Van conversion: Couple add £34k value to their vans with smart DIY skills – ‘mind boggler’
Van converters give their top tips for living in a van
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Liv and Lewis decided to buy a van when the pandemic struck. They spent £11,000 on a Mercedes Sprinter and set about converting it into their dream van.
The couple spent £13,000 and three months on the conversion.
They did everything themselves, from all the furnishing and solar panels to the electrics and plumbing.
Liv told Tap Warehouse: “We did the entire build, plumbing and electrics ourselves with the expertise and help from Lewis’s Grandad John who is a retired joiner.
“As we worked on it full time for three months, we saved huge costs in comparison to getting someone else to do the work for us.”
Teaching themselves the DIY skills they needed to convert their van, Liv and Lewis saved a lot of money.
They made their own seats and cushions, cutting wood to size, finding cheap foam and fabric, and using a staple gun to attach the cushions to the wood.
The couple even saved money on their bed.
Buying a bog standard size from Argos, they used an electric carving knife to fit the bed perfectly to their requirements.
Money-savvy, they got worktops for £50 and a £9 pull-out table from IKEA.
They also made the kitchen and hanging cabinets themselves.
Lewis said: “Lots of campervan converters think that these things need to be bespoke made or cut from wood and really you can buy off the shelf and cut it to the size you need, it just takes a little thinking outside of the box.”
The hardest part of their conversion was the curves of the vehicle.
They said: “Everything in the van conversion felt like a learning curve and nothing ever went to plan the first time.
“The trickiest thing throughout the entire build was building in a van that’s curved.
“There are no straight lines, the walls are curved, and the ceiling and floor are different widths – it was a real mind boggler!”
Their finished van has gold detailing and sleek finishes, and this was no mistake.
Lewis said: “Liv loves gold so every detail down to sockets and visible screws have a gold finish.
“We wanted it to feel warm and cosy so our main pops of colour are pinks and oranges, however we kept in lots of white to make the small space feel larger.
“We also added elements of exposed wood and rattan to add to the warmth of the space and create more character.”
While the couple saved as much money as they could throughout their conversion, they still splashed out on one thing.
Liv said: “The item we spent the most money on was definitely our solar panels and electrical system, and we have the max amount of power for a van of our size so this cost us around £2,200.”
The couple’s van is now worth £45,000, quadruple the value it was when they bought it.
Liv and Lewis are on TikTok.
Tap Warehouse
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