After writing my post The Call to be a Nomadic Family I got some really lovely feedback about the interior of the bus, so instead of continuing on our journey I thought I would take you all on a tour of our bus, from when we started to convert it, right up until we where living in it full time.
We had done a big job already on taking all the seats out of her, 30 to be exact, and after that we insulted the floor and covered it with 18mm plywood. We covered the normal metal steps with these lovely cut off pieces of Elm that were given to us by a man in West Cork when we visited his Mill.
We used spreadable cork as insulation on the walls and ceiling of the bus. It came over from France and we used a total of 5 buckets. You can see one of the buckets in the picture above. It took us a while to get use to using the spray gun, but it is very effective and really good at insulating areas that are normally hard to reach.It takes the shape of what it is covering so therefore there are no cold bridges.
What you are seeing above is the start of our pull out pantry, very important for all our dried whole foods. Beans and grains are a stable in our diet so we need to have enough storage.
I love to cook, so I wanted a kitchen that was practical and inviting, I was very happy with the end result, the wood used for the counter top is Elm. The sink is just a stainless steel bowl which we cut a hole in to fit the drain. The shelves above are Yew.
We wanted to have a comfortable seating area, opposite that is a large window, where we would sit enjoying the many different views we had whilst moving around. I especially loved sitting there on a wet windy day and watching the sea.
I love to read, so having a bookcase was a most for me and my family. We were so lucky in Ireland to be able to find such beautiful wood that we could utilise. I am especially proud of that bookcase. You can access it from the sitting area and the bed behind.
At this stage we have fully moved in and have put our belongings in place. One of the first things to go in the bus was the curved branch that you can see. We kind of build the rest of the inside around that. It was not just there to look good, we used it to dry herbs that we gathered. Practical as well as beautiful.
Above is one of our pallet doors we made, we really done this on a small budget, so using pallets we found was ideal and turned out great I think.
Above is our functioning kitchen, we used a piece of bamboo with a pipe as a tap which was connected to our foot pump . We had 2 water containers under our bus, one for fresh water the other for grey water. We added pebbles around the sink to protect the wooden counter. Our cooking was done on a basic camping stove.
And then of course we had to have some toys and books for our two girls for those rainy days, which there are plenty of in Ireland. There is a basket with musical instruments just visible inside the door.
Above you can just see a bit of our very cute pot belly stove. It may have been pretty but it was not practical at all. It had a tiny door, which meant you had to constantly feed wood to the fire to keep it hot. Ah the lessons we learn, my partner didn't really want it, but I got carried away with the beauty of it and he gave in. My wrong!
One of our regular visitors! We had friends, who we visited every few weeks and every time we arrived we got a great welcome from the chickens. They really are very curious and fearless creatures.
I have to point out in the last picture the very effective washing lines that are attached to the side of our bus. Well actually they are attached to the frame of the roof rack, they are two poles that come out and from there are 3 washing lines. When you are on the road and need to dry nappies, having a washing line that you can put up anywhere is great. Thanks to my partner for that great creation.
This build was such a labour of love and a huge lesson in patience. My partner and I learned that we could create a home with no prior experience, that what was most important was our desire to do so. It was a huge lesson in trusting our own abilities and learning from our many mistakes, but always pushing forwards. No matter what, as long as you keeping doing, keep moving forward and learning you will create.
Next time I will be taking you on that Ferry to France............
