We are transforming our home with a pass-through window!
Our journey! How did we get here?
In the winter of 2019, we moved full-time into our self-built van and began living, working, and traveling in Canada. We quickly fell in love with living our dream of venturing off the beaten path, living off the grid and becoming self-sufficient. We drove thousands of kilometers in our van through different countries – Canada, the United States, Mexico and Guatemala.
We document all of this on our channel, be sure to check it out! After many years on the open road, we found ourselves on 15 acres of remote forest on the east coast of Canada, building a home and renovating our completely off-the-grid cabin. We are entering this chapter of our lives with no experience, and we are excited to bring you along as we learn to do it all with our own hands. Thank you for staying with us through cabin life, van life, and everything in between!
Living in a van with 2 dogs for 3+ years
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Transcript
00:00we are transforming this window into a
00:03inside outside bar bringing the kitchen
00:06outdoors and the outdoors inside the
00:08cabin and finishing this part of our
00:10cabin to 100% thank you Squarespace for
00:13sponsoring this week's video the first
00:14step is to find where our studs are we
00:17are going to be putting a very heavy
00:20quartz counter on the inside and the
00:23outside wall and we need to make sure
00:25it's going to be super sturdy with these
00:28brackets these things going hold I think
00:31500 lb and we're putting three or four
00:34on each counter so that will work but we
00:37need to make sure we hit the studs so
00:39we've brought up one of our old videos
00:41to figure out where the studs are I'm
00:43almost 100% that you find the middle of
00:46your window and then you do every 16 on
00:48Center from there I got to say I love
00:50having video footage of everything
00:52whenever you forget something in your
00:53life which is quite frequent with me
00:56hate to admit it I just go back relive
00:58my life match is the photo booya Center
01:03for us this is a dream project we've
01:06been wanting to do this for so long many
01:08many moons ago Jasmine and I worked at a
01:10restaurant that had something very
01:11similar to this so of course we made our
01:14own custom one for the cabin and we've
01:16got all the materials and you better
01:18believe that this weather is not going
01:19to stop us from enjoying a delicious
01:21meal right here we just need
01:24servers I can serve you these are
01:27extremely strong structural screws
01:30Torx head love to see it just says
01:35something structure ruged structural
01:38screws we will be painting them though
01:40it's just going to be so much stronger
01:42with these people want to see the level
01:44girl and not your new hair do Chrystal
01:47got her hair
01:48done something I wasn't planning on
01:51acknowledging why comment below make
01:53your feel awkward that loveely pack
01:56thank you better Mo if you to go turn
02:00head cuz I'm on a r
02:03strong five more
02:06[Music]
02:11do all right we've got heavy duty
02:15brackets going up and already they are
02:17going very smooth don't want to jinx it
02:20but they're looking very strong I'm
02:23stoked it's counter
02:28time yeah
02:32what's going on what is going
02:33on oh it's the GoPro it's all of you
02:36messing us
02:38off my
02:40way how much my way cuz the trim yeah
02:43then trim goes in there
02:45holy camole so nice
02:50mhm come here right now you want to come
02:53Izzy stand where I'm standing it
02:57actually looks like the counter is
02:58attached it looks so cool cool wa like
03:02come on that's so
03:05cool designer Crystal and
03:09Jazz counter is completely level we've
03:12put the level on it it looks Perfection
03:15a okay but how the window slides there's
03:19a rail and it's perfectly in line on the
03:22left but not on the right it's not by
03:24much I think we could just make the
03:26counter not perfectly level and that
03:28would just entail us going to the
03:30hardware store and getting little sheets
03:32of metal and making shims to put it up
03:34which I kind of like because then
03:36there's no holes in the bottom of the
03:37brackets and then the cocking and
03:39everything won't all fall out and
03:40whatnot jumping ahead are we I know I'm
03:43jumping ahead
03:45but wow that's cool I just can't wait to
03:48like wow I can't wait for summer yeah
03:52here she goes already to be fair it was
03:55living in the garage since like January
03:58so a lot lot of you are probably
04:00wondering how this is going to hold up
04:02outside and being this close to the
04:04window it's outdoor grade so they add
04:06something some sort of chemical compound
04:08when they're making it to allow it to
04:10endure UV rays cold ice Frost Etc so the
04:16counter will last a long time especially
04:19with our Canadian
04:20weather this dog misses her
04:23sister don't you we miss her too Izzy
04:27more on that later if you're wondering
04:29why it's so quiet in here because bear
04:33is at the
04:34[Music]
04:39vet Closing one eye help yeah okay but
04:45feels though that's where the top of the
04:46counter should go perfect timing we have
04:48to hit the hardware store and the vet
04:50just called for Bella Izzy want to go
04:53get your sister where's
04:56Bella where's Bella hi it's Samy calling
05:00from the Bridgewater animal hospital
05:01hello Bella can go anytime now we think
05:03she'd be more comfortable at home okay
05:06yeah we're on our way thank
05:08[Laughter]
05:10you that call just made me laugh of
05:13course Bella right after surgery she was
05:17Wide Awake the B's like y she's Wide
05:20Awake looking at us and now she wants
05:21see more oh they're just such different
05:23dogs when Izzy went in for surgery she
05:27was out of it even when we picked her up
05:29out hours later so looks like the vet
05:31wants to get rid of Bella Bella is at
05:33the vet because there was three lumps on
05:35her she is 10 years in 7 months so it is
05:39pretty normal however they had to do
05:41some tests on them and also she was
05:44going to go in for a cleaning since she
05:45was being put under anyways to remove
05:47those lumps and when they went to do the
05:50x-rays on her teeth they saw five rotted
05:54teeth and an abscess that was ping that
05:58poor dog
06:00we had no idea we often wondered why her
06:02breast smelled so much worse than Izzy's
06:04cuz her teeth do look really good cuz
06:05her teeth look amazing but it was way
06:07back there something the vet said that
06:09we probably wouldn't have been able to
06:10see two teeth just fell out on their own
06:13and the other three she removed because
06:15the absess had infected the other two
06:18teeth around it because it happened
06:20probably over a year ago classic Bella
06:23doesn't complain doesn't do anything
06:25gets put under and probably is ready to
06:27go for a 10mi walk literally oh yeah I
06:30love that dog she's most Beed
06:42animal I wanted to show you
06:45that they're going to be thankful in a
06:47couple days too how you doing Bella you
06:50okay Bella we missed you turns out Bella
06:54wasn't just barking it's she wasn't able
06:57to just relax cuz there's so many dogs
06:59was going by so they said she'll
07:01probably relax more if she's just at
07:02home she is out of it and I had a lot of
07:07work done three lumps removed five teeth
07:10removed there was a lump on Bella's back
07:12that was a cyst that they removed and
07:14they actually removed the sack I guess
07:17is the word so that way hopefully it
07:19doesn't refill and then on the front of
07:21her she had like a fatty lump but it
07:23went actually like the root of it went
07:25like fairly deep into her neck so they
07:28removed all of that and then there was a
07:30nodule on her ear that they fully
07:33removed and that's the one they were
07:34worried about right M but they tested
07:37they tested it and all three
07:40lumps are
07:43good two theories
07:49coming how are you
07:51feeling a little different I never
07:54thought you would be the more energetic
07:56dog izy thank you all so so much from
07:58the bottom of our heart for supporting
08:00our first ever merch drop you all showed
08:03up I am speechless honestly I'm blown
08:05away and we are so excited that you're
08:07so excited we can't wait to see you in
08:10it and because you all love the pack hat
08:12so much we are going to give away 10
08:15pack hats to anyone who has ordered or
08:17who is going to order before December
08:1916th yes it is the last 5 days to order
08:24the pack year and then it is gone
08:26forever so head on over to van wives.com
08:30or the link in the description oh and we
08:32have 3XL now we're learning Lots thank
08:34you for your patience we hear you love
08:36you and we cannot wait to include even
08:38more sizes when we do this all again yes
08:41also if you get your pack here please
08:42send us a photo or a video or something
08:44cuz I want to see it and I can't wait 5
08:46more days love you all pack bye got the
08:49last piece of metal at the store in that
08:52small little town anyo these are going
08:56to be our shims that we're going to add
08:57on our bracket that way
09:00it all meets up on the rail perfectly
09:02like this one I am a welder certified
09:05now I just don't have the welder I mean
09:08I have the welder I don't have the
09:09machine is that how it work yeah anyways
09:12so I'm going to just cut these down and
09:15we'll probably just secure it with
09:16cocking cuz they have to be secured with
09:17cocking anyways to the counter and I
09:19think it'll be a okay a bada boom bada
09:22bing boom you know it's a great day when
09:25you have a new renovator blade I was
09:29hoping that was going to rhyme
09:31[Music]
09:35more I am beyond excited to see both of
09:39these
09:46installed last bracket now let's hope
09:48the counter fits and the window will
09:50shut all of the brackets are in let's do
09:53it wow that's nice that's really close
09:57that's perfect I hope it shots say it
10:00open the window brushes the crumbs off
10:02the table for you damn that's my cun of
10:07eating we got that perfect by the way
10:10that's insane
10:21math one counter installed we have a
10:26problem we just celebrated this one see
10:29oh I found the culprit look under here
10:33that so when you oh I'm going to fix it
10:38watch this before you shut it move that
10:42up W chicken what just happened was we
10:47got the window open seamlessly it was
10:49exciting and then a minute later I went
10:51to go close it with the counter on same
10:52deal and it was getting stuck and then I
10:55thought that it had something to do with
10:57obviously how high the counter is which
10:58would not have been good Jasmine turned
11:00the handle and a mechanism got pushed up
11:02and that way we could actually close it
11:04again so when we close the window we
11:06have to make sure the handle isn't the
11:07correct position perfect yeah well it it
11:09had to work cuz you opened it cuz I it
11:12was shut and I opened it before that's
11:13why it made no sense and that's how
11:15doors work the are latches so these are
11:18going directly
11:20on good
11:22yeah Beauty let's get the pizza oven
11:25going I bet you thought we were having
11:27pizza for dinner tricked you this
11:30Woodfired Pizza Oven is going to keep
11:32the cocking nice and warm that way it
11:37dries this is going to pull it together
11:40this one just had five teeth removed and
11:43she's trying to bite the cardboard boxes
11:48I can't get over
11:52her well that was
11:54easy three outdoor chairs I love it it's
11:59so nice everyone has their own window I
12:01think it's about
12:02time first meal thank
12:06you wow mm I can't believe we just did a
12:11custom
12:12window ourselves inside our own house it
12:16is my favorite thing in the entire
12:20world I'm so happy and we're having
12:23butter chicken this is the best view
12:26ever I love it so much I can't wait to
12:29have friends across the table I've got
12:33you I just can't wait till people are
12:35enjoying like the fire playing games on
12:37the grass dancing on the porch I can see
12:41them over from the other window that
12:43completely opens over there it's
12:45literally just a complete flow this was
12:47a vision that we brought to life hey
12:50from day one girl I'm also so so proud
12:54like you said that we did ourselves I
12:55just feel like it would have been easy
12:56to hand off but we just tackled it
13:01yeah oh you got some dry hands uhhuh you
13:04need the sun girl mhm what's going on
13:07dishwashing you know thing you don't do
13:11hey hey thing you don't do Ty Ty I'm out
13:14of here commy
13:18comezy I'm glad you all came inside it's
13:21pretty chilly out there e but there's
13:23one
13:24thing that I know a lot of you are
13:27saying girl
13:29get that done and it would make this
13:32window 10 times
13:34prettier should we do it I'll let you
13:37finish your last bite I'm
13:40ready winter
13:44[Music]
13:56nights it's like getting windows on all
13:58over again we did
14:10it where did I park my
14:13tractor oh right over here let's see how
14:16it starts on this cold day and that's
14:18where I left my
14:20Ms
14:24silly one is cold so am I oh keeping
14:30Clen happy
14:31[Music]
14:46righty thank you Clementine I love you
14:50don't even have to bend my back I have
14:52tried numerous things on where to put
14:55those IPC totes that is the closest
14:57we're going to get them to to the house
14:59this year and I am so happy compared to
15:02last year this is a dream and if you're
15:04wondering why I'm not putting it on the
15:05deck that's because they weigh around
15:07like 3,000 lb and I don't think we
15:10engineered Our Deck for that amount of
15:11weight today's winter day and project is
15:13brought to you by the Glorious Sunshine
15:16we're breaking outside today and I'm in
15:19just a flad and a long sleeve come on so
15:23it was very important that we finished
15:25the trim on the windows in order to
15:28start the next project which will finish
15:31off our kitchen completely do you hear
15:34that everyone Jazz and Crystal are going
15:36to be finishing one room inside their
15:39cabin to
15:42100% this is a beautiful piece of maple
15:48[Music]
15:53ply not only are we making our very own
15:57backsplash
15:59DIY because one it's awesome and fun two
16:04we're off for the challenge and three
16:05it's way more economical but we are
16:08really pulling hard on our carpentry
16:11skills today we' got the tracks out and
16:14we're starting with plywood I'm really
16:16pumped up about this I feel like our
16:18skills are slowly getting better and
16:20better and we're accumulating the right
16:21tools to get the job done like a
16:23tracksaw who knew they're just the best
16:26tool
16:27ever feeling in my soul ping popping
16:31never stopping yeah the sky is shine
16:33like gold the r is in his Tre we
16:36everything the first two pieces of
16:38plywood are up and you're probably
16:40wondering what are you going to do with
16:41a plywood backsplash and I know it's
16:44probably looking quite funny right now
16:46but this is the base of what will be a
16:49waterproof easy to clean beautiful
16:52backsplash so you'll see what we're up
16:55to next first piece without a plug
16:57woohoo all right backsplash is done see
17:00you later everyone kidding everyone we
17:04have a really cool product we are going
17:06to be using and I cannot wait to do it
17:10on this backsplash go Crystal go go
17:15Crystal go go Crystal go
17:20here well thank gosh you built the table
17:24eh spinach dip this is the best spinach
17:29dip of my life it's hot are you a
17:33chip spinach dip person or a Peta
17:37spinach di
17:39person answer in the comments all right
17:41ready set prep micro cementing looks a
17:46lot different when you're around eh
17:48we're keeping it clean mhm the last time
17:52I did micro cement I had a huge mess and
17:55Crystal didn't even know until she got
17:58home
18:03[Music]
18:08if you've been here for a minute then
18:11you'll know that this is micro cement
18:12it's like a liquid cement paint that
18:16dries and hardens and looks like cement
18:18it's such an incredible product and it's
18:20really fun for people who are good at it
18:22like
18:23just definitely not my forte but we are
18:27taking this backsplash to the next level
18:30this beautiful plywood is getting a coat
18:33of micro cement and then we will sand
18:36her down and do it again I will sand and
18:39it's going to look so nice in here I
18:42can't wait it's about time we got a
18:44backsplash it's not fun cleaning this
18:47tongue and groove wood when you're
18:49cooking sitting here watching Jazzy work
18:51her magic got to trust the process at
18:55first I was like hm how is this going to
18:57go together and now it's just looking
18:58like one giant slab already first layer
19:01of the backsplash is done and dried 24
19:05hours later and we're sing already there
19:09col everywhere weather Fe there's to
19:15compare that a
19:20everybody round
19:23two round
19:25two where it's know
19:30wa an actual hour just slipped by of me
19:34removing all of that tape and cleaning
19:37that all up I'm super super happy with
19:39it and I think it's ready for sealing
19:42let's do
19:44[Music]
19:57it
20:01B give her belly robes look at inside
20:05this is your dream spot a counter and
20:06you get to look at the squirrels you're
20:08my best
20:14friend counter Surfer number one counter
20:17Surfer number
20:20two the best view in the house okay now
20:22I just need some friends let's go come
20:25over that's all you hi everyone thanks
20:27for sitting at the table with me today
20:29wow we did it boo I know from Little
20:33waitresses dreaming of having a window
20:36they were serving customers at to having
20:39it in their own house cheers everyone
20:41hope you're having a good Sunday morning
20:43and we will see you all next Sunday for
20:47is the last ever video of 2024 2023 3 I
20:50mean I don't know what year I me see you
20:53next week pack see you next week pack
20:55and thank you again for so much support
20:58with the merch woof woof woof I need to
21:00stop leave it to
21:04Bella this is the absolute best place to
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