Simple & Minimalist BEAUTIFUL Self Build Van Conversion | VAN TOUR NZ 🇳🇿 2023
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- Опубліковано 6 чер 2024
- See full cost breakdown in our spreadsheet here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
This is our full time tiny house on wheels. It’s a Fiat Ducato 2001. We converted it ourselves and it took us five months from start to finish. We had a very tight budget so we focused on keeping it as simple as possible, and using materials we could find second hand. We are both minimalists so we didn’t need as much storage as one might think, and we live very comfortably in our van here in New Zealand. What do you think?
Thanks so much for watching!
00:00 The van
00:10 Entrance
00:27 Kitchen
01:37 Water system
03:10 Kitchen storage
05:05 How long did it take?
05:43 Living area
07:07 Bedroom
08:00 Everything we own
08:22 Off grid electricity system
10:00 Cost breakdown
10:26 Composting toilet
11:11 Closet
11:33 Showering
11:49 Back of the van
12:29 Benefits of van life
13:28 Bloopers
Swedish dish cloths nz.iherb.com/pr/skoy-sponge-c...
Thank you so much for watching 🌺
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#vanlife #vantour #minimalism #minimalist #vanconversion #fiatducato #newzealand
Finally a simple but yet functional lay out! Sometimes what it's called simple ecological living is a kind of all the same fashion (often full with plastic amazon stuff). This design is inspiring, really simple and yet nice to see. Bravo!
Yes! I completely agree, so your thoughtful comment means so much to me!!! Thank you.
Where do you cook?
@@lafleur5639 The last spot under the kitchen bench, it look like a gas camping stove on it's side.. Gas bottle was in the back. They must set it up on the bench when wanting to cook 👍
I love the simplicity of the design, and how neat and organized the two of you are. Your wood-working skills are better than a lot of other DIYers'. Well done!
What a lovely compliment, thank you so much :)
You can also seal the timber with natural beeswax to help seal and protect it! This will help preserve the bench top especially
Love it! so many people get way to over complicated with there builds, keep it simple, looks beautiful and so easy to use.
Thank you so much! That was exactly what I thought too!
Loved your tour. You really do illustrate how little one needs to be happy. I wonder why society complicated things so much!
I know what you mean about creating something physically rather than mentally. I mainly create things mentally and I love gardening for a similar reason. A sense of having accomplished something tangible and visible.
It was great that you included the out-takes at the end! 😅
Thank you! Yes, living with less really makes one wonder why we seem to need so much stuff. It definitely does not make life easier! I love gardening too, creating something physical feels so much more rewarding and again, goes back to the thing of owning less I think!
Haha thanks :D
I must hv seen hundreds of camper vans but honestly this one is by far the most minimalistic yet very functional one.
What a compliment! Thanks so much :)
This is the best van build i have Seen in a while you guys are so organized and dont have too much or top lees stuff and thats very important. I love ut ❤
Wow, what a nice compliment. Thank you so much ❤️❤️
amazing van
Thank you so much ❤️
Love it. I know many dislike having to convert the bed, but having the giant standing mattress that many do in van just takes up so much floor space, even with Murphy beds.
Yes, we discussed that too for a long time, but came to the conclusion that 5min/day was worth the floor space!
a true minimalistic life!
Yes!
Amazing example of a simple and low cost build. I also like your familiarity with all of the van laws in NZ and how you were able to comply without spending any substantial amount of money. I have seen vans that cost 10 x more than yours. You have proven that things like hot water, a shower, cabinet locks, heating and Air Conditioning are not necessary to survive. I am still not sure what you do for heat in the winter. Good Job.
Thanks so much! For winter we move up North where it is way warmer, and do house sitting - which is very possible here - but might not be in other countries :)
@SagaJohanna thank you for the info!
That's impressive!
Thank you!
I absolutely love what you've done with the van! Being a minimalist myself, this is a dream. ❤
Ahh! Thank you so much
Wow! I am in complete awe of everything you have done and your way of living!!
Wow, thank you!
I am super impressed with how clever you are in setting everything up!!! Love your videos. :)
Thank you so much!
For the bungee cords, could you put a pair of screws top and bottom and only need to place one bungee each trip?
That’s a good idea!
@@SagaJohanna Can’t take credit… other videos. LOL
I LOVED watching the outtakes! 🤣😂🤣😂
Hahha yay! :D
I can’t imagine living like this. God bless you. Life is too short.
You really are minimalists! Really impressive & simple.
Thank you!!! :D
You are amazing!!
Thank you!!!
Girl you are talented; good for you 💪
Aw thank you so much!!!
Minimalism enables practical and useful arrangements in limited spaces (nothing worse than a Van/RV full of unnecessary stuff). This build is amazing! 🫶
We agree! It's crazy how some move into these smaller spaces without considering changing anything to live in the smaller space. We have seen some stuff-crust vans! 🍕 🤣
Congratulations! She's beautiful. How inspiring!
Thank you!!
I'm puzzled how you feed yourselves, there didn't seem to be any food to speak of apart from a little in the fridge & if there's a cooker I missed seeing it.
The van is very neat & nicely done, guessing in your country you don't need to spend much time inside it though.
We stock up once a week, so it was a bit empty here. But making a video on it for hopefully next week :)
We have a camping double burner that we keep in our kitchen, but for safety we do all cooking outside.
Thank you :) it does get pretty cold and rainy, but apart from those days we actually most often take shelter in the van from the strong sun here!
@@SagaJohanna Thank you for explaining, definitely safer cooking outside the van. Looking forward to seeing the next video when it comes out. X
Aside from enjoying the whole van tour, I stayed on to the very end and enjoyed the bloopers too 😂 😂 😂. Thanks for sharing this wonderful journey 🔥 🔥 🔥
Haha yay! Happy you liked it. Thank you ❤️
Wow this is wonderful, great work on the wood. Very creative and resourceful.
Thank you so much :)
Wow. This van Looks so so beautiful😊
Thank you so much
Very beautiful and minimalistic van. I like it's bright inside and you both done an amazing job fixing it yourself. Thanks for sharing! 💗🌹
Thanks so much!
Gillar din estetik, fin van, tack för videon 💖💖💖
Nice and simple! Hopefully you also bungee corded your expensive berkey. Enjoy! Happy New Year!
Happy new year! yes! It is very secure haha but with cam locks I think it’s called!
Good afternoon Johanna. Great video as always. Thanks for sharing. Great job on the van. Your van conversion skills are absolutely impeccable - but of course that's to be expected from a talented minimalist offgrid woman such as yourself. Thanks for sharing a tour of your life living and camping in the Great Outdoors.
Good afternoon! Thank you so much for your kind words
@@SagaJohanna You're quite welcome of course, Johanna and stay safe. 😊😊
love this simple design. I see some people build their van with sooooo much stuff and with many appliances that draw power. Not to mention the expenses and time it takes to build all that. I guess its all about personal taste. My idea of vanlife is not only to be mobile, travel, have experiences, but also minimalism.
Thank you! Me too
Great video, the clips at the end were precious.
You are so kind, thank you so much for your comment! :)
Happy New Year from Romania !
Happy New Year! :D
Fabulous job!! 👏Just beautiful.
Thank you! 😊❤️
Great simple and clean design.
Thank you! 😊
Beautifully done. Love the minimalism and simplicity. Enjoy your travels😊🌍
Thank you so much!!! 🥰
Truly so very nice. You had done a wonderful job. Thank you for your video. I had enjoyed watching it.
Thanks so much 🥰
Love your van conversion! You did such a great job, so organized and functional. I look forward to more videos about living in your van, cooking, cleaning, etc.
Thank you so much :) Yay! And good suggestions for video ideas!
Beautiful van design 😍
Thanks so much
Great job! It's beautiful!
love the out takes! LOL!
Thanks so much!!
Sometimes all you need in life is the basics. Love this build. Well done 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
So true! Thank you so much !!
This is amazing! I love it!
Thank you so much!!
Very nice to actually see the final results!! I followed the whole process on your channel. I absolutely love it very minimal but still very cosy. ☺️
Thank you so much! :)
I love the simplicity of your van. It’s beautiful.
Thank you! That's my favorite part too :)
You did a great job with your van build. Simple and beautiful.
Thank you!
Very nice layout . Simple natural lines . Minimalistic . Just love it like this . ♥️😻
Thanks so much! 😊
I just love this van ❤
Thank you for sharing this! Well done and good luck with the new adventure!Though I don't think I'm gonna build one one day I am so thrilled for you guys. Enjoy your videos a lot. Hälsning från Sverige!
Aw thank you so much!!!! Åh kul, tack ❤️😍
Love the simplicity of the build. Beautiful. Also, the bloopers were great! 😂 Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much 🥰 haha making a van tour was harder than we thought 😂😂
This is perfect 👍☺️
Thank you!!
It's bright sweet n nice. Minimalistic design n well thought out layout 👍 My kind regards 😊 Happy New year 🎉
Happy new year, and thank you!
Très joli et pratique, félicitations !
Merci !!
Beautiful
Very neat and airy
Thanks a lot 😊
Awesome! So proud of you two! Love the bloopers at the end! 😂
Thank you!! 😁😂❤️
You did a wonderful job. Beautiful.
Thank you so much!
Wonderful tour...thank you for sharing 💛
Thank you!!
Wow, very talented as well as beautiful!
Wow super minimalists! Amazing. I have way too much stuff that l am attached to . When l was young everything I owned fit in a tiny car. This is lovely and simple and congratulations on doing such beautiful work yourselves!
That you so much!!!! That is so kind of you :)
Ducato is a great car! 😊
Happy New Year! 🎅
Yay! Happy new year to you xx
Hey : First time I've seen you. I wanted to tell you just in case. Be careful when you hook that Bunji Cord on that screw. If it flew off it might hit you in the eye. Just wanted to point that out. Subscribed & Liked and will be watching. :)
Thank you so much for watching out! Our bungee cords are quite loose, so I think they’re a bit safer! Thanks so much for the subscribe 😍
What an impressive van conversion! Every aspect is cleverly designed for minimalistic purpose with "zero waste" feel to it - my kind of design. The use of natural wood all over the space creates a relaxed and serene atmosphere. Kudos for a job well done. Love your accent (or lack thereof), by the way. When I saw a foreign flag on the title of the video (I'm a Californian), I expected to hear a foreign accent; surprisingly, I heard none or close to none - you're so good. Happy 2023! Best regards.
Thank you! That was the goal :)
And that is so sweet, I'm originally from Sweden but I have worked in Japan with a lot of American co-workers, so my accent has disappeared over the years! Also my friends who just came to NZ to visit us live in California! Happy 2023 to you!
very cute thank you for showing us
My pleasure 😊
Thanks so much for the tour (and the outtakes!). I love the simple design and all the beautiful things you have made. It is good that you are enjoying life on the road after a daunting start. Tell me, what do you use to cook? Or did I miss that? Better go back and watch it again! My best wishes for a wonderful year ahead of freedom. Much deserved after all the hard work.
Thank you so much! We use a double burner gas cooker, I only mentioned it briefly in the video. I thought a "what I eat in the van" video would be fun, so that will come soon! :) Thank you again
Hola 👋 .
Me a gustado mucho la camperización de tú casita con ruedas .
Para vivir no hace falta tanto , solo lo imprescindible 👍👏👏👏👏👏👏
Muchas gracias! 😊
Love it! I keep trying to get to a minimalist way of life.... But I have an inner packrat...
You can do it! I have a few videos on minimalism that might help!! Xx
Beautiful!!
Thank you!
You've done so well with the building of the van
Thank you! :)
Hi Saga, I came across your channel as I’m into anything related to van life 😊🚐😍. I’ve been watching some of your videos and I must say I really like your thoughts about different topics you’ve shared with us. Love them ❤. You have a huge, an outstanding ❤, I’m glad to say I’m a new subscriber of your channel 😀. Happy new year to your husband and you 💫💫
Thank you so so much ❤️ That is really kind of you! And so happy to have you as a subscriber! Happy New Year from us to you ❤️❤️❤️
@@SagaJohanna Thank you 🙂🙂🙂❤️❤️❤️
Great minimal design.
Thank you!
A great build with barely an inconvenience.
Thanks so much!
Absolutely beautiful
Thank you! 😊
Elsker jeres Van og dine videoer. Meget inspirerende. Hilsner fra Danmark🇩🇰😊
Åh tack så jättemycket ❤️
Did you paint the exterior of your van? Yours looks lovely and I'm itching to do mine, I just don't know how to proceed. Thanks!
Thank you so much! No, the van was blue when we got it. We did however "buff" it to remove old decal marks, and we waxed it. We spray painted all interior doors since they were yellow!
We got help by doing a work trade with a guy who spray paints motorbikes. It seems possible to do yourself, but getting the right tools would be expensive. So my recommendation would probably be to pay someone to do it for you, or learn a new trade with borrowed tools :)
I have only one thing to say:
What's not to like about this vanbuild? 🏆❤👍
Thank you!!❤️😍
Lovely to see someone van living in New Zealand. You van is fantastic. You will need to look more closely to the new toilet rules when they are decided by the government but that is something I am having to add to my van. Happy New Year and happy travels. Ps: I'm a kiwi and I absolutely love you accent, you speak english beautifully.
Thank you so much :) Yes! I sort of wish I made my bed 10 cm higher to fit it in there... But we will see with the new regulations! Good luck with your van too :)
Happy New Year! And thank you, that is very kind :)
Suggestion: where you have your yoga mat...put your garbage can there. When doing any cooking or other activities it will be a better use of space. I have storage under my bench seating too. I can't imagine having to pull out the trash can or lift the bench every time I'd need it. I'm guessing you haven't really "lived" in it yet. 😊
We used to have the trash bin there! But now we use it for storage :) all the trash we use goes in a plastic container in the fridge, since we use very little trash!
We’ve lived in it full time for almost 3 months now :)
@@SagaJohanna how do you not have food packaging? Even the meat has a styrofoam base. My oranges have plastic or netting. Cereal, flour, sugar, tuna, soup...we don't create a lot, but enough we have a couple bags (grocery style bags) of sorted trash...plastics, glass, metal. In small spaces just that little bit adds up!
@@DontWorryBHappy1988 You're right, it does add up! But we don't eat meat/dairy, so that removes most of it. Fruit/veggies, we buy without plastic packaging (fairly easy in NZ). For grains (oats, pasta, quinoa) we keep the plastic in a container with the food scraps until we can throw it away. Usually 1-5 days. We don't drink juice, only water and sometimes soy milk. And tinned beans are often easy to recycle, otherwise we rinse them and keep them until we can! We eat differently to most people, and I think that really reduces the waste. Hope this explains it :)
could you please share your DIY… they are perfectly made looks like store brought!!
Thank you :) This is my first video of making the van ua-cam.com/video/zXyUN0VCYKw/v-deo.html And I'm planning on making a full DIY too!
Love the simplicity and minimalistic design of your camper van. The only down side to it is not having shower room. Btw, where do you throw your garbage if your trash can is used to store your tool box under your chair?
Yes, good job!
I also like to travel/drive. I've experienced life in a converted van several times. Usually only for two weeks at a time. They were rented things, very expensive even off season. Here in Europe, it is cheaper to stay at a hotel, than to rent a camper. In addition, you have to pay for the campsite, because in some countries it's against the law to spend the night just parked anywhere.
Geting out of hotel rooms was a problem for us. Toys everywhere. Lots of bags to carry. The cleaning ladies waiting for us to leave the room... I thought not having to move out of the van, would save us precious time. Not so. Foggy windows or frost on the windows from our breathing and cooking, or just boiling water in the van, meant that the time saved on not having to clear out of a hotel room, I would spend on scraping the frost off, emptying the toilet, adding water, attaching and detaching from electricity. But it was a nice experience. Its comforting to know that you have a bed to sleep on, always with you. Even if all the hotels are full, or the smaller places are closed for the night, there is a place for you to streach your legs and sleep comfortably on a bed, not in a car seat.
Yes! Here the hotels are a lot more expensive :)
nice👌🌼
Thanks 😊
You made a really nice living Van 🙂 Enjoy the road and I send all the best wishes 🙂
Also the outtakes makes you a real person to me, not an UA-cam actress ♥
Nice camper van build
Thanks so much
Дом девочки так же очарователен, как и сама хозяйка: такой же светлый, наполненный нежностью... И меня покорила простота вашего дизайна!
Thank you so so much!
Wow like amish'y , practical on wheels
Haha! But with Solar power 🤣
Awesome van! Inspiring 😊 Just wondering how do keep your water purifier system in place while your driving?
Oh thank you! The wooden stand is glued to the top, and then I have two bands holding it in place :)
I love everything about this simple design except the bed/couch/dinning area. In not a nomad yet but i can't see myself changing that area every day. Seems like that would get old really fast.
Thank you! We did consider that a lot too, but given that we used to make our bed every day, we thought the effort would be worth it. And I think it is, given how much space we have during the daytime! And it does only take 5 minutes, and van life is pretty slow :)
Go for fired clay water filters. They keep the water cool and the water tastes MUCH better....
Oh never heard of it! Will research thanks!
If you ever move on from NZ i am here and would love to buy it x
Aw thank you!!! We're planning to maybe next summer or the one after, depending on how our life goes, so I'll make sure to announce it here and Instagram xx
PS. The best compliment! :)
❤❤How did you make coasters?
Cute
Where did you get the water filter from? Van life supplies are not readily available in New Zealand (certainly not where I live). Your joinery is really good- especially on the composting toilet. Beautiful work, Ka pai!
I got it from here freezedriedemergencyfood.co.nz/product-category/water-filters/, amazing service and good NZ company! Thanks so much, the toilet I didn’t do myself but the rest I did! ❤️
@@SagaJohanna you're a very talented young lady :)
Your van is my favorite by far in most aspects. I love that you did it yourself and also only created what you need. ❤
Oh wow thank you so much
This is simple and lovely, if you decide to sell in the future I'd be interested for my daughter and I to travel
Thank you so much! That’s lovely! If you follow me on Insta or here I’ll announce it if we decide to one day xx
We are selling now, www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/fiat/listing/4111191670?bof=Mqpegyse, would consider a lower offer too :)
That van looks homely. Have you considered weight after conversion in the choice of materials and furniture?
Yes, we choose the materials especially to add as little weight as possible since it's a non-turbo! We only have 4mm poplar plywood on walls and all facings, so 30% less heavy than regular plywood. Also pine-wood for anything structural and opting for fabric instead of wood in many places! And lastly, lithium battery instead of 2 lead! :) The van was heavier when we bought it so we're happy we could keep the weight down!
Bloopers to funny. :)
😂😂😂
Such an Inspiration! We want to do the exact same thing and your design is just Perfect :) May I ask where the toilet is from? Greetings from germany :)
Sorry for the late reply! It’s from Germany!! Kildwick :)
@@SagaJohanna we figured it out with Google lens and got the same one :) thank you ! ❤️❤️
How is the insulation done? Or do you "just" dress up in winter inside the van to keep warm?
We have wool insulation, and cork and wool on the floor. We dress up, and planning to "house-sit" around the country during winter.
New Subscriber here. I look forward to following your page. 👍😃
Thank you so mcuh! :)