important when living in a van because sometimes leaving an event in the winter means you have no power and so having battery operated lights is super key because I can turn them on and off.

I turn them off and I don't have to worry about my battery percentage and try to figure out how long my heaters will last and how long my lights will last and all that. I just turn them on and off and don't have to worry. Above all that, I'm going to show you my favorite part of the kitchen, which are these tiles that my parents brought me from Portugal. I have a small mosaic here, which are pieces of tile from an abandoned house. hotel in Portugal and it's nice to have that little piece of my heritage in the van with me at all times.

This is a 120 volt household outlet so I can power anything you need in a house here with a solar panel. my inverter so I can run a blender here I can use a hair dryer anything I need I can do with this and this is where I charge my phone at night just a little USB port and that number fourteen point seven is what my batteries are on right now so if I need a quick little check on my batteries I just look at this number and panic or not this is my glass holder and a big tip for all you vampires out there is to have an essential oil diffuser. this one charges with 12 volts and makes the place smell nice when small spaces get stuck next to this little center piece are my curtains that i made these are full blackout curtains so i closed them here there are magnets in the center that keep them closed and when I have them all perfectly arranged, it is completely dark, there could be someone outside.

I could have all the lights on and no one would know I'm here, which is super nice because I have a lot of windows. in the van, which is something I wanted, but curtains are definitely a must if you have that many windows. This is the fan I use when I cook, so it's nice that it's so close to the stove to catch any smells or anything. open it up and there's a little dial here one, two or three and I turn it on at whatever speed I want. This is a fantastic fan. Some people have maximum fans.

I chose fantastic because when I was building my van, I don't really know much about fans so I chose the cheapest one I could find, which is not recommended, but I will give you a little tip so that the fantastic fan in its cheapest model comes only with the option for air to enter, which it does not. It's not ideal if you live in a small space and you're trying to get all the fumes out of the kitchen, so what I did right, my dad helped me do, was I have a little switch up here, I'm pretty sure it's a toggle switch. and we hook it up so we can change the direction the fan goes so this is in, this is out and that's a great way to save money because I think upgrading the options for both forms of air blowing costs like three hundred dollars. more or something, that's great and when the heater is on I just leave this fan open a little bit so condensation doesn't build up and I'm not dealing with mold.

I'll give you a little tour. from the front now these are curtains that I made to keep all this space separate, but I knew I didn't want a wall or anything here because I valued the living space that I get when I pull them down, so I have little The buttons here are navy buttons. I'm pretty sure I ordered from Amazon. I made these curtains and they are super easy to take off literally all I do is pull them down and I want to pull them up I just fasten the buttons back. instead, so I lower them down and suddenly I feel like my living space has doubled because I can stand here if I need to be quite short, so a bulkhead would be nice, but I also value the height that I get here and then behind.

On my feet I keep my Reflectix, which I simply place behind the curtains at night to keep hot or cold air out depending on the season, so I have a little bit of water stored that I keep just extra. I have a lot of water, but it's good. have everything you can in the truck and this is my cabin so I like to be able to stand up. I don't have to bang my head or dunk or anything, I just pump forward and these are the calves I don't have. radio, so I use my speaker, which I like and it's pretty simple, nothing special up here, so I'll give you a tour of the garage now, so I just open these doors and I have a lot of storage space back here.

I have a little curtain that I made to make it look a little nicer when I don't want anyone to see what's in the back of my truck. I open it. I have a battery charger for very cloudy days in the winter. I can just plug it into the ground and not have to worry about my batteries. I can keep a bike here if we want, we can even put an extra bike here. I have a can of gas, extra oil, everything you would need. I need the side of the road and this container if something were to happen and here is my solar setup so I have 200 watts of solar on the roof going down to my charge controller and my batteries so I have two 125 amp hour AGMs . batteries, so 250 total and I also have a 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter that charges and gives me home power in my truck and back there I have my wire nest and on this side of the garage I have my 20 gallons of water, so I don't have water here now because it's winter and I don't want the pipes to freeze so I use the big water bottle or jug ​​that I have in front, but this one is 78 liters. of water, so I never have to worry about running out of water quickly.

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