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  • why are people so fascinated with small house design well I think one reason is

  • because the owners have to find clever ways to expand their space so in this

  • week's episode of tiny tours I'm going to show you inside of one tiny home on

  • wheels that I've been calling the Swiss Army knife of ants why because the

  • owners Dan and Rachel have found many different ways to expand their space

  • including custom moving furniture and folding parts that really turn their van

  • into a multi-purpose home

  • I'm Dan and I'm Rachel and this is our van. So we have been living in the van

  • almost 14 months so we originally moved into the van because we wanted to spend

  • more time helping out people doing some volunteer work doing mission work he

  • just said hey I'm going out of town on all these volunteer projects I'm really

  • feeling like I'm doing things that are worthwhile and I feel bad that we're

  • spending so much time apart why don't you come with me and I can take the

  • Sprinter van and I can put a sink in it and I can put a bed in it and he had all

  • these ideas I thought it sounded crazy I knew nothing about a van life movement

  • neither did he in the beginning she was not fully on board he actually took me

  • to a tiny house show and I saw other people I saw other buses that was when

  • it really started to click for me and so that's the point that I said yes so our

  • van is a 2003 Dodge Sprinter van it is a 20 foot bumper to bumper that gives us

  • 77 square feet of living space from the driver seats back so we do have a lot of

  • moving pieces in the van we've got the rolling closet extending table the bed

  • frame the toilet is on a rollers to counter spaces that pop up we have two

  • monitors that drop down one reason that we do have all the moving parts is so

  • that we have more open space because when we push everything in and we move

  • it around different parts of our van have walking space all of that basically

  • makes the van just feel so much more open and it really allows us to maximize

  • our space which is made it easier to live in for me personally because

  • otherwise I felt a little claustrophobic in here without all the moving features

  • come on inside check it out so this is our kitchen this was actually really

  • overwhelming to me first when we we moved in the van trying to cook full

  • meals here I would just get halfway through it and then just go sit down but

  • I've now gotten used to the small space some things that really help is Daniel

  • added in some counter space so this actually clicks up this also actually

  • flips up and so it works as a either a table if you're sitting here or it works

  • as another counter space our reason for moving in the van was so that we weren't

  • working all the time just to pay bills but that we could actually enjoy life so

  • the quote is live a life you don't need a vacation from it's really the heart of

  • the tiny house community I think so the sink is really deep which is a little

  • bit unique I think in a van we do have an electric water pump it

  • also works as a sprayer and can come all the way out to here so if we needed to

  • spray down something we could we actually started our journey in the van

  • with a hand pump and I don't recommend that it was really hard to pump and wash

  • your face or do anything useful so we've loved the upgrade this is also where our

  • bathroom is because this so it's just on a drawer slide we didn't want it to take

  • up a whole space in the van because this is 77 square feet so the toilets not

  • something we want always presents so it is a nature's head composting toilet so

  • do you mostly use the toilet in the van or and you're also using public that's a

  • good question we do try to use public again it's

  • readily available but we don't go out of our way like give it to the middle of

  • the night or it's really cold outside we just use this one so one thing that was

  • really important to us in design is we didn't want a lot of bungees we didn't

  • want things to be falling constantly we really didn't want to have to lock down

  • our home every time I wanted to move it since this is also our only vehicle and

  • driver so one thing that my husband did was he made these magnetic knife holders

  • and boon holders and that's actually all of our utensils right here this is

  • everything we have and we've gone on some really bumpy roads and it never

  • falls off the cast-iron even a magnet behind it so it locks into

  • place and it actually doesn't move either while we go down the road even

  • the tea kettle has a little magnet right there so that it doesn't move so

  • everything really looks just like this we mostly use spoons as you can see in

  • fact our plates aren't even readily available because we almost always just

  • use these little bowls that we can pull out easily we like to keep our meals

  • into one dish we have 21 gallons of water so it really helps to do dishes

  • conserve of water if everything just fits in this bowl with a spoon and

  • that's it I made these little tags I'm very proud of that because I'm not a

  • real DIY er my husband did most Sofia construction in here but I made these

  • these tags that was mine one thing we found early on about living in 77 square

  • feet is it can get disorganized really fast and that could be really

  • overwhelming when you're living in a tiny space so we did this in a basket

  • system and it's actually built on a lip right here so you have to pull up to

  • pull the baskets out and what that means is they never fall when we're driving

  • they've never fallen in the 14 months we've lived here and we don't have to

  • bungee them in so they just look clean and nice and love this oven I really

  • can't say enough good things about this it's a camp chef's outdoor oven and it

  • cooks an entire pizza that was really important because I love pizza it runs

  • on propane both the burners and the oven usually there's a 1 pound propane that's

  • hooked to the bottom but we have hooked it up to a bigger propane tank just so

  • that we don't have to keep buying the 1 pounds the 1 pounds were usually cooking

  • about 10 meals for us so it was affordable but still a little bit

  • annoying when we're living into your full time so this down here is our

  • fridge and we actually got this used off of I think Craigslist is just like an

  • old 12-volt fridge for 50 dollars but it does the trick for us we got a little

  • freezer space up here but mostly it's just refrigerator so that's been a

  • little bit of a life adjustment going from always having frozen pizzas and ice

  • cream in the freezer to not really having a freezer this is a coffee pour

  • over this is our mug section where we keep our little pour over and then

  • in the morning and we do this at least one time a day we put a little bug down

  • here we put our filters in there well our water and then we can just pour

  • a little pour over right here so these three switches right here this top one

  • is just this backlight and we really like this one because we first come in

  • and the the van is dark our other light switches are all the way on the other

  • side of the van this right here the red one is actually to turn off the propane

  • and we are pretty good about turning off that switch as soon as we finish using

  • the propane and that's just a little extra safety feature and this bottom one

  • is probably the most important but it controls the electric water pump so when

  • we turn it off the pump is not going and that is important because if we start to

  • get to the bottom of our water level and we don't turn it off the pump will just

  • continue to try to suck water continuously and it would burn itself

  • out the lights are all LED we put them on separate switches so you have one in

  • the back these two in the middle and then those two that's really convenient

  • so if one person wakes up you can isolate the lighting so it helps ever

  • who's still asleep not be affected by the light the rest of our pots and pans

  • are down here we don't use these on daily just kind of what we're doing

  • soups so we have the seating over here but we also have seating on this side as

  • well when you're entertaining and eating you got to have a comfortable table to

  • sit out so we have this one designed it's going to fall out so it allows

  • ample seating space the table extends a pretty good length under the bed so it's

  • still stabilize it just can be a little bouncy so we will add a leg on it sooner

  • or later but we like this design because it's nice and big when we need it it

  • sits here most of the time for just the two of us it still gives us plenty of

  • room to walk around or the other persons here we're working it allows that so

  • just because you go into a tiny space doesn't mean all your friends instantly

  • become tiny you want to be honest to entertain have people over so the table

  • will pull out and we can sit comfortably six to eight people here for dinner it's

  • communities a big aspect of why we're on the roads we want to just be able to

  • meet new people and provide a comfortable place to hang out so when

  • we're working we both have laptops but she does customer service so she

  • needs that second monitor readily available to get to all she has to do is

  • plug the HDMI port in the back and then it's ready to go so it's fully pivotable

  • however you need it to and then it just stores back up here

  • and so this one has a different lock but it can pivot all the way around we

  • mostly use it in the back for watching TV how do you get internet in the van so

  • we was using Verizon hotspot for the longest time but we just made a switch

  • over to Togo Togo users like ATT tires you pay about 300 bucks for the device

  • it's the big white bubble you see on the top of the van but then you pay three

  • hundred and sixty dollars for the year and you get unlimited data and we have

  • pushed it to the limits and they have not thought of this yet here is where

  • the bay would traditionally have to sit in a van to be R to be a full-sized

  • mattress and not have to be multiple pieces this is a solid piece of foam

  • here five inch film we put it on a rolling system so we can push it back

  • it opens up for that fifth and sixth person and then the bed is on a actuator

  • here so it's on a motor here that crazy or lowers the bed for comfort and also

  • if you raise it up all the way and allows you to shut the back doors and

  • still have the entertaining spot so people always are curious do you sleep

  • with all these clothes and no we don't we put it on a rolling system we have a

  • lock here and that rows it out of the way and when the bed's here you still

  • have ample amount of space to allow you feet to hang off the bed

  • we both get 18 inches of closet space so we have 36 inch closet in essence so she

  • gets this side and I got this side and on her side we've put a nice lock that

  • holds you close tight because if they're not tight they may bounce off throughout

  • the transition this is a piece of aluminum goes the entire length so we've

  • got three wheels up top and then one wheel on the bottom so to prevent it

  • from swinging it so it has the wheel down here that it rose on to prevent the

  • paint from wearing off

  • this is one of my favorite places in the man because it has my beloved guitar I

  • do play guitar a little bit self-taught but we have it hooked in here with this

  • strap right here it just unhooked here at the top and then it's resting on the

  • neck it's been riding there for about a year and I haven't seen any damage to

  • the guitar so I'm feeling good about it I am a reader so this was imperative to

  • have it ready and available so this just unhooks it's got a magnet I'm sewn

  • inside and then the other half of the magnet right there and not just holds

  • the books into place with some pretty fabric reading is super important to me

  • so I needed a little reading light we do have lights all throughout but this

  • one's just great so I can lay down in bed and read this down here is a little

  • bit of extra book storage so we do have a little bit more these pivot up or they

  • can actually come all the way off as well and we have some books tucked away

  • in there and DVDs up here our more storage baskets and then right here is

  • an AC unit it was put in when we bought the van it's extremely powerful and we

  • really can't run it unless we're plugged in the solar will not run this AC so it

  • is there as like a backup it's really hot out we try to find a place to stay

  • that we know we can plug in and then we around the AC but other than that we

  • just function with fans and we're fine

  • so the table functions also as a workspace outside allows us to pull out

  • whatever we need to set it here while we're working on it

  • this is where we keep the tools that these are the toys we use well in the

  • everyday basis because we do travel around help other people and these are

  • the ones we use majority of the time we do you have a few more things up in the

  • attic up top this little add-on right here is actually my workout station and

  • our towels so we do shower at Planet Fitness about every other day we go by

  • there so we wanted some little towels and these Norwex towels are incredible

  • like that will dry your whole body it's crazy

  • so we hang them up here after we shower just to dry this is actually a pop-up

  • table and this is where I do my little workout videos so I try to work out

  • every day off and on about five days a week at least so this gives me a little

  • bit of a bar because I'm be actually doing a little bart workout and then

  • that's my workout video so I can see what to do I found that I was really

  • getting frustrated because we were constantly mobile so developing like a

  • workout routine and different life routines was just hard when you're gonna

  • be in a city then you'll be in the middle of nowhere then you'll be at a

  • national park so because home kept moving Daniel built me this so that I

  • would always have my little workout station so I could keep those those

  • habits

  • so as you can see we have an attic up there and what is up there is basically

  • two foldable kayaks a tents a spare tire Daniels tools because he could not part

  • with those they're like my books his tools

  • and also all of our winter storage is up there so when it gets colder we'll just

  • change out the Wardrobe throughout this process of really slowing down we were

  • able to talk about what we want our life to look like being on the road exposed

  • to more and more opportunities to do things outside an adventure has been

  • really good for me but as was Rachel as well because she's a big fan of the

  • great indoors it has definitely pushed me outside my limit a little bit but I

  • would also say to anyone considering van life who is kind of an endorsee person

  • that's okay too there's actually a lot more indoorsy people who live in a van

  • than I suspected I really thought everyone was hikers and

  • you know very adventurous but that's not been the case home just comes with me so

  • that's really nice because I have the comforts right there in the parking lot

  • like I know it's right around the corner

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why are people so fascinated with small house design well I think one reason is

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