Interior options blank canvas ideas wanted

So, my headlining has always been saggy and it got on my tits tickling the "thin hair" on my head so i've just decided to remove it, partly because of this but also because i want to improve the lighting in the van so i need to get behind facias and run wires, what options can you offer me, i'm not after anything extreme and i'm not really worried that it will "spoil" the van because returning to original is easy enough with the areas involved if i ever did a full on resto, i'm thinking of doing it in 2 stages as i don't want to ruin the sleeping area just yet and i'm fairly happy it won't irritate me not matching until it's finished, the headling wants to be higher than it was so can i glue carpet direct to the roof or is that gash? i'm wondering does anyone do a moulded roof replacement to fit in? if not i'll remove the old style insulation anyway and put that silver bubble on, but as i say i'm after ideas so show me yours! the side panels are only ply covered in what looks like stick on plastic so that's easy enough once i've hid wires, i'll bang some random pictures up.

 

the 1st picture shows where i have stopped for now and how damaged it is in situ, the rest show removed areas and how much the side panels have lifted.

 

Hi Ricky (me again) i've just finished my roof. (Devon moonraker poptop) The cab headliner I had done in the authentic perforated material (bought from Martrim ) it was fitted with the origional wire spans etc.
I then got a sheet of 25mm Kingspan (or similar) foilbacked insulation, which was about £12 from the local builders yard. I carefully warped this by supporting both long edges (having first cut it to an approx size) and weighting it in the middle gradually (I used a long heavy rolled up rug)
When I was happy that the warp had given me the correct amount of curve, I then cut it to the exact size and the two vents.
I then ran the wires for my 3 led lights (one for each bunk for reading and one bigger central light) along the middle in a thin groove on the top of the insulation.
I then got some black 'foamalux' sheet (6mm will do) and glued a large sheet of the perforated material onto the foamalux to exactly match the cab lining.
The foamalux sheet is a solid but very flexible, light plastic boarding, perfect to take the perforated material. Why black? Because the black shows through the tiny perforations to mirror the suspended cab ceiling effect.
I then cut and glued the foamlux onto the Kingspan insulation and the total thickness was just about perfect to sit into the origioal pop top.
I found some 100mm plastic vents to trim of the air vents so that it looks neat when you look up them. What I wanted was a cotinus same headliner look from front to back. I have just got to finish the long side panels and rear, and I should then be there! (hope the pics work!)

 

Blast! This was the other one I wanted to show you showing the perforations thru the Foamalux;

 

Very nice Lawts and reminds me I need to buy some sunvisors or new sunglasses. 8)

 

You've done a very tidy job there Lawts. It looks original

 

That looks ace, far better than i could do, mine isn't wire spanned or perforated, its a piece of ply with cloth glued on basically, i'm toying with getting some nice thin wood that is veneer? like posh car dashboards you know? is this a bad idea?

 

The original Westy basket weave stuff is here http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=2749&category_id=&category_parent_id=. You need to peel the old stuff off and glue this on. A hair dryer helps to soften it and scrape it off. You need about 7 square metres to do a rear hinging Westy which includes both sides of the upper bunk.

I usually get the ******* taken and get suggestions about Artexing and Rococo fireplaces, but I actually used wallpaper on my roof panels. It's heavy duty vinyl commercial stuff called Muraspec made in extra wide rolls so you don't get any seams showing. I've used pattern 0419 as here http://www.muraspec.com/Content.asp?PageID=28&AttribList=3&ValuesList=PriceBand1&PageNo=2 I'd like to show you the photos of my bus but Photobucket is playing up. This was only about £2 a metre and glues on with regular wallpaper paste. It's gone 5 years and still looks good.

 

Cheers guys, Ricky just go with it! I wouldnt know if you can get a large enough piece of veneer to do the job, Alot of people use a suitable vinyl upholstery material on a piece of ply to match their seats etc (Martrim upholstery is good as it's marine grade) Keeping a really good piece of insulation in the roof is probably a good idea though. Kingspan etc is very high performance insulation - probably much better than origional!

 

ok cheers, keep the ideas coming folks, i'm in no rush it's not like it affects use of the van in the summer, one thing is for sure being so tall i am already loving the extra height in the cab with no lining at all in so it needs to be thin, trouble is one job leads to another, for example my sunvisors are manky so i'll need to get some of them too, i think a trip to a wood yard or diy place is in order to get ideas, i don't want to look flash just practical and tidy i guess.

 

...but what you can get if you've seen someone on here's fantastic interior is Burr walnut Formica.
You will not get real veneer big enough and it would be very expensive. Formica not cheap either about £40 a sheet. Great for furniture but you could get through a bit doing a roof and it might be a bit OTT - trust me - I considered it for mine it does look really good. 8)

Yours it a typical westy ply head lining - you could stick anything you choose on it - How about Faux snakeskin.

If your head hits the roof bad luck - if you were to copy the ply any wider, you wouldn't be able to fit it. I imagine you have after-market seats?

 

no mate proper westy seats, i'm just a lanky git with a big head lol, maybe a new bit of ply varnished or stained or i would love my avatar picture (which is also one of my tattoos) airbrushed on the wood and clear coated...is that do-able i wonder, anyone know a good airbrusher? can they do it on wood?

 

My son could do you an exact copy in oils - he's great at it, but he's moved onto higher maths for his entertainment now. 8) It's impossible for him to retrace his steps so probably never paint again. I was hoping to get him to paint my blinds up at some point but no chance unless he just happens to want to. Then he'd get in a tiz - think it wasn't perfect and I'd wish I hadn't asked. I've always liked Hellraisers gothic interior.

That's the man for the job there in fact - PM Hellraiser, there can't possibly be anyone better. You can paint on anything if the surface is suitably prepared.

 

OK here's some pics







All my plywood panels were in good nick so it was fairly easy to get the old Fablon type material off and replace with Muraspec. As Zed suggests you could go wild with any kind of pattern you like. How about a nice autumn leaves effect or classical Greek statues?

 

good thinking, he doesn't come on much but it's a good place to start, the other option i just thought of, a big vinyl sticker? if they can make one to fit a sky van they can do a roof panel maybe that is an option..... i reckon the inside strips and panel in my favourite bands would be great.

 

You've started this thread, chipped in the Kiss idea and it's now your duty to do something a bit different. Are you going to go for bland boring headliner glued on? I think not. Watching with interest. Please don't be another dull Westy, it's getting like EB on here.

 

i need to cut some more wood for the sides anyway i'm not replacing the big light over the cooker so that has a big hole in it, i don't really want to do the colour changing led route for inside just a bit of white light to read in is fine for me, deffo hatching a plan for favourite bands and things on the wood though.

 

as a kiss fan this is an iconic album cover for the band, i think this would look great on the roof

 

So tasteless it's good? I wouldn't want to wake up to that, but you clearly would - go for it!