Bruce Campbell Turns Boeing 727 Plane Into His Home


If you happened to stumble across this home, you’d be forgiven for thinking there had been a terrible airplane accident. That’s because Bruce Campbell, a retired electrical engineer, lives, believe it or not, in retired Boeing 727 fuselage. The industrious recycler Bruce has had his old plane placed in woods near Portland, Oregon, where he lives happily amongst some of the original seating and even the airplane-style toilet. Bruce believes every old plane should be ‘upcycled’ like his has been, declaring on his website, “Jetliners can, and should, be transformed into wonderful homes – retirement into an aerospace class castle should be every airliner’s constructive fate. They should never be mindlessly scrapped.”
He has transformed the inside of the plane into a workable living space, as you can see in the images below.

Bruce’s aircraft is propped onto concrete pillars.



Bruce has worked with as much of the original material of the plane as possible. Check out the cool entranceway…

He’s made the inside of the plane into a comfortable living space, although he says it is still a work in progress.


Bruce lives in the plane for six months a year, spending the rest of his time in Japan, where he is also arranging to buy old fuselage to create a second aircraft home.

The cockpit of the plane serves as Bruce’s reading room.




He has crafted a makeshift shower, and has made the toilet usable.


Bruce paid $100,000 for the old plane back in 1999. The costs of moving it and then what he’s spent since total another $120,000.

Bruce says there’s a lot of fun things about living on a plane, “It’s a great toy. Trick doors, trick floors. Hatches here, latches there. Cool interior lights. Awesome exterior lights, sleek gleaming appearance, titanium ducts. Star Trek movies in a Star Trek-like setting,” he notes on his website.

He thinks all planes should be made into homes, commenting on his site, “Shredding a beautiful and scintillating jetliner is a tragedy in waste, and a profound failure of human imagination.”


If you want to live in a plane you need both the money to buy and transport it (a big cost) as well as land to put it on.



Bruce notes that jetliners are incredibly strong and durable and they will withstand any earthquake or storm.

It may be unconventional, but maybe Bruce is onto something?





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Of course, in the city, you'd have to go condo.








Elevators?


*not_secure_link*images.umbrellai.com/60-inch-large-umbrella-men-women-three.jpg

 

That’s very cool. My husband keeps talking about making a school bus into a mobile home.

 

Must be nice to be a rich nerd.

 

Why not? Nowadays, people are turning all sorts of things into homes. For instance...

 

I usually can't wait to exit off a plane...be damned if I'd want to live in one <same with a school bus> LOL

 

I love any type of alternative housing. An abandoned windmill or a lighthouse or underground houses or a former missile silo or an A frame. So cool!

 

I prefer a boat!

Thinskin

 

My wife would kill me if I even suggested such a crazy idea as to live in a plane. Not that I would.

 

I'm all for using whatever you can as living quarters (my sister used to live in a windmill and an old Smithy) but IMO this plane is an eye sore where it's parked now.

 

My grandparents house was a railroad boxcar that they added to. The main body of the house was the kitchen, dining room and a bedroom. They built rooms off both sides where the big doors were. My dad and grandfather dug the basement after the main house was already built. It was really cool when I was younger.

 

This story is a few years old, but it was mentioned in my hometown paper yesterday. Pretty bright kid.


A 13-year-old Iowan built his own house for $1,500


9/22/17



Luke Thill is 13 and built his own house.

He doesn’t consider it a playhouse, and neither do those who invited him to speak Saturday at a tiny home festival in Colfax.

The Dubuque eighth-grader calls the 89-square-foot structure in his parents' backyard a “starter home.”

He built it for $1,500 by cutting lawns, raising money online, gathering reclaimed materials and bartering for labor.

An electrician neighbor helped him wire it — if Thill cleaned out his garage.

A Scout leader he knew helped him lay carpet in the loft bedroom — if he cut his lawn.

He used leftover siding from his grandma’s house and a front door from his uncle’s friend.

“I liked the minimalism,” he said, sounding much older than 13. “And I wanted to have a house without a huge mortgage.”

You build it. And you own it

Thill’s dad, Greg, told him when he started the project 18 months ago that if he was going to do it there were simple rules: You raise the money. You build it. And you own it.

Greg Thill said he worked alongside his son to guide him, but that Luke learned much on his own — framing a structure and wiring, dealing with adults, making tough financial decisions and staying on budget.

“It was a chance for a kid to do something more than play video games or sports,” he said. “It teaches life lessons.”

Luke says his home, which is 5½ feet wide and 10 feet long and includes a loft, is made of 75 percent reclaimed materials, including several windows.

He built a small deck outside. The siding is half cedar shakes, half vinyl.

Inside, a small kitchen area with a counter and shelving leads to a back sitting area with a large ottoman for a couch, a flip-down table and a wall-mounted TV.

A ladder leads to an upstairs loft with a mattress. It’s wired for electric but has no plumbing, so Greg Thill says city codes consider it “a glorified shed.”


The living room is tight in Luke Thill's 89-square-foot home but it's functional.

Luke Thill said he learned how to overcome disappointment. A big moment was his “counter-top fail.”

He placed broken colored glass below what was going to be a lacquer surface. But when he poured the lacquer, it was “too watery,” and ran all over. But he made the most of it — the lacquer created a bond that held the counter to the wall.

“Doesn’t have a screw in it,” he said.

He attached a traditional counter surface over the messed-up lacquer surface with a hinge for a lift-top storage space.


The kitchen counter area includes hot plate and refrigerator storage below.

He sleeps in it a couple of nights a week, does homework there after school and entertains friends.

“The main purpose is to be my starter home,” he said. “I’m going to save money and expand.”

In a couple of years, he hopes to build a larger tiny home on a trailer so he can perhaps haul it to college for cheaper living.

His message at the festival is this: “I want to show kids it’s possible to build at this age.”