VAN TOUR: Tiny Hobbit House on Wheels | Solo Female Van Life

Hi, I'm Jessica, this is Heidi, and together we live and travel full-time all over Europe in my campervan Frodo. Frodo is a 2016 Vauxhall Movano, medium wheelbase, medium top, which is the perfect size for a solo traveller and her dog. Come take a look inside. Ever since I can remember I've always wanted to live a life closer to nature, but since leaving school I've always had to work several jobs just to stay afloat. So two years ago I've had enough, I sold all my belongings, quit my job and started living nomadically. Frodo is actually my second DIY campervan conversion. I previously lived in an extra long wheelbase van called Bilbo with my partner for two years, but we wanted a little bit more independence and the option of going on solo adventures. So we built this little van just for me, which took us three and a half months, and my partner is planning to do a mix of travelling alongside me by sailboat or being in the smaller van. I'm also a lifelong fan of Lord of the Rings, so I try to bring that vibe into my home and make it as whimsical and magical as possible. When building this van I had two priorities. One, I needed it to be small so it's cheaper to run and I can work less, and I also needed it to be fully off-grid ready because normally I spend about six out of seven days wild camping in nature. So in this van I have a full bathroom with shower and compost toilet, a full running water system with a large water tank, a powerful electric system to power all of my appliances, and also an outdoor kitchen with a backup camping cooker because my main kitchen is fully electric. The first thing you'll notice as you come in is the brown colour. When I bought the van it was white, but I painted it because I wanted it to be a bit more natural, both to not disrupt the landscapes I camp in too much and also just to blend in a little bit more because most of the time I travel solo and it just makes me a little bit less visible. Throughout the van build process my partner helped me with all the basic furniture structures and I did all the woodwork. I used reclaimed pallet wood to keep the build as sustainable as possible and also because I was on a pretty tight budget. My ceiling is one of the highlights of the conversion. It was inspired by Bag End because I just love the look of the beams hugging the rounded ceiling, and my ceiling is a bit rounded as well so that gave me the idea. And I used real oak beams which I thrifted. They were quite short and wonky so they would have gone to waste otherwise. I had them sliced up in a saw mill to make them thinner so they could kind of bend around the ceiling. It was very experimental but luckily it worked out. For the insulation I used second hand insulation board which I got mostly for free on Marker Place. So I've got 75 millimetres in both walls, 50 millimetres in the ceiling and 25 millimetres in the floor which keeps the van a very stable temperature. I went with clear windows because I like to have as much natural light as possible and I tend to camp in very remote locations so privacy is not really an issue because there's usually no people around but when in doubt I can always just let the curtains down. Now without further ado let's talk about the heart of this little home on wheels, the kitchen. Welcome to my tiny hobbit kitchen on wheels. It's very small but it's got everything I need to cook healthy and nourishing meals on the road. I make breakfast and coffee in this kitchen pretty much on a daily basis but for my main meals I tend to batch cook them two or three times a week both to save time because it does take a little bit longer cooking in such a small space and also to be more energy efficient because this kitchen is fully electric. I thrifted this vintage cabinet from Marker Place because I was on a super strict timeline with my build and this way we were able to just extend the furniture from there which saves us a lot of time building. I have a string of globe fairy lights which plug into my electric system so I don't have to deal with changing batteries and at the top of the kitchen I have a hazel branch which helps me maximize storage space and also hides the bare metal off the van and I use it to hang my pots and pans and foraging baskets. They're pretty much the only thing I have to take down when I'm driving because otherwise they would be making a lot of noise and obstruct my review. I also have storage for cold weather clothing, my jumpers and rain jackets up here and I also have a ventilation fan which I use in two scenarios really. One when it's cold or rainy outside and I want to cook inside I open it and it sucks all the moisture out and the second scenario is when it's warm outside and I need to leave Heidi in the van for a few minutes I open the fan and also this little window on the sliding door window. It's really powerful so it actually makes the van much cooler than the outside and I also painted the fan brown to match the rest of the interior. So here I've got a shelf for the spices I use most often. I built it with pallet wood offcuts from the walls and ceiling and another piece of driftwood and I screwed in some hooks underneath where I store my most used kitchen utensils and washing up brushes. And on this side I have two hanging baskets again to maximize space and keep the place tidier. So one is for onions and garlic which helps prevent shedding which is really nice and one is just for quick to grab fruit. I wanted the kitchen to feel a little bit like a treehouse so I found this driftwood log and attached it to the ceiling and the counter and also stained it to blend in with the rest of the kitchen. And I've also got a few smaller pieces over here which again hide the bare metal of the van and also the sliding door mechanism to make it feel more natural. The countertop is essentially two pieces of reclaimed scaffold board which is quite sturdy. They were glued together and it's got this nice little wavy edge to make it feel more natural and I also stained the wood to make it blend in better with the rest of the furniture. I have a small 30 centimeter ceramic sink here which is actually just about deep enough that I can wash up all of my saucepans in here. I have this brass tab which swings back and forth which is quite helpful in this small space. It is cold water only because that's my personal preference. I did briefly have hot water in the last van but I found that I prefer having the extra space because hot water infrastructure does take up quite a bit of room. I also spent most of my time in warmer countries so I'm really not that bothered about hot running water. I built this backsplash with another piece of reclaimed scaffold boards to protect the driving area from water splashes and then also tiled around the sink. These beautiful botanical tiles are from an artist in Poland. Her shop is called Sarah Mystique and all of these tiles are actually hand pressed with real flowers which is just so gorgeous. In this cabinet I have my oven which is fully electric and actually quite energy efficient compared to a normal air fryer and most importantly it can fit an entire frozen pizza which is a really nice treat after a long driving day when my battery is fully charged up. I really like baking with foraged ingredients so something like this was a must-have for me. On the side I have more storage. I've got my chopping board which slides in here. I've got an emergency gas bottle in case I ever need to use the camping cooker inside and also my mocha pot, coffee and a few spare kitchen towels. You're probably wondering where my cooker is and it is a bit hidden away because one strange thing about me is that I really dislike having electrics visible. It kind of disrupts the aesthetic and I just like to pretend that I live in the middle ages. So it's here in this drawer and it's just a standard camping induction cooker. It's a single hob and it's the main reason I've got a pretty powerful electric system because it does draw quite a bit of power. I just prefer not to cook on gas inside where I sleep and this is an alternative which has been working really well for me. When we built this drawer we realized that there was a tiny five centimeter gap next to it so we built another little drawer which I call the fairy cubbyhole and it's home to more of my spices. And this is technically the wood burner furniture but I've got all my crockery here so my plates, bowls etc. I have too many to be honest. I picked up a bunch from charity shops and car boot sales but I do like to host people sometimes that's why I hold on to them. In the kitchen and also throughout the van I've secured all of my cabinets with these little hooks so that nothing falls out when I'm driving. So down here is where my water system lives. I also put high-dose bowls here because I don't need to access it super often but when I need to access my cleaning stuff which I also store here or fix something I just lift it over here and just open this flap. Some of the things I store here are citric acid for when I'm cleaning the toilet, I've got washing up liquid, rubbing alcohol for cleaning my windows, laundry detergent and vinegar for cleaning. My water tank is 86 liters and I've got 50 liters of grey water which lasts me about a week on average. I also have a 19 liter jerry can at the back of the bed which I'll show you in a bit and it's basically a backup so that if I run out of water in the main tank I still have a couple of days flexibility so I can stay off-grid for longer. So my water system is essentially a particle filter which gets rid of any larger chunks that may get into the water tank, a water pump which pumps up the water from the water tank, an accumulator which maintains stable water pressure and I also have a drinking water filter from Aqualogic which gets rid of all the really nasty stuff like heavy metals but the reason I chose this one in particular is because it removes 99.9999% of all bacteria viruses and also microplastics which is something that's quite important to me. So I can fill up from pretty much anywhere including rivers and lakes and I know that the water will always come out my tap of drinkable quality which gives me a lot of peace of mind. The floor I have is waterproof eco-flooring which I got from Cars. It looks like wood but actually the top is a type of bioplastic which is fully recyclable at the end of its lifespan and the bottom is cork and it kind of clicks together which makes it waterproof which is very helpful because I can be a bit clumsy sometimes especially in a small space and my dog is also a slobbering mess sometimes so it's good to have peace of mind on that front. And this corner here is where all my electrics live. I have a two kilowatt battery from Bluetti which I'm super happy with and it may look very messy but I promise it's a lot more orderly than it looks. This battery charges literally all of my devices, my induction hob, my oven, my 4G router, all of my camera gear, my phone, my laptop. All of these cables are labeled and pretty much permanently plugged in because the way I built it is so that everything leads into my charging cabinet. Essentially all of my cables lead from the Bluetti cabinet into this cabinet through a gap and I've got a few cable clamps here to prevent them from falling down. So up here I've got a shelf where I charge my laptop. I keep all of my camera chargers in here so I can quickly swap batteries while I'm filming and my phone charger is in here as well. I like to keep my phone out of the way as much as possible so it's less distracting and the Bluetti actually comes with one 12 volt port so I've got a 12 volt splitter so I can have both my water pump and my fan permanently plugged in. This system has worked really well for me and I much prefer it over having lots of different sockets and outlets throughout the van because I tend to get very disorganized with cables. I also got a Bluetti alternator charger before my first trip which has been super helpful. It charges my battery while I'm driving, it's about 20% per hour of driving and it's just a really nice backup when you're in bad weather and not getting a lot of solar. This battery can plug into mains so if I'm visiting a friend for example I can plug it into their home electricity and it charges up in about two hours which is really good. But for the most part I charge my battery with my solar panels. I've got 300 watts of solar on the roof and all of my panels are from Renogy which I chose because they have really good dimensions for smaller vans. I was able to fit them width ways rather than length ways which gave me a lot more space to play with on the roof. But yeah for the most part I don't access this cabinet unless I need to reorganize something. I just control everything from my phone from the Bluetti app so I turn off the DC before I drive because it's better for the water system and at night I turn everything off through the app as well. Whenever I have to charge my laptop while working this kitchen also doubles as a standing desk. Let me show you. I use this lap desk and then I put this foldable laptop stand on top of it and that's it. I tend to use this setup when I'm having an editing day because I tend to edit my videos in one full day and after a few hours my laptop will run out of battery and I'll just continue working here which is also good for my posture. I went with a cool box instead of a fridge in this van conversion because I just don't like how much electricity fridges use and you also can't always control how much they use. So I have my cool box here and it opens like this and I access it from here and essentially it works with ice. So I've got two Tupperware boxes in here and I just refill the ice once a week on my town run and that's been working really well for me especially because my wood burner is higher up it means that the floor stays nice and cool and the ice doesn't melt faster if I use my heating. I think it's about 55 litres so I have a lot of space for fresh ingredients in here. And then this side of the cabinet is where I store my non-perishables. Again it's lower down so even if I use my wood burner everything down here stays nice and cool. And I organise everything in these baskets so that everything stays in place when I'm driving. I built this shelf with old pallet wood and I use it to store most of the food ingredients I use on a regular basis as well as salt and pepper, tea and coffee cups, all that sort of stuff. I also screwed mason jars onto the bottom of the shelf again to increase my storage space and they're really helpful actually because they show me what I'm running low on so I know that if the jars are quite low it's probably time to stock up. And this side has more mason jars as well. I use this side mostly for medicinal herbs. I recently started studying to become a herbalist and one of my dreams is to open a herbal shop somewhere in the mountains one day. So yeah this is where I keep my ingredients to practice herbal remedies. Welcome to the sofa, bed, living and sleeping area which is where I spend most of my time in the van. As you can see this is an L-shaped bed design so this part folds out to form the bed which I'll you in a minute and it's a really good design to maximize space when you live in a small van. And the sofa bed is also attached to this cabinet so I just altered this door to make sure that I would still be able to open it. This part of the cabinet is also where I store most of my wardrobe. I've also got the shelf up here for quick and easy to grab stuff and essentially what I do is rotate my wardrobe every few weeks and put the stuff that I want to wear in the next few weeks up here so it's easily accessible. This corner here is where I work so I just pop my laptop here. I've got a little lap desk to raise it up a bit to improve my posture and yeah I just type or edit away here and enjoy the nice views. My mattresses are from Custom Touring Mattresses and as the name suggests they're custom made and they're hands down the most comfortable mattresses I've ever slept on. They're really nice and firm so they're really good for sofa mode too and they're made from natural latex which was quite important to me that they're made from natural materials and they've also got these washable sand coloured covers which is really convenient. In this corner I also have my little library. It may look very small but it can actually fit about 50 books because the furniture is quite deep. I really enjoy reading fantasy and researching the folklore of the places I visit so having plenty of storage for books was definitely a priority for me. You're probably wondering how the sofa turns into bed so let me show you. I have three of these thin mattresses which form the rest of the bed. They're designed to be backrest when it's in sofa mode but to be honest when I'm parked up most of the time I just chuck them in the driving area just to have a little bit more space on the sofa. I also have a rather large collection of vintage cushions and I wouldn't have space for them otherwise I don't think. But whenever I have a day where I'm driving or doing groceries they live on the sofa here and in order to make the bed I basically move all of the cushions on the furniture here so they're out of the way and my blankets as well. Sorry Heidi. I move everything to the back mattress and essentially there's two pieces of wood here which you can't feel when you're sitting on it but it's attached with piano hinges and folds out to form the rest of the bed. I actually used a driftwood lock as a bed leg because why not and it has a sliding mechanism at the top which keeps the bed nice and sturdy. And now all that's left is to put the mattresses back down and put the bedding on. My bedding is stored here. There are two storage hatches in this bit. One of them is a bit hidden but essentially there's one here. This is where I keep my dirty laundry and then the larger hatch here is where I store my bedding. Then Heidi will let me unlink the bed. Welcome to my cosy campervan bed. It's a fairly small double bed. I believe it's 128 centimeters wide and 175 centimeters long but if you're hobbit sized like me it's the perfect size. The reason it's this exact width is because I didn't want to chop down the vintage cabinet because it's really difficult and I also needed the depth for the wood burner to make sure it's safe but yeah it's perfect for a single person and even for two people it's still very comfortable. I have this elm green linen bedding which is from piglet embed and the height of the bed is aligned in a way that I can still access the drawers of the cabinet when the bed is made. In this drawer I store my socks and underwear, my pjs, yoga and running stuff are here and in this drawer I keep my skincare stuff and makeup and all of those sort of things. All of the curtains in my van are thrifted. The two white ones here I found at a car boot sale for like five pounds and I altered them with the help of my mother-in-law and I also put a sheet of summer wrap behind them to give them a little bit more rigidity because they're quite long and they also help insulate this area when it's really hot or very cold. I cladded the back doors of the van to add to the cozy cabin feel and the curtains are from a second hand shop. I also installed a driftwood log in this corner to add to the natural feel and also hide the bare metal of the van which I painted in the same colour as the outside of the van. And of course this corner is also where I enjoy all the amazing van life views when I'm parked up in nature. So as you have seen I use the front of the bed to store my cool box but I also have another storage system at the back of the bed, let me show you. Welcome to the back of the bed, this is probably my favourite design decision in the entire van and I'm really glad I went for this setup because it's actually really practical. This here is my shoe drawer, I only have about 10 pairs including all of my hiking and running gear so one drawer is more than enough and to be honest I spend a lot of my time barefoot as well. Down here I've my picnic basket which I do use for its intended purpose but it also doubles as bag storage and behind the basket I store a lot of other things as well, mostly spare dog food so I don't have to change Heidi's food so often. I've got some engine oil in here and this is also where I store my chimney. This big drawer down here is my outdoor kitchen, it's on drawerunner so it's nice and stable and there's lots of storage inside. I've got my camping gas cooker here so whenever I want to cook outside I just put it on top here and that's it. It's a very simple setup and I thought I would only use it when I'm like really low on electricity but I actually ended up cooking here for pretty much all summer because I really enjoy it. What else do we have here? I've got my hatchet axe for splitting firewood, I've got a mallet for tent camping, a wine bottle opener, just random things that I don't use on a daily basis so I've got them back here to save space inside. This compartment here has a lot of refills so I keep my spare camping gas bottles here, I've got a bag of kindling, a lot of firewood, my hammock for nice days when I'm parked next to trees, spare toilet paper, water filter refills, all that sort of stuff. I had these owls in the last van as well and I always get a lot of questions about them. They're actually just something I found in my mum's attic so I can't take any credit for the woodwork. This is actually a door behind which I store my lap desks, a cushion for sitting on the step more comfortably and I also have my jerry can in here which I mentioned earlier. This jerry can is from Lifesaver and it holds 19 litres so if I run out of water I still have two days worth of water in here and I can either siphon it into the main tank or just pump it and then it comes out of the tap here. It's got an inbuilt filter which is actually quite similar to my main water system so any water that comes out of here is drinkable as well. I've got a collapsible bucket here which is definitely one of my top van life essentials. I only have cold water in the van and I really dislike public showers so whenever I do feel like having a warm shower I just boil some water, put it in here, mix it with cold water and that's where my camping shower comes in. So this is essentially a water pump and I just pop it in the bucket and then have a nice warm shower either inside my bathroom or outside at the back of the van. That's it for the bed and sofa area and now let's talk about my personal highlight of the entire van, the wood burner. This is my wood burner. When I first told people that I was going to have one in my tiny van people thought I was crazy but to be honest with careful planning and fireproofing it's very much possible and safe as well and honestly once you've had a wood burner once you will never want to go back to any other source of heating. It is just so cozy. This wood burner is from Salamander Stoves and the model is very fittingly called the Hobbit. The wood burner is actually it's a very small space I went with a few extra safety features so it's got heat shields all round, it's got a double flue all the way and also extra high coal bars to prevent things from falling out because my hearth is not very deep. I went for the Hobbit SE version of the stove which is the more eco-friendly version and basically what it means is that I can use it in towns because it complies with stricter environmental regulations so it gives me a lot more flexibility. It's really powerful so one log or two of these is usually enough to keep the van warm for most of the day and it also means that I don't have any issues with condensation mould or moisture. The reason I installed it up here on the furniture rather than on the floor which is what most people do is partially food storage which I mentioned earlier and also Heidi loves to curl up where it's warmest in the van so with her being here there's no risk of her accidentally burning herself. My hearth is a porcelain sheet which I got from a local business and I did get a professional to install the flue for me because there were a few complicated bits like rerouting the flue so it doesn't cut through the ceiling beams and I just wanted to be on the safe side with that. But all of the fireproofing and tiling is DIY'd so all of this wood has fireboard and air gaps behind it. The tiles are attached to fireboard as well, I used the same botanical tiles I used in the kitchen and I used fireproof tile adhesive and silicon. My partner helped me build the furniture structure to be super strong because the wood burner does weigh 50 kilograms and all of the doors and drawers are built with leftover pallet wood pieces and reclaimed scaffold board. This is my tiny bin which usually lasts me a week, I do have to be careful to buy as much unpackaged as possible or in paper packaging and the paper packaging I then reuse as fire starter for the wood burner. I tend to keep a couple of days worth of wood in this basket so that when I wake up and it's a chilly morning I can just make a fire straight away without having to leave the van. I've also got these, I don't know what they're called but they're for putting stuff in the wood burner without burning myself. I've got my matches and also a jar of fire lighters. I also have this vintage bellows which I really love, I found it at a car boot sale for five pounds and it still works which is amazing. So this is what I use to keep the fire alive when I haven't done a good enough job building it. I always joke about how my van is better heated and insulated than any house I ever lived in and it is true, don't know if that says more about my van or the state of the housing market but this setup does come with one caveat. My flue system is only rated for winds up to 60 miles an hour so if I want to drive on fast roads I need to let the fire die down, wait for a couple of hours and then take my chimney off. Please ignore how dirty the van is, I usually rely on the rain to wash it and it hasn't rained in a few days but essentially behind the driver's seat I keep my telescopic ladder which I use to access the chimney. Extend the ladder, lean it against the van, the cap is actually on at the moment so I'm going to show you how I put the chimney on. So the cap or the chimney are held in place by a clamp so undo the clamp, it's quite tight, it's this moving thing here, move it down, take the cap off, put the chimney on and put the clamp back on. And that's it and then I just collapse the ladder and chuck it back behind the driver's seat. And while we're here let me show you my treehouse inspired driving area. I converted the driving area to match the rest of the van conversion because I'm someone whose mood is really influenced by their surroundings so I just wanted a more cosy and natural space to make long driving days more enjoyable. When I bought the van the space was completely black and grey so I painted the dashboard in a warm dark brown colour and decorated the space with lots of different fabrics. I've got these floral crochet seat covers, a steering wheel cover which I sewed on myself, a little moth which is made by an artist in Ukraine, I have these little mushroom air fresheners, a couple of succulent plants and I just attached a few wood accents here and there, pieces of driftwood and plywood that were left over, a little acorn aplique that I found somewhere in our storage. This up here is actually a flower crown which I wear sometimes to Ren Fairs and all that sort of stuff and originally I put it up here to keep it safe because I struggled to find a place in the van where it wouldn't get damaged and I thought it was so pretty it became its permanent home. I put a couple of meters of cotton fabric on the ceiling to make the space feel warmer and for the sunshades I actually used offcuts from the curtains at the back of the bed. So yeah a lot of the stuff in here are materials that were left over and I used them up so they wouldn't go to waste and it created a really cozy space which I'm really happy with but it's also really functional and I store a lot of things in here, let me show you. So behind the driver's seat I have my ladder which you've already seen. I also store my hose here, the water inlet is on the side of the van and it goes straight into the fresh water tank under the van. First aid kit, very important and behind the driver's seat attached to the wall which borders the bathroom I've got my 4G router so I can have internet on the road. I've also got my carbon monoxide alarm here and a security camera which I turn on whenever I leave the van behind. This door has different hose attachments because they differ between the UK and EU. I've got a few shopping bags so I don't have to buy them, a water bottle for myself and one for Heidi. I have a little rug which is made from recycled leather and I also have these seat covers which are for sitting on the floor and I just store them on top of my seats. You can't see it very well from there but Heidi also has her little bed here between the seats. My van only came with two seats and I kept it this way because I very rarely have more than one passenger if at all and it's also a bit safer for her down there while I'm driving so I just put a little wicker basket here with a sheepskin, some cushions and she's nice and cozy while we're driving. I'm snoozing most of the time so she seems to like it. And the passenger side is mostly used for extra storage to be honest. I've got a basket here with things that I want to declutter or sell. I store my tripods here, got a little handbag for when I go shopping, my yoga mat lives here. I attached a blanket of moss here to the dashboard because I couldn't really do anything else with it and it just goes so well with the little mushroom garland and the driftwood. It does make you feel like you're sitting in a woodland. And in this door I store more of Heidi's things. I've got a little book of wildflowers so I can identify them on my travels. On the shelf up here I keep more jackets and my camping chair and under the passenger seat I keep things like my drill, handsaw, fire cement for the wood burner, anything I need to do basic repairs on the road. That's all there is to say about the driving area and now on to the chapter I'm sure many of you have been waiting for because who knows how I managed to fit it into this van, my bathroom. Behind this little door lies my bathroom. I cut the door in an arch shape because I wanted it to look a little bit like a medieval church door and I also thrifted this little hobby to mirror which I use to do my skincare and I also added large hinges to complete the look and a little bolt which I use when I'm driving so that the door doesn't open and block my view. And I also have a little hanging storage basket down here with one of my towels because it is a very small space. My bathroom is really odd dimensions because I went with the minimum width that was comfortable for me and my partner so it's 75 by 54 centimeters and because of that I went with a custom stainless steel shower tray from Roma World. They're really nice and lightweight and they also stained it in this gorgeous brown color to make it fit with the theme of the van. You can't really see much from this perspective but essentially I'm sitting on the toilet. There's plenty of space here, plenty of space to spread your legs when you're doing a number two, that's another question I get very often. Essentially we built the bathroom with waterproof boards which we attached directly to the structure of the van to save space and then I tiled the inside of the bathroom with these waterproof stone tiles which I got from Kitchen Wraps on Etsy and they're attached directly to the jacker board again to maximize space. I've got a little hook here so that when I'm sharing the van with my partner or a friend I can lock the bathroom from the inside and I also have a toilet paper roll holder here which is made from rope. My bathroom was actually too small for a skylight and I didn't want a window in the wall so I went with a solar fan in the ceiling instead and it's actually been surprisingly powerful. It sucks out all the remaining moisture after showering and it also keeps the bathroom cool in the summer which is really nice. And I have all of my bathroom stuff on a little pallet shelf on the wall here. I have this little vintage tin with sawdust for the toilet, toilet spray for my number ones which is essentially just water, citric acid and vinegar. I have a little tub with my body soap and shampoo soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste. Because I don't have a skylight I've got this little motion sense light on the wall which I have to recharge about once a week or so and my shower of course. It's got pretty good water pressure so if I have someone in the van with me I can just stand outside the door and they can shower me from here. And of course I've got my compost toilet in here. I do lift it out to shower because otherwise there wouldn't be enough space in the bathroom but I went for a pretty light toilet so it's not really a problem. Let me lift it out so I can show you properly. This is my compost toilet. I have a Trilino Origin in size large and I'm honestly so happy with it. In my last van I had a much more expensive compost toilet but this one is just far superior and less than half the price. It has a wooden magnetic lid to shut off any smells but honestly I've never had any issues with smells with this toilet because it's really easy to maintain. It's got a separate liquids and solids container. The liquids I have to empty about every four days and the solids about once a week. I do collect the number one toilet paper in a ziploc bag separately and then use it as fire starter and it also helps keep any moisture out of the solids. But yeah it's super easy to use. I just spray it after every number one and use sawdust for number two and if you do notice any smells building up you just add a little bit more spray or a little bit more sawdust and that's it. It's really easy to use. I attached a couple of handles to the front and back so I can lift it out of the bathroom when I'm showering because otherwise I wouldn't have enough space in there. It is very small but it gets the job done. If you made it all the way till the end thank you so so much for watching. If you enjoyed my van tour do leave it a thumbs up and subscribe if you want to see our adventures on the road where we reconnect with nature and grow roots in the wild.