Unaffordable housing forcing people to live in minivans now.

2022 update:

The social climate of America has changed. Camping has become a necessity for hundreds of Americans and those of us who still

The time for posting is ripe in fact its beginning to rot. The last year and a half has seen a frenzied attempt to design a comfortable camper minivan to view nature in. The tiny space requires transformer furniture designs I have attempted to construct. I try to see the space behind the front seats as multiple rooms that can be changed easily for various tasks. For now, I'm going to post some photos of what I've built. I'm far, far, from done and am excited about new ways of doing things differently down the road.

Thick black fabric glued to one side

suction cups hold to glass

Seats forward, bed unfolded.

large stainless bowl drains into
grey water tank or out side door

Large swivel mounted to fold out table

 

Bought a 2007 Toyota Sienna! My grid beam plan didn't fly due to the curvy interior of the van. So Far I have built a folding bed to couch using an Ikea pine single bed frame. I removed all the rear seats attached the headboard upside down to extend the bed posts into the trunk by the rear hatch  cut two feet off the end of the bed added two foot drawer slides, so the bed slides back into it's self and the 3/4 inch plywood top folds into a couch. having a hard time figuring the back brace for the seat back. Basically I ripped off the Grove Guy's awesome design but I made the bed wider as we are both over 6 feet! We sewed velcro to the firm foam cushions and glued and stapled it to the plywood bed platform so it won't slide off during car chases. The widest possible bed limits the Westfailian shelves on the driver side of the van to spice rack size but we plan to hang netting from the oh shit handles along that side a la Das Boot. With the bed pushed back into the "couch" position a tiny living room appears. Behind the rear seat my plan is to put a small cabinet wit a small swivel table and a large bowl sink. This narrow cabinet will also slide out the passenger side sliding door (2 foot drawer slides) and a fold out table on the door side will open out and extend the kitchen outside further like the Australians like to do.