Thanks for the comments guys. To answer your points in turn:
Top idea about the magnetic catches - I hadn't thought of that! I wonder if they'd be strong enough if I frying pan wanted to break free going around a corner? In any event, I'll give them a go but not anytime soon as I'm off camping tomorrow (more on that in a bit...)
The plastic sheeting was only used on the ceiling, as the walls were lined in Royal Mail's white plastic liner. It's called a vapour barrier and cuts down on condensation. Essentially, when we're asleep we're breathing out a load of moist air. The walls and ceiling of the van are cool as it's night time, so the breath condenses. This then drips, causes rust and makes the van damp. The plastic sheeting reduces this. It's a good reason for not using wool-type insulation as it can get soaked. The insulation (both foil and polystyrene) is for heat, not noise (although gluing the foil and carpet on does help with noise...). Cool in summer, warm in winter. At least, that's the idea.
Anyway, I'm off to France tomorrow in the van, and am planning to live in her for 10 days, so I had to sort some quick-time finishing touches today to make her habitable. So far there's been about
12 days of full-time work to get from red van to the point in the photos below. Am I finished? Probably not, but not too far off!
Today's first job was to buy, size and cut down a nice memory foam mattress topper. This makes the bed oooodles comfier and was only £35 from B&M.
Next job was to make some thermal blinds for the windows. These are a massive source of heat in summer, heat loss in winter and (obviously) light. Thermal blinds cost a fortune, so I bought another roll of foil insulation (£7 - B&Q) and some 40mm suction pads (£3 - eBay) and got cutting.
They seem to work well and it's nice and dark inside with them up!
Final job then was to give the whole inside of a bit of a clean. Now I'm no detailer, so it was 4 or 5 quick washes in the cab with some soapy water (there was a decade of bloody awful Postman grime!), followed with a quick spray and wipe of B&M back-to-black. Quick job, but I don't think it looks too awful! The cupboards also got a wipe down to remove greasy fingerprints and a quick sweep out. Ready for our trip - I'll report how I get on!