Solo Female Vanlife - Promaster Van W/ Genius Bed-Lift & Shower

hey my name is shannon and this is my pup gracie we are living in this ram promaster 3500 extended we've been in it about six months now and i'd love to show you inside [Music] so this is a kitchen space something that was really important to me because i love to cook was to have an extension of my countertop and to have as much space as possible so i designed this flip up counter it's all made out of butcher block and it's stained with the natural color of the birch wood so this sink i ordered off of amazon i ordered it thinking that it would be more square shape and it turns out it's actually a bathroom sink which fits nice for the farmhouse look but it's actually kind of curved in which hindsight i didn't like but now i think it's awesome and because when you're on unlevel surfaces everything kind of pulls to the center and drains perfectly i got this sink that duals as a shower outside if you want or to hose off dishes and the sink is hooked up to a 40 gallon fresh water tank it's a lot but it's awesome because i also have a shower and so it i fill up every maybe four to five days so it lasts me a while my upper cabinets first of all the paint on these cabinets is dollar bill green by benjamin moore i wanted to add a little bit of color to the cabinets so i chose that color and then in the cabinets up here are all toiletry laundry everything so everything from like my toothpaste and so pear product perfume makeup all contained up in the upper cabinets a lot of people have these in their vans but i've seen a lot where people screw them in i decided to go with the little magnet and these are 3m magnets off of amazon and then inside the top here is a little magnet so they hold very well they don't fall off i have hooks for these little baskets i got usually i put fruit inside lemons limes flowers right now olive oil and just an extra space to house like the things i use on a daily basis and the backsplash here is a scallop tile by dal tile and then i got this mirror um from etsy i like the shape and the little funkiness of the tie at the top for my countertop again it's the birch butcher block i love the warmth of the wood mixed with the green count cabinet fronts and then i opted for instead of a propane i have the true induction it runs off of ac it works really well i haven't had any complaints about it i can cook everything from stir fries to burgers on it whatever you want it does the job so underneath the sink i have everything from my dog food to the trash can to cleaning supplies it's pretty much utilities under here this drawer right here is all of my cutlery and bottle opener scissors lighter in this drawer right here is my rice cooker and it comes in handy because i only have one burner and i like to cook the rice or pasta or whatever it also steams veggies at the same time but while i'm like stir frying up veggies i can use the rice cooker i have my ninja blender and then my tupperware as well in here and then the bottom drawer is just my pots and pans houses that pretty well and then in this drawer is my junk drawer so i have these little bamboo dividers it's really handy for keeping things somewhat organized and then in this drawer is my cutting board my bowls plates measuring cups and then the bottom drawer is all of my glassware i like to keep glassware it makes me feel a little bit at home i know a lot of people do metal or plastic but i have these little drawer dividers down here that kind of keeps them somewhat contained and not rattling while you drive so this is my pantry right here i originally thought to do an extension of the cab or countertops over here so i wanted to have counter tops and an upper cabinet but i realized i needed a lot more space for appliances and like just extra knickknacks since i didn't have the garage space in the back um so i'm very happy with going with the pantry it's extremely deep it's as deep as the shower right there and it just the bottom level holds my extra spices that are in the kitchen my books my fan for at night toaster second level is all of my grains and pasta and whatever bagels chips and then the top level is more my coffee my protein my super greens paper towel it's heaven to have this much space for storage it's great this is the isotherm fridge um it runs off of 12 volt power dc power i put all my stickers well the places i've gone so far national parks or just different areas that i like fun stickers and it holds quite a bit it's a bit messy right now but you know everything you need a little freezer here has ice cubes and it's it's great i don't need any more space than that i usually do about a week weekly grocery run and um [Music] so i got a degree in interior design and i for the past six years have been doing corporate interior design and when i knew i wanted to transition into van life i knew the programs to design the whole space and 3d model it so i did that everything you see in this van i've built in 3d and i had a van builder do it because at the time i felt i wasn't equipped to do it but the people who did build this van is master overland and they are great they're not they're based out of florida currently um and they did a phenomenal job they took everything that i wanted and put it into the van and made it come to life and to be honest if you show my 3d model next to the build it's spot on it's it's everything i wanted so they did an awesome awesome job so i have a max fan that keeps us pretty cool in the van i cover it with mooja they make these really cool custom covers i have these push latches that keep the closets and all the drawers closed while you're driving i have about 12 inches of space for my all my hanging clothes sweatshirts t-shirts pajamas it's enough space i actually wear a lot of the same things over and over i've definitely downsized a lot i specifically designed a ski closet because i love skiing and i don't have the garage in the back as you'll see later so i wanted a place to house my skis which are not in here right now but they will be next winter but right now it's awesome for hanging up my towel i have my chairs folding chairs for outside it's really an all-purpose closet but it's come in handy for a lot of things i designed three drawers for the rest of my clothes top drawer you know sports bras and swimsuits second one is underwear and then third one is all my running gear stuffed into the bottom i have a little shoe basket here for all the shoes that i keep inside and then i have a swivel seat that is great for when friends come in the van or gracie wants to sit on the seat and hang out this is my shower um i wanted to do a full sized shower because i as i mentioned earlier i'm a big runner the closing door is called the nautilus door it's a self-cleaning door a lot of vans have it it's really good for privacy when you need it i have a little light that turns on just by your hand led light and lights up the shower space and i um have a shower curtain because it seems a little odd but it actually helps for when you're showering so you don't get it all in the toilet space and you don't have to clean all the water off afterwards it's frp panels it's very clean easy to clean so this is the simple toilet it is european brand i opted for this because it's a sleek design it's actually it's not a composting toilet it um is connected to the gray water tank all number one goes down to the gray water tank there's no black water and then i have a bag area where you can go number two if you want i choose not to do that in here i mean unless there's an emergency i have a teak floor mat and just adds a little warmth to the bathroom and i keep gracie's water bowl in here so if it spills or if she splashes around it all goes down to the gray water tank i have a shower head that is detachable so when you're in the shower you can easily just hose off doing the whole military shower thing to get the shower hot i have a hot water heater that you have to turn on about 30 minutes prior to taking a shower depending on the temperature outside and it's run off of the inverter so it heats up to an awesome temperature stays hot as long as you want and it's pretty good it's awesome i wanted to add some artwork to the wall to make it more homey and more me so i added this little piece up here it's a kind of living wall if you will this i've had for quite a while um it's by tick.han and i loved his artwork and his saying go as a river it kind of represents my life and kind of going with the flow and then i bought these two vases from orcas island and i just love the vases and i thought it went with the aesthetic of my van so i have um ac up here i wanted to do ac i know it draws a lot of power but i have a dog and i like to go to national park so i don't want to feel guilty leaving her in a hot car nor would i so um i keep her in the van very cool with the ac unit running when it is hot temperatures and she can be very comfortable so with having an ac you do need a lot of power i have 600 amp hours of battery so two packs of battery lithium batteries and then i have 620 watts of solar it's a lot but when i'm running this puppy it draws a lot so it's worth it to me and i work on the road as well so [Music] so after i designed mine i got kind of like into designing vans and i was like man i could probably make a living off of designing vans and it just so happened that someone i had met a couple years ago who now has a band company was hiring an interior designer they are west coast adventure vehicles and they are up in northern california and i interviewed with them and now i'm working with them and i'm their build and design planner [Music] this is my dining area i hang out here a lot when i'm working or relaxing or watching a movie i have the lagoon swivel mount table it comes around and swivels in place and i can work this way i can have friends over there it's fun i like having the table and it's a great workspace it also duals its lagoon table so it duals as if you take this off and put it in this area right here this whole space can become a bed i have these windows which are awesome i highly recommend them they're dual pane so they hold in the insulation really well they close up like that or you can crack them if you want a little bit of air flow um but when it's a nice day i open it up and then have a bug screen this way and then when i'm ready to go to bed they dual as blackout shades as well so the nice thing about having this area dual as a bed with the with the table top going down in this area is that i can have guests here and it kind of doubles as a bunk bed because this guy up here comes down and that's my bed so i really wanted a bed that came down from the ceiling because not only do i get to kind of do the bunk bed version to have friends over but i really wanted the dinette area to work and have meals and have guests over and i didn't want to always convert it into the bed i decided to go with the eurolift bed lift and all you do is press a little button right here and the bed comes down and it comes down pretty far and that way i can just hop on in and have my bed already made or not made and kind of shove it back up there if i don't make it so it's been really helpful and a lot easier than converting the dinette into a bed every single day i bought this knife magnetic holder and i decided to use it for my phone at night since i don't really have since the bed goes up and down i don't have a place to put my phone so it just magnets on right there doesn't hurt the phone and super useful and i also have up here when i get into bed a light switch so i can turn all those or turn this one on first and then turn all those ones off and get into bed and it also dims as well which is super nice so one thing i added to the van recently because i like hosting people and having people over is a projection screen but it's just a window screen that you put in front of a window and i mounted it up there and acts perfectly as a projection and so like for instance the other day i was in utah and it started snowing so we couldn't really do anything outside so i just had my friend over we made this into a bed watched a movie and chilled out it was [Music] awesome [Music] so i'm a solo female on the road and i had a lot of hesitations oh there it goes gracie i had a lot of hesitations in the beginning with my safety and so did a lot of family members but my experience has been a lot different than what i expected i have felt so safe in the van especially because a lot of the time you're out in the wilderness blm land and you're not really in cities where maybe more crime happens and i've just felt really safe i do take precautions i obviously have a dog and she is really good at barking when someone knocks on the door even like when it's just a friend she barks and she is definitely a watchdog for me there i think safe safety is definitely really important for solo females but i don't think you should dwell on it too much and let it prohibit you from doing this lifestyle there's so much more to it that is so amazing and i think that's just a little bit of it it's easy to make things up in your mind of what if this happens what if this happens and get scared by that is definitely scared of all these things before i moved into the van but now i feel very safe i actually feel more safe in here than i do in a big home so here's the back of my van these open up 180 degrees it's really nice for when you have a good day like today and you can have the back all open since i don't have a garage i have a bunch of doors back here that kind of act as my garage area um this front one houses all my inverter batteries it has a lot of storage space as well and then i just have random things like a blanket tools in the middle compartment i keep my shoes in my laundry basket the bottom shoe box is for like my dirty shoes hiking shoes running shoes trail shoes what's kind of cool about this is my laundry's right here but it has a secret compartment that can shove down the laundry and it kind of pops down into there this last piece right here um is all my water stuff so i have my water tank back there the 40 gallons and then in this compartment right here is an outdoor shower i did this because mainly my dog if she gets ever really dirty or gets into who knows what but it's also really good for dirty like hiking shoes you can spray them off before putting them back in here and then i really wanted to do the outdoor table so i built this in on the bottom and it extends pretty far and then you can just grab a chair put it right there and it's really nice for when you're outside thanks for following along on my van tour it's been great having you if you want to check me out on instagram i'm shannon and my instagram handle is shan in a van i also do designs as for vans as i mentioned before so if you want me to design your van you can check me out at west coast adventure vehicles and i'd love to see you guys on the road [Music] you

Channel: Tiny Home Tours

Views: 1,644,372

Keywords: tiny house, tiny house on wheels, living big in a tiny house, tiny house movement, tiny home, small house, small spaces, small house design, alternative living, architecture, affordable home, off the grid, small space living, tiny house life, diy tiny house, diy home, tiny house tour, tiny house nation, tiny house big living, tiny house giant journey, van life, van build, van tour 2021, camper van conversion, elevator bed tiny house, elevator bed in van, digital nomad

Id: HFYJ6sh5g30

Length: 20min 1sec (1201 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 18 2021