Single Dad Bought An Old Double-Decker Bus And Turned It Into A Gift For His Daughter

Clarke is the presenter of British TV show Amazing Spaces, a series which has been on U.K. television’s Channel 4 since 2012. On it, people turn the most curious of things into homes. The show’s all about how ingenious DIY superstars can convert unlikely objects into fascinating and liveable spaces, using all their creativity to achieve the almost-impossible.

Given the aim of the show, it was no wonder that Clarke was interested in the scheme to transform an old bus. It was the dream of Collier Collier, a carpenter in his 40s. He’s the kind of can-do guy who found the perfect solution to the problem of not having enough money to buy a vacation home.

As for Clarke, he’s an architect who has branched out into presenting on television. He’s also engaged in campaigning and educating people about architecture. His belief is that good design in buildings is not just for the elite, but something from which everyone can benefit. Put simply, good design can change lives for the better.

Setting out his deepest beliefs about the places that we live, Clarke has this to say on his website, “Home is the most powerful form of architecture that affects us all, and if you are lucky enough to have a warm and comfortable roof over your head, it is a very special place indeed.”

The architect is a native of the northern English town of Sunderland. He had builders in the family and spent a lot of his childhood on construction sites. He told U.K. newspaper The Journal about his dream to become an architect, “There was nothing else I ever wanted to do. When most of the kids were playing with building blocks and pieces of Lego, I was actually on building sites.”

It was a dream that came true, as Clarke would start a firm in 1998 with a buddy. It was successful, but in 2011 he felt that he needed to branch out. Having worked so much in the media, he now felt constrained by working as just an architect, and now he wanted a broader involvement in property development.

That media career had happened by accident. Clarke had been penning a book about buildings and the agent he’d contacted just happened to also work with TV people. So he was offered an audition for a show that was looking for someone with his mix of charisma and building knowhow. From there, it’s fair to say that he never looked back, hosting a slew of shows on British TV.

So in 2018 Clarke’s show Amazing Spaces featured Collier, a man who had a problem. That issue was that he had split up from the mom of his daughter, Devan. So spending time with her was hard, and he wanted to do something about that. He wanted to take her on getaways, but money just wouldn’t allow costly vacations.

The pair of them loved to surf, understandable when you know that they both had homes in Brighton, right on the southern coast of England. So getting away to ride waves made an obvious appeal. But if you want to go where the breakers are good in summer, you better have a ton of cash, and you are going to be lucky if you can even find somewhere to stay.

On top of Collier’s need for somewhere to stay when he takes Devan on vacation, he’d also been pondering wider housing issues. Properties are costly in the U.K., and loans can be hard to get. So after seeing people making unlikely homes in videos, he thought he might give it a go himself.

As a carpenter, Collier had the skills needed to do the job on his own. He told Clarke, “I’m a tradesman as well, so I knew how to do everything, and there was no point in asking anyone else to help. Also, it was my project. I couldn’t expect others to share my level of enthusiasm.”

So the big question for Collier was what exactly he could convert into a home. He thought something mobile would be just what he needed, but if it wasn’t large, it would feel just like a van. And that wasn’t what he wanted for himself and Devan. A bus, he concluded, was the perfect solution.

Watching YouTube videos, the woodworker had seen people converting school buses into homes. That seemed to work, but as a Brit, something came to mind that would be even better: the kind of double-decker bus familiar on U.K. city streets. And there was one available that had just retired from use in England’s second-largest city, Birmingham.

The bus was still functional, because of its recent usage. But the structure presented a lot of challenges for Collier. He knew what he wanted to achieve, but could he do it with a vehicle that was in no way built to be a home? And could he keep some of the original features that make a double-decker so distinctive?

What made things even harder was that the tradesman wasn’t awash with money. In fact, he had about $14,000. That would have to be enough to buy the vehicle and to complete the transformation. But he didn’t just have cash: he also had massive determination and a will to work that would prove invaluable.

So the bus that Collier had found set him back nearly $6,000, which didn’t leave him with all that much to pay for the renovation. But he wasn’t going to be beaten by a lack of cash. He gave himself six months to complete the job, with summer looming and the thought of surfing with Devan driving him on.

In the episode of Amazing Spaces, when Clarke sees the bus that Collier is going to work on, he’s taken aback by the good shape it’s in. “It’s in good nick,” he says. Collier agrees that it’s in great condition. Clarke jokes, “It hasn’t fallen apart yet.” This brings a chuckle from the carpenter, who says, “There’s still time.” The bus’s features can still be seen, and the bell even works.

But the bus only superficially looks good. Before Collier can start with the transformation, he has to make sure that this conveyance even can be used as a home. That will mean giving the structure reinforcement so that it’s sound enough. If rust has eaten too much away, it will never work.

Clarke asks Collier what his plan is for the bus. The carpenter tells him that he hopes to install it as a vacation home in Cornwall, a mostly rural area in the southwest that’s popular with much of England as a vacation destination. But, he notes, he hasn’t checked the vehicle will actually fit in the space he has. As it happens, another plan will form while he works.

Collier spends weeks getting the bus ready for its new fittings. The first order of business is to sort out the walls and floors. He lines the walls with wooden panels. Then he lays new flooring, also wooden, which helps to give the bus a level platform for the other features that he will install.

Putting in the wooden flooring and walls takes some of Collier’s space. But there is plenty left for what he has in mind. In any case, having not too much room means that he will need to show some creativity. That means realizing flexible and versatile concepts that will not take up so much space.

Although Collier is super handy, with a set of skills perfectly suited to the job at hand, it would have been nice to have some help. But with his budget so restricted, he cannot hire anybody to do any of the work. So he has to roll up his sleeves and get on with it on his own.

Another early phase is to get rid of the seats. They were mostly unusable, having been supporting the backsides of the people of Birmingham for three decades. He ends up only using two of them. For them to be comfortable enough to use, Collier will have to increase the padding, though.

Another place that needed a fair bit of padding was the walls! Obviously, a bus doesn’t have insulation, so Collier has to add it. Clarke tells the episode’s viewers, “Collier is stuffing any nook and cranny he can find with a wool-based insulation.” Meanwhile, the floor needs some fixing too. It has holes big enough that the carpenter can see the ground underneath the bus.

Before Collier is able to put wood on the inside of the bus, he has to make sure that the vehicle is watertight and dry. But, he tells Clarke, “It’s leaking. As soon as it rains, puddles on the floor just appear. Seems to be more rain in here than outside.”

But, as Amazing Spaces shows, Collier does make progress. Six months after the show first introduced him, he shows Clarke around the transformed bus. It’s green! Really green, and it looks brand new. And if the outside looks good, the inside really blows the TV presenter away. “Oh man, it’s fantastic,” he coos when he sees it.

The back of the ground floor of the bus is now a wonderful living and dining area. It has a dining table — not something you’ll often see in a bus — that can be taken out when not being used. On chilly nights, Collier and Devan will be warmed by the wood-fired stove that heats the interior of the vehicle.

The space downstairs on the bus is a miracle of careful design. Inside, it looks just like any tiny home. You’d never know, at first glance, that you’re on an old bus. It’s beautiful, with some interior walls painted a vivid green to complement the exterior. Collier clearly matches his craft with good taste.

The kitchen is beautifully placed, so that a person cooking dinner has an attractive view. Collier says, “The most expensive part of it [the kitchen] was the worktop. The whole kitchen cost peanuts, really.” That’s amazing when you consider that it’s actually a larger kitchen than the one he uses at home.

To keep costs down, Collier deployed a cheap ready-made kitchenette and put in lots of storage. Because he wanted to maintain the look that he’d chosen for the bus, he put in new facings on the units. They look amazing, a great match for the rest of the vehicle, and he’s put in swish chrome fittings too.

As the pair walk around the bus, the camera focuses on a nook that features a modern-looking analog clock. Above it are what appear to be the headlamps of the bus. And the area is also decorated with the bus’s old tags. Clarke is really taken aback. “It’s fantastic,” he says.

Next to the nook sits an area for storage, which used to be where passengers would put their luggage. Clarke says of the now unrecognizable area, “It’s where I’d dump my schoolbag and stuff.” Underneath the space is the place where passengers could throw used tickets, which Collier has kept. He’s also repurposed the bars that once lined the bus above the seating.

The stairs to the upper deck are adorned with pictures of the ocean that Devan has collected. The first thing the pair look at on the top deck is a nook at the front, which sits right above where the driver would have been. It was Collier’s favorite sitting place back in his schoolbus days, and now it’s a cozy area with cushioning that features a British flag.

The whole length of the top deck of the bus is now taken up by a corridor, paneled in the same fashion as the lower deck. The back of the three bedrooms is Devan’s room, where Collier has shown his creativity and skill. He’s put in bunk beds, which really captures Clarke’s imagination.

Collier’s own bedroom is closed off with what he describes as his “pride and joy.” It’s a sliding door that when shut sits entirely flush with the deck’s walls. Tucked into the room is Collier’s bed, which like the one in the third bedroom, features a hinged storage space underneath the mattress.

The bus still has a lot of the things that made it unique when it was in use. Collier wanted to keep some of the features to make it a singular home. So the sign asking you to “Mind your head” still hangs on the wall, and on the top deck, the mirror that looks back along the bus remains in place.

But a question arises: did Collier stay within the $14,000 budget? Sadly not. Although he is nearly finished after six months, he shows Clarke that he hasn’t been able to complete the bathroom. In the end, he has to spend a little bit more to get it done, but the outcome is worth every penny.

Ultimately, Collier isn’t using the bus as a mobile home. It seemed better to him to put in some decking, which allows sitting outside on a warm evening. And it occurred to him that because he wouldn’t be using the bus as a permanent home, there was a possibility to recoup some of that budget.

With the bus now permanently sited in Sussex countryside not far from London, Collier figured that it could be quite the money-spinner. And he wasn’t wrong. It’s now a successful rental space, with people rushing to book it as soon as it went on the market. No wonder. It’s a great-looking project and a quirky and fun place to stay.