CANYON LAKE, Texas — From dust to decor; one Texas woman needed a special project to keep her busy in the pandemic. So, she turned a 1948 bus into a luxury stay.
"I started thinking about a renovation project involving some small vintage campers. And since we've also done vacation rentals in the past, I thought, how can I combine that into a unique experience?" said Brenda Veseleny, who created the stay called the Dog Haus.
The project was completely flipping the '48 greyhound into a place where up to three people can stay. It had been sitting for years collecting a ton of dust. But that’s not what Veseleny noticed.
"When you walk into it, you realize this is really a very roomy space, surprisingly, from wall to wall inside. It’s 280 square feet, which is really a nice size tiny home. So, I just knew then, as far as this empty shell, that I could make something out of that," said Veseleny.
Veseleny worked on the project when the pandemic began because she hated sitting still. And that experience not only turned into a luxury stay, but a rental that’s full of history overlooking Canyon Lake.
"It's also the effort to how can I take you back in time to what was going on in the world? It was post WWII. But one of the things that they invented in 1948 was Cheetos and Scrabble. You're going to find both of those on this bus because I want people to experience like, 'Oh my gosh; I didn't know Cheetos were invented in 1948,'" said Veseleny.
And she took the historical aspect even further
"There was really not a lot of electronics that they could put on a big vehicle like this back then. So, we left a lot of those things because I just think that that adds sort of to the fun part of it," said Veseleny.
From the steering wheel to the compass that served as GPS, this place tells a story of thousands of people who got on the bus, whether that was for work, school or to get away.
And Veseleny hopes this is a place that people can book for a little trip back in time.
"Hopefully it'll become a little Texas gem -- 'Hey, I got to sleep in the dog house and they weren't even in trouble for it," said Veseleny.
And when we asked Veseleny what advice she can give to anyone looking for a passion project, she said, "I think that anything that you can set your mind to, you're able to do. And I know that probably sounds very cliché, but it’s just a personal challenge. Once you do it, you have such a sense of fulfillment and achievement out of doing something that you didn’t know that you could do."
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