Detail of side elevation of bus made using Google SketchUp

We’ve had a busy month of prep work getting everything ready for the interior, but happily we’re just about to begin laying the floor.

Some amazing donations of equipment for the plumbing system and veggie conversion have come our way (especially from WVO Designs), but finding sponsors for materials and appliances for the living space has proven somewhat difficult. Regardless, thanks to a great windfall of plywood courtesy of Locust Projects that I salvaged from the installation An Uneven Floor by Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova and a few far less officiated dumpster dives we now have enough to start.

The opening of Leyden’s exhibition at Locust Projects – Bob and I attended before traveling to Arkansas.

Leyden’s exhibition after I broked it.

Truck full of wood. Laden you might say.

My wood so far (that table in the foreground is for sale if anyone is interested)

Harking the wisdom that less is more and design is everything we have leaned towards a no frills floor plan with the built components exhibiting a regrettable lack of diagonals and much to my disappointment absolutely no complicated hinge systems. The decision to go this route was arrived at when Sam pitted my expansive imagination against my tragic budget and restrained practical abilities. Sure I would have liked to live in a cross between a walnut dresser and Barbarella’s spaceship, but I can neither afford the time deemed necessary to master carpentry nor the buck to commission help – I have much more important things like working out if removing fresh air intake valves could be detrimental and what color tile to use in the bathroom to worry about!

Amidst my procrastination, sporadic actual work, and random, unsolicited acquisitions during unsocial hours the guys at Cabin Fever – who have offices just down the road from where we are parked – have been helping us fine-tune the interior design. Their insight and experience with small spaces has provided a much-needed dose of reality and although I am still tweaking like a madman I thought it was about time to go public…

Our initial design saw us relocating the bathroom from the rear of the bus to the center. Here we took into account the kids needing their own space and treated ourselves to a king size bed. At this point we were adamant that the bathroom should be moved, mainly because we wanted a king bed.

Still adamant that the bathroom should be moved we began to think about compacting the sleeping area, our insatiable greed for space robbing the kids of their privacy in favor of a palatial lounge. However, after working in the bus one day sensing time speeding by with no sympathy for our foibles we conceded to leave the bathroom where it is, instead extending the wall out slightly to allow standing room for a shower. Our plans of a luxurious boudoir thwarted, we began to consider alternatives for a smaller bed and compacted kitchen.

Our eureka moment came (or at least we thought it did) when we devised a free standing, port to starboard oriented kitchen as opposed to the typical bow to stern or vise versa on either side configuration. We felt that the side mounted kitchens you typically see in bus conversions and RV’s made the space feel too long and train-like and enjoyed the designy, playful nature of this open-plan style modular solution. Happyiness was also ours upon realizing that a queen bed was possible!

We thought that the obstruction this design would obviously cause to one’s movement about the bus was actually a good thing as it defined the living and sleeping areas well. Moving forward we strove to incorporate a drop down table/bed, and other functional ideas from common-or-garden RV’s that we deemed useful and coolifyable.

Set on the design for the table we prematurely congratulated ourselves by refining the bed design, giving Mateo some privacy in the form of a bunk level that at a later date can be modified to accommodate Harper who for now would nestle next to us in a cot-like configuration.

When we came to thinking about the design for the living space, we realized we could maximize storage and alley girth if we made the table benches into a kind of L shape, with the end bench doubling as a cupboard. The table would then drop into place forming a queen bed. The couch too, would make a queen when the cushions, one of which will have a face hole cut out of it for massage purposes, are unfolded.

Alas, after drawing chalk on the floor of the bus and meditatively pacing around trying to convince ourselves that our designs were solid, there just didnt seem to be enough space to realistically entertain the idea of a modular Kitchen and a massive semi permanent ‘projects table’. We are now at an impasse. A very exciting time.

Having gone from this…

to this…

and after finding this…

to this…

…I now have only to remove the heat ducts, fresh air intake valves and confirm to myself that the plan I have to remove the existing walls will work and we can finally lay the floor.

Yesterday, as we were on the verge of buying a double stainless steel kitchen sink for a knock down price from craigslist we came across a guy selling one of these mini kitchenettes…

The thing is way smaller than we wanted, but considering it only has a footprint of 30 x 25 inches and packs in a sink, a mini fridge, a beverage/toxins cupboard, a stove top, is made by Avanti (a reputable brand) and is available to us brand new for a quarter of its asking price our space greed has returned and we are now entertaining something like this…

Here the meeting of the bed area and the kitchen has been simplified from an overly complex pantry wall to a single sheet wall with ample storage underneath Harper’s bed. We don’t even know if the mini kitchenette will be able to run on the solar power system that we haven’t even got yet, but optimistically I have steamed ahead with the design regardless, setting the unit into a counter top with shelves on the right, a mushroom closet on top and a cupboard whose door hinges from the top to form extra counter space to the left. We had wanted a full oven, a full fridge, hell, even a freezer, but with such a small kitchen we can go crazy with home-made bean bags and twister, which lets be honest is really what Transit Antenna is all about!

So that’s where we are at. A pain in the ass midget kitchen and no ice cream (we are actually thinking of getting a dedicated chest freezer for game meat). Over the next few days, perhaps even hours, the design will change. Having discovered SketchUp just over two weeks ago my neck has developed a chronic ache and I am seeing everything in terms of 3D renderings. We’ve come along way without actually doing anything, but are still pining the loss of our modular kitchen so if anyone thinks they have a solution we’d love to hear it. In fact, why don’t we make it a competition: Send your entries on a postcard with your name, school year and home address to info at transit antenna. There’s no fee and the winning design, or parts of designs we like, will be built, badly. When working for free for us please consider that we require space for at least two queen beds, something to sit on and that everything be inherently, effortlessly, uncompromisingly cool.