Barry put his skills to work and planned out a couple of simple layouts on 3D Max (a CAD/3D Graphics application). Louise's dad cut out scale models of the van and caravan furniture. This allowed us to move the furniture around to see what was feasible. Both of these planning methods allowed us to rule out a number of layouts.

We moved the furniture around and came up with 2 possible layouts, 1 keeping the back door usable and another blocking off the doors with the bathroom/wardrobe. Eventually we opted for closing off the backdoors for a few reasons; first it saved "dressing up" the inside of the doors; second it allowed us a "work" area for the gas bottles, toilet, tools and other stuff we didn't want inside the living area. This we thought was a much better option than being able to use the back doors as a loading bay (it's a camper, not a van).

Barry then continued with the 3D max version by modeling the virtual van accurately in terms of height and shape and building the layouts we'd chosen. We scanned and downloaded swatches of fabrics and wallboards to help decide what would look best before we purchased the materials.

Louise's sister had some left over insulation from her garage conversion, so we kindly took it off of her hands. The rest of the insulation came from the caravan roof which conveniently was not glued in place. We used sheets of acoustic foam insulation purchased from a Leroy Merlin in Malaga for the roof and various door insulation.

We fitted the skylights at the same time as the ceiling boards, but for insurance reasons, waited until we were with a self-build motorhome insurance policy before starting the windows.

Once we had put up all of the wall boards and ceiling board it was time to partition the van into separate areas. We planned the bed/seats out in our heads and designed it in 3D Max. Louise's Dad put theory into practice and came up with a working bed and chair. We wanted a bed that would fold out relatively easily, be 6'4" long and wide enough for two adults. When not a bed, it can be converted to a bench or a central table and two single chairs facing each other. Combined with the fixed size shower based extracted from the caravan, we had the measurements needed to define the modifications required for the kitchen unit and the wardrobe location. Originally we planned to have a half height wardrobe above the gas bottles at the back giving some floor space in front. This was shelved in favour of pulling the wardrobe behind the chair giving a full height version conveniently hiding the wheel arch (where a set of drawers were originally planned to fit). This would give us more room for essential storage!

When installing the seats we had to make sure the fresh water container would fit under one seat and that the gas water heater would fit under the other as we didn't want the fresh water tank outside the living area. Louise's dad cut down the caravan seat and made up additional supports for bench mode and bed mode. The cushions were also taken from the caravan. Louise's mum made cushion covers out of upholstery fabric purchased from eBay.

The kitchen unit from the caravan fitted perfectly length ways, but we had to cut down the width and make it flush as it was originally partly recessed. The bathroom shower base fitted perfectly between the back door and wheel arch, it even had an indentation where the diesel filling pipe was situated. It was as if it was made for it. We didn't want to buy a brand new worktop because we felt it may get damaged during the build, so we obtained a scrap wardrobe from IKEA and cut one of the sides to size. The unit has been designed to allow the worktop to be removed and replaced after it has been installed.

We needed to use the van before deciding how to finish the bathroom door, so we installed the one used from the caravan, unfortunately this was a little too big and made it impossible to open when the bed was down. Over the winter we had the bathroom door trimmed and cut into two halves and hinged them together to make a bi-fold door. The door looked quite bland so we decided to put mirrored acrylic plastic on each side.

There is a plastic shelf above the driver cab which currently houses the charging unit taken from the caravan, to the right of this unit we have installed white hardboard base and sides and the ceiling board curving to the front. This brightens up the overcab, storage area and will form a cupboard to store towels and blankets. This is ideal, because we have used the existing frame of the shelf for strength, but hidden it with nicer looking materials. Once finished, this gives a height measurement for the planned over-kitchen over-seat cupboards.