Great Britain
Pay no rent, but you can hardly live more British than in a double-decker
– Bathing with a view: the number of windows alone makes bathing a pleasure here © Screenshot doubledeckerhome / Instagram
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A British couple wanted to move in together, but renting an apartment or taking out a mortgage seemed absurd to both of them. They removed a bus. Of course not just any.
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When young people decide to move in, they usually rent a small apartment, invest in some wall paint, and furnish it with furniture that comes from either their parents, grandparents or Ikea. Charlie MacVicar, 26, and boyfriend Luke Walker, 27, took a different approach. They bought an old London double-decker bus for almost 3,000 euros and first cleaned it up thoroughly. All of the seats had to be removed so that the couple could set up the 50 square meter floor space as they wanted. Instead of paying rent for an apartment, Charlie’s father receives a contribution for the parking space on his property in Essex, where the luxuriously furnished bus is now parked: The two of them new home has a fireplace, a fire-wood stove, a bathtub and a walk-in Wardrobe.
Upstairs is the bedroom next to the bathroom, where you can watch TV from your bed. Downstairs are the living room and the kitchen – including a refrigerator, washing machine, stove and microwave. In the dining room there is space for three people on the “ground floor”, the living room consists of two benches with a narrow table between them.
“Renting an apartment would have cost us flexibility”
Charlie told British Metro: “We knew that renting or taking out a mortgage would have set us up and cost us flexibility. After seeing George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces, we discussed various options, from containers to caravans – until we met opted for a double decker bus. ”
After Charlie and Luke had paid almost 3,000 euros for the bus in 2018, they invested a little more than 17,000 euros in the renovation and equipment. The conversion took about a year, at the beginning the two even took the bus to work. Since the corona pandemic, however, the two have been calling their place of work, which others usually call “home office”, as WFB (working from bus).
“Without the others we would not have made it”
Charlie told the “Metro” that the two were not necessarily creative and therefore very grateful to their families. You would have only ever worked in office jobs and therefore couldn’t do some things yourself. “Either the families or the professionals did the electrics, plumbing and carpentry work. As much as we would have liked to have received the praise, we would not have done it without everyone else.”
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