If you often search #vanlife on social media late at night, then it’s quite evident that you dream of a life like that! To live it fully, you need to start planning your next adventures. And a van conversion is the first step. With unique camper van designs, you can convert your van perfectly to make room for all your road trip needs.
Explore some beautiful camper van ideas in this article. You can have comfortable beds, stylish kitchenettes, smart storage, and lifetime views in a van with these incredible ideas!
What to Consider When Designing a Camper Van
When planning the layout of a camper van, you need to ask yourself a lot of questions. Be sure you include everything you need in your final van build by asking these questions. And you have to do it before you start the van conversion process.
What Are the Things That Your Van Conversion Must Have?
A good place to start is by thinking about what you need in your campervan conversion. People usually include the following in their campervan conversion layout:
- Toilet
- Shower
- Living room /workspace
- Kitchen
- Bed
You can usually make each of these parts as simple or fancy as you want. The next question will tell you exactly how many of these things you want to include.
How Do You Plan to Use Your Camper Van?
This is likely one of the most important things to think about when looking at different ways to convert a van.
- If you are up for a weekend trip, you can easily get away with a minimal system. All you will need is a bed and a simple kitchen.
- You may want a van conversion with a shower, full kitchen, toilet, bed, and living room if you plan to live in it full-time.
- Your campervan layout should include a work area if you plan to live and work there.
- If you want to camp off-grid, make sure your campervan has enough water and power.
- Your campervan layout may need to hide your living quarters if you will be stealth camping in cities and parking lots.
- If you plan to take your van in extreme weather, you will need to insulate it, which can reduce cubic space.
What Is Your Budget for Campervan Conversion?
Building a camper van on a budget is always possible! But it is still very important to think about your budget when planning the layout of your campervan.
If you do not have a lot of money, it might be best to look at more simple camper van conversion ideas. When you have more money, anything is possible!
Unique Camper Van Designs: 10 Incredible Ideas
The design of the campervan in itself will define the rest of the journey. Hence, there is no way that you can just let it be anything.
The more you are equipped with ideas, the more your van will hit your dream target. Here are ten exciting ideas that you must try while designing your van:
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Making Use of a Small Space
The same design tricks that work in a regular small space will also work in your van home. For example, let natural light in and keep the bigger items around the edges of the space. Also, reduce the number of personal and collection items you have.
You should include a work space and extra counter space when you are planning the floor plan. These will add dedicated areas for chores like cooking and eating. You will also feel more at home with these.
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Fill the Space with Color
If you like a white space with only one color, go for it. That being said, if you love bright colors, you should not be afraid to use them in your home or on the road.
When choosing colors, think about floors that are lighter. You can add pops of color through the van’s decor and the textures you bring in.
During the day, the windows will let in plenty of natural light to keep the room light and bright. At night, you will need to make sure you have the right task and ambiance lighting. It’ll guarantee the room is still bright enough for cooking and relaxing.
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Design Around Your View
Once you establish where you will spend the night or nights, make sure you can enjoy the view. It is better to be safe, so get blackout shades and curtains that cover the windows. For van life, you must also have locks on each window.
But what if you want to enjoy the sights and sounds during the day? Either put up curtains that can be easily pulled to the side or add skylights that let natural light fill the van.
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Upgrade Your Van’s Tech
One more idea for van life is to improve the technology in your van!
You can set up your van with a full security system with cameras and speakers. Plus, consider locating one security camera inside the van through which you can talk!
With this, anyone traveling in a van with pets can easily check on their pet through the camera. You can talk to them through the camera to make them feel better if they are upset.
When you need to reverse, cameras can be very helpful. It can be hard to reverse any kind of campervan, especially LWB vans. Having a backup camera makes this a lot easier. It is attached to the back of a car to make backing up easier and narrow the blind spot in the back. It will help keep you and other people safe while protecting your valuable campervan!
Most importantly, you can link all these cameras and security systems together through the van’s main ECU.
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Opt for Multi-Purpose Furniture
If you want to live in a van, you will need to be flexible, and so should your furniture. Combining a seat and bed can really make a room look bigger without taking anything away from storage.
When you are on the road, you will need a place to work or relax that is comfortable. It will only take a few minutes to change furniture that can be used for more than one thing, from a couch to a bed.
Getting through the day gets a lot easier if you do not have to make your bed the only place to sit in the van.
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Bed Laundry Shoot
When you live in a small space, like a campervan, it is more important than ever to keep things clean and in order.
Also, because you can become overwhelmed with different items, it is best to keep everything as clean and fresh as possible. You do not want to smell dirty clothes all the time, right?
But where should they go between washes? Putting in a built-in laundry shoot is one way to deal with dirty laundry!
You can put the laundry shoot underneath the mattress and dump it into the garage of the van. There is no need to get out of the van at night or when it is cold to put your dirty clothes in the hamper. This can be a brilliant hack.
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Sneaky Bathroom Setup
There is not much room in a camper van. Hence, every inch is valuable. In order to serve more than one purpose, it is very helpful to combine different areas and spaces.
You do not have to give your bathroom its own room. You can hide it under a countertop for easy access. This counter space can be used even though it is not being used as a bathroom.
Simply lift the counter and open the cabinet to get to the toilet. This is a great idea for converting a campervan into a bathroom and living space at the same time!
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Build a Collapsible Shower
It can be efficient to have a built-in shower in your campervan. Yet, it can be hard to give up useful storage space for a built-in shower that you might not use very often.
A collapsible shower can be helpful here. This shower option is exceptional, especially if you want to save money on the van conversion. It does not take up any extra room.
The shower is made in a simple way. On the ceiling, hang a few hooks for a shower curtain. On the floor, put a shower pan. And to get water, use an extendable faucet.
After that, all you have to do to take a shower is to pull the curtain back. People can still use that van space while the shower is not being used because it is out of sight.
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Simplify Your Water System
It can be hard to figure out how to add a water system to a campervan. But there is a way to make the process easier!
Setting up any other kind of water purification system is not necessary if you have a water filter. It is very easy to have drinking water in the van.
You can also move this water filter to a different van or give it to a van-lifer friend. That’s because it is portable and lasts a long time.
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Large Garage for Storage
Many people think that having enough storage space is one of the most important things about a van conversion. Having a big garage is one way to do this!
With a big garage, you can store sports gear, a water tank, a battery, and other things in your campervan. Setting up a garage in a van is easiest when the bed is fixed to the back of the van and the garage is just below the bed. Sometimes, campervan garages can be surprisingly big—they can fit even three bikes!
Conclusion
Before starting a camper van conversion project, you must consider a few things, like elements, budget, and functionality. After that comes the main design. It will also require some great ideas to make the conversion smooth.
You need to know how to optimize the potential space while incorporating bathrooms and other elements. Besides, considerate furnishing and technological setups can make the van wonderful.
If you are not sure about implementing these ideas correctly, then a professional van conversion company is what you need. And with Highland Vans, you get expertise and efficiency together. All you need to do is tell us about your dream, and we will make it a reality. Contact us today.
