Move your van: Louise & Julien

Setting up the van itself is a real life project. Discover how Louise and Julien built their charming roulette house!

Want to travel and freedom? To sit where you like, to wake up with the mist of the waves or at the top of a mountain... A nomadic life that makes it dream more than one. Still it is necessary to dare to start and know how to get there to build a van and turn it into a real small house with wheels.

This dream, Louise and Julien realized it by building their ideal van. Through their testimony, they share their experiences and advice to carry out such a project. Find out how they started, the steps by which they passed, the time and effort devoted to finally be able to go on adventure with their fitted van.

The development of a roulette house: directions of employment

A well-filled life at a frantic pace is what Louise and Julien decided to leave. Professor of contemporary dance and freelance marketing, these 27-year-old Toulouse youth have chosen to change their lives. Leave everything to travel, think about their projects, their deep desires and especially take the time to live.

This is what they did. Make their small house for rent, sell their furniture and cars to finalize the construction of the van of their dreams! If you want to follow their adventures, it is by here !

To set up his own van to make his home is a real life project that requires reflection and organization. Before embarking, it is quite normal to ask one thousand and one questions. Through their testimony, Louise and Julien agreed to answer our questions by sharing what they learned throughout their project.

What did your life look like before, and why did you embark on this project?

Julien : “ Louise gave dance classes in an association, while working next to it. As for me, I was employed for a mobile application. We decided to leave everything to travel, to think about our projects, our deep desires and to take the time to live. We had very full lives, at a frantic pace that we wanted to leave. »

What vehicle did you choose to move and why?

J: “We chose a Mercedes Sprinter, because it’s a great vehicle, reliable and repairable all over the world, and especially that it was a gold affair. So we broke the budget we had planned because there was no doubt: it was him the good. »

How did you organize the beginning of the development? (preliminary steps, plans...)

J: “We started by taking stock of our needs, what we needed for our project, summer and winter, full time in the van. So we agreed that we needed a fixed bed (to avoid making and undoing the bed twice a day), a fixed shower, a nice work plan and a nice bench.

The next step was that of the van’s plans. All measures must be taken 10 times so as not to be mistaken, to make plans quite precise, more and more precise.

Then, it is by building that one realizes the adjustments to be made: the water circuit would be much simpler so or the gas standards prevent one thing from doing... »

Do you have small tips or tips to optimize the living space inside the vehicle?

J: "We share a lot of advice on our blog. The important thing is to build a van that corresponds to your needs: start summer, year round, winter only... Thus, you may need an indoor fixed shower, or on the contrary only an outdoor shower if you are travelling in the summer. Same for the seating area or work plan, the summer season will allow you to always cook out.

Ideally, it is necessary to optimize each space with storages, as this allows to limit the “bazard” that quickly accumulates in 5 – 10 m2. Try to make each thing have several uses. For example, a bench serves as a safe and sometimes as a secondary bed, the table can be used as an extension to the work plan, the idem sink with a board or a support to be placed on it...

Knowing that you have to leave as light as possible, as much as you take is very useful! »

What was your budget for the vehicle and its layout?

J: “On the budget, I think we’re at €15,000, including the purchase of the van. But the budget doesn’t mean anything, because we did a lot of recovery and the van we bought was already equipped with very expensive equipment. So someone who would like to have the same van that we could count 5 to 10,000 more.

And of course, the budget depends on needs, which are different for each. Everyone will not need to be completely self-sufficient in electricity to work from the van, summer and winter. Also, everyone does not need the water heater, you can simply heat water in a pot. »

How long have you been putting everything in place?

J: "The work took about 5 months, 3 months full time. Full-time DIY is very difficult: you might think that by working 4 times the time you go 4 times faster, whereas it is not. It’s very physical and mentally tiring, it’s cogitis day and night on small worries, especially when it’s the first time we set up a van.

We ask questions all the time, we exchange with the others, we read, we know... And once all the obstacles are over and the van is over, we realize that it’s a pleasure that goes beyond all the efforts, failures and hard blows we’ve been through. Especially since the next step is the departure on a journey! »

Have there been moments of doubts, regrets?

J: “We have repeatedly doubted that we are able to go to the end, do everything ourselves, but never regret. We knew what we wanted to do, why, but we didn’t always know how...

And today, very little regrets on technical points that we could have done better, but nothing embarrassing. »

How's the standards going? Did you have to face restrictions?

J: “The standards are a huge subject, only to see part dedicated to the blog. There are a lot of constraints and very specific points that must be thought of from the very beginning to not waste time and money to start things again. For example, if the bed is more than a meter from the ground, a net is required to avoid falling from it. And the list of surprises is very long...

After that, things must be put back in their context: the standards are written at the base for camper manufacturers. The market for self-appointed vans is born, which is why standards are sometimes unbreakable and very explicit on details.

These standards allow people to pay attention to important safety points that could otherwise cause problems: furniture angle, exit size, vehicle traffic, permanent ventilation etc. Finally, it is a mini house with maxi standards. »

What is your greatest memory and your biggest galley?

J: "Our most beautiful remembrance would, in my view, be Greece. We spent Christmas on the beach with other couples of travelers to exchange, eat, party, visit houses on wheels made with love...

But there are a lot of beautiful spots that we have made, many of which we shared on our Instagram, that we often remember in this difficult time when we are confined to our apartment at 6 p.m. "You remember this spot at the Portugal, at the top of the mountain, with only neighbors of goats and horses? »

Galeries, nothing too bad luck. But stories of enchantingly, smoothing or far too narrow and sinuous path for a 7-metre van... In these moments, we are happy to be in open and welcoming countries.

Otherwise, our only true galery was the return to France in full Covid, when the Hungary had closed its borders. We had to confine ourselves 3 weeks in Romania without knowing if we were going to be able to go back with the van or when we were going to be able to get back on the trip. It was strong in sensations..."

Where do we start if we want to get started? What advice would you give to those who wish to live like this?

J: "Where to start... Try before you start renting or getting a van, a van, a camper to find out what we need, get in situation. Otherwise, why not get in touch with people who move a van to home to give a hand: you learn a lot by doing it.

Afterwards, there is no way, each makes it as it feels, and especially everyone has a unique way to travel: for a weekend, summer holidays, a few months, for life.. That’s what’s nice, too, is that the furnished van offers total freedom.

The Covid pointed out it well: wouldn’t it be your ideal teleworking office? One day at the beach, the week after the mountain, reachable until 6 pm, after it is a holiday. And for those who just want to enjoy, it is the flexible way to go between two re containments, depending on openings, closures, opportunities... We're free! »

Their vehicle fitted with photos