Let's Go, Jane!

The other day I was working from the Lowe’s parking lot and I needed to go inside for some plumbing fittings. I was parked in the far corner of the lot, since I wanted to avoid any curious passers-by. The previous day a man had stopped at the open sliding door and spent 10 minutes asking me questions about the build.

The nearest entrance was the garden section, which was overflowing with beautiful plants and customers getting their dirt on, now that the weather has warmed. I walked past the colorful floral displays, feeling wistful about not having a patch of earth to call my own right now. This is my absolute favorite time of year in the garden. I managed not to buy anything. Where would I put it?

The second time I walked through the garden section, aka “the temptation department,” I spotted the most beautiful pink orchid. The leaves were speckled and the flower looked like a lady’s slipper. I’d never seen one like it for sale before. I live in a partially finished van, and have no business buying plants, but it needed to come home with me. Whether it lives for a month or many years, it has already brought me so much joy.

Okay, enough suspense, I will tell you what you came here to find out. I finally have a working kitchen, complete with a countertop! It has a sink with 30 gallons of fresh, running water, a two-burner induction stove, a pantry, a fridge, and a freezer. There’s nowhere to put the pots and pans yet, but this is major progress. I have moved my cooking center of operations into the van and have successfully cooked and cleaned up after several meals. I’m really happy with how it turned out.

I also installed a luxury vinyl plank floor. There’s a 5 foot stretch of heated floor in front of the kitchen counter, which I will put on a 30-minute to 2-hour countdown timer. It’s not enough to heat the space, but it will be awfully nice to have a toasty warm floor in the winter. There are differing opinions about when to install the floor in a van build, before or after the base cabinets. I went with somewhere in between. The LVP is very durable, so hopefully it can withstand the remainder of the build without getting scratched up.

Carey was back in town this week, having spent the last month in New York. It was fun to have someone to share my progress with at the end of each day. I had to modulate my enthusiasm, at times feeling like a hyper kid with a new toy. There are only so many times someone can appreciate a demonstration of how the faucet works before they want to move on. He’s been a good sport about it.

Next up will be overhead cabinets and then the closet and bench seat. Lots of carpentry and painting. I think the pace will pick up, but I’ve learned not to make any time estimates. It will be done when it’s done. Some vanlifers say their van is never done. Mine will be “done enough” when I’m living in it, but I suspect I will continue to modify and improve over time. The van may not be finished, but it’s functional—and that changes everything.