Man Recycles Double-Decker Into Working Home With Multiple Rooms

Nov 01, 2020 by apost team

In 2018, a dad from London converted an old double-decker bus into a three-bedroom home, which he lives in with his wife and children.

Housing might be affordable in some areas, but few would suggest owning a home is “cheap.” Purchasing a home might prove unaffordable for some, which is why the tiny home market seems to do so well. Someone recently took the concept of a tiny house and expanded it — literally. Instead of purchasing a small cargo unit to covert, an innovative person procured a double-decker bus and turned it into a rural mansion. Amazingly, the old, abandoned bus is now a somewhat opulent home. The costs associated with owning the property are likely less than the expenses associated with a traditional home or even an apartment.

A double-decker bus comes with significant interior space. The “property’s” owners — Bob, Katie, and their children JoJo, Jamie, and Sam — turned the bus into a three-bedroom home. But don’t think living inside of it comes with cramped conditions. As far as makeshift homes go, this one appears to be opulent and spacious. You can thank the designers and builders’ innovative skills for the result.

It should not be too surprising that someone could turn an old bus into a living space. People move into trailer homes all the time. In fact, other families featured on YouTube have also turned to tiny house living. It's a genre that keeps growing and has spread across the web with examples of people living in giant tents, converted shipping containers, and in more conventional small homes. A bus follows the same concept, although some additional work is necessary to make the place livable.

One step involved turning the front cab into a bathroom, as you'll see in the video below. A mix of construction and plumbing skills delivered a functional bathroom, so critics can’t say the bus is “less than” a traditional dwelling. It seems to have everything and serves its purpose well. And unlike most bathrooms, Bob and Kate's toilet comes with a steering wheel!

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Placing an old, converted bus in an urban area would probably come with some problems. However, putting the bus on a previously empty open field makes things more realistic. And that is where the double-decker “bus house” resides. From a distance, it looks like an abandoned bus. As Bob explains, the only neighbors he and his family have are a group of cows! This is, as you can imagine, crucial for folks who live in tiny homes. Because the indoor living space is so tiny, it's important to have access to lots of space outdoors so that you don't feel too cooped up and get cabin fever.

Photos reveal a closer depiction, and you can see the windows and front porch-like overhang. The bus seems more than livable; it looks like an enjoyable place to live. The high costs of housing have led many to look for alternative arrangements. Maybe the “bus home” will start a trend.

What's more, tiny homes offer a variety of advantages compared to more traditional dwellings. Given that tiny homes are, well, tiny, there's much less space for clutter, and that means that they're also easier to clean. So next time you're tasked with cleaning the whole house, think back to Bob and Kate's tiny home.

Of course, tiny homes do have their drawbacks. Imagine, for example, that you want to invite a group of people over. Thanks to Bob and Kate's wooden patio, grill, and outdoor furniture, they might actually be able to have a get together in the summer. But if you live in a tiny bus, it isn't exactly easy to entertain folks in the winter. And since Bob and Kate live in England, we can't imagine that the winters are pleasant. But hey, maybe that's an advantage for the introverts among us — you'll always have an excuse for when someone wants to come over!

Despite the drawbacks and quirks of tiny-home living, it seems like Bob and Kate love their bus house. And we're excited to see more videos from them regarding their daily life in their incredible three-bedroom tiny house.

For more content from Bob and Kate, check out their YouTube channel Family Freedom where they vlog about their daily lives, including insight into their vegan lifestyle and tiny home. One of the most recent videos, for example, explores JoJo's return to school. 

Do you know someone who finds inventions and innovations intriguing? Tell them about this fantastic rural bus house. Maybe someone will move to put a down payment on one.