less is more

[shadetreevanman]

My buddy Casey built a similar bed/storage setup in his hightop build. Amazing how much storage those side boxes provide, while still leaving the van usable for other stuff when the bed has been removed. A smart setup. Looking good already, upholstery will make a huge leap forward.

[axcxnj]

thanks! so far im pretty happy with the design so hopefully it works as well in the future as I think it will.

So the bed structure is complete. I installed some small head and footboards to try and keep things from sliding around and clean up the look. now its time to upholster...nothing complex..but i feel like im mentally draggin my feet with starting that....need to get this butt in gear!

[axcxnj]

managed to get the bed wrapped with the carpet material over the last two days. its far from perfect..but its very functional and im happy with how its ccoming together overall. the headboard/footboard will be getting wrapped with a slightly different material just to break up the monotony of the carpet.

little by little...

[Otter]

Don’t know why but your pics intermittently don’t show up.

[axcxnj]

Originally Posted by Otter

Don’t know why but your pics intermittently don’t show up.

thanks for the heads up. Im linking them from my google acct and i think the privacy settings are messing up

[axcxnj]

took a trip to Iceland for the past week+ so im just getting back into working on the van today. As an aside...if you havent been to iceland..GO. And if youre deciding on renting a 2wd camper vs a 4wd SUV. go with the SUV. the access to the mountain roads is amazing and can get you to some really cool places!


anyways. im hoping to have this interior wrapped up by the end of July latest. The first weekend in august my wife has a 4 day weekend planned of bike racing, so i want to have the van be comfortable for then.

I am a learn-as-you-go type person, so my first attempt at upholstering panels leaves a little bit to be desired but i think it will do. If i want to re-do them in the future, it wont be a big deal to remove them and reinstall.



I had been realizing that the interior was going to be a whole lot of grey. Im not very creative when it comes to interior design, but i felt like something else was needed. Being a lover of maps and navigation, i found some topographic pattern fabric that added a little splash. Im going to be wrapping the foot and head boards of the bed, as well as the bulkhead for the small storage space above the driver compartment ceiling



its not huge..but its a little bit to break up the sea of grey.

[mothgils]

Looks great man! Keep it up! The only way to learn is to try.

[MSD]

Yup like what you did there... it's the little details that can help make thing pop. This did just that, looks great.

[axcxnj]

the end is in sight (there should be 4 pics in this post)

ordered a side ladder today, and got the last window panel in, along with the headliner. reinstalled all of the ceiling lights. also made a cubby box for the above seat storage.

the 2 square lights run off the house battery, while the 6 reading lights are linked to the van battery.

next is the top corner panels, which will span the ceiling/wall gap.

[JWA]

Nice progress so far----you are indeed nearing completion.

I see you too are utilizing that space left by the upper inner structure for storage etc---its just too much space to leave unused.

I'm finding I can add overhead switches in the stock factory headliner above the front seats and if necessary cut holes in the original steel roof panel to accommodate various lengths of those switches. I hope to use a Carling type that will require a bit more space behind their mount than a less expensive switch of almost any sort; rocker, rotary etc etc.