Less than a year into dating we decided that we were going to buy a van together, turn it into a sweet little camper, and move into it together to save money on rent and spend more time playing outside.
We spent that summer building it out bit by bit in the driveways of gracious friends while simultaneously living in it. It was slightly less than ideal to have to fully clean up our construction mess every day so that we could also cook, eat, and sleep in there but not paying rent meant that we had more money for the build!
We honestly had no idea how to build out a van when we began this build. Especially since the walls are far from straight! We insulated the van with spray foam insulation, Reflectix, and put up some plywood behind the kitchen. We framed out the bed and kitchen unit with 1x1s, pine board and L brackets, which in retrospect, is definitely not how we would go about now with all that we have learned!
But it didn’t really matter how “un-pro” our little van build was. Considering the shoestring budget we were on, this simple build allowed us to enjoy many months and of #vanlife and adventures throughout the mountains of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and of course some wonderful Utah desert time! She had her issues for sure, and we may have sworn off ever owning a Ford vehicle again, but Roxy taught us a lot and we enjoyed every minute of our time with her!