One of the most important parts of your van build is making sure that you have a plan beforehand. For inspiration, you can look at YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. This is what Zak and I did, and we chose all of the individual pieces that we loved from other vans to put ours together. Mind you, this was sort of a general idea… we didn’t actually get the van floor plan drawn out until we were ready for our pre-wiring phase. Looking back on it now, Zak and I really wish that we had made a detailed floor plan in the beginning. This would have made our beginning steps (studding, windows, etc.) so much more concrete, and maybe cheaper too!
Floor Plan Materials
Honestly this project doesn’t take a lot of materials, and it doesn’t take a TON of time. Here are the materials you will need:
- Painter’s Tape
- Measuring Tape
- Permanent Marker
- Drawn Floor Plan
- Pencil/ Eraser
How To: Van Floor Plan- Part 1
The very first thing that you will need to do for your floor plan is find inspiration and pick the pieces of other vans that you want to implement into yours. Some of the first features that you will need to decide on are:
- Fixed bed vs. Convertible Bed/ Dinette
- Will you have a shower? If so, will it be stand up or in the bench?
- Will you want a partition? Fixed seats with no partition or swivel seats?
- Where do you want you kitchen?
- What sort of seating/ tables do you want in the van?
After you have the large features of the van, take out some graph paper and start to make drawings. There are some softwares out there that do 3D models of your van, but honestly, good ol’ pen and paper will do it! This is going to be a much smaller build than a normal home of course, so you may want to take out your tape measure as you’re doing this step to estimate the sizes of these features. Once you’re done with this step, you can take your floor plan and transfer it to your actual van floor. To do this, you will need your tape, a tape measure, and a marker to label everything.
How To: Van Floor Plan- Part 2
Once you know the large features, it’s time to hone in on the specifics. Next, go online and look up all of the possible appliances that you want in your van, and get their dimensions. This is probably the step that will take the longest for you. You should estimate the approximate size of each appliance so that your build is appropriately sized. Also, I suggest that you just go ahead and buy the appliances and things you need ahead of time, because it is so much easier to take things out of your shed or back room, instead of having to wait.
Lastly, here is a huge pro-tip: NEVER build an appliance into the van, where it cannot come out if it needs to. We did this with our fridge, and we are paying for it now!
Alright, time to make it happen!
Floor Plan YouTube Video
Wanting More?
Do you need more help with your van build? Check out our Van Build page! If you still need more help, drop us a line on the contact page or email us directly at zak.fal.aug.blog@gmail.com.