In modern life, many people are accustomed to dedicating themselves to being "house slaves", and some people think that buying a house requires emptying six wallets. However, with the diversification of lifestyles, many people have gradually given up the concept of "having a house to have roots" and choosing to break free from the shackles of a fixed residence, so the concept of "RV family" has also attracted more and more attention.
Some people think of the high price of ** when they hear about RVs, thinking that it is a consumption other than the necessities of life. But what if you take a DIY approach to building your own motorhome?
Not only will this save you money, but you will also be able to personalise your motorhome to meet your specific needs.
Mr. and Mrs. Vaughan, California, were struggling with heavy debts. Like most families, they used to live a stable life, owning their own house and living with their husband and two daughters.
However, the high debt put endless pressure on them, overwhelming everyone. Under such pressure, the meaning of life becomes blurred.
In the daily busy life, few people have time to think about it.
Of course, they have also considered change, and if they want to get a lot of money at once and pay off their foreign debts quickly, many people will think - why not sell the house? However, once the house is sold for cash, it brings new problems.
The family's difficulties are still difficult to solve, such as the couple's work, the education and social interaction of the two daughters, as well as life problems such as shopping and transportation, which make them hesitate and do not have the courage to take the last step.
For the Vaughan family, giving up their fixed home meant not being able to rely on hotels for their daily necessities, renting was too expensive and there was a risk that the owner would repossess the home, leaving them in a situation where they could not sell their home and had to continue to spend money.
This dilemma left them frustrated and even lost confidence in the future. However, the popularity of motorhomes offers a solution that allows for more freedom of travel by converting finished vehicles into temporary bases with basic living functions.
Although this is inseparable from the promotion of commodity operation, it also reflects people's yearning for free life and the challenge of existing living methods.
Inspired by the RV travellers, the Vaughan family decided to let go of their obsession with a standard of living when faced with life's difficulties. They sold their house, used the money to pay off their debts, improve their finances, and finally fulfilled their dream of traveling in an RV.
This is not only a philosophy, but also a realistic choice in their lives.
In order to realize their dream, the couple went to great lengths and finally bought an abandoned bus for $17,000. Converted to less than 50,000 yuan, this is very competitive for a bus.
However, it is not easy to rebuild a bus from scratch, not to mention the needs of a family of four.
After doing the math, they realized that the space available in the car was about 26 square meters, and that this space with limited shape and light would undoubtedly require careful design and making the most of every inch of space in order to create an environment that can comfortably accommodate four people.
The couple was not afraid of the cumbersome and willing to make the transformation, making full use of the narrow space of the bus compartment, cleverly retaining the upper door on the side of the front of the car as the entrance, and even changing the special coin box of the bus into a glove box in the entrance.
When guests visit, they enter through the original door entrance as if they were taking a bus, and change into comfortable indoor slippers through the entrance, creating a relaxed and comfortable indoor atmosphere.
The Vaughns designed a space behind the hallway to be used as a living room and living room. This area is arranged similarly to the interior of a typical bus, with two sets of sofas placed opposite each other and a passageway to accommodate a family of four for leisure and entertainment, as well as for smaller groups of guests.
To add to the entertainment, they also installed an ultra-slim LCD TV directly above the aisle. In addition, custom-sized planks are hidden under the couch that can be spliced together to form a dining table, or spread out in the sofa room to turn the couch into a queen bed.
Of course, this large bed is not a daily bedding for the owner, but for emergency preparedness in case of occasional guests. When laid with planks, it is large enough to hold three or four adults.
Due to the limited size of the living room, more attention has to be paid to the details in order to create a feeling of comfort.
When there are no visitors, families spend time together in this cozy area. Whether it's chatting, telling stories to your daughter, or casually **TV, you can feel the endless beauty of life.
Most of the original facilities in the car have been retained, and only the functions have been improved and extended, so that every corner has become multi-functional. For example, they have set up a small board above the driver's seat that can be used to grow flowers and plants when not in use.
Even the shelves that were originally used to store luggage have been transformed to store books, small items and other items that are not commonly used, greatly improving the storage capacity of the RV home.
Ordinary vehicles can also provide shelter from the wind and rain, leisure and entertainment, but for part-time practitioners, it is not easy to achieve this. In particular, the internal dimensions of the bus are very different from those of regular rooms, which makes it difficult to directly use the standard size for various decoration accessories, and it is necessary to customize the optimal size according to your own calculations.
The couple was very patient and purchased various raw materials and processing tools through the building materials supermarket, and dismantled and processed them little by little. Despite the difficult process, they persevered and eventually succeeded in creating a vehicle interior that met their needs.
While the couple struggled for a storage shelf that made clever use of the corner space, the two daughters were on the sidelines with interest. This scene seems to unite the strength of the family and strive for a common goal, so that every inch of the interior of the bus is full of meaning.
In order to achieve richer and more comprehensive life and work functions, they put more effort into the middle and rear sections of the bus. The first task was to plan a dedicated workspace in the middle section, as the husband, who is an architectural draughtsman by profession, needs to use a computer inside the motorhome.
When confronted with a kitchen area full of small clutter, they cleverly make the most of the space. In addition to the usual base and wall cabinets, they also set up storage compartments in various corner locations, and even created a pull-out cabinet that doubles as a kitchen divider to ensure that the abundance of snacks and condiments is placed where we can't see it at first glance.
Since this is the interior of a car, the kitchen storage not only needs to keep the countertops tidy, but also to ensure that the vehicle is not affected in any way while it is moving. And in this small kitchen, the cooking activities use propane as an energy source.
For Mrs. Vaughan, this kitchen is her true territory, as she cooks most of the food for her family herself. Since moving into the car, she has often taken her husband and daughter out to buy food for a week, so that even during the trip, there will be no inconvenience due to the lack of food.
The Vaughns cleverly arranged the bathroom, sleeping, drainage and other functions in the back half of the bus, creating a magical environment full of private space. If you don't see it with your own eyes, it's hard to believe that a bus can fit in so perfectly with multiple functional areas.
Not only does this motorhome have a toilet, bathtub, washer and dryer, but it also has wet and dry partitions to ensure the comfort and health of its occupants.
For those who don't know about the disposal of toilet waste in RVs, they may have doubts about this. But in fact, there are already some products on the market.
For example, some RVs are equipped with composting toilets, which use hay or wood chips to dispose of waste in landfills, which can be self-degraded and dumped, which is very environmentally friendly.
In addition, shower curtains are used in the bathroom and toilet for simple shielding, which not only avoids water splashes, but also saves space. The sink is located on the outside of the partition, and the luggage compartment of the original bus is equipped with a water storage bucket to maintain daily water for a period of time.
For one couple, the bedroom is the most intimate place to rest, and it needs to be both practical and comfortable, space-saving, and aesthetically pleasing.
Because they believe that once the RV is repaired, the bedroom is part of their home, and if it doesn't fit exactly as they want, then the quality of life will be greatly reduced.
The two remodeled their bedrooms in the bus, and although they had no experience to follow, they still thought positively, meticulously designed their master bedroom and their daughters' rooms, and designed a bunk bed for them.
Inspired by the twin beds of the capsule hotel, the couple believes that this design will allow the sisters to live in the same room until they reach adulthood, deepening their bond and promoting communication.
Parents are their daughter's best confidants, and this is confirmed by the facts. Since moving in, the two daughters have shown great interest and love for their exclusive lounge, often playing, storytelling, reading and playing games in their little space.
At the same time, the couple's own master bedroom is located at the back end of the bus, which is the innermost part, and uses a raised bed to create a loft-style with a spacious and comfortable sleeping area.
In order to ensure that the interior of the motorhome is well lit and to save as much energy as possible, they installed a sunroof on the roof of the original bus and set up some auxiliary lights to provide additional lighting.
The luggage area of the original bus has been converted into a water tank for domestic water storage and a storage space for tools, and the luggage area is still crammed to the brim even after careful planning and disappointment.
The water tank can be refilled at a dedicated RV camp or from a river with better water quality, and a purifier is also included to ensure a healthy drinking water. Although the family was a little unaccustomed to the initial period of moving from a regular house to an "RV", after the initial adaptation period, the Vaughn family's RV life was very easy.
They are free from the weight of debt, the whole family feels a lot lighter, and they are finally in the mood to rediscover life.
Over the past four years, they've explored a lot of unexplored scenery in their motorhome and met people they've never met. The gradual popularity of the RV lifestyle is closely related to the trend of "staying away from the Internet".
At the heart of this philosophy of life is to encourage people to stay away from the modern environment, even to places where there is no electricity and internet, to find another possibility in life. The original intention was to encourage people to escape the city, avoid the crowds, reduce their materialistic pursuits, and get closer to nature.
This is how many motorhome owners travel, fish, and even venture into sparsely populated and pristine places.