Bed Build

The BED. The center of it all. When designing the van, I decided I wanted to have a lofted, stationary bed.

There are so many options online about how to build the bed but the best advice is to pick a design that works for you. I wanted to be able to store my bike so that I had a form of transportation that wasn’t the van and to accommodate the bike, I needed a fairly high bed. I also wanted to include lots of storage in the “garage” (under the bed) for outdoor gear and some other items. 

Since there are studs along the side of the panels of the van, we decided to create a cleat that the bed could rest on. We also did a bit of a honeycomb with the bed frame so that it was strong enough to both hold me while sleeping and a large metal shelving unit that pulls out. Then we attached an MDF board to the top of the bed where the mattress will be located. All in all a fair simple addition to the build. Once the “garage” and all of the elements underneath the bed were ready, we bolted the bed in place.

See more photos of the bed build process here.