Finally, I thought I would show you our self-built campervan / sheet metal / motorhome! Also takes the opportunity to answer what to think about when buying & building a campervan.

If you want to follow our vanlife journey more closely, you will find us on instagram @helenaamiley (I) & @miskaamiley (my boyfriend who basically built our entire campervan!)

Background: We are full time vanlifers traveling in Europe. We have lived in our self-built motorhome for a while now and can therefore also review our various solutions, and compare with other sheet metal and campervans we encountered on the road :) Such a post that I myself had wanted to read while we planned our construction!

We work with our companies remotely. I am a makeup artist and am involved in developing a new makeup brand on the market.

It's not a full guide with every little detail, because I wanted to accommodate all the important things in one and the same post instead of making several super-detailed ones. But is very happy to answer questions if you have more detailed thoughts :) Either comment or email helena@imakeyousmile.se.

Note: This is our first van-build and we did a lot of research but there can of course be better solutions to things! We have done our best but if someone does the same and it does not go well, we abdicate responsibility haha :)

Table of Contents:

If you only want to read about certain parts about the construction of our motorhome, click on that link in the table of contents below and the page will automatically jump to that part of the post:

1. Buy or build yourself?
2. Best car to build on?
3. What rules for construction?
4. Live in a motorhome / campervan, to think about
5. Before & after pictures
6. Insulation
7. Rules & Planel
8. Roof hatch, ceiling fan & ventilation
9. Build your own shower room with toilet
10. Build your own toilet with separett
11. Drawing water
12. Solar panels & el
13. Diesel heater
14. Gasol and camper
15. Smart storage
16. Determine the layout
17. What does it cost?

Buy a finished Campervan or build it yourself?

Det är en fråga om budget, tålamod, önskemål & förmåga. Vi ville bygga en plåtis själv då fabriksbyggda campervans inte känns så “vi” och för att vi ville ha en som vi designat helt själva! Bygget är också en del av resan, innan man kan börja leva vanlife :)

You can also buy self-built sheet metal (not factory-built) from private individuals, but then you must be prepared for defects here and there. Our motorhome is very well made in my opinion (I can say that and at the same time be humble because it is not me who built it, but my boyfriend haha) but both in our and in all the campervans we met, there are of course mistakes and small flaws here and where.

You must also remember that it is very time consuming to build a motorhome yourself. It costs a lot depending on your wishes and can sometimes test your patience properly!

BUT you will learn an incredible amount over time and it will be very rewarding to have accomplished something as big as building a small house in a car.

“Inte bara glada miner” kallar jag denna bild, hahaha.

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Best car to build a Campervan on?

Which is the best car to build the campervan on depends on what conditions and wishes you have. When you know what you need, it will be easier to know which is the best car to build the campervan for you! :)

Questions you should ask yourself are:

• Should you be able to stand in it? In such cases, choose a van that is high enough to be insulated and paneled but still give you standing height. Miska is 180 and after all the decor, our standing height is 185 cm.
• Is width important to you? Some vans are a little narrower or narrower at the top more. Our sheet metal is wider than many, which has made it much easier! We can sleep on the width (Miska is 180 and the bed is 188) and have wide kitchen counters (60 cm) but still a spacious hallway in the middle.
• Is length important to you? We chose a 6 meter long van because it is easier to park. And that the longer the car, the heavier it is even though the maximum weight is the same = you have less load weight, which makes construction much more difficult. But just one meter extra makes a huge difference in layout! Had we had one more meter, we could have had both a fixed bed, a bathroom and a more proper seat with table. And if you are too tall to sleep on the width, the bed takes up a lot of space as well, if you need to build it in the length. Then it might be worth having a longer car anyway.
• Can you mecca cars? Older cars usually need more care, with that said, there is no guarantee that a newer car will not have a lot of problems over time. We do not have much mech knowledge, so we chose the newest car that fit the budget. A Citroen Jumper model year 2015. Also highly (!!) recommend buying from a car dealer instead of privately if you can not mecca yourself. The car was in the workshop several times after the purchase but we did not pay a penny for it. Just lots of new, fresh parts! :)
• Automatic or manual? It is usually easier to find manual cars and they are usually cheaper. We chose manual and also have a reversing camera which is very helpful!
• Under or over 3.5 tonnes total weight? Cars under 3.5 tonnes in total weight may be driven with only a B driving license. If you cross, you must have a C1 driving license. We have a maximum weight of 3.5 due to having only a B driving license and wanted a lot of load weight compared to cars with a maximum weight of 3 tons.

I am very happy with our car choice! Above all that it is wide and has a lot of load weight for the construction, it has really made it easier. Even though I sometimes dream of having an extra meter to build on;) But if I had to choose one or the other, I actually prefer wider instead of longer!

An ordinary Thursday when you live vanlife;) In Bergamo, Italy. As you can see in the picture, our cat Viktoria also lives with us and she is still an outdoor cat even though we live in a motorhome / sheet metal.

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What rules apply when building a Campervan / Plåtis / Motorhome?

The rules for building a campervan differ depending on whether it is to be relocated to a light truck with a living area or motorhome. (It must be re-registered legally if it is rebuilt).

The most important thing to keep in mind is to stick to the weight and distribute it evenly throughout the car.

There are less rules in re-registering for a light truck with a living area than if you register for a motorhome. This is because motorhomes must, among other things, have fixed devices for e.g. stove and refrigerator.

The rules are up for interpretation by the inspection engineer, so it's smart to call the station you are going to inspect the car at and check what applies. Our sheet metal went through immediately, we re-registered it to Light truck with living space.

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Living in a Campervan, what to think about?

The most important thing is to think about what you want for the comforts of your motorhome and exactly how and where to use it.

Since we live in a van full time, we wanted all the amenities that a small cottage can have. Toilet, shower, hot water, kitchen with stove & refrigerator, heating, good with storage, large bed & electricity. And that it should be easy to live in even in cold weather. We do not want to live in the car in a winter climate, but let's say April-November should still be fully possible without problems.

But it's a lot of work and money unnecessarily if you do not need these amenities! If you only camp on the weekends, you do not need such an expensive electrical system. If you only want to live in a warm climate, an outdoor shower is enough. If you only live on campsites, you do not need a toilet or shower.

Here are my experiences and thoughts on the details that differ most on different campervan constructions:

Fixed bed or not?

You can either have a fixed bed, or a bed that can be converted (refurnished) to tables and seats.

I would say that the latter is the most common, but we still chose a fixed bed because for us it has more advantages than disadvantages:

• Much more storage space in the garage (the space under the bed is called the garage of a motorhome).
• We have also built the bed quite high which gives us lots of storage underneath! In addition to the garage which is accessed from the back doors, we have clothes storage in half the bed (picture is further down in the post) and a large basket which is also accessible from the inside.
• In a non-fixed bed, you need to store the bedding somewhere when it is not in bed position, which takes up storage space that you could have used for other things.
• I have been a guest in several campervans now and it is very often the bed is in bed position instead of table position and so you all hang in bed anyway. We also had guests in our bed, 6 people sitting and playing games and eating sweets. + a cat. It went really well too :)
• We still have room for a bench and a small folding table, so we are not completely without it anyway (picture of this further down in the post)

But with that said, it's very nice to have a proper table and seating too!

Bedding in linen fabric is comfortable in both hot and cold weather and the lace curtains also crack extra like mosquito nets :)

Shower in motorhome - necessary or not?

I have met other vanlifers who live full time in their campervan who do not think that showering is important at all. They use a bowl and soup ladle for hair washing, baby wipes, wash the armpits in the sink or look for showers on e.g. gym.

I would be able to do that even if I was always in a hot climate. But when we were in Germany in November, I did not want to shower outdoors. We have great use of our built shower, I am grateful that we built a fully equipped bathroom in our campervan!

Toilet in motorhome - which one should you have?

We only have experience with our self-built compost toilet, so I can not comment super much on other variants. Most of the people we met have porta potti toilets, but in principle they do not use them at all, but visit nature and public toilets as much as they can. I have no experience of porta potti myself but think it says quite a lot that people who have a porta potti prefer nature or public toilets over their porta potti.

Choice of toilet was the area I researched the most before the construction and compost toilet is what I personally think sounds most flexible. As I said, we built our toilet ourselves (more on that below) and I always choose my own toilet in the first place! So that's a good review in itself :)

Shower room / Bathroom in the campervan - necessary or not?

Some have both a shower and a toilet in their tin ice, but not always built into a separate bathroom. Without e.g. inside part of the kitchen counter.

We have a separate bathroom and I am happy about that because it is complicated enough to live in a small area as it is. Nice not to in addition need to bring the toilet back / forth during each use.

And that the bathroom is also storage! We hang towels and small bags with the beauty product in there, as well as wet swimwear.

And I, who am a very comfortable person, also like that it feels a little more like home. For me, it is important to take care of hygiene such as hand washing, shower and toilet routines in a simple and good way! :) I may live in a car and love nature, but am actually not an outdoor person really haha.

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FURNISH A CAMPERVAN / PLÅTIS:

Rebuilt campervan before & after pictures:

We bought our Citroen Jumper from a car dealer in Uppsala (BG MOTOR), which we are grateful for because the car has broken down a lot. We have received a lot of help from them, so the purchase has always felt safe! Had we bought it privately, we would have been left to our fate.

Here you see some before & after pictures of our rebuilt campervan. Further down I go through all the steps we have done with it, from an empty van to a camper! :)

I can not understand myself that this is the same car !!

It still feels unreal that we rowed this ashore :)

When I walked around in this empty cupboard for the first time, it felt completely unreasonable that we would have room for a bed, kitchen, bathroom and bench. It felt so heavenly little then!

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Insulation of our sheet metal:

We started by removing the partition, tearing out everything in the cupboard and cleaning, plugging old screw holes and fixing small rust stains. After that, we had self-adhesive sound attenuation that reduces the vibrations in the plate and then we insulated with XPS boards, joint foam and where possible. may in the future need to come in or had moving parts (such as the doors) we insulated with rock wool.

Here you see pictures of when we isolated our campervan:

Armaplex, xps and studs on the floor.

After these steps, we laid plywood on the entire floor and then fine laminate floor only in the middle aisle. So the laminate floor is completely loose.

We recommend having the floor loose if you use laminate flooring, because if something happens, it is easy to replace. Another campervan we met happened to overturn his porta potty toilet and got old kiss all over the floor. Her floor had to be replaced but she could not because it was stuck under all the on-site kitchen benches and the like.

Many details in the same picture!

1. Stone wool in beams
2. Xps (the blue) which is effective and quite thick insulation
3. The insulation by the bed (the white) is thin Styrofoam because there we did not build as thick walls = longer bed. Picture this further down in the post!
4. Joint foam in joints and to fasten the insulation boards + extra tight.

After this we pasted on a layer of armaflex as well. This is very well insulated - many who build sheet metal choose between xps or armaflex. We have both.

Then we did the same thing on the roof.

On the car doors it is a mixture of rock wool (in important areas you must be able to access if the mechanics in the door breaks), xps and armaflex (the black).

Insulating your sheet metal properly has advantages even if you use it mostly in hot climates. Although it is hot outside, we have a comfortable temperature in the car (very important because we have a cat) and also for noise outside the car.

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Rules & panel in the car:

After the insulation and floor were finished, we started to lock up the bathroom and the walls to be able to attach panels. Since nothing is straight in a sheet metal, it was a bit of a puzzle to get as much space as possible and at the same time the panel and joists are good and durable.

We did:

• A 140cm wide bed and insulated a little thinner in the wall by the bed to get it 188cm long so that even Miska could lie there without problems (He is 180cm tall).
• Under sängen har vi “garaget” där vi har vår färskvattentank, batterier & “el-central” samt förvaringslådor.
• Två bänkskivor på båda sidorna (“köket”), ena sidan för vatten och andra för kylskåp & spis för att fördela tyngden lite och hålla el och vatten separerade på varsin sida.
• Two cupboards.
• Seating at the front with a folding table.
• Toilet & Shower at the front behind the driver's seat.

Some pictures of this:

Rules for the bathroom.

Here almost all the panels and joists were in place and you can see the layout begin. It's starting to be a camper !!

Making a nice solution on the side of the doors is not the easiest thing! We solved this by attaching a panel that protrudes slightly from the wall, so that there is a space behind where the curtain can hang.

Here you can clearly see that there is a gap behind. The only thing you have to remember is that you should not lean against this part when chilling in bed :) But there are no problems.

There were quite a lot of joints so we joined and then painted the joint.

Surely it turned out well? :)

I was responsible for the color choices and did not want a white motorhome that most people have, because I am so very tired of white. It became a self-mixed apricot color that is diluted with water to preserve the fine wood panel.

Love it! It's like having sunset lights all the time :)

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Roof hatch, ceiling fan & ventilation in a camper:

Det är viktigt med ventilationen i en husbil som man tänkt bo i längre stunder för att undvika fukt och mögel. Vi har löst det genom att ha en stor “sky light” (taklucka) över sängen med ventilation, samt en taklucka (MaxxAirfan) i främre delen. Jättebra kombo för att kunna ventilera ordentligt och även vid varma dagar ha en behaglig luft inne i bilen.

You can clearly feel that it will be a cool draft when these are on at the same time, even if it is hot outside. We never felt that we actually needed an ac.

Mist after sawing the first hole in the car, scary!

The sunroof in place! After we stained the roof white, we put on the frame on the underside, to hide the joints.

Same with the ceiling fan!

We have also installed less ventilation at the bottom of the car, partly because if a LPG leak occurs, the LPG runs out (because it is heavy) and reduces the risks for us. And that it is good with a lot of ventilation in general but also when burning LPG.

Picture of this further down, under the gas heading :)

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Build a shower & toilet in a campervan:

This step was a must for us (read me, haha) to be comfortable in the camper, but a step that felt quite big at first. It's like not every day you build a bathroom and especially not in a van!

Here's what we did:

• Vi reglade upp först och byggde “ramen”, sedan gjorde vi väggarna med plywood.
• Then we re-joined all the small cracks and holes that were left to make everything as stable as possible. (We used an adhesive joint that has 25% mobility).
• After the joint, we painted wet room waterproofing layers all over and put wet room foil in corners and edges so that the waterproofing layer would not risk cracking over time.
• Finally, we painted everything with wet room paint and laid tiles on the floor.

Since the ceiling fan is just outside the bathroom, we shower with an open door and have a shower curtain for the door hole. Works great! And usually the whole side door is completely open as well, when you park by the sea and step out and sun dry after the shower;)

Here you can clearly see how the drain is drawn! It goes out on the side of the bathroom and is connected to the water from the sink. Which then flows out into a greywater tank under the van.

Miska built a built-in bathroom shelf at the bottom so that I can set up my beauty products there :) He is SO kind! This was not easy due to very oblique angles haha. He fought on, for my sake. It's love it!

The bathroom is one of the few areas where I could help (I am completely incompetent most of the time) but everything that has to do with joints, smudges and paint is my thing! I laid the wet room draft (can not the right word? Haha) a little uneven to get a cement feeling. Think it turned out pretty good! Bought from Bauhaus.

Light green, matte wet room color on it. Fine! From Jotun Lady Aqua.

This hexagon tile on the floor is one of the finest details in the entire construction, I think. The brand is Lhådös and we drove to Enköping just because I so wanted this.

Again a sign of how kind Miska is that makes my ideas a reality. Lots of pill with hexagon shape in small space with drain and oblique angles. He regretted it for a while, but was also happy when it was done :)

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Draw water in a self-built motorhome:

Just because you build your own campervan, you do not have to do every single step yourself.

We had an idea how it would work with water in a motorhome, but it actually turned out better than we had thought! This step we got help from a plumber and now in retrospect we agree that we could not have done it as well! :)

Our water system consists of:

• 150 liter fresh water tank (we were afraid it would be too big, but in retrospect we are very happy with this size!)
• Automatic pressurized water pump (It switches on if the pressure in the pipes goes down to pump in water and switches off when there is pressure again. That is, if you open the tap, you release the pressure and the pump runs.)
• Accumulator tank (A small tank after the pump that is there to keep a constant pressure in our water system.)
• Outdoor shower (This is not connected to our hot water but only directly after the accumulator tank and opens with a ballofix (as it is called, a small lever connected between the pipe and the shower hose)
• Automatic On-demand water heater (It thus has no tank but heats the water directly with LPG. It is also automatic and turns on if the pressure drops.)
• Kitchen faucet with sink (Nothing fancy, it's Ikea stuff but we wanted a big sink.)
• Shower
• Drain down under the car to the greywater tank which has a safety connection so that if we fill in too much water it flows out instead of filling up the car instead.

Our water lasts for 1-2 weeks approximately. With dishes after each meal, hand washing, cooking food (we drink the water from the tank) and shower.

Here you see all the water stuff in the garage under the bed!

The outdoor shower solves one of the luxury problems you have when you live vanlife, to rinse off the sand between your toes after beach hanging;)

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Toilet in campervan (compost toilet / litter toilet):

Miska has built 99.9% of our motorhome, but I am careful to tell you that it is I who built our compost toilet because Miska is not so impressed with it, so he does not feel ashamed that people think it is his work of art haha.

It's a box of joists and plywood, to which I screwed a toilet seat. There are also ventilation holes in the bottom and four blocks as feet, so that it does not stand directly against the floor.

Then I joined all the joints and painted in glossy, white wet room paint.

On the inside we have a can with a funnel and a compost bucket with ventilation and carbon filter. The bucket contains soil that we top up after each use. The soil is in a bag that can then be thrown away.

Miska was very skeptical about whether this would work in practice or not and had not even tested it before we started living vanlife full time - but we are both pleasantly surprised :) We think it feels like it is usually in a factory-built motorhome / sheet metal .

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Solar panels & electricity in a campervan:

We chose to have two solar panels on the roof of our motorhome / sheet metal, it is 200w and gives a lot of electricity on sunny days but also a little on cloudy days! With the results in hand, however, we wish we had at least 300w, because we work from the car and charge the computers steeply in the quarter, so it consumes quite a lot.

Miska connected a 230 socket and two usb sockets under one of the top cabinets and we basically charge everything except the computers with usb (12 volts). We have a converter that allows us to charge appliances made for 230V (Household electricity) but it also draws a lot of electricity. Right now we are charging the computer with the 230v cable but have just ordered a usb charger instead. It will probably make a big difference in electricity consumption!

We also have an isolating relay disconnected from the starter battery that switches on while driving so that all batteries can be charged when the car is running. However, we will switch to dcdc chargers instead of isolating relays because our relay is in so much trouble.

The batteries we chose are 2 Victron Energy deep cycle 110AH batteries, they are made to withstand deep discharges better and are relatively large for that money. So we have a total of 220AH capacity in the living room batteries. Had we had a higher budget, however, we would have chosen lithium batteries.

That said, we are very happy with our electrical system, it works well! But can always be improved, it's just a matter of budget :) When building a sheet metal, there are a lot of budget priorities that must be made!

Miska in action! Glue solar panels. We bought a kit from Amazon that contained everything you need :)

El-central in the making. På denna bild har vi inte gjort klart allting än. Vår el-central har med tiden blivit lite av en “soppa”, Miska har ju koll på allt men det kan se lite rörigt ut för en utomstående! :)

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Install diesel heaters in self-built sheet metal:

This step took a bit of time, we wanted it pulled from the car's diesel tank and therefore needed help, we thought. But after many turns with people who could not help, Miska chose to look at it herself instead. Then it turned out that there was already a hose pulled to the engine heater in the car that he T-connected to and installed the diesel heater completely himself instead.

We chose to have the diesel heater completely under the car to minimize the risk of exhaust fumes, odors and noise in the car. Many who build their own sheet metal ice cream choose to install it inside the car, but we have heard some who have a diesel smell from the heater that is noticeable. (Maybe it's due to a leak or something? But we did not want to take that risk anyway when we are going to spend longer times in the car) :)

Diesel heater under or inside the car? THINK OF: We have regretted this choice sometimes because our Chinese heater failed (eg the temperature sensor broke which is a common problem). And every time something happens, we have to crawl under the car. Had we had the diesel heater under the bed, the problems would have been much easier to fix.

Vi köpte en “kina-värmare” eftersom att de är ganska billiga och gör sitt jobb. Det är många som bygger plåtis som använder sådana värmare så det finns mycket hjälp att få vid problem! (Antar att den heter “kina-värmare” i folkmun för att den är tillverkad i kina och är märksefri.)

When our temperature sensor broke, we at Blocket managed to find one that sold spare parts for diesel heaters. So it was quickly fixed, compared to ordering from China and waiting for several weeks.

The T-coupling to the diesel tank. Here you see how Miska connected the diesel heater to the car's existing diesel tank.

The diesel heater under the car.

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LPG in a campervan / self-built sheet metal:

We have two gas tubes with us, the larger one of 10kg we have for the stove. We have the small 5kg for the water heater.

There are no rules as far as I know for having LPG in the car, for a private person you can type transport over 300kg of LPG. However, for your own safety, you should switch on a gas alarm, turn off the LPG tubes while driving, anchor them well and have good ventilation, partly because the combustion of LPG requires oxygen, but also if a leak occurs, the LPG can seep out of the car instead of filling it and kill you. It's not to play with, take the safe before the unsafe!

The cupboard under our sink! Here you see water connections, LPG, our water heater and ventilation. It is not visible in the picture, but as I said, we also have a LPG alarm inside the cabinet.

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Build smart storage in a motorhome:

A tin ice / campervan is not big but there are many different storage ideas!

Storage solutions are very important, I think, not to fit as much stuff as possible but above all to keep order and tidy even though you live in a small area. There are not many things that need to be in the wrong place for it to feel chaotic, haha.

Nummer ett på listan är min badrumshylla haha! Jag ÄLSKAR denna. Jag har 10-15 produkter i denna hylla i skrivande stund. Skönt att slippa ha en kökslåda som “badrumsskåp”.

You have already seen under the sink, but we have two more cabinets that contain wire trays!

It is a stand with wire jaws (instead of rails) so you do not have to build the cabinet to fit exactly to the box, which is very flexible.

I did not manage to clean the box before I took the picture haha, but we are very happy with this genius move! We lift half the bed and have all our clothes there. So flexible, really an advantage of having a firm bed!

If you are building a sheet metal with a fixed bed, I highly recommend this solution.

Under the bench we have two large baskets. Comes from Brondsholm. In one is work stuff I use daily.

The other is for clothes that you use to and fro - again to keep it clean. You know, that cardigan you take off and on during the day, soft pants and a bit of stuff that otherwise lies in front and litter :)

To the right hangs our garbage brush and space for shoes! Two very important details to keep your campervan / plate clean and nice :)

There is some space behind the baskets as well. There are, among other things, toilet paper and water bottles.

We could have done something site-built under the bench but want it open so that the cat can go back and forth (her litter box is in the cabin). But I like the basket solution! :)

The top cabinets are built of wood from a dilapidated wooden hut in the forest that has been so nicely aged by the sun :) We sanded off the worst surface layer and stained a little to lighten them up a little.

Not the best solution if you need to build your sheet metal with light materials;) But ours had a lot of importance to play with!

The idea was also that the space between the wall and the top cabinet (on the right in the picture) would be used to e.g. hang up frying pan or towels. In a small tin ice cream, you will find storage options a bit here and there haha. But we have not actually used it for anything.

Also built the side table with this wood!

As I said, I think it is important that it is easy to keep clean, so we have this drawer (attached with double-sided adhesive tape) and two storage bags next to the bed.

There we have all the cables for telephone, computer, etc. as well as remote controls for the diesel heater, lamps, etc. Things that are otherwise in front of us. Perfect! Just to throw down :)

Next to the stove we also have this basket for our oils, onions and seeds. Everything that you use regularly and do not have to be in the cupboards saves a lot of space for other things! :)

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Determine layout in sheet metal:

The choice of layout makes a big difference to the whole. This may be what I put the most thought into during the construction and we changed plan several times!

I am SO happy with our layout based on our conditions :) What conditions you have depends partly on the size of your sheet metal and how advanced construction you want / can / have time to do.

That we placed the bench by the side door is one of our best decisions! It was not planned that way from the beginning namely. It is SO cozy to be able to sit there with the side door open.

By the way, our pillows come from Mixhuset.se. I am very satisfied with the service and what I bought from that site!

Speaking of good service (and that I work in the picture hehe) I also want to recommend lohelectronics.se where we bought an antenna to get better reception. They were incredibly helpful! I know nothing but they helped me with what I need to buy and answered very quickly to all questions I had even after the purchase. Our antenna is Pointing Puck-2 Radiant 4G LTE Mimo 6dBi and it works SO well!

What was important to us is that the floor plan is quite open. Therefore, we placed the bathroom behind the driver's seats instead of in the middle. And built wall cabinets only over the kitchen area, instead of along the entire wall which is otherwise common when building sheet metal.

We chose a lower refrigerator to accommodate a drawer above. Also good size because larger refrigerators weigh more and draw more electricity.

The refrigerator is a compressor refrigerator (12 volts, so it is also common with gas refrigerators but we chose electricity). Bought at solarlab.se and is 70 liters. But it is also available in 50, 90 and 120 liters. We are very happy with that, except that the freezer compartment does not get cold enough to freeze ice cream because we do not want the rest of the refrigerator to have the coldest effect.

When building sheet metal, it is also common with top-fed refrigerators. But in a motorhome, there are often larger refrigerators.

The table is only for one person but it does nothing for us, one usually eats in bed. But you could make a smart extension of it if you want, add another part that can be folded to the side so that it becomes wider :)

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What does it cost to build the campervan?

This is a common question! Honestly, we have not had full control of it. We built scattered for 1 year and stopped counting when it became too mentally stressful haha.

We bought the car for SEK 100,000 and have built and furnished for at least as much. We guess at SEK 120,000. So SEK 220,000 in total? :)

When you calculate what the construction of your motorhome will cost, you only think of the big things such as solar panels, batteries and the ceiling fan type. But the most expensive are all the streams small, every time you are at Bauhaus it costs SEK 500, even though you only need a small piece of metal. That's my feeling!

With that said: you can get away with it much cheaper if you plan well and compare costs properly. Since we are beginners, we sometimes happened to buy things that could not be used (but also not returned) and if you compare every single screw, the same gadget can have very different prices in different stores. But it takes an incredible amount of time to compare prices on every single thing. But if you do that job and do not make any purchasing mistakes, you can save a lot of money!

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In this post, I have a little quickly gone through all the steps we took when we decided to buy a van and turn it into a campervan & plate. You are very welcome to comment if you have any questions about any of the steps. We can try to help you as best we can, if you are on the same journey as we have been and chosen to build your own motorhome! :)

Comment here or email helena@imakeyousmile.se if you have questions!

Also read my first post about when we bought our tin ice cream: We bought a van!

And as I said, feel free to follow our vanlife life on instagram: @helenaamiley (me and @miskaamiley (my boyfriend)

Hugs are!