Just a quick post with a little update on the van today we changed to front end from a 2001 to a 2014 and what a change! 😍 so fresh!
And here’s the finished product 👌
And just so you can see the progress from only 8 months Work here’s a side by side picture of the Work completed!
Over this weekend I have been very busy! Creating a new shelving area and sorting the foam out for the bed, so in the usual fashion here’s all the pictures and updates 😀
First off it was time to make the shelves to start with I used two pieces of scrap pine I had leftover from the very start of the build cut them both to 30″ and then did the burnt wood effect over the top of them to match in with the worktops 👌
After the boards were finished it was off into the van to hang them up as shelves I’ve only done one at the moment because I had to wait till I finished Cutting the foam to see where the bottom shelf would have to sit
After the shelf was up it was time for the recycled jars to be hung up and me and Sam absolutely love the look of these 😍
This isn’t the finished product we ran out of short screws so could only hang up the tea coffee and sugar jars I’ll post a further update on the next post. You could always follow our Instagram to keep up to date with the build as it unfolds 👍 the next job on the list was cutting the foam to size and getting it to sit in the van nicely so out came the bred knife and the tape measure 😂
Once the foam was cut it was time to test fit it in the van.
It fits perfect and it’s crazy comfy! 😏 now it was time for the usual “glamour” shot you are all accustomed to on our blog 😂😂
And that’s it all the work for his weekend done 👌 next stage in the build is to get the upholstery done on the foam so it doesn’t need a throw over it to look nice and tidy up the shelves! Make sure to follow us here or on Instagram if you want more frequent updates and some sneak peaks at what’s going on with the build 😉 and just to finish it off here’s a few pictures from a little trip up moel famau the other day and getting a well deserved brew in the van after a nice walk 👍 happy camping!
This will be a short but sweet post but here are the freshly upholstered curtains we had custom made for the van not much to talk about but they completely black out the inside and also add a layer of insulation to keep the warmth in 👌 and they look awesome!
So since our last post, we have decided to take the old small cupboard out and make a whole new one as you need to make sure your making use of as much space as you can!
We realised that we didn’t have much storage space for cooking stuff, clothes, toiletries etc so we both decided to make a cupboard the width of the van and have separate doors, so effectively we have 3 cupboards now.
We made it out of the left over wood we had on our previous job which was ideal as we over estimated how much we would need! So there was no waste ☺️
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rted by measuring of-cuts of wood, as you can see with the small green pieces as part of the frame so it's sturdy. In the pictures you can see the cupboard starting to take place.
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ted the supports in the centre and that also gave us our 3 cupboards!
Next was to start on the doors! We went to our local b&q and bought these hinges and handles as we preferred the look of these rather than just normal ones! The hinges were roughly £3 for 2 in a pack, and then the handles were slightly cheaper! 
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e applied them onto the doors, it started to take place and we were very happy with the outcome! 🤗 I had a go of the grinder today and made a new achievement! I had to grind off the heads of the screws once they were screwed in so it made it easier for the doors to open and close! 
here’s the up to date look of the cupboard all screwed in!
Whilst Dylan was building the cupboard, I began painting 👩🏻🎨 we chose the colour mint macaroon which was from the dulex range! we absolutely love it! At first we weren’t sure but once dried it looked different and think it looks so much better! Let us know what you think of the new look! 😍♥️
If you aren’t already please go over to our Instagram and follow us on there for the little bits that don’t quite make it to a full blog post and much much more 🤙
https://www.instagram.com/adventuresdr/
First off HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody and we hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas! ✌️ but now it is time to crack on with the rest of the build the new year is here and summer approaching fast! To start of this years alternations to the build it was time to rid the van of its awful ply board which was a temporary fixture and replace it with some nice pine t&g 
So off to B&Q I went, when I arrived I realised I had forgotten my tape measure so had to go inside to buy a tape measure first before buying the wood 😤 but after that I measured the amount I would need for the van and that was 4 packs to do what I needed to do I picked up some screws and some blades for my jigsaw also.
When I got home it was into the conservatory to cut all the wood because it’s was freezing outside! 🤧 I cut it all inside then went out the the van once it was all cut and started to screw it’s all in after removing the old ply that is!
Fancy! 🤤 once I had all this side done I moved onto the other,
I left the gap there so I can make a door to go over it and have it as a cupboard doesn’t look like the prettiest of jobs mind but it’s functional! 🤨 below you will see the cut wood for the bottom and top of the door and then the finished product.
Like I said not the pretties but functional! Once all this was in it was time for me and sam to test out the paint we are going to use over the wood! Yes we’re actually painting some of the wood for a change 🙄 so here is the tester.
We other decided on the bottom colour which was a mint to be painted all the way around 😍 after choosing our colour I decided to go into the shed and try out an old wood burning texture I’ve used in the past simple to do all that’s required is a blow torch and then I used some oil over the top this is how it looked!
I showed this to Sam and we both agreed to do the worktops like this after all if it looks bad we can just change it out no big deal 🤔 so here it is the process of burning the worktop!
Now I know it doesn’t look amazing in the photos but take my word it looks 100x better in person! 😂😂 I like it anyway at this point I had to stop doing any more because it got very cold outside! Here’s the usual glam shot of the completed work!
Next time we will be painting them up and adding in a few more extras! 😍
Today I set out to come up with a way to give some shelter from rain and wind when cooking at the back of the van. I went out and bought a shower curtain and set out to make what you will see below. It’s the most simple and cheapest way I could come up with. After hours searching for tailgates to find they cost a silly amount and are quite hard to get hold of for my model of van I made this.
To hold the shower curtain on the roof I used my vans existing roof mounds and then used some shower curtain hooks to go through it that also came with the curtain.
I didn’t take pictures of the guide ropes I used to pull the tape taught but they were from and old tent so cost nothing! The next thing was onto eBay to order a telescopic shower pole so that it would hold the pressure on the doors and keep it open in the wind 👌 but that’s it short but sweet little diy project next post about the van will be a big one!
Another little job now done on the van, but a long awaited one new flooring! Gone is the old crappy carpet and it’s been replaced by some new but scrap laminate for the total cost of £0.00! That’s a win in my book. So the day started off by going out in the van to elsemerport to collect some free scrap laminate and after a quick chat to the guys at luxurious headboards I was on the path to my new floor we did a quick measure up to see what I’d need and then I was told to go and look through the scrap pile for 10 pieces to cover the area I had, so I did just that and this is what I came out with!
Not so bad hey! Yes the laminate had blisters on it where the printing process went wrong but that is all hidden beneath my bed so not an issue at all, and remember it was free! The next part was to add some extra insulation/underlay onto the floor for the laminate to sit on and then it was pretty straight forward slot it in and move on the the next piece, a few notches and cuts later and we have this.
Then it was time to fit the bed in to see if my plan of the bad bits being covered worked! 👌
ust! Pheww 😳 after the floor was down it was time to put the blankets back on and fill the van back up with everything els and obviously as always take some glamour shots!
There it is floor nicely down, next few jobs are going to be a lot harder! Thanks for reading!
Here a short but sweet post about the new clothes Storage in the van, my aim was to make use of all the little space in the van effectively so the next step in doing so was to use the wall space for storage so today I set about doing just that, and this is what I come up with! 🤓
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started with a simple box frame and used ply board to strengthen the box up i changed the frame after these pictures slightly by moving the bottom cross bar down and level with the bottom of the frame. The next step was to make the door! I used the recycled wood from my old table at the front of the van so this cost me nothing 👍
I fixed baton along the back to hold the 3 pieces together I then sanded down all the rough edges and the face and then oiled the wood to darken it down slightly. This was the end result and I’m happy with it! 👌
Keep returning as this build evolves more and more each alteration!
Here it is van build 2.0! After the last couple of trips me and Sam have been on it came apparent that the layout of our van wasn’t working too great. We were having issues cooking getting in and out of bed, head room and many other things that we thought we could do without! Because of all this we decided it was time to strip the van back and build version 2, so here’s the first day of building and a lot was accomplished! 🤗
To start the build off I had to pay a visit to wood merchant gather my supplies and then head back home.
returned home I offloaded the van so now it was time to build a new bed, this time we opted for a double bed instead of the massive king size we made the first time round. With doing this it allowed us to gain more space for cabinets and also lower the height of the bed so that our headroom is better when sitting down.
ow its time to build the frame and measure for size we opted to go for 6ft in length because nether me or Sam is 6ft, I bought 2×2 to make the frame of this bed so it was a bit more sturdy.
he next step was to add the legs to the frame I used the vans wheel well as one of the supports for the bed also, with the frame now up it gave me a chance to see where it needed to be placed and also measure out the slats to go on. Because yes you’ve guessed it, it’s another pull out bed! 😅
I forgot to take pictures of the slats being put in but here they all are anyway! 🙃 you can see I’ve gone for a wider spread between the slats this time to aid in easy operation of the pull out part. I knew I wanted to change this around from the last bed because it was a nightmare to work! 😡
The next bit was to build the pull out part of the bed which I used the recycled wood from my old bed for which ended up saving me some money 😏 I cut my 2×2 4 inches shorter than the 6ft sections so it sat inside of the bed frame. I then added the 3 legs to the timber and also the slats.
Voila the bed is finished! 🤓 it’s a lot more sturdy than the last one and also took a lot less time to build, I added a piece of ply board over the top of the bed so the slats won’t move when sliding the bed in and out and also to add some strength to the pull out part.
That’s the bed done then, The next stage in the build was to build the cabinet/worktop carcass I used 2×1 for this which now I’ve built the frames is a bit over kill standard baton would have been fine for this application.
Now for the most important part of any build! Dominoes Pizza! And a selfie sent to Sam showing the new found head room 😅
After my lunch break it was time for more building lots of measurements taken and lots of time spent making sure it was going in right, here you will see some more of the frame going in.
Glad that is done 🤕 next was to make the worktop surface ready to take the hob and sink ontop.
Starting to look like something now! 😁 in the second picture there you will see me starting to mock up the second side of the work surface.
Again I forgot to take picture of the frame being built because I was to focused on getting it done! Remember this was all done in one day 😱 but now you can finally see the layout I’m going for and believe me it’s opened up so much more space and is so much more usable than it was before!
Adding a shelf to the side now still unsure wether to put a door on this section or leave it
Open 🤔 sure I will decide after it being used on a trip! Next step was to cover some parts up with some ply board.
After covering up the gaps it was time then to try another important part of the build out.
The storage section of corse, everything is that small area is what me and Sam take away with us on our trips and it used to take up the front and back of the van it now only takes up that small space! Result 🤤 after this was done it was time to put the bed back in and then fit the bracket for the tv!
After the tv bracket was sorted out it was time for some glamour shots of the interior now it has a partly finished interior!
Make sure to check back as Work progresses on the van build 2.0! Thank you for reading! 😁
S&D Adventures 