Our inspiration behind starting Ventured Campers was our own Vanlife adventure in Europe. Not only was it very affordable to travel for a year through Europe in a van, but it was also very convenient and comfortable. We had the freedom of planning our own itinerary without having to worry about train schedules or checking in/out of airbnbs and we also had everything with us in the van which meant no packing and unpacking for us! When we arrived in London, we had already done some research and found a van we wanted to view. We found this van off UK Gumtree and it was also the first and only van we would view - it was the one! We chose it for its size (decent enough but also not too big for ease of driving and fitting into those pesky tight European roads), its bathroom and shower (lots of other vanlifers use public toilets and showers but this was something we did not want to do for a whole year) and its permanent bed (which sat on top of the driving compartment and did not need to be remade everyday).
BEFORE PHOTOS....
Our van as it started. The carpet needed replacing and the wood colour made the interiors dark and gloomy.
Here we are taking off the old fabric covering some of the wall panels.
Pre - renovation kitchen.
We removed the old seat cushion covers as they needed some spruicing up too!
First coat of white paint immediately brightened the space up. We used glossy enamel paint for the cupboards and a matte white pain for the ceiling and walls. As you can see here, the carpet has already been removed here ready for their new wooden floor boards.
Reupholstering the old seat cushion covers with a nice navy fabric.
READY FOR THE AFTER PHOTOS....
The kitchen! Not too much was done to this space except for painting the cupboards white, adding the spice rack, painting the walls and added some retractable blinds by the windows for more privacy.
We were pretty happy with the finished product!
A view of the front driving area and the loft style bed on top.
A spice rack was added just below the heater vents within the kitchen. The rack was from IKEA.
These cupboards were painted with a glossy teal enamel paint which made them very easy to wipe down. We also spray painted the handles a glossy black.
The dining table and sitting area with the new reupholstered cushion seat covers. We also added some leftover wooden floor paneling to the top of the existing plastic table to make it fit more into the wooden theme.
Lots and lots of plants! We chose ivy as they are hardy plants and they survived our entire year of travels. We used velcro to stick the pot in place so that it didn't move around as we were driving.
These hanging hooks were already there beforehand but we just gave them a good lick of paint to brighten it up.
This basil plant believe it or not survived a good 4 months before it died! The European winter was a bit too cold for basil to handle afterwards!
We added a little photo gallery wall at the end of our bed to remind ourselves of our family and friends back home whilst we were abroad.
Side on view of the kitchen and the door on the right leading to the bathroom.
We also added a curtain to close off the bed area if we wanted. This was very handy in winter when we wanted to further insulate the heat to the sleeping area at night time.
We also added a roof top sitting area so that we could enjoy the views from up top!