I spent £5.6k turning an old van into a tiny princess-themed home by watching YouTube tutorials – I save so much on rent
A SAVVY DIY fan has been inundated with praise after revealing how she converted an old van into a tiny pink home.
Samantha R Olmsted, a flight attendant for a major airline, explained how she found herself out of work in the pandemic so bought a 1999 Chevrolet van on Facebook Marketplace and transformed it into a house in just three months.
Now, she’s been living there for two years and has saved herself a fortune on rent.
In a clip shared to the ‘Tiny Home Tours’ YouTube channel, she explains: “The van actually works perfectly for me because I’m flying around for probably about half of the month.
“There was one month I was paying rent in New York and I think I was in that apartment only four nights for the whole month and I knew this was something I really wanted.
“Anything I could ever need and want is in this van.”
Samantha then offers social media users a tour inside the van, which comes complete with its own ‘princess’ sign.
“The first thing when you walk in is my kitchen and my favourite part of my whole kitchen is this sink that I have,” she explains.
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“I really wanted to have a big, deep sink because I thought I’d need to wash my hair in the sink which I’ve not once ever done, but I basically just use it for storage now so it just comes in super handy.”
She continues: “My other favourite thing is my tiled counter tops and pink is definitely my favourite colour so it was a nice way to try and incorporate pink in with the brown roof.”
For additional storage, Samantha also fitted a chic shelf which she lined with baskets and a row of pretty pink flowers.
“Everything I need I learned on YouTube,” she explains.
“I’d watch a video and then the next day that’s what I’d build it.”
Speaking of her pastel pink kitchen cupboards, she adds: “These were
from Home Depot already made and then I just shaped the back of them so they’d fit against the curve of the wall.”
Moving on, Samantha then shares a glimpse at her bedroom.
“My bed is a full size bed,” she says.
“I’m 5ft 4 and can fully stand up in my van but I can’t lay fully across.
“Most of that is because I didn’t really know what I was doing when I was doing the walls so there’s quite a bit of extra space on the walls right here but it works, I just sleep diagonal and I can fit right the way across.”
“We have a TV in here…and I have two cupboards – the one up front holds more kitchen stuff and this one houses a bunch of clothes and I keep it as stuffed full as I can at all times.”
Stephanie goes on to note that she also has more storage underneath her bed.
“My original build was probably another £3.3 ($4k) and then there was some expensive purchases like the refrigerator and the heater so I think in total it was about £4.8k – £5.6k ($6k – $7k),” she says.
“I just wanted to do it for fun but also I’m based in NYC and rent was really, really, really expensive and thought this was something i could do to save money and it’s been super successful.”
The comments section has since been flooded with messages – with many praising Stephanie on her very impressive project.
“Love your van! And I am so impressed you built it yourself. Kudos to you. Safe travels hon,” wrote one.
A second penned: “This is perfect for a flight attendant, saving soooo much money! What’s awesome is that when she goes to work, just park her home on the airline parking lot!”
A third commented: “Love the pink!! You did a great job!!”
Meanwhile, a fourth noted: “How sensible & great build!”
Another chimed in: “This is so cute looks pretty cosy!”
A further added: “Cute build!”
And one more added: “Stunning and I love the flowers!”