Let’s face it, renting is expensive and mortgages are even worse. It ties you down, not only financially, but physically. On top of that, finding your dream home isn’t easy. This is why Charlie MacVicar, 26, and her boyfriend Luke Walker, 27, decided that they were going to look for an alternative that suited their dream lifestyle.
Charlie’s father owns some lovely land in Essex, England, and offered them the opportunity to utilize the space however they wished. The couple set out to find the perfect solution to their problem, considering shipping containers to RVs to all sorts of repurposed homes until they found their dream home – a double-decker bus that allowed them the space they needed.
A dream home takes time to build
Most of the double-deckers they viewed required a massive amount of work and many weren’t tall enough inside for Walker, who measures in at 6 feet. They eventually settled on an authentic red Go-Ahead London Volvo Plaxton bus and made the leap in 2017.
The bright red bus was still transporting passengers just months before the purchase, which set them back $3435. The renovations came in at approximately $20,000 and took roughly a year from purchase to completion of their desired renovations. The red dream home has been their permanent residence since 2018 and they even commuted to work in it until COVID-19 hit in 2020.
Read: Couple buys used work truck for $4500 – transforms it into a beautiful dream home
Minimal land rent means this couple can focus on new ventures
Charlie says that they pay her father a small amount of rent each month for use of the land, but it comes nowhere close to what they would have paid to live elsewhere. The bus is parked next to a beautiful pond which adds to the charm of the place. Two goats named Monty and Darwin also reside on the property. “When you live in a bus you live a weird life, so you might as well have two goats,” MacVicar said.
With no experience in renovating anything between them, the couple struggled initially
With MacVicar being in logistics and Walker working for an insurance company, the couple really had no idea what was to come. “It was definitely a shock to the system,” MacVicar said. The bus still had it’s passenger seats inside when they took ownership.” We got really overwhelmed,” she said. “Like, it was my first time picking up a screwdriver.”
They were lucky enough to call on the help of friends and family for support throughout the project and called in professionals for the real hard work like the electrical and plumbing installation. It was overall quite a struggle as very few of these buses had been converted before. This left them with very little inspiration to draw from.
Without tried and proven floor plans for the bus conversion, they had very little to go off of and depended heavily on the entire project as a learning experience. The bus was also quite large, measuring 14.6 feet high, 32.8 feet long, and 8.3 feet wide.
A dream home with all the amenities
A full kitchen fills a portion of the downstairs floor space. There’s an oven, stove, microwave, sink, fridge, dining table, and even a washing machine installed. The living room has a wood-burning stove, two benches, and a small desk area which is useful as home office space. A small bathroom downstairs consists of a toilet and sink. This is the only private space on the bus, the rest is entirely open-plan.
The dream home has a lovely upstairs living area too
There is no shower on the bus, but the couple installed a gorgeous victorian claw-footed bathtub in the upstairs bedroom. The bedroom consists of a double bed, two nightstands, and even a television. They had to have the bathtub lifted by crane through the top emergency window.
A pretty sizable walk-in closet fills the remainder of the upstairs area, with a dressing unit and mirror included. “Anything that we would normally have in a house, I don’t feel like we’re lacking in the bus,” she said. “We’ve made it work.” The bus is even fully electrical and has WiFi, water, and installed gas which gets delivered.
A few logistical workarounds
All the fittings for the top floor had to be customized to the shape of the roofing and flooring, which curved. Additionally, the bottom level floor had to be raised to accommodate properly fitted gas and water pipes. The decision to keep things open-plan was a practical one. “I think the more stuff you build, it’s going to make the bus feel smaller,” said MacVicar about their dream home.
“You just forget that you’re on a double-decker bus, and then you just have to sort of think, ‘Wait a minute, I’m having a bath on a double-decker bus,’” she said. “It’s a weird thought. I remember looking at some flats with my boyfriend, and to be honest, it feels like we’ve got a lot more space than some people that we know,” MacVicar said. They now also have almost half an acre of outdoor space – way more than they could expect anywhere else.
Downsizing was easy for the couple
“It was upsizing, really,” she said. “For me, it felt like we’ve got more space moving into the bus than when we lived at home.” They are also conveniently only a 10 minutes drive from their residential neighborhood and shops where they would purchase necessities.
“At night it’s like a bonus, it’s really dark, and no one’s around, and it’s really quiet and peaceful,” she said. And with the bus being mostly windows, they decided against curtains to allow natural light. The couple manages to sleep undisturbed. The only issue they are currently having is temperature regulation, with temps soaring in summer and being rather chilly in winter.
A happy family who are confident in their decision
“It honestly has been the best thing we’ve ever done,” she said. “Some days I sit here and I think, ‘Oh, why am I living in this bus, this is so annoying.’ But the majority of the time, I think we’re just so grateful for being able to do something quite creative when we’re not creative people. I love being able to look outside and see my goats and have a more country, outdoor living sort of space,” she said. “It has been the best thing for us.”
Keep Reading: These Old Grain Silos Were Converted into a Stunning Bed and Breakfast
