Cladding the bedroom with wood

January 19, 2022

After renovating the insulation, I started cutting the wall panels out of 4mm birch plywood.

Cutting the wall panels

It took quite a while until the oil and wax dried in the cold stable.

Oiling the wall panels

While the oil was drying, I built decorative strips out of wood to cover the gaps between the wall panels.

Wooden strips to cover the gaps between the wall panels

I glued the strips on guide rails that would properly hold the wall panels together.

Wooden strips glued on guide rails

After sanding and shaping the edges,

Shaped wooden strips

I applied them to merge the panels without using any screws.

Strips mounted on the wall panels

Fitting the wooden ceiling

After fitting the wall panels, I started installing the wooden ceiling. I used the same wood that I used in my van as I liked the look.

Oiling the wall panels

I installed six LED spotlights into the ceiling of the higher part of the cabin. Two above the area where I planned to build a wardrobe and the shower cabin.

LED spotlights in the area of the shower and wardrobe

And two on each side of the bed that would allow to read a book at night. Depending on how the truck would be leveled, I wanted to be able to have over-head lights on both sides of the bed that could optionally be switched on: either on the left side,

Over-head lights switched on the left side

the right side,

Over-head lights switched on the right side

or all at the same time.

All over-head lights switched on

I still had tiny switches lying around that I wanted to re-use to control the over-head lights above the bed.

Milling the mounting point for the light switches

Embedded into the slats of the wooden ceiling on both sides, the switches seemed quite subtle and allowed to comfortably switch the lights on and off.

Light switch embedded into the ceiling

The wooden slats of the ceiling pressed the wall panels against the wall, so there was no need to drill screws into the wall. By precisely cutting the wood, I was able to avoid major gaps in the corners and managed to mount the entire cladding with much less screws than before.

Corners without any major gaps

After building the slatted bed base, the sleeping area felt much more comfortable than it used to be when I started the project.

Slatted bed base in the sleeping area

I was really happy with the result and looking forward to spend the first night in my new wooden bedroom.