Well, friends, it’s time again for another tour of our school bus conversion!
If you’re new here, here’s the quick story: we have four kids and have been living in and remodeling a school bus turned RV. We’re parked on the organic herb farm my dad runs and looking for some land to build on. At this point, we’re unsure of travel plans, but hope to get out sometime to soon to visit the wonderful people we know around the country.
Now, photos.
This is the front of the bus, looking forward from the kitchen area.
Here’s what’s under this bench: shoes, board games, school supplies.
And under here, we have my business stuff, yarn and backpacks.
View from the door, with our table up.
I love this shelf Ian put over the fridge. We keep stuff up there that needs to be out of reach of the kids.
And my TARDIS in the kitchen window. Because the bus needed a TARDIS. 🙂
I love my shower!
Our Jotul stove. Runs like a champ and keeps us so toasty warm.
The bathroom. Our most unfinished space.
The bunk area.
Our bed.
Clothing storage.
Still to do:
- Finish the cabinet doors and drawers. The ones that are finished just need to be painted and Ian is making the rest.
- Upholster the benches. Especially now that some kids I know decided to paint them black while doing a craft.
- Replace our black water tank. We have a new one being custom made and are just w a i t i n g for it get here.
- Install bathroom cabinet and sink.
- Paint the inside walls.
- Paint the outside. Right now it looks like a Frankenbus because the man who originally converted it used all sorts of different colored RV siding panels to cover up where the windows had been. We prefer it to be one solid color. Maybe with some kid art added.
Latest video
And if you want to see a walkthrough of the bus, here’s the latest video (from the beginning of February):
For more pics of the bus, you can check out my Flickr stream and follow me on Instagram. And see our latest updates here.
Wow! This is amazing! We just moved onto a boat with our two kids and are working to continue to simplify our life. You have given me a few new ideas for storage. I love how bright everything is and that wood stove is perfect. Beautiful!
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Did I see a soot sprite on the wall??? Love it!
It really is wonderful. I am so happy for y’all and I can’t wait till we can meet up on the road!
Very cool bus. Looks nice and cozy, and it appears that you have everything you need.
Wow. This is amazing. I can’t even convince my husband that a full Tumbleweed cottage is for us. Maybe I could show him your bus and earn a compromise. xx
Oh my gosh!! I’m so jealous! 🙂
I am so inspired by your project, happy traveling/living!
I was wondering if your Jotul stove had fireproofed wall surrounds and the floor as well to meet fire codes?
The Jotul had instructions for how close we could put it to the walls. We chose one that could be placed almost right up against the back wall and with a small amount of clearance on either side so we could save space in the bus. We didn’t need fireproof surrounds or floor.
This was amazing. I am impressed with your bus. My son in law just replaced the fans in their motorhome. You have some good ideas I want to share. Thanks for sharing.
You had me when I saw a Tardis in the pics 😀 Cool bus,much admiration,inspiration and envy 😀
Love the idea that this could be paid for way quicker than a traditional mortgage………
I love love love this! I listened to you on the Art of Simple podcast recently. We lived in a tiny NYC apartment for several years with 3 kids. The small space wasn’t bad, but I needed sunshine and some outdoor space (without having to pack up all the kids in a stroller), so we moved out. But I shared this with my husband and we are both inspired. We love a simple life.
My husband would be so jealous of this! I just found your blog. It’s saved to my favorites now! I just started a blog and this one is pretty inspiring. Go check mine out if you want civilizedhippie.com
Definitely checking out your blog. Thanks!
Nina, this is SO cool. I love how bright it is! My family with 4 kids stayed in a 29′ trailer for a month one time–so I know it CAN be done. I missed it when we came home and felt overwhelmed by how huge our house was and by how much STUFF we had. Good for you, making the choice to live SIMPLY! Love the tardis, too! 🙂
When you first got your bus, did you need to get a commercial drivers license to drive it? (Before any changes were made to the interior)
We got our bus already converted to an RV, then gutted it and remodeled it. So we didn’t need to get a commercial license. I’m not sure if you’d need one, though, before you start the conversion process.
Hi! Did you have to vent the Jotul? Is it super hot to the touch? Just thinking about our young ones.
We did, Jill. Thankfully, it doesn’t require much clearance on either side and doesn’t take up much space. It does get hot to the touch – we usually keep our tea kettle on it for hot water all day. We did have to teach the kids not to touch it, but they caught on pretty quickly.
Nice project, how did you managed grey water from you shower?
It went to our black water tank.