Vans That Inspired Us

1. Yama Nomad / Christopher Wallace

Yama did such a beautiful job on this van. So many great details and finishes, and a warm bright home feeling. The Christopher Wallace van was the first one that Jeremy showed me, he loved the patterned floor and bright interior. And those leather seats, so beautiful. I had been talking about wanting olive green base cabinets at the sink, but didn’t want to be locked into that color on everything else. This van gave me a perfect visual that I can go neutral on the rest of the cabinets and do a solid pop of color at the sink. The kitchen, main bed, and bathroom locations are almost exactly where we have ours located too which really helped me visualize it.

We also loved the black exterior but didn’t think we would find a black van. Because we wanted a used vehicle and 95% of the ones we found were white we had resigned ourselves to the fact we would end up with a white van. We completely lucked out finding a black Transit 2 hours away from home with low mileage. (props to Jeremy for constantly checking Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, Ebay, Cargurus, and Auto Trader every day and all the days) We love so many of the details of their exterior, unfortunately a lot of the products they use are out of our price range. Lucky for us we are scrappy and have been able to find a lot of products that we feel still gives us the look we like within our budget.

2. Benchmark Vehicles / Yeet

There is so much about this van that we love, infact if it were in our price range we may have just bought a van from them instead of building one ourselves. Ok I don’t know if that’s true. We enjoy getting our hands dirty, creating things together, and that pride you can only get from saying “I made that.” In fact once we had to call someone to fix our new furnace because it seemed complicated. Turns out it was a really easy fix and Jeremy has still not gotten over paying someone $90 to do something that he knows he could have figured out.

Back to this van. Benchmark is another builder that does such an incredible job on their fit, finish, material selection, and layouts. When people don’t understand how we are laying out our van this is the one we show them for reference. Much like the Yama van the kitchen location, bathroom, and bed are about where we will have ours. This one shows the swivel front seats, kids seats, and dining area similar to how ours will be. (Though our kids seats will be on either side of the van, with a Klaus size opening between them.)

Their vans still feel like they are a van, which is something we are drawn to. While a space with the comforts and look of home is lovely, we admire how they are able to walk the line between cozy and industrial. Something we hope to achieve with our van. But let’s talk about the Pendelton in the room. That ceiling. I saw it and that was the end of that. It’s a perfect balance between the patterned floor Jeremy loved in the Yama and the bold move I wanted to take with our interior. At this point in the build I’m not willing to give it up, even though the fabric alone is going to be $1,000. (Here we are again with that number. I am telling you building this thing is like a trip to target but literally 10 times worse.)

3. Nomad Vanz / Tranquility

Nomad Vanz is another builder we would consider in a fictional world of us purchasing a complete van conversion. Their designs have simplicity, also teeter on the edge of industrial and cozy, and always seem to include a surprise in the way of color and pattern play. Their layouts resonate with us, and Jeremy noted they also do a lot with moving parts and folding beds. While most of our van will be stationary components, our kids bed design is definitely going to have some engineering and moving parts.

I struggled to find just one image from their site to share, I highly recommend checking out all of their builds! I love how they are all so different but still distinctively them. The one pictured has that colorful plaid wall, bright floor, and the warm leather to ground it. Just makes my designer heart pitter patter. I want to be bold in this build; I’m pretty safe in our home design and tend towards neutral more than bright color. I want this van to be fun and Nomad Vanz reminds me of that.

4. Outside Van / Mountain to Coast

Outside Van is definitely geared towards the outdoor sports type. Which I’m not saying we aren’t but I also don’t think we are. We love that they are neutral with pops of color, thoughtful in their flexibility to hold gear, and have an industrial “built to work” look to them. We first came across this Mountain to Coast model on a you tube video. (One of those after we put the kids to bed go crazy nights I talked about here.) When I saw the upper storage shelf with the blue rail it lit a spark. What if the kids beds went above their heads? It’s no different than sitting in a regular car from below and they could keep their beloved blankets and stuffed animals up there all the time, like a kids loft area. The idea evolved from there, and this image is really what set it off.

Those are the main 4 that we have pulled inspiration from and find ourselves returning to for reference, but there have been others that caused us to shake our heads in agreement, sparked a thought, or made us say “I did not think of that!.”

/ This couple that built their van in 2.5 months while still working full time jobs, giving us hope.

/ The Activ and their matte black van. They also have a great kitchen video that has excellent tips.

/ Trent and Allie have tons of inspiration and helpful videos from traveling with pets to what type of van you should get.

/ Captain Vantastic is another great source with their 7 simple upgrades video and their van tours.

/Shred & Co are local (to us) custom builders of beautiful furniture and displays. They recently took on a van build and have some really smart solutions and beautiful designs. It’s been a fun build to follow along with!

Our Layout Design Process

Our Top 5