The finished door, however it took a lot of work to get to this point.
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I split building the door into 3 stages.
- Cutting out the door skin and installing windows
- Carpeting the door, and installing curtains
- Building the panel and installing
Stage 1 is covered on the link above, so straight into stage 2
Carpeting and blackout curtains
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So, after installing the windows, I carpeted the doors. Ideally, I should of done this during the window fitting process (once I'd cut out the hole, but before the trim was added and the window installed. But I simply did not have the time to do it all in one.
To start off, I took off the interior door handle, taped off the rubber trim and covered the glass with newspaper, and sprayed the door with high temp carpet adhesive - stuff specifically for going in campervans etc. Then I stuck the 4 way stretch carpet to the door, starting at one corner, and working my way around. When I got to the window. I just cut a cross shape and worked my way around it like you would a plug socket when wallpapering.
Then, It was a case of neatening it up and trimming of the huge excess and around the edges. To begin with, i used scissors, however I found it much neater o use a Stanley knife (but not going too deep to scratch the paintwork below) and a calk board - for a nice straight edge to cut against.
Once the excess had been cut away, I tucked what I could under the rubber seal to neaten it off
Next job, the curtains.
I didn't want actual curtains on a pole - they would be too bulky, flap around when driving and just take up too much space.
After looking online, I came across Van-X.
The curtains are blackout, made for the caddy, and attached on two rails top and bottom - to prevent flapping around.
When they come, the rails are straight, so you have to bend them to shape to 'form' them to your door.
I made myself a little jig for bending them
Once all attached, they looked like this
Door panel with storage
So, the door actually has a big gap inside it, behind where a panel would sit. I decided to use some of this space as extra storage. With being a small van (micro camper) any extra space is valuable.
I made the wooden tongue and groove panelling to match the cladding on the walls
I used the original door card as a template for the panelled one, sanded it and finished it in it Osmo, once it had been cut out.
I then built a box, out of leftover ply that I had laying around
This would be the 'cupboard part' within the door panel.
I then carpeted inside the box, so whatever was stored in there would be protected.
I positioned where I wanted it on the door card, then cut out a hole for it and screwed them both together.
Once together, I drilled through the box and tied in some elastic bungee, so things wouldn't fall out the storage cupboard.
I'm super happy with it, and the blackout curtains work amazingly well, with no faffing around when you close/open them.
