01Finding the van

Fifty, sixty, possibly seventy adverts.

I looked at a lot of vans. Different sizes, colours, prices and mileages. I started with Mercedes and Volkswagen, then narrowed it down to the Peugeot Boxer, Citroën Jumper and Fiat Ducato. Their wider, boxier shape suited what I wanted: a bed across the van, leaving more room for everything else.

I wanted enough height to stand up, so I was looking for an H2, in either L2 or L3 length. I also decided early on that I wanted windows already fitted in the rear doors and sliding side door. At the time, the Belgian rules around adding windows looked complicated enough that I wanted to avoid that part of the process.

Then I found Petal. A brand-new stock van at a garage near the Belgian coast, on the other side of the country. I went to see her: white, windows in the right places, completely empty inside.

The dealer said he could hold her for about twenty-four hours. I left, thought for roughly half an hour, called my accountant, called the bank and called the dealer back. I’d take her.

Three or four days later, I collected her. Driving her through Brussels was an experience. I took her to the spot where I would do the build and parked up. There she was. A white van with windows. Now I had to make somewhere to live.

02The empty shell

The internet had plenty of opinions.

Before starting, I found a van-building course that ran over a few Saturday mornings. It covered different parts of the process, including legislation and woodwork. It gave me a starting point, which was what I needed.

Researching a van build online can leave you with several contradictory answers to the same question. How to insulate it. Which materials to use. Whether you need a moisture barrier. The course helped me choose an approach and get on with it.

First came the sound deadening. I applied it in small pieces, using a heat gun, across the floor, walls and ceiling. Petal got the full treatment.

For the floor, I cut timber battens to size and glued them to the metal floor, then fitted Armaflex between them. On top went a protective floor panel designed for commercial vans. That gave me a base to work on.

I fitted Armaflex to the side panels and ceiling too, and used sheep’s wool in gaps and cavities where I hadn’t fitted Armaflex. I’d been told it could take up and release moisture as well as provide insulation, which was part of why I chose it.

Written down, these sound like fairly quick jobs. I was working on Petal at weekends. They took quite a few of them.

03Structure & layout

A lot of fixing points. And one clear doorway.

I wanted to use the van’s existing structure and avoid drilling or cutting into her as much as possible. I fitted rivet nuts into existing holes, giving me places to bolt the timber framework to the van. There were hundreds of them.

Around the same time, the company that ran the course installed the Heki roof vent and MaxxFan. They handled the roof openings professionally and supplied the relevant certification.

I built timber framing along the walls and ceiling to give the interior something to attach to. Much of it was bolted to those fixing points. I also glued sections where I knew I wanted a permanent fixture.

I hadn’t started with a complete plan. Once the framework was in, I tried different layouts with a measuring tape and tape on the floor. A double bed. A single that could slide out. A long side bench that converted into a bed. One bench or two seats in front of the bed. The kitchen behind the seats or down the side.

One decision came from taking breaks. I kept sitting on the floor next to the open sliding door, with my feet outside. Sometimes I’d lie there. There was no furniture yet, but I’d already found a spot I liked. I wanted to keep it.

So I settled on a slide-out bed across the back, with a garage underneath. The kitchen and longer bench went on the driver’s side. A smaller bench went opposite, leaving the sliding doorway clear.

04Bed, kitchen & benches

The bed came first. The rest had to fit.

I built the sliding bed myself from a combination of IKEA parts. Kitchen suspension rails were bolted to the van. Four extendable metal bed-frame components connected to them, with slats I fitted myself. The bed is 90 centimetres wide as a single and extends to 140 centimetres. Underneath is the garage storage.

For the kitchen, I chose okoumé panels. I wanted something light, and damp was one of my biggest worries, so moisture was very much on my mind when choosing materials. I drew the kitchen, worked out the measurements and had the panels cut to size by a woodworking company. Then I assembled the block myself, with space for two drawers and a sink.

Before fixing it, I put the block in the van to see how much space it actually took up. But before it could go in permanently, I needed the finished floor. I laid rigid, wood-effect vinyl over the insulated base and protective floor panel, then bolted the kitchen into place. There was no way back. Petal had a kitchen block.

With the bed and kitchen in, I knew exactly how much room was left for the benches. I made both from okoumé: the longer one between the kitchen and bed, and the smaller one between the bed and sliding doorway. They were fixed in place, their dimensions decided by the space available.

Next was the ceiling. I used narrow wooden boards that slotted together, varnished them and attached them with small screws to the timber framework above. For a while, I had a bed, a ceiling, two bench boxes without tops and a kitchen without a countertop. Several useful surfaces were still missing.

I bought a large slab of oak, cut it myself and made the kitchen countertop and both bench tops. The bench tops open to give access to storage underneath. Oak added weight, but these were small surfaces and I wanted something pretty in there. That was a trade-off I was happy to make.

05The first trips

Finished enough to go to Denmark.

Before finishing the walls or adding upper cabinets, I took Petal away. A few weekends and ten days in Denmark, to live in the space and see what I still needed.

I had a bed, a fridge, a small cooker and my first battery, a BLUETTI AC180P. One battery. No solar panels. My belongings went into storage boxes, which were shoved into the kitchen.

The walls were still exposed Armaflex. I did, however, have a varnished ceiling.

Those trips were part of the build. They let me find out how the layout worked before deciding how to finish the rest.

06Making it work

The missing bits made themselves known.

After those trips, I added a backsplash behind the kitchen using colourful tiles from Brico. I built upper cabinets above the kitchen and bed, initially only on the driver’s side, giving me somewhere to put clothes.

The fridge needed a proper home too. I put it underneath the bed on sliding rails, so I could pull it out when needed and slide it away afterwards.

I already had window blinds, but added a curtain at the front and curtains at the back. The rear ones were partly because I wanted it to feel cosier. I eventually added one Vandermoon cabinet on the other side of the bed, opposite the storage I’d built.

There was a long stretch of smaller jobs. I finished the remaining walls with okoumé panels and painted them, with white at the back. Later came the Farrow & Ball repaint. The colour decisions have a story of their own.

I also needed a small table. There was oak left over from the other surfaces, so I cut a tabletop, finished it in green and fitted it to a swivel mount. By then, the inside was coming together.

07The everyday setup

A simple kitchen. Several movable lights.

The water setup is simple: a black IKEA sink, a tap I liked, and two small containers underneath, one for fresh water and one for grey water.

I didn’t want gas in the van, so I chose a small induction hob. I’ve been very happy with it. I replaced the original fridge with a fridge-freezer and bought an air fryer for the longer trips. Being able to keep frozen vegetables and put them in the air fryer has made everyday cooking considerably easier.

Lighting took longer. I spent ages looking for lights I could wire to the batteries, but couldn’t find any I liked enough to install permanently. Most of the built-in options I saw were, frankly, ugly.

I now have about seven or eight rechargeable lights. I can move them around, use different combinations and change the mood.

I considered an indoor shower, but it would take up a lot of space. I’d also heard from people who barely used theirs. I train every day, so gym showers fit into my routine, and in summer I use beach showers too.

I do have a composting toilet for the ultimate emergency. After a year and a half, I still haven’t used it.

08Roof, storage & power

More power. Somewhere for the wet stuff.

By then, I’d done plenty of weekends and a few longer trips, up to about two weeks. Before the big trip, I wanted more power. I added a BLUETTI Apex 300 and another, smaller BLUETTI for things like charging computers and running the MaxxFan.

Solar meant deciding how to mount a panel. I considered fixing it straight to the roof for a long time, but wanted to avoid more holes in Petal. So I built a roof rack from aluminium profiles with channels that let you bolt the pieces together.

It began as two long sections down the sides of the roof. I built the rest gradually, using Petal’s existing roof mounting points. The solar panel went into its own frame, bolted to the rack.

Then I decided I wanted to go surfing. Fortunately, I’d left enough room beside the panel to strap a surfboard to the rack. I bought a removable ladder to reach the roof, again avoiding the need to drill more holes.

I also added a large storage box to one of the rear doors. Somewhere for dirty and wet things that I didn’t particularly want sharing the living space.

The final power addition was a charger that let me recharge while driving. I was nervous about installing it, so my brother helped. This stage of the work happened over winter 2025–26, before the big trip.

09What stayed right

Two benches. Still sitting on the floor.

Living in Petal confirmed two decisions almost immediately. The first was standing room. Being able to stand upright mattered enormously to me, and it was one of the reasons I’d wanted an H2 from the beginning.

The second was keeping the sliding doorway clear. I still sit there with the door fully open, leaning against the bench and looking outside.

I built two benches. I still spend quite a lot of time sitting on the floor.