Finishing Touches & Camper Van Decor to Make It Feel Like Home

LED lights

I started with the cupboards which were very dark inside. I installed micro switches for LED lights. The LED light strips come in long strands; you just cut them to the length you need. I installed them with micro switches so the light only goes on when the cupboards are opened.

Fan

One of the core pieces of the puzzle for this van is the ventilation for our bed area. We don’t have air conditioning in this van, so we need good ventilation. We went for a fan with a brushless motor. Brushed motors are becoming a thing of a past. They're noisier and less energy efficient. 

The one we got is whisper quiet which is key because it’s going to be running while we're sleeping. You can point it in any direction because it has a gyroscopic connection. I didn't have any power here, so I just plugged it into my USB port and ran a power up the wall to install it.

Macramé curtain

Vendula has gotten really into Macramé. She made this gorgeous curtain to hang between the back and the front of the camper van. Something like this would cost you a couple of hundred dollars if you bought it from a shop or online.

Garbage & recycling bins

To get the maximum use out of our kitchen area, I custom-built the garbage and recycling bins so they fit snugly into the drawer. I cut out templates from plywood to make two rectangular boxes and then glued them together with hot glue and nails so they are nice and strong. They come in and out easily, so they’re very convenient.

Blind curtains

For the side window by the bed, we couldn't fit a blind curtain like the other windows because we needed to preserve space and width. I took some of the leftover blackout blinds from the roll blinds that we cut, and glued thin neodymium magnets. 

Then I glued some magnets onto the cutout curtains. Now we can just snap it on when we need to use it. We're only going to put it on there at nighttime. It looks nice and neat. We painted over the magnets, so they’re not visible when the blind is off.

Smart projector

We got a smart projector. It runs off rechargeable battery power and you can connect it to your phone. We made a mounting point in the van so we can project it onto the wall. When we want the projector down, we just unplug it, and then everything is out of the way and clean.

Hat hooks

I made some custom hat hooks. I started off by using a hole saw to cut some knobs out of some leftover hardwood we had. Then I glued a big circle and a small circle together with super glue and put a nut and a washer through it so it would stay together. 

I wanted to make the hat hook into a cone shape. To do that I placed the bolt in a drill and used it as a makeshift lathe while I used an angle grinder with a rough sand bit on it to sand out the rough shape.

The hat hooks came out cool looking, but they weren't practical for a moving vehicle. As soon as we started driving around corners, the hats fell off. To secure the hats while the car is moving, I made these elastic holds. 

I took some shock cord and drilled a hole in the wall. Then I put a plastic piece, so when it goes through the cavity it pulls back on itself. So the straps are nice and tight. Now when I go to put a hat in, the strap stops it from falling out.

Mirror

We wanted a mirror that we could hang on our dividing wall between the cab and the living area. We couldn’t find one we liked so I built one myself. I got a glass cutter and a cheap mirror. I arched the top of the mirror and made a frame and a shelf underneath using the same wood that we used for the floorboard.

Spice rack

I used the same leftover wood to build a custom-made spice rack.

Herb garden

We also installed a small herb garden. It comes out so we can put it in the sunshine during the day.

Custom cushions

To make cushions for the seats of the van we took foam and cut pieces to fit our space. Then we chose fabric. We found a lady on the internet who we hired to sew the fabric around the cushions, and she got it done in two weeks. They fit perfectly and it only cost us $200.

Finishing touches & camper van decor

I hope you enjoyed seeing all the custom work we did to customize our Ford Transit conversion camper van. Now our van feels like a proper home. We’re very happy with it. Let us know in the comments if you were inspired by what we’ve done.