Article written by Meg Law for Yahoo Lifestyle
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If you know you know.
For the 900,000+ caravan owners in Australia, there’s one universally accepted truth: making the bed in a van is an Olympic sport no one signed up for.
Whether you’re wrestling with the overhang of sheets or balancing on one leg like a clumsy gymnast on the top bunk bed, you’ve no doubt felt the pain.
Somewhere along the design journey, Australian caravan manufacturers decided to play some mind jedi and spice things up with mattresses shaped like puzzle pieces. Curved edges, chopped corners, custom sized mattresses including ‘Queens’ that are actually ‘double beds’ in disguise.
The result? Bed making chaos, sweaty frustration, parents and solo travellers shouting expletives from their home on wheels and of course a very real possibility of pulling a hamstring while trying to tuck in a top sheet.
Some social media posts even suggest the solution is to ‘just get your husband to do it’ resulting in much hilarious commentary between the vanlife community. Others suggest to skip sheets altogether and go with old school sleeping bags and some even recommending cutting sheets to size and resewing – with the consensus retort being ‘good one Karen, no time for that!’
While standard zip sheets can be problematic for caravan bedding, custom solutions and modifications can address the issue, making bed-making in a caravan more manageable. Enter the heroes we never knew we needed: the girls from MeanderWild, (and a few clever Australian makers), who have come to the rescue with custom-made zip sheets.
These genius creations combine a fitted bottom sheet and a top sheet that zips on like a sleeping bag. No tucking. No acrobats. No cursing before coffee. The ‘tribe has spoken’ and van-lifers are wild for it.
The old adage ‘it’s not true unless it’s on facebook’ rings true in this instance with caravanning and road trip groups all discussing different bedding options and MeanderWild being a clear top 5 favourite brand for many battling with the issue.
Facebook comments include ‘MeanderWild are such good quality’, and ‘I heart the invisible zip – genius’ while others raving about the breathable fabric and colour choices.
Kirstel and Laura – Co-Founders of MeanderWild told Yahoo Lifestyle ‘we’re sisters-in-law who teamed up after a very relatable caravanning moment. Laura had just bought a new van and spent a small fortune on bedding from a local store—only to find none of it fit. The corners popped off, the sheets slipped during the night, and it was all round disappointing. But it was also a lightbulb moment."
“We figured there had to be a better way and that was when MeanderWild was born. At the time, there was very little competition in the space and caravanning in Australia was/is still booming. People were selling up to travel full-time or taking extended breaks to explore with their families and it had become an Aussie household dream.”
They told Yahoo Lifestyle that the zip sheet design took a fair bit of trial and error to get right, from the shape to the sizing to the actual placement of the zip. “It was a good 6–8 months of sampling, testing in our own van and with family and friends, and making adjustments before we felt confident enough to go into production.”
“The response blew us away. It’s still our best-seller and a real pinch-us moment,” Kirstel told Yahoo Lifestyle.
Regular caravaner Meg Lindley tells Yahoo Lifestyle “they make the Queen bed in our van so soft and comfortable to sleep on, we felt like we were on a cloud. I will be purchasing them for home soon!”
Another caravaner Jo Townsend tells Yahoo Lifestyle ‘Love the quality and love how easy it is to make the bed and keep it looking neat especially as my husband insists on pulling his side of the bed out.’
Timing really was everything for the two girls who flipped the van bedding space on its head.
What started with solving one common problem, finding bedding that fits caravan mattresses, has opened the door to so much more.
“What began around a kitchen table is now a full-time gig for both of us and we’ve just welcomed our first team member to help keep up with the growth.”
Their best-selling Roaming Cotton Sateen in Caravan Queen size sells out within days of each release and their new bunk range, Little Wild, has also been a hit with customers as Kirstel told Yahoo Lifestyle they are ‘designed to be practical, snug, and brings a bit of fun to your family van setup as comes in a variety of great styles and patterns.”
So, if you’re still wrestling with a corner that refuses to stay tucked, it might be time to join the zip sheet revolution.