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R. TERRY (152.163.197.184)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 14, 2001 - 9:41 pm: | |
There's no question about it. Anyone who transitions from living in a house to being a fulltimer in a bus conversion or motorhome is going to be in for some big adjustments! It's safe to say that nothing is going to be the same. Ever again. Ever.
Where almost everything you owned was within arm's reach or there abouts, now arm's reach actually is more than halfway across the width of your entire estate! You simply cannot put everything within arm's reach because there's no place to put it. You have to decide what stuff is NOT going with you and know that you will never see it again, or what stuff WILL go with you in the baggage bays and know that you will never see it again, either. This is what you have to do.
It turns out that all those overhead cabinets in the bedroom that I threw out were not able to contain as much stuff as would fit in one storage bin in the baggage bay. They actually took up more room than the space they provided for storage. But the big benefit from removing them was in how the eye tricked the brain into perceiving that area as being more spacious and full of elbow room.
I think designers do this all the time. They make a small space appear larger by removing barriers to the eye. Even though they cannot change the actual dimensions of the room, they can design the interior to let the eye continue past where it might otherwise have stopped, causing the mind to feel that the area is smaller than it really is. The only place in the bus where this strategy might work is along the ceiling. The idea would be to allow the ceiling to carry the eye as far as possible to give the perception of the maximum amount of room.
This may sound a little bit crazy, 'cuz after all, we're talking about a sardine can here. But that's the point. Any sardine can needs as much room as it can get. (Unless you're a damn sardine!) Where the eye ends up going in the room is a small detail that can have a big impact. I found out how important that is when I removed the front of the overhanging cabinets across the rear of the bus, changing them from a set of cabinets with four doors that extended out into the room to a single, simple shelf. From that moment on, I was able to let my eye follow the roofline all the way to the very end of the bus and down the back of the rear windows. I was also able to follow the ceiling from one set of windows on either side across to the set on the other side. The bus can't get any bigger than this—that is as big as this bedroom is ever going to be.
After new carpet and thinner padding was installed, I built a set of bunks along the driver's side, moved the chest of drawers into the space where the hallway used to be, and use the rear overhead shelf to hold blankets, sleeping bags and pillows, making sure to leave a little room around the edges for the eye to follow the roofline all the way back. The bench over the engine compartment was returned to its original occupation as a bench seat, complete with cushions and a straight forward view of the TV on top of the dresser. Completing the picture is a full, unobstructed view out all of the back windows. (Well, I don't care what the neighbors are doing, so for now the glass is covered with bubble insulation, which also keeps the sun from turning the bus into a toaster oven.) Overall, the bedroom was actually no bigger than before, only now it seemed much more spacious.
The kids and I did one more thing to the bedroom that added another dimension, albeit illusionary, a real example of the eye trying to trick the brain.
This isn't something anyone else is likely to do, only someone who has removed their old motorhome ceiling and is left with what the original manufacturer put up, now pocked marked with numerous screw holes. I bought a package of 500 glow-in-the-dark, self-adhesive stars that came in various sizes and told the kids to have fun. A half hour later and about 10 minutes before bedtime, we turned out the lights and marveled at the new "Milky Way" in our bus! The whole ceiling was covered with stars, making it look like there was no roof on the bus at all, only the whole universe.
Talk about elbow room!
RT |
jmaxwell (66.42.92.134)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2001 - 2:22 am: | |
Well, now that you have apparently created a stripped out bus, would you please explain what you need with all that "elbow room" up by ceiling, created via taking out the overhead cabinets. I have been wondering about this since chapter 1 when I noticed a distinct fixation with those cabinets. But, the star thing is sort of clever, even though everyone knows that todays night sky involves a few moving stars; satellites. Not to worry, the next hiway will create the moving stars. |
RJ Long (24.130.101.25)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2001 - 3:19 am: | |
Or the moving stars can be created by a ceiling fan!
Especially when you walk into it. . .
At night. . .
In the dark. . .
Sorry, kinda late at nite for goofy humor.
RJ |
Scott Whitney (63.151.64.84)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2001 - 8:03 pm: | |
Yeah, or a roof mounted CCD camera pointed straight up and a floor mounted projection TV system trained on the ceiling to give you a 'Real-time' actual visual of the night sky. . . |
JJ (152.163.205.73)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2001 - 10:50 pm: | |
With a fertile imagination and a Platinum Card the possibilities are limitless!...JJ |
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