Dia duit agus fáilte – that’s Irish for hello and welcome – to my blog. I have some great camper van storage ideas and tips to make your van life simpler and more enjoyable.
You’ve seen those beautiful photos on Instagram and the inspiring videos on YouTube but have you ever wondered how you would actually live in a camper van?
We live in 84sqft, our tiny home on wheels, and love it. There are so many wonderful things I can tell you about this lifestyle of ours but the focus of this post is how to create or find the best van storage to fit your van life dreams.
Happy van life, in my opinion, rests on having as comfortable a home as possible which means finding as many useful camper van storage ideas as possible. Below I discuss the top categories to organize when you plan to live in a van. Keep reading for some great storage tips and ideas for your conversion vans.
Table of Contents
A spot for everything
I must confess to being a bit OCD and have always maintained a pretty organized living space. I think it comes from growing up with an even more OCD Mum in 450sqft! As we prepared for living in a van, I knew it would be more important than ever to have a place for everything we planned to bring. I even set aside the ubiquitous junk drawer/basket just in case!
This post is focused on five categories – hobbies, clothes, toiletries, food and pets. More posts are coming about creative van storage ideas for your office, cleaning supplies and more.
To begin planning your van life storage, it’s important to know what you need or want to store. If you’re not sure van life is for you, check out this post.
Top hobby gear van storage ideas
Fitting skis in your camper van
The first custom camper van storage ideas I designed were the ski box and the bike drawer. We knew the success of van life for us depended on being able to enjoy our hobbies and get outside as much as possible. After all, some of the reasons we considered living in a van were to travel, explore and spend more time outside.
I built the ski storage box to hold two sets of skis. The top set sits on 3 cross dowels. The box slides into the bottom of a kitchen cabinet which gives us the needed length. Ski poles slip easily into the box and we place our snowshoes, in protective bags alongside the skis.
Storing bikes in your conversion van
You’ll find lots of videos focused camper van storage ideas for bikes on YouTube. I used this Far Out Ride post to guide my design for the bike storage tray I made. We had less height to work with and I also trimmed the dimensions to the bare minimum. Instead of mounting the slides to the sides of the tray, we mounted them to the floor. The advantage of this design was the space saved on either side of the box – at least 3-4”. The disadvantage is the loss of capacity of the slides; the drawer bounces more but I decided the extra space was worth the compromise. I squeaked every last inch out of the design and placed the front mounts to allow both bikes to store without seats but we don’t have to remove pedals.
I used rubberized paint to fully waterproof both the ski storage box and the bike tray but, to be honest, would not use it again. The paint is a pain to work with, collects dirt and is impossible to clean.
Van storage ideas for other hobby gear
Of course, both cycling and skiing demand more gear so we needed other van storage ideas to manage that. Tom built extra shelving above the ski box storage space, sized to allow the ski box and snow shoes to fit below and two large plastic totes to sit on the shelf. Helmets, boots and special clothing fit in these boxes after they are fully dry.
We took advantage of Kidlet #4 returning to the PNW and he took our ski and winter gear to the storage unit. It fit in the van but having the extra space certainly makes it less a game of Tetris when we need to find something in the garage.
Van storage solutions for clothes
Lots of people voice concerns about not having enough room for all the clothes they own. Not me! I have never had a particularly full wardrobe and I own mostly quick-dry outdoor-style gear. Perfect for van life! There is a box in storage that holds two fabulous coats, two pretty dresses, several tops and a pair of boots. I have labeled the box “City-life clothes” and I definitely won’t need its contents while living in the van.
As I scoured camper van storage ideas for clothing, I discovered packing bags which have proven useful though I wish they had labels for the contents.
I built two wardrobe boxes on one side of the bed and the two end upper cabinets are also for clothes. We both have plenty of room for all the clothes we need.
Our hiking boots and bike shoes are in the garage while we each have two pairs of shoes and two sandals tucked under two kitchen cabinets on sliding trays for easy access.
As you pare down your belongings, you will naturally cull your wardrobe and be left with the items you love. And then, after a short period of time living in the van, you will likely realize you need even less than you thought and have to find a place to donate some of your clothes.
Toiletries & more
Finding the right van storage ideas for our bathroom necessities took some experimenting. We finally settled on a single upper cabinet that we share. We each have a basket that holds our toiletries. Because we shower at Planet Fitness, we need to carry shower bags which fit in the same cabinet.
I don’t use make-up but do have essential oil skin care products I make myself and I keep those ingredients in my basket also. Learn more about essential oils for health here.
Of course, we needed a place to install our Airhead composting toilet so we built a custom cabinet that fits it and Maggie’s food perfectly. As well, the cabinet holds spare loo roll, poopy and rubbish bags and serves as our eating/work bench. We also decided to install a seat belt just in case.
Food & cooking
Creating space for all the cooking appliances I wanted to bring was another big hurdle. One of the ways I maintain my health and keep rheumatoid arthritis in remission is with diet so from the beginning of our van life journey, I knew food and food prep needed to be a priority. Read this post about diet and RA.
To my delight, I discovered the InstaPot and immediately knew we could use it as our primary appliance. We splurged on the Duo Crisp so I can bake cookies and bread, make French Fries, pressure cook beans and roast a chicken. We also purchased two induction cooktops and brought a small toaster, our beaters, kettle, coffee grinder and smoothie maker. By van life standards, that is a LOT of appliances. With careful measuring and a creative spirit, we came up with van storage ideas that will work for you also.
One of our custom kitchen cabinets is built to the exact size needed for the InstaPot – the middle drawer determined the overall width of the cabinet and I made it only as deep as necessary. It easily holds the InstaPot and all its accessories. I was able to squeeze enough space for the top drawer to hold all our seasonings and dried beans. And at the bottom, behind a false front for easy access, you’ll find the wheel well and ski box.
All the other kitchen appliances fit snugly into a single IKEA closet/dresser drawer. We use two cabinet drawers and one upper cabinet for food storage. In addition, we have a two-in-one drawer for dishes, utensils, knives etc… and the last food related drawer is filled with pots, skillets, collapsible bowls and strainer. A quick note, if/when we build another van, we will not use any purchased cabinets but rather, we ill make them all custom – our own cabs are much sturdier than the two we have from Ikea.
The final kitchen drawer is also custom built to fit our kettle, coffee grinder and tall bottles of olive oil etc… I installed a divider which keeps our coffee supplies neatly separated from our bottles of vinegar, oil etc… Morning coffee is one of the most delightful rituals of van life, at least, it is for us.
After three months in the van (at the time of writing,) I am very pleased with how we designed the kitchen and all the creative camper van storage ideas we came up with. Now, if I could just find a good carrot muffin recipe!
Pet paraphernalia
Many van lifers travel with their pets and that means even more stuff to store in your already tiny home on wheels. Maggie, the messy OES, my wonderful service animal, is 70lbs of joy. And she eats a lot of food. As I mentioned above, we built a custom cabinet sized to perfectly house our composting toilet and Maggie’s food. I found a storage container that exactly fits a full bag of her food and there is plenty of room in the cabinet for her canned food, treats and poopy bags.
In the custom kitchen sink cabinet, I built a shallow drawer to house her service vest, collars, outside leash and all her grooming bits and bobs. Did I mention she’s an Old English Sheepdog who needs regular grooming?
Of course, the dog also needs to actually eat and drink so where to put those bowls? We found hanging bowls which is great in concept but don’t hold up as well as we’d like. Because Maggie is so large, the weight of the food and water cause the metal brackets to sag. We returned two already and will probably make our own contraption when we are somewhere with access to tools. The one thing I do love about her bowls is that they are up off the floor, can easily be carried outside or tucked away to access the two bottom cabinets.
Final thoughts
It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of prospective van life. And it is certainly exciting and we needed the momentum that gave us to work through the sodden dark days of the PNW winter.
In order for your van life to be the dream you long for, it is essential to build the best conversion van possible for your lifestyle and goals. And that includes finding great camper van storage ideas that suit your needs and implementing them as effectively as possible.
Although we got rid of most of our belongings, we do have a small storage unit near Tacoma that holds our photos, three pieces of furniture and things we did not want to give away or sell, including my box of city clothes!
I am very pleased with the van storage solutions we used and hope some of the ideas will work for you. Be sure to drop your ideas and suggestions in the comments below.
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