FAMILY Converts VAN into MICRO HOME: Young Couple Experiences the World with their Daughter
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Sarah and James, with their daughter Stella and dog Lavender decided to call a van, which they’ve affectionately named Topanga, their home. About two years ago they built a tiny house in upstate New York and they were living in it. It was about a hundred ninety five square feet and they loved living small, but they wanted to be able to travel and the trailer wasn't gonna be able to make it around the country. A van seemed like the perfect option to take up this nomadic lifestyle, so on January 1st they decided to start looking. The plan was to find something over the course of the next few months, but literally in 48 hours of their Craigslist search they had the van in their possession. It was made the same year that they were both born, so it almost felt like destiny.
James was working a job that he had to be at 40 hours a week plus three hours of commuting both ways and Sarah was also working. They didn't see each other and they realized, what's the point of living if they don't have that freedom to do what they want? He walked into his job and put in his notice. It was only after they decided to take this plunge that they found out Sarah was pregnant.Because of this, their daughter has only known tiny living. When you live in a big house and you have a lot of really nice and fragile things, it’s easy to fall into a mindset where there’s a lot of limits on where the children and go and what they can touch. They feel that the nomadic minimalist mindset does a way with a lot of these boundaries and allows for more exploration than a conventional lifestyle would bring.
Topanga is a 1988 Ford Econoline van. She has about 250,000 miles on her. When they first got her, she was a carpet cleaning van. She was bright red, so the first thing that they did to her was give her a nice new paint job.They modeled that look off of other older Dodge vans, even though their van is a Ford. In the back they built a fold out countertop that they can put their stove on to cook. It's a big nice cutting board space which makes food prep very easy. In the back they have storage for the stove, camping gear, other various things, spare propane, blankets and stuff.
Sarah was dead set on doing a porthole window. They got theirs off Amazon and they actually intentionally installed it backwards so that it would match the color scheme going on inside the van. They made sure that it was super waterproof through rigorous testing. The cockpit area is often overlooked in most van builds so they wanted to do something a little bit special for theirs. They had originally built this beautiful cup holder that acted as their center console, but as Stella grew older and began kicking it, it started to slowly fall apart. They still have the bottom shelf which is handy for putting a cup down when parked, but it doesn’t hold them in place like it used to.
Stella's car seat was probably the trickiest part about the whole build. They have a forward Econoline metal seat that they got off at eBay that they’ve bolted through the floor, and then secured from underneath. This provides a strong base for the seat to sit on. One of Stella’s favorite parts of the whole van build was working on the doors. She feels that in a lot of van builds it’s a really underutilized space, so they made these little pantry boxes that are super handy to hold loose dried food, as well as a little coffee storage area. On the other side she really wanted to make sure they had plants in the van, so they built a space to hold them.
At the front of the van behind the seats they built a small kitchenette. It has a small sink close to the center of the counter that they can wash dishes in and use to brush their teeth. They store their pots and pans and plates and everything in a drawer underneath the counter closest to the door, and under that they hide their camper toilet which they use in emergencies. Under the counter on the other side of the sink they have a little hidden storage space where they keep tools and anything else they might need in a moment's notice like flashlights. Below that they have extra water storage, and then they have their little pantry next to that.
A little further back in the van they have their Cubic Mini Wood Stove, which they absolutely love. It's dual vented, so it only needs a little bit of wood to burn for about 4 to 5 hours straight. It's vented right through the roof so they don't have to worry about smoke and then their external vents a little bit hidden on the outside. Under the wood stove they keep their camera gear, different equipment, and then they have their Goal Zero Yeti solar system which has cables that run all the way up through behind the wall to the solar panel that's permanently attached to the roof. This is single-handedly one of the best large investments they made because it keeps them powered anywhere they need it, and they’ve never really run out of power, even just with one solar panel.
At the very back is their living area and bedroom. Their primary configuration is when it's in an L-shaped couch and then the bed pulls out and the back mattresses pull down, turning into their bed. They convert that throughout the day whenever they need it. It's the perfect width so Stella can actually take a nap back there and one of them can lay down with her while the other one still is getting work done. They have three different drawer areas all for their clothes, one for each of them. They're all the same size and they can fit pretty much everything they own other than a coat or two in there.
For Stella they have a little library back with books that they pick up as they travel. They have a rotating stock that they sell when they get to towns and pick up new ones, then Stella has her little toy cabinet as well as their basket for their keys and stuff at night, so they always have easy access to grab them. They also bought this little table that they set up when they’re either working or eating. Surprisingly, it actually fits all three of them around it and it's great to hold a laptop when they’re working, or one of them wants to get some editing done or anything like that. iI also serves as Stella's little play area and where they eat most of their meals unless they’re outside at a campground.
Sarah thinks it's normal to question yourself as a parent, especially when you're doing something a little bit different. Talking to other people about it is very reassuring for them, when people are like "this is a good move for her." It's amazing to be able to bring Stella to all the National Parks and let her see the world as it is before she ever hits the age of three. She’s already developing her view of the world, even at such a young age. She's seeing different people and how they interact with the world and their natural elements and getting a real appreciation for what life is really like. You don't have to end your life just because you have kids, it doesn't mean like everything changes you have to settle down. You can do weird and funky things and your children can be better for it.
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