Work Space & Closet
The next project was building a full size closet and workbench in the van! Since I work remotely, it was very important for me to have a place to both hang and store my clothes and have a separate place to work including a charging area with an additional computer monitor.
The closet includes an area for hanging my clothes and four drawers including one for shoes. This was my first time ever building drawers. Each drawer was cut so that the bottom could slide in and all of the drawer fronts were repurposed from old cabinets. I used a stripper on each of the cabinet fronts to take off the old finish. It took a bit of time and some elbow grease but with a hard bristle brush, the right stripper, and some patience, I was able to get all of the old finish off and then repaint them to match the front of the closet. Attaching the drawer fronts was also a challenge because it is TEDIOUS. You really have to take your time and make sure that things are level and equally distant from the other cabinet faces. But it turned out great.
Then I moved on to building out the bench. I wanted the bench to function as a bench to sit on while working but also include some space below for the hidden Nature’s Head Composting Toilet and a little crate for my dog. We split up the bench so that there would be a barrier between the toilet and the crate. Then made doors with bars so my dog could see out of the crate if he were in it and a latch so that if I needed to put him in the crate for any reason I could latch it in place. The last item on the front wall behind the driver's seat is a high shelf that has one storage area with a door on it and open space with a 120v outlet. Hidden behind the cabinet door is a monitor system for my laptop so I can plug it in and use the monitor with a wireless keyboard and mouse for my day to day work rather than relying on just my laptop. Having the outlet placed above the shelf also makes it easy to plug in my laptop when working. This is a game changer and makes working out of the van so easy!
See my photos of the work space and closet build process here.
