Designing LWB Furniture

Swiss78

Member
Have been converting my T6 LWB and have done all the work myself, pop top, Sliding seats the lot!!!

No i am back into my comfort zone of designing my own bespoke furniture.

What do you think? Its not finished but happy to get feedback.

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Unless I'm missing something that looks no different to many of furniture designs you see available. If I was building and designing my own furniture it would be completely different from the norm.
 
I have a SWB with sliding Cali seat bed, despite the sliding seat I think I’d rather have more vertical tambour doors than the standard hinged doors.
After spending a pile of £ it does feel a bit daft when some of the doors still can’t be opened properly.
 
I have a SWB with sliding Cali seat bed, despite the sliding seat I think I’d rather have more vertical tambour doors than the standard hinged doors.
After spending a pile of £ it does feel a bit daft when some of the doors still can’t be opened properly.
Same boat - I can now see why VW made the OEM Cali unit with a sliding door under the cooker!
 
Are the doors flush inset or do they sit over the carcass?
All the doors and draws will be flush insert as i don't like the doors sitting over the carcass personally. The wood detail will be ply end grain which should look sweet against the white fronts.

I have a SWB with sliding Cali seat bed, despite the sliding seat I think I’d rather have more vertical tambour doors than the standard hinged doors.
After spending a pile of £ it does feel a bit daft when some of the doors still can’t be opened properly.
Interesting. Do you have to move the seats to get to the doors?

Unless I'm missing something that looks no different to many of furniture designs you see available. If I was building and designing my own furniture it would be completely different from the norm.
I know what you mean, i guess there are quite a few constraints with this sort of layout because the actual space available pretty limiting. Although it looks similar from the outside, i'm hoping that the details i include for storing cutlery/crockery/cloths etc will be the big difference.

What would you do out of interest?
 
This was mine being made - not by me I hasten to add! I saw this and loved the curves compared to the rigid box look of everything else we'd seen. Like @DXX I've got a sliding Reimo seat bed and both the cutlery drawer and a drop down door at low level always mean I have to move the seat. The answer is to use those for stuff you are likely to need when you haven't got the van stuffed to the gunnels!

There's a lot of space below your tambour doors. How are you going to access this? In mine, this is where my twin LiFePos and inverter are installed, hence the drop down door.B0309C2A-70F2-4DFD-A494-C638CC39CD48.jpegEBD25D87-2EF9-4B91-92FC-4893C0426404.jpeg14c8985b-f83d-48c3-8a89-61c07a5a56fe.JPG
 
This was mine being made - not by me I hasten to add! I saw this and loved the curves compared to the rigid box look of everything else we'd seen. Like @DXX I've got a sliding Reimo seat bed and both the cutlery drawer and a drop down door at low level always mean I have to move the seat. The answer is to use those for stuff you are likely to need when you haven't got the van stuffed to the gunnels!

There's a lot of space below your tambour doors. How are you going to access this? In mine, this is where my twin LiFePos and inverter are installed, hence the drop down door.View attachment 126725View attachment 126726View attachment 126727
That looks great, who did the conversion?
 
This was mine being made - not by me I hasten to add! I saw this and loved the curves compared to the rigid box look of everything else we'd seen. Like @DXX I've got a sliding Reimo seat bed and both the cutlery drawer and a drop down door at low level always mean I have to move the seat. The answer is to use those for stuff you are likely to need when you haven't got the van stuffed to the gunnels!

There's a lot of space below your tambour doors. How are you going to access this? In mine, this is where my twin LiFePos and inverter are installed, hence the drop down door.View attachment 126725View attachment 126726View attachment 126727
This is really nice. Yes i was thinking of a door where the wheel arch is, just not added it yet, but is a defo. You have the same seats as me, what fridge have you gone with?
 
That looks great, who did the conversion?
Hi @Skyliner33. It's a Three Bridge Campers job. We found them at the NEC Camping, Caravan and Motor Home show last February, just before lockdown. I'd gone there to see VW and buy a California, but when I found these guys everything changed - and the guy on the VW stand brought a whole new meaning to the word complacent!
 
To be fair they do look a class above.

They are definitely very pretty, curved edges and limited storage not really an option if you need to maximise practicality and storage though. Our Reimo is almost the opposite end of the spectrum I’d say, very boxy but it’s hard to see how you’d get any more practicality.
 
They are definitely very pretty, curved edges and limited storage not really an option if you need to maximise practicality and storage though. Our Reimo is almost the opposite end of the spectrum I’d say, very boxy but it’s hard to see how you’d get any more practicality.
I'd love to know how much storage you lost. It doesn't look like it would be much to me.
 
This is our Reimo (Love it by way and wouldn't have anything else atm..), but if I were to do another one, which I probably will in a few years, id still go for Reimo but with a different storage solution where the optimum seat position is for us. Maybe a pair of tambour doors would work as you could still access some to the cupboard without moving the seat anywhere. Ironically this is the biggest of all the cupboards with maximum depth almost the entire way along. As ThreeBridgeT6 says above, we put all our less frequently used stuff in here.
I've found some tiny little nooks and crannies to store other stuff too...theres a small folding camping table behind the larger table top on the back of the rear seat...the drawer under the Reimo seat is not full depth so have added a false floor behind which holds the windbreak, accessible with the seat slid forward, along with a larger sectional full height camping table. Under the lift up part of the seat base I have added and thin floor which can hold anything that lays relatively flat (awning poles/kador strip/pegs etc) :thumbsup:IMG_2826.jpeg
 
Just my two cents, I don't like roller doors as they vibrate after time and also break it get stuck very easily. flush doors look better even two toned. Sliders or non hinged vare more difficult to open at times but for my misses who seems to break everything...its fool proof. Not that I'm calling her a fool
 
This is really nice. Yes i was thinking of a door where the wheel arch is, just not added it yet, but is a defo. You have the same seats as me, what fridge have you gone with?
Hi @Swiss78 The fridge is a Waeco CRX50. I prefer this to the style that stand proud of the cabinets. It's got an impressive amount of space including a decent freezer compartment.

I'd love to know how much storage you lost. It doesn't look like it would be much to me.
Very little space lost @Skyliner33. In fact I'd go as far as to say none, as you can never get anything stashed right up in the top corners of the cabinets with the curved tops.
 
Pretty happy with how the designs are coming on. Been playing with handle shape and taken a few ideas from all your experiences.

Just wondering if small round holes for handles or a bigger open slot are better? What do you think?

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