Our apartment lease ended November '16 and we remodeled a bus!
Spending the past two years with Robbie has really opened up my eyes to how corrupt our government is as a whole. We don't want to have to worry about loans or debt so we are choosing the "alternative" route. With Robbie's woodworking and building skills and my killer interior designing skills, we are excited to take on this challenge over the next few months. I will be posting pictures of our journey as well as notes, helpful tips, and difficulties we face through it all.
june 1st '16
june 1st '16
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Pictures of a partially converted church bus that we bought from a couple that lived in it for a year. This is when we bought the bus!
Hey guys, I thought I should just write a little update on the bus. We bought the bus from a family friend. It was partially converted already because the couple we bought it from lived in it for about a year. There was a bed, a toilet in the shower, a lounge couch area that folded out into a bed area, a sink, an oven and some counters. I will be uploading pictures very soon of before, during the process, and after. We are officially moving into the bus mid-November and are excited for this lifestyle. More to come soon.
September 28, '16
September 28, '16
We worked restlessly on the bus for months and months. We were on a time crunch to get Birdy ready for the move in, donating more than half of our belongings, packing boxes and cars full of STUFF. and living a more minimalistic life. We were counting down the months, to weeks, to days.... I can't even begin to explain how much stress, anxiety, and worry I was feeling at the time. We have kept the bus parked on my parent's house on the side yard since we purchased the bus back in September. I was so excited to work on this dream with the love of my life. Although physically and mentally difficult, I knew by November we would have a whole weight lifted off our shoulders and everything would be ok again.
Shortly after, we found out that The city of Broomfield, CO does not allow anyone to live in an RV even on private property, you can only park it there.
We knew that we needed to either move out OR move the bus somewhere else- but because we had just moved in... we had no where else to park it. This hit us so hard, I felt like so many people were controlling my own life and I had to frantically come up with so many solutions- or just temporary options at least. We packed a couple of bags and put Opal in his carrier and made the 40 minute drive to Robbie's parent's house in Wheat Ridge which is where Opal, Robbie, and I have been for the past three months. We have been recovering greatly, with many challenges to deal with still, but we are here and we are at least moving forward. There are a few projects we still need to work on: solar panels need to be ordered and installed, we also need to put in our fan/AC unit on the roof and come up with a permanent heating system, and mechanically, we just need to change the oil in the bus and plug a leak. We are so close, but we have struggled greatly. My life has changed in many ways that I didn't even think were possible. I didn't picture myself getting or being in this situation, so I can admit honestly I am still in recovery mode. - Feb. 2017
Shortly after, we found out that The city of Broomfield, CO does not allow anyone to live in an RV even on private property, you can only park it there.
We knew that we needed to either move out OR move the bus somewhere else- but because we had just moved in... we had no where else to park it. This hit us so hard, I felt like so many people were controlling my own life and I had to frantically come up with so many solutions- or just temporary options at least. We packed a couple of bags and put Opal in his carrier and made the 40 minute drive to Robbie's parent's house in Wheat Ridge which is where Opal, Robbie, and I have been for the past three months. We have been recovering greatly, with many challenges to deal with still, but we are here and we are at least moving forward. There are a few projects we still need to work on: solar panels need to be ordered and installed, we also need to put in our fan/AC unit on the roof and come up with a permanent heating system, and mechanically, we just need to change the oil in the bus and plug a leak. We are so close, but we have struggled greatly. My life has changed in many ways that I didn't even think were possible. I didn't picture myself getting or being in this situation, so I can admit honestly I am still in recovery mode. - Feb. 2017
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Details from when we first purchased the bus. We are still working on shelving under the sink, but we completely took out all of the blue walls and the couch/lounge area.
Other than the emotional stress this huge project caused, we have managed to make the bus super homey and filled with only our favorite items. We had to downsize a lot and pick out favorite clothing items, books, pictures, plants, knick knacks, and other things that make their way into your home after living in three separate places with your boyfriend! Robbie worked extremely hard with building all of the interior we have now. We tore out the whole bathroom area and bought a composting toilet and a stock tank for the shower/bath. We bought a new mattress (it's called the cloud and definitely feels like one) and two copper shelves in the room filled with our favorite crystals, candles, and other trinkets. Our closet consists of the dresses that bring me joy, my favorite blouses, and mainly black leggings... Now my collection of shoes isn't as minimal as the rest of my items, to be honest. Robbie only has a few t-shirts and pants that he wears regularly.
Here are a few pictures from when we were building so you can follow along our journey
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The toilet was originally in the shower area. We disassembled the handmade toilet, tore down all three walls, removed the broken sink, and strategically made enough room for a shower and toilet area.
We built a platform for the composting toilet because of the bus wheel being there- stained the wood to match the stained floors.
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Robbie and I are both incredibly inspired by copper and antique decor. We chose to make the bus wood and copper themed. This is the bathroom shelf and hot/cold system for the shower.
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We chose to sand the red floors and stain them a gorgeous deep walnut shade.
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Now enjoy a few photos from when we introduced our belongings to Birdy...
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My last words will reassure you that we have a temporary place to park and we will be moving there very soon now. We can't wait to finally be living in this home that we worked so hard on. Thanks for reading, friends, I'll be sure to keep you updated.
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Want to hear more about Birdy + follow our journey?
Come find me on Instagram by clicking HERE
Come find me on Instagram by clicking HERE
Hey folks! It has been a while, hasn't it? I wanted to share with you all how the past few months of bus living has gone and share a few more photos of the bus as well! We have lived in the bus full-time for almost 4 months now. I can admit it took me a long time to adjust to this lifestyle- you think it's just going to be a simple, minimal debt-free lifestyle... and it does have it's perks for sure, but emotionally we were going through a lot when we first started this whole journey of converting the bus.
It took me months to feel comfortable living in a bus. For example, just to turn our water on, we had to install a switch which turns the water pump on and off to provide hot water in our shower and in the sink. Our hot water is fueled by propane... It usually takes about 10 seconds for the water to start getting hot. When the water is freezing cold, that means we are out of propane and need to get our tank filled again. We usually have to exchange tanks every 2-3 weeks. Adjusting the shower temperature is A CHORE. It's so hard to get the temperature "just right" and the hot water runs out pretty quickly... so showers are typically between 5-10 minutes tops.
Next- the composting toilet. The toilet doesn't require any plumbing whatsoever. It's easy enough for me to lift the whole toilet myself. There are two chambers that make up the toilet. The first chamber is close to the front- it's a tank with two small indented holes that you pee in. Every 4-5 days we have to dump the pee tank because it fills pretty quickly. The second chamber is a little closer to the back of the toilet and is for your poo. You open this chamber by cranking a handle down to your left. Do your business, wipe, and then close the handle. From there, you essentially "mix" the poo with a lever that easily cranks. Turn it a few times, and you're done. The poo chamber does have to be mixed with damp cocoa coir. Every time we empty the poo chamber, we mix a bit of water with fresh cocoa coir and then it's ready to go. Cocoa coir is easily renewable (it's coconut husks!) and the best part- OUR TOILET NEVER SMELLS. There is a vent hose connected to the second chamber, so it truly is never smelly. That was honestly my biggest worry about having any toilet in a small compact space.
Other than that- the only thing we are having difficulty with is our refrigerator. We have tried working with the wires, but I think our next big project will be removing the refrigerator that the bus came with and just buy a reliable (Maybe smaller) fridge. We haven't had a running fridge since we have moved into the bus- so either we cook non-perishable foods or eat out. Some of our favorite places to eat at lately are City O City, Zoe's Kitchen, Pho, and local asian restaurants. Robbie and I are also both vegetarian so we go to the places we know will satisfy our cravings :)
Next, I wanted to talk about having our 2 year old cat Opal living in the bus with us. Opal has always been an independent, cuddly, vocal chub chub. He has to weigh like 15 pounds at this point lol. We built a small litter box compartment close to the front of the door so that his litter wouldn't stink up the whole bus. He had no problem identifying where his litter box was either, so thank goodness for that. His water and food bowl are next to his litter box (which I have read that sometimes that will prevent cats from eating/drinking but he does just fine) and on the opposite side-right next to the front door- Robbie built Opal a small insulated box for when the bus gets especially cold. During the winter months, we made it by comfortably with two space heaters in the bus but I would like to have something more permanent next winter. Sometimes I would get worried when I couldn't find Opal during those crazy blizzards we had this winter, but then would reach my hand into that insulated box and would feel a ball of fur- so to our surprise, he used it quite a bit! Now that it's getting hotter as we approach summer, I usually keep a few windows rolled down so he can stick his head outside and get some fresh air while we are at work. Robbie also installed our A/C fan unit on the ceiling- so I will open that up and turn the fan on if it's super hot. Opal likes to sleep in our bed most nights- lately it's been right by our feet, but he will usually cuddle up with me and Robbie. Opal is super sassy when he wants catnip or to go outside, but he is SO loving and has so much character to him. We play fetch with a paper ball frequently. Sometimes we will catch him playing with small sample bags from Sephora, my hair ties, Q-tips, Beauty Blenders (he has chewed 3 so far) or anything small he can get his paws on. Typically I will find those things destroyed in his food and water bowl.
Next, I would like to bring up something that I'm largely passionate about and that I take a lot of pride in- MA PLANT BABIES!! Sadly a few plants didn't make it through the transition of moving onto the bus or through the chill of winter... But now that it's summer, I'm trying to turn the bus into a jungle haha. Robbie recently built some white planter boxes that we have hooked onto the front of the bus. We are noticing more and more sprouts everyday in those. We planted seeds of poppies, foxglove, and snapdragons in those cute planters and I can't wait to see some color in them over the next few months! Outside we also have lavender, tobacco, a cactus we received from one of Robbie's customers, and a spider plant that I have had for probably a year now. Opal loves chewing on the spider plants' leaves, so I'm trying to revive the plant by keeping it outside. Inside the bus, we have lots of exciting goodies! My most prized plant is my hearty split-leaf philodendron or monstera plant. We notice new leaves unraveling every other week. We also have succulents that are starting to flower and 3 giant air plants right now that we keep on our handmade light fixture above our bed. I recently planted some cherry tomatoes, basil, and cilantro from seed and the cilantro and tomato have already sprouted! My heart feels so happy when I see sprouts from seedlings. Many other plants and cacti are scattered around the bus, but one of the most important is our San Pedro cactus that we have had since mine and Robbie's first apartment together. During the move, it fell in my car and the cactus BROKE IN HALF. I was so disappointed, we almost threw the cactus out. After repotting the San Pedro in fresh soil, and placing it next to very special crystals above my vanity, he has started to grow an arm right where he broke in half!
As always, if you have any questions about the bus, please feel free to send me a message HERE or reach out to me on Instagram!
For now, I hope you enjoy some new pictures from the last few months of arranging the inside of our bus <3 - June 2 '17
It took me months to feel comfortable living in a bus. For example, just to turn our water on, we had to install a switch which turns the water pump on and off to provide hot water in our shower and in the sink. Our hot water is fueled by propane... It usually takes about 10 seconds for the water to start getting hot. When the water is freezing cold, that means we are out of propane and need to get our tank filled again. We usually have to exchange tanks every 2-3 weeks. Adjusting the shower temperature is A CHORE. It's so hard to get the temperature "just right" and the hot water runs out pretty quickly... so showers are typically between 5-10 minutes tops.
Next- the composting toilet. The toilet doesn't require any plumbing whatsoever. It's easy enough for me to lift the whole toilet myself. There are two chambers that make up the toilet. The first chamber is close to the front- it's a tank with two small indented holes that you pee in. Every 4-5 days we have to dump the pee tank because it fills pretty quickly. The second chamber is a little closer to the back of the toilet and is for your poo. You open this chamber by cranking a handle down to your left. Do your business, wipe, and then close the handle. From there, you essentially "mix" the poo with a lever that easily cranks. Turn it a few times, and you're done. The poo chamber does have to be mixed with damp cocoa coir. Every time we empty the poo chamber, we mix a bit of water with fresh cocoa coir and then it's ready to go. Cocoa coir is easily renewable (it's coconut husks!) and the best part- OUR TOILET NEVER SMELLS. There is a vent hose connected to the second chamber, so it truly is never smelly. That was honestly my biggest worry about having any toilet in a small compact space.
Other than that- the only thing we are having difficulty with is our refrigerator. We have tried working with the wires, but I think our next big project will be removing the refrigerator that the bus came with and just buy a reliable (Maybe smaller) fridge. We haven't had a running fridge since we have moved into the bus- so either we cook non-perishable foods or eat out. Some of our favorite places to eat at lately are City O City, Zoe's Kitchen, Pho, and local asian restaurants. Robbie and I are also both vegetarian so we go to the places we know will satisfy our cravings :)
Next, I wanted to talk about having our 2 year old cat Opal living in the bus with us. Opal has always been an independent, cuddly, vocal chub chub. He has to weigh like 15 pounds at this point lol. We built a small litter box compartment close to the front of the door so that his litter wouldn't stink up the whole bus. He had no problem identifying where his litter box was either, so thank goodness for that. His water and food bowl are next to his litter box (which I have read that sometimes that will prevent cats from eating/drinking but he does just fine) and on the opposite side-right next to the front door- Robbie built Opal a small insulated box for when the bus gets especially cold. During the winter months, we made it by comfortably with two space heaters in the bus but I would like to have something more permanent next winter. Sometimes I would get worried when I couldn't find Opal during those crazy blizzards we had this winter, but then would reach my hand into that insulated box and would feel a ball of fur- so to our surprise, he used it quite a bit! Now that it's getting hotter as we approach summer, I usually keep a few windows rolled down so he can stick his head outside and get some fresh air while we are at work. Robbie also installed our A/C fan unit on the ceiling- so I will open that up and turn the fan on if it's super hot. Opal likes to sleep in our bed most nights- lately it's been right by our feet, but he will usually cuddle up with me and Robbie. Opal is super sassy when he wants catnip or to go outside, but he is SO loving and has so much character to him. We play fetch with a paper ball frequently. Sometimes we will catch him playing with small sample bags from Sephora, my hair ties, Q-tips, Beauty Blenders (he has chewed 3 so far) or anything small he can get his paws on. Typically I will find those things destroyed in his food and water bowl.
Next, I would like to bring up something that I'm largely passionate about and that I take a lot of pride in- MA PLANT BABIES!! Sadly a few plants didn't make it through the transition of moving onto the bus or through the chill of winter... But now that it's summer, I'm trying to turn the bus into a jungle haha. Robbie recently built some white planter boxes that we have hooked onto the front of the bus. We are noticing more and more sprouts everyday in those. We planted seeds of poppies, foxglove, and snapdragons in those cute planters and I can't wait to see some color in them over the next few months! Outside we also have lavender, tobacco, a cactus we received from one of Robbie's customers, and a spider plant that I have had for probably a year now. Opal loves chewing on the spider plants' leaves, so I'm trying to revive the plant by keeping it outside. Inside the bus, we have lots of exciting goodies! My most prized plant is my hearty split-leaf philodendron or monstera plant. We notice new leaves unraveling every other week. We also have succulents that are starting to flower and 3 giant air plants right now that we keep on our handmade light fixture above our bed. I recently planted some cherry tomatoes, basil, and cilantro from seed and the cilantro and tomato have already sprouted! My heart feels so happy when I see sprouts from seedlings. Many other plants and cacti are scattered around the bus, but one of the most important is our San Pedro cactus that we have had since mine and Robbie's first apartment together. During the move, it fell in my car and the cactus BROKE IN HALF. I was so disappointed, we almost threw the cactus out. After repotting the San Pedro in fresh soil, and placing it next to very special crystals above my vanity, he has started to grow an arm right where he broke in half!
As always, if you have any questions about the bus, please feel free to send me a message HERE or reach out to me on Instagram!
For now, I hope you enjoy some new pictures from the last few months of arranging the inside of our bus <3 - June 2 '17
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Hey friends, thanks for continuing to read through our bus journey.
I thought I should post an update because we are changing lots around the bus! We added new plant babies (what's new?) and recently replaced my antique living room rug with a different gorgeous antique rug that compliments our color scheme way better. I have made it a decorative point to keep the copper, white, blush, and green theme going throughout the bus. I replaced the colorful printed tapestry that was hanging on my wicker chair with a simple white quilt, bordered with blush colored fringe. Next to my chair lives our biggest plant yet- Alocasia. Now I'm going to be honest with you- I've never owned one of these plants before and had very little knowledge of how to care for it. I spotted this green goddess in the greenhouse and was immediately drawn to it because of it's height and monstrous leaves. We have had her for about three, maybe four, weeks at this point and she has already grown three new leaves since repotting her in an antique floral bordered brass pot.
One of the biggest projects we have put off for months now is building kitchen shelves and cabinets. We finally put our motivation caps on and bought wood and amazing copper handles from World Market to build our cabinets under the sink! We have half of the kitchen done already but still need to build drawers and cabinets near the stove. I can't even begin to tell you how much more homey this has made the bus!
I find our bedroom area to be the most important part of the bus in a lot of ways. I want it to feel comfortable and sacred- not cluttered and small. We took the insulation off of our windows (thank goodness it's summer!) so now we have soft natural light in the mornings and ethereal warm sunset light during the evening. Robbie and I replaced the white tissue paper around our light fixture with handmade cloud lights we created from old pillows, hot glue, and small bags we tied around the bulbs. We also bought two gorgeous vining plants and hung their arms from the ceiling- in hopes that in the future they will start to inter-twine. Finally, we completed our ceiling project by looping twinkle lights through the vining ivy and use that as our "night light". Our next plans for the room are as followed:
Some other big news as to why we are completing all of these projects- we will be adding another furry friend to our family. The black and white cat we like to call "little kitty" lives on the property we have the bus parked on- she just had 4 precious little baby kitties on June 26th. They are about 2 weeks old now and we get to introduce ours to the bus in a few weeks from now. We have our little one picked out and are hoping that she is a girl! I will post more pictures when she is officially in the bus. For now, enjoy some more pictures of all our recent projects! - July 10, 2017
I thought I should post an update because we are changing lots around the bus! We added new plant babies (what's new?) and recently replaced my antique living room rug with a different gorgeous antique rug that compliments our color scheme way better. I have made it a decorative point to keep the copper, white, blush, and green theme going throughout the bus. I replaced the colorful printed tapestry that was hanging on my wicker chair with a simple white quilt, bordered with blush colored fringe. Next to my chair lives our biggest plant yet- Alocasia. Now I'm going to be honest with you- I've never owned one of these plants before and had very little knowledge of how to care for it. I spotted this green goddess in the greenhouse and was immediately drawn to it because of it's height and monstrous leaves. We have had her for about three, maybe four, weeks at this point and she has already grown three new leaves since repotting her in an antique floral bordered brass pot.
One of the biggest projects we have put off for months now is building kitchen shelves and cabinets. We finally put our motivation caps on and bought wood and amazing copper handles from World Market to build our cabinets under the sink! We have half of the kitchen done already but still need to build drawers and cabinets near the stove. I can't even begin to tell you how much more homey this has made the bus!
I find our bedroom area to be the most important part of the bus in a lot of ways. I want it to feel comfortable and sacred- not cluttered and small. We took the insulation off of our windows (thank goodness it's summer!) so now we have soft natural light in the mornings and ethereal warm sunset light during the evening. Robbie and I replaced the white tissue paper around our light fixture with handmade cloud lights we created from old pillows, hot glue, and small bags we tied around the bulbs. We also bought two gorgeous vining plants and hung their arms from the ceiling- in hopes that in the future they will start to inter-twine. Finally, we completed our ceiling project by looping twinkle lights through the vining ivy and use that as our "night light". Our next plans for the room are as followed:
- De-clutter and organize storage under the bed
- Build sliding doors under the bed
- Build a shoe storage shelf (your .girl has a guilty pleasure of Free Birds)
- Weave macrame fringe for either draping over our bed or lining the sliding doors under bed
Some other big news as to why we are completing all of these projects- we will be adding another furry friend to our family. The black and white cat we like to call "little kitty" lives on the property we have the bus parked on- she just had 4 precious little baby kitties on June 26th. They are about 2 weeks old now and we get to introduce ours to the bus in a few weeks from now. We have our little one picked out and are hoping that she is a girl! I will post more pictures when she is officially in the bus. For now, enjoy some more pictures of all our recent projects! - July 10, 2017
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