6 Creative Ways to Make Your Campervan More Personal (and Unforgettable!)

More people than ever are embracing #vanlife, not necessarily as a full-time home, but as an adventurous 4 wheeled way to see the world. However, even the cushiest of vans can feel cramped at times, and the need for comfort and homeliness is something everyone can benefit from when camping.

Fortunately, there are loads of ways to make your campervan more personal and comfortable—many of which are affordable, simple changes that make a huge difference.

Take a look at six creative ways to personalise your campervan so you can enjoy your camping trips in a home away from home.

The Perks Of Personalisation

Personalising your campervan is a lot like decorating your bedroom. Adding special items, trinkets, and furniture helps us to express our identities and feel a connection to people, places, and things.

Whether you spend weeks in your campervan or embark on the occasional adventure, adding personalised touches can enhance your travel experiences. It makes your vehicle feel like home on every journey, whether it’s long or short.

Making your campervan more personal also gives you the opportunity to make it more physically comfortable and adjust it to your particular needs or preferences.

For instance, if you’re more of a maximalist traveler, you can create a custom storage solution suited to your exact needs, tastes, and dimensions. Personalisation is a great way to make your campervan the unique mobile home of your dreams and the perfect base for adventures wherever the road may take you.

6 Creative Ways To Personalise Your Campervan

Unless you have some experience or interest in interior decor and DIY, knowing what to add and where to add it can be a little overwhelming. After all, you want to make changes that work well with the van interior and really enhance its personality, rather than just add clutter.

If you need some inspiration for how to decorate and customise your campervan, take a look at these six simple but effective ideas:

Get crafty with wallpaper – or blankets and covers

If you want your van to feel more like a regular room, wallpaper is a great way to achieve this. There are millions of different wallpaper options, one of which is sure to appeal to your unique stylistic tastes.

Wallpaper is simple to install and much cheaper than wood paneling, which tends to be the more expensive option. Plus, if you ever get bored of it, scraping it down or adding a new layer on top is totally do-able.

If you don’t feel like wallpapering – you can always add a bit of personality with quirky/funny/your favourite blankets and sheets.

Install mood lighting

The right lighting can completely transform a living space. Warm, soft lights add a particular kind of feel-good cosiness known as “hygge” to any environment, instantly making it feel like home.

One of the easiest and most affordable ways to add personalised lighting is to hang up a string of fairy lights inside your campervan. Fairy lights are flexible and very easy to reposition, so you can even change them depending on your mood or needs at the time.

In addition to creating a cosier mood in your campervan, good lighting comes with many practical benefits. You can see more clearly depending on the weather or time of day, and you have a ready-to-go lighting system that you can turn on at any time. You can even opt for solar-charged lights so you don’t have to worry about batteries running dry when you’re in the middle of nowhere.

Go arty inside

Art is one of the best ways to express your personality. And if you don’t make it yourself, there’s bound to be someone else who makes exactly the type of visual art that you like to look at. Alternatively, you can print and frame some of your favourite pictures of people or places, or get them put onto canvases.

Regardless of what you choose, you’ll naturally enhance the interior of your van, making it 1,000 times more personal and memorable. And, what’s great about hanging up some beautiful wall art is that it’s super easy to switch things up as your needs or preferences evolve.

Include storage options

Custom storage plans are one of the best ways to enhance your van’s functionality while adding to its unique charm. Space (or lack thereof) is often an issue when camping, but most problems can be alleviated with the right storage plan.

Consider adding custom shelving, drawers, or even cupboards to areas of the van that aren’t being fully utilised. You can store camping must-haves permanently this way too, ensuring you never leave home without a must-have tool or piece of equipment. Additionally, you can choose finishes that you love, or you could even paint your new storage to match the rest of your van.

Add soft furnishing and change up the upholstery

Blankets, cushions, throws, and rugs instantly add cosiness and warmth to any environment. Pick out some items that you like the look and feel of and use them to soften any cold or metallic areas of your van. If you shop smart, you can even find soft furnishings that not only look great and add comfort to your van, but that you can use outdoors too. This saves you on packing space and planning.

If your van’s upholstery has seen better days or is a bit boring, there are plenty of ways you can improve on it and make it more personal. You can reupholster your seats in a fabric that suits your style, and have your door panels, speaker trays, and headliners done to match.

Customise the outside

This personalisation idea may not impact the way you live inside your van, but it certainly will add character and excitement to it.

Getting artsy with the exterior of campervans is something that many people have done with camping vehicles over the years. Remember the brightly coloured flower power, peace sign emblazoned hippy vans of the 60s? Graffiti can be an incredibly unique and fun way to celebrate both your own and the van’s personalities.

Just make sure to think your design through before starting! And if painting feels like too much of a commitment, you can use stickers or vinyl decals to create a fun look.

Put Your Campervan Experience Into Top Gear With Personalised Decor

Any space you spend time in deserves to be embellished with love and attention—especially one you will be adventuring around in. With these creative suggestions, you can transform your campervan into a personal space on wheels, ready for whatever journey you go on next.

If you’re looking for more ideas or example of how people personalise their campervans – check out one of these groups:
Vanlife
Small Vehicle Campers
MiniCamper Tipps&Tricks