Not all DIY (do it yourself) projects are the same, and it’s precisely that what makes them so interesting to watch. Even as we’re experiencing a sort of vanlife overload, surprises still come along every now and then – and Serenity is one of them.
At first sight, Serenity is your typical DIY vanlife story. Give it 20 minutes of your time to reveal its secrets, and it comes across as a very unique journey. For those looking to make the transition to vanlife, and especially for those thinking of cutting costs by building their own mobile home, Serenity can serve as the best motivational story.
If you’re reading this, you know already that DIY builds seem like a dime a dozen these days, and vanlife is heading into overload, at least as social media exposure goes. Every other influencer out there appears to be singing the same tune about wanting to ditch the 9-to-5 life in favor for more freedom of movement, a reduced carbon footprint, and reduced living expenses.
Working on the road is no longer a novelty either, and it’s ok if you’re feeling exhausted by all these stories of people who, one day, woke up and decided to ditch the comforts of their home for a mobile tiny, combining work and travel for that “perfect” life.
Photo: Instagram / Vansteaders
Serenity doesn’t strike a different note than these stories, except where it really matters. This is not a build “for show” (“for the ‘gram,” as the saying goes) and it’s not presented as such. It’s a very functional and very cozy home for two and a pet cat.
Serenity started out as a 2015 Freightliner Sprinter van with a 170-inch base. Alissa and Cody, both living in New York at the time they bought it in December 2020, were already thinking about taking a year off from work to travel and experience new locations, before deciding on where to settle down for good. For Cody, the conversion served as a sort of anchor during the worst of the international health crisis, and he did most of the work himself.
Neither Alissa nor Cody had experience with van conversions, but they had been keeping their eye on the vanlife movement for a while to know exactly what they wanted, and how to make it happen, if only in theory. They bought the van on the second-hand market for about $28,000, opting for the Freightliner instead of a ProMaster or a Ford Transit because they wanted a diesel engine.
Photo: Instagram / Vansteaders
They also wanted their van, which would become Serenity once the conversion was complete, to have off-grid capabilities and to run everything inside on electricity. The only places where they would not cut any corners were the solar panels on the roof and the battery packs, which ensured autonomy – as well as the toilet, and the fridge and freezer. As they point out, to each vanlifer their own, and this is what works for them.
Serenity is a cozy home, and while compact, it’s also extremely functional. You enter into the kitchen area, which has an electric four-burner stove and a large farm sink, and a countertop on the opposite side that doubles as storage, Cody’s workstation, and Timmy the cat’s litter box compartment. There’s plenty of storage throughout, from the pantry with slide-out drawers to the cabinets up top, and magnetic racks.
The main – and only – sleeping area is located at the rear of the van. The dining area serves as buffer between bedroom and the kitchen. The phrasing “dining area” might be an overstatement, since it’s only a fold-down table and two benches with hidden storage, one for the fridge and freezer, and the other for the Nature’s Head composting toilet.
There is no privacy curtain or dividing wall to separate the “bathroom” from the rest of the home, but that’s vanlife for you. In reality, not all vanlifers are willing to sacrifice interior space to put up partitions for a bathroom. As Alissa explains in the video tour below, they only wanted to avoid having to go outside for their most basic need, and this solution works for them.
Photo: YouTube / Tiny Home Tours
The biggest surprise here is the “guest room,” which is more scaled down to size than you probably imagined. It’s basically a hammock hanging on the roof of the main living area, sleeping one person with zero risk of hitting the counters below. Alissa explains that a second guest can rough it in a sleeping bag on the floor, so Serenity can sleep four people in total, though not exactly comfortably.
The bed is a full-size one with integrated cubbies running down each side, and even more storage above. It sits over the garage, which holds more storage, a 30-gallon (113.5-liter) freshwater tank, and five batteries for the 575 W of solar panels on the roof. The two maintain that they never ran out of battery regardless of their use of the appliances inside, and despite the weather. Should that ever happen, Serenity can also be hooked up to the mains at camp.
The total cost of the build is of about $60,000. The van alone was $28,000, while the rest of the money went on materials and tools for the conversion.
Like many other DIY projects you can find under the #vanlife hashtag, Serenity is a good example of winging it. The interior shown in the video tour below is not the one they had initially designed and built. The two ended up making minor modifications after their first trips as they adapted to their new lifestyle.
Speaking of which, Serenity has been on the road in the U.S. since May 2021, and will probably continue traveling through 2023. Alissa and Cody initially planned on spending just one year traveling, but have since decided to continue. Not that anyone could ever blame them, with a house as cozy as this one.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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