64-Year-Old Woman Transforms Camper Van Into Tiny House On Wheels To Travel And Live In It
Feb 17, 2020 by apost team
The tiny house movement has developed as a reaction against the rampant consumerism of our society. An increasing number of people are trying to downsize their homes by getting rid of clutter. In many cases, this involves renting storage space, which has led to a booming self-storage industry.
Other people go even further and live in tiny houses. Claire, a 64-year-old woman, converted her camper into a tiny home and now lives in it. An online program called “Home on the Road” told her story in one of their videos.
Claire spent a year carefully designing her tiny home, which is off-grid and fueled by solar power and a lithium battery system. She then hired a young couple to handle the actual construction. Claire’s van, a 2016 Fiat Ducato, has the usual amenities, like a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen.
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The van, which is called the “Mouse House,” has two doors. The exterior door is the usual sliding door seen on many vans. When it’s closed, the “Mouse House” looks like any other van. Opening the sliding doors reveals what looks like a wooden house, complete with a door and a window. Opening the second door reveals the van’s interior, which has wood paneling.
Claire’s tiny home contains an office with a flat-screen computer and keyboard that sit on top of a cabinet that serves as her desk. The cabinet came from her old house. As Claire reveals in a tour of her van, she calls the bottom drawer of the cabinet her “toolshed,” for she keeps her tools there. Claire uses drawers and the walls to store various items. Her kitchen, for example, has a spice rack and knife rack on the wall.
Since Claire enjoys cooking, her kitchen is comparatively large. It includes a large bench for food preparation, and she can lift the bench to uncover her toilet and hand-held shower. Another bench covers the refrigerator.
Claire is an artist and photographer. Like most artists, she doesn’t have a reliable income and hated paying the mortgage on a house that was too large for her needs. She sold the house and bought the van.
Clare was careful to ensure her home was well-insulated. She uses a special curtain in the doorway to the van’s cab that keeps the heat from the cab from penetrating her home and making it uncomfortably hot.
The van also boasts a sink, which gets its water from a 70-liter fresh-water tank. She has another tank of the same size on the van’s underside that can contain gray water. She usually, however, keeps a bowl in her sink and throws the resulting used water outside.
Clare is very happy with her van. She encourages people who want their own tiny houses to design them carefully to make sure that the house contains everything they need and want.
What do you think about living in a van? Would you be able to live in such a tiny home? Let us know in the comments and be sure to pass this article along to others.