Sisters Amie Sikes and Jolie Sikes-Smith knew there was no time for tears. The duo had spent several months last year designing young country sensation Miranda Lambert’s tour bus on paper. And now the owners of the Junk Gypsy Company, the catchall boutique of vintage clothing and kitschy furnishings in College Station, had only two weeks to do their first-ever finish-out before delivering it to Ms. Lambert in Nashville.

The women, known for their rock star-cowgirl style, got the assignment to design the bus one night while in Los Angeles with Ms. Lambert. Ms. Lambert had been a fan of their aesthetic, and their families had become close. The singer was spending more time on the road, playing about 300 dates a year, and was leasing a new tour bus. Her mom, Beverly, wanted it to feel like home and asked the sisters and their mother, Janie, to dress it up in the cowgirl-glam look that is the Junk Gypsies’ signature.

Of course, there’d be problems. Like the fact that the bus company was hesitant to turn over a vehicle to a couple of novices with no real interior design experience. “They were worried it would be ugly and that they’d have to gut it and never use it again,” said Ms. Sikes. But the sisters didn’t mind. At least at first.

“We made two trips to the company’s lavish workshop in Nashville and see this empty shell, totally gutted,” says Ms. Sikes. “We had a budget between $1.5 million and $2 million. And beginning in August or September, we told them what we wanted for the build-out via e-mail and by sending lots of pictures back and forth.”

Ms. Sikes-Smith says: “You can’t just hang a picture because you can’t put nails in the wall. It was so difficult because it was long distance, and we had to pick everything before the bus even arrived. If you picked the wrong walls, we couldn’t just paint them or cover them up with fixtures. We had so many breakdowns before the bus ever got here. We just knew we were going to get it, and it would be hodgepodge.”

When the bus finally did arrive last Dec. 27, more than half a year had passed. The sisters and the third Gypsy, mom Janie, had devoted many hours to designing it from afar and wanted to make sure everything was perfect. As a result, the duo, their parents and the few Junk Gypsy employees submerged themselves inside the bus until Jan. 15. The sisters’ father even built a floor-to-ceiling guitar out of license plates.

“It became a great family experience, because we’re living in the bus, sewing everything ourselves – all the curtains and bedding,” says Ms. Sikes. “We pushed everyone so hard, but it was worth it.”

Once the bus was finished, the sisters were happy. The interior was completely their style: Crazy quilt curtains, flocked wallpaper with gold fringe, old headlight covers, sheet-metal countertops, hammered copper sinks.

“Our look’s not the decorator look,” says Ms. Sikes. “It makes you happy. We just don’t understand why you have to be grown up when it comes to your home. People get caught up so much trying to adhere to the latest style, but we feel like you should fill your home with the things you love. Paint your house taco-shack pink. If you love it, who cares what others think?”

After completing the bus, they rode from College Station to Nashville to deliver it to Ms. Lambert. Along the way, they picked up Ms. Lambert’s parents in East Texas. When Ms. Lambert’s mom got on the bus, she cried. When Ms. Lambert – who had asked to be kept completely in the dark – got on the bus, she thanked them both for not treating her like a celebrity.

“You look at me like a real person and made sure this bus meant something to me,” she said.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 21st, 2007 at 11:21 pm and is filed under Interior Design, Home Design, Home Improvement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.