What Makes a Bus a Home?

Welcome!

What makes a bus a home? A lot of work and a lot of friends… and a lot of work. Thank you to everyone who helped with the bus, from the stripping to the finishing touches! And thanks for all the support from everyone, your excitement about this project has made it a lot more fun and exciting for me and Steve.

Now, let’s take a look at how she turned out…

Me and Taylor at the buswarming party… Steve’s neighbors made the Friluftsliv sign – I love it!!

Ta Daaa!!

While you’re looking at the beautiful finished product, Let me tell you what we have been doing since I arrived on Wednesday. Actually, I can’t really remember Wednesday at this point. So let me hit the high points. Curtains had to be made, a stove purchased and installed, drawer and cabinet handles, bedding, shower curtain, cleaning the bus, taking scrap metal to scrap yard, finding out how to get plates on the bus… I know I’m forgetting a lot because we worked very hard. It will come to me….

The full size futon with beautiful pillows that Taylor and I picked out on our shopping trip

Notice the beautiful lamp! I brought this over awhile back and Steve made it fit somehow. We hung some artwork to make it look like home.

Pull out table for eating, working, etc…

Kevin and Steve made sure that this table will be sturdy by adding a pull-down leg. The table locks into place when not in use. The entertainment center is made of salvaged wood that Steve pieced together – I love it!

Full sized stove

I still can’t believe we got the stove in before the party. We found it on Craigslist on Thursday, and the seller brought it to the house Friday morning. It was installed on Saturday when some strong men showed up who could lift it onto the back of the bus and slide it through the door that was made in the wall just for this purpose. You can see the window above the stove has a screen insert – Steve made several of these to fit on open windows to keep the buggies out… and it fit in the spot that was left for the stove with exactly zero extra room on either side of the stove. It was amazing.

This is the appliance door. Without it, nothing would get on or off the bus! Smart thinking, Steve.

Over the butcher block counter, jars to store food

This is one of my favorite things ^^

Beautiful sink donated by Mark. Love the open shelves above the sink area. Remember, the counter top is a salvaged door! Taylor went shopping with me and helped me pick out the decor. Love the pillows!

Washer/dryer combo

The washer/dryer is vented on the outside of the bus, and there is an access to the water supply to the left. There are many details that are going to make this bus easier to maintain and live in, I will try to describe these important details as I go.

Huge closet!

The closet doors slide open and shut in both directions, and they work beautifully. Notice the extra storage space above with latched doors. I love this. Also notice the butterfly that Kevin put on the wall, which I also love.

The bed!

Under the bed are several baskets to store things in. You can also see the appliance door in it’s finished form, an LED reading light, and my heater/air conditioner.

The bathroom, you can see some of the curtains I made.

The bathroom is huge, which I love. There is a beautiful built in shelf above the back door. You can also see a row of LED lights on the ceiling. There is another row of these above the entertainment center. I think Steve said all the LED lights in the bus use about as much electricity as one regular light.

Looking from the bathroom to the front of the bus..

This door has an original Steve Ward painted on it, and magnets to lock it in place both ways so you can either have just the toilet or the entire bathroom to yourself.

… same view with the bathroom door shut.

The vented skylight is in just the right spot, above the toilet 😉

Temporary composting toilet

The composting toilet box will eventually store an emergency propane heater, which will be kept under the bus in case the power goes out so I don’t freeze my a@@ off. The composting toilet is necessary until I get the bus on the permanent spot in August. If it goes well, maybe I’ll keep it… but there is sewer access on the permanent spot and a real toilet is kind of a nice thing.

Shower

The shower is just tall enough for me to stand in it comfortably, and has vinyl walls that look so nice, it turned out really well.

The vanity with fancy sink

A few things to notice with the beautiful vanity… the pink marble donated by Kevin, beautiful sink that Mary our style director helped pick, the bus mirror that was taken from the front of the bus and formerly used to keep an eye on unruly children, and the reflective insert over the window. These reflective inserts will be used in the heat of the summer to keep the sun out. To the right of the sink on the wall you can just see the electrical box. It is labeled really well. I am supposed to be sure the hot water tank is full before turning it on. Important. There is also a switch to go from 30 to 50 amp depending on my power source.

Kora loves the view from the bed

Here is how much wood was scrapped for this project – amazing

A few behind the scenes details…

Electrical outlet and some of the plumbing under the bus

Outdoor electrical plug.

Where the water goes in

The Worried Minds setting up to play at the party

Once the party started, I had no time to take pictures but I did get a shot of band setting up. They were fantastic, thanks guys!! Everyone had a great time.

Very special cookies made by Mary’s mom and aunt…

The next step is getting it road ready – My goal is to return at the end of this month and get a few more things done in order to make this happen, then drive it home. Then there will be another party. 🙂 I also have to paint the outside, which I will do when it is in North Carolina. This adventure is not quite over. Actually, it will continue to be an adventure I suppose, since I now have a home that can travel. 🙂