Fine Finishes

What does your idea of a home on wheels look like? The amazing thing about that is there is no right or wrong answer! Some people opt for very minimal builds (sometimes referred to as “metal tents”), others go for extreme luxury. Our ideal roving home was one that just felt like home. We wanted all of the finishes to look like they could have been plucked right out of someone’s house or apartment and placed in our bus. We built our cabinets to have shaker style drawers and doors and matched that paneling style on our couch. We used a vinyl flooring that could be found in any home. We even chose to use shiplap (very trendy, we know) in our bathroom!

 

While we didn’t necessarily cut corners on our finishes, there’s no reason they should have to break the bank, either. We’ve gotten many compliments on our ceiling, but it’s literally the cheapest option we could have gone with. We had considered using flexible paneling or plywood, but didn’t particularly like the look or expense. What we ended up deciding on was a pine plank ceiling. While lots of stores sell paneling kits, those things are not cheap! I spent a long time at Lowe’s looking at all of the different materials available. What we ended up finding were, essentially, pallet boards. They were 1x4” planks of rough pine. Even though the boards were cheap, we were able to stretch our dollar even further. I realized that I could split the boards and end up with two planks per board and minimize the thickness added to the ceiling. I spent about an hour looking for the very best boards - the ones with minimal gouges and holes and cupping and checking and twisting and bending. I invested some of the savings into a new featherboard to help with the milling and some into sandpaper, to turn that rough wood into something worthy of our home. After cutting all of the boards, everything was sanded and then sorted from best quality to worst. The planks were screwed up to the ribs and we had a ceiling! The ceiling is home to a vent fan, LED lights and our speakers.

 

We located our vent fan within the patch from our emergency hatch but, in hindsight, we may have been well served to choose a different location. The fan and motor are pretty quiet, but the screen that keeps bugs from being able to enter causes a bit of a whistling sound at higher speeds. Since the fan is beside our bed, that noise can be a little distracting on warm nights. The other reason I would have reconsidered our placement is for cooking. The fan works very well to eliminate cooking smells and heat, but I’d imagine it would have been even more effective were it located closer to the stove.

 

The kitchen is said to be the heart of the home, and our little bus is no different. Not only is it where you enter our living space, it’s where we end up spending the most time (outside of sleeping). We knew that the finishes and functionality of our kitchen would be of critical importance. We based the whole kitchen around our apartment-sized stove. We had originally purchased an RV stove, but quickly realized that the oven would never work for a couple of bakers. We chose a Unique 20” Off-Grid Propane Range for our kitchen and have nothing but good things to say about it. It came pre-set for propane (rather than a natural gas stove that required conversion), has a battery ignitor and is way studier and better-built than other apartment sized appliances. We next built a sizeable cabinet to house our under-mount stainless steel sink, water heater, filter and various water and gas shutoffs, in addition to general storage. Our custom counters and undermount sink allow for super easy cleanup, as does our pull-down kitchen faucet.

 

The remainder of our kitchen storage is just as purpose-built. All of our drawers feature full-extension drawer slides, allowing us to get to the farthest reaches of our pantry. We have dedicated canned good storage for pantry staples like beans and chili, as well as special space for our glass jars and our silverware drawer features a custom organizer. The upper cabinet was built to include a standard 110V wall outlet and has a dedicated DC electrical run, in case we decide to add under-counter lighting. Our “dresser” drawers are MASSIVE, but full-extension drawer slides ensure that no socks, shirts or neckties go missing! The drawer fronts are paneled to perfectly match the rest of our design.

 

We utilized a queen mattress in our build because we had a spare one and we have dogs that are NOT good sharers. If we could have reasonably sacrificed the space in our build, I think we would have gone with a king. We fashioned the bed platform with a hinge and gas lifters to enable us to safely and easily raise the bed up and down for convenient storage access. We also built ourselves a custom padded headboard. We built the headboard at an angle to allow us to comfortably recline against it for reading or watching movies. The top of the headboard has a shelf with integrated USB outlets for charging phones and powering our lovely string lights (which have a remote and a dimmer)! We wanted our bed to have a warm, comfortable feel to it. We had previously used some fairy lights in our house and thought they would be a perfect fit for our roving home, as well. We arranged them on the ceiling so that they are tightly arranged by the headboard and then dissipate as they get further away. In this way they have an interesting look but still provide a good amount of light for reading.

 

Even though it’s only 24” x 32”, we wanted our bathroom to feel as luxurious as possible. For privacy, we added a “frosting” film. We used our vertical PVC shiplap to create an interesting, waterproof surround. The window was trimmed out with more PVC planks, including a chamfered window sill. The valve for our shower was recycled from a decommissioned bathroom, but we dressed it up with some new handles. In order to add some flexibility to the way we use our bathroom, we chose a shower system from Ikea. The system we bought allows us to place the showerhead at varying heights and angles or as a hand sprayer. We also liked that the system had an accessory basket available and opted to buy one of those, as well. It’s been super helpful for keeping our shower organized.

 

One of our favorite parts of our build has to be Emily’s art wall! We love art and color, so we felt that we had to integrate that into our build, somehow. With minimal wall space available, we knew our options were limited. Emily collected the planks for our art wall at her previous job as a color chemist and we knew we’d find a good use for them at some point. We worked together to figure out a cool arrangement for the colors, but Emily did the entire install, herself. She cut and fastened every single board on that wall and I am duly impressed with the results! She perfectly matched the contour of the ceiling and created one of the most exciting components of our build.

By taking our time with our build, we were able to make substantial investments in our home, both in time and money. In our two-ish years building the bus, we were able to spread out the costs of the initial purchase and some of our pricier elements. We were also able to invest time in milling and sanding planks for the ceiling, adding decorative details to our doors, and drawers, installing a custom art wall as well as in finding deals and other savings.