Kevin knew that he wanted to travel, but wasn’t sure how he wanted to do it, Vanlife was one option and when he stumbled upon this robin egg blue soccer mom minivan he bought it and started to turn it into his new home. He started with gutting it out, taking the headliner, air ducts, DVD players and wiring out of the back area. Having a pinewood ceiling was important to him so he put that in over some reflectix for insulation. For the floor he used half inch foam board insulation, plywood and then left over vinyl flooring he got from his work. He upcycled more than the flooring though when he transformed an old makeup vanity that he made into his storage, kitchen counter, hidden sink, and a seated desk area. His couch frame is also upcycled and once lived a life of a futon frame. Kevin added some heavy duty drawer slides and then cut a foam mattress in half so that it would fold from couch to bed really easily.

For electricity Kevin powers his van using a jackery 500 and has mounted a Renogy 100watt solar panel on his roof which he adapted to use the charging cable that the Jackery battery requires. This is easily one of the newest budget builds I have personally seen, and it’s because creative thought, skill and work was put in to the entire process of design and building. I hope you enjoy this tour of his van, and the interview about why he got into this lifestyle to begin with and what he has learned from the experience so far.

Credit Different Media