City Bus Converted Into a Gorgeous Tiny Home

hello i'm luke i'm nakisha and we're both from the uk and we've converted this bus and now we're living in our tiny home [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] yeah welcome um this bus is a bmc falcon which is i think in the us you call a city bus or over here in the uk we just call um a bus it's 13 meters long um we used to see 45 people and was used for commutes and school runs in the local area actually so i think the first thing to establish is this is slightly different to other schoolies in the in the it doesn't move um and we actually rescued it from a from a scrapyard where it was about to get sworn to pieces um so it sort of came about when when lockdown struck i had nothing to do with my weekends i was i was stuck at home on the farm with uh with very little to do um so we wondered you know could there be a way of sort of repurposing these old buses um and and seeing if you could turn that into a into a tiny home um so so yeah so we we sort of found the bus the bus was only uh 1 300 pounds um and then got it shipped over on a lorry um and started work about a year ago um so the fact that it doesn't move changed the brief um for us in terms of we didn't need to get everything on this sort of rolling house and that meant that we didn't need to have a toilet inside we didn't need to have the shower inside um so we could put things like that outside and then that left us a lot more scope just to make a really nice open space um sort of being on a farm we sort of set ourselves the brief of could we try and do this kind of hybrid design between sort of a traditional farmhouse features um such a shaky kitchen and give it a very sort of farmhouse cabiny feel um but also we we were really conscious that we wanted the bus to still feel very much like a bus um when we went to look at it actually it was this roof was one of the reasons that we we sort of chose the bus because we just thought it was really nice it had this nice shiny quality um and was something that we actually didn't need to change so we've kind of got this split level design where we've kept the upper tier completely original with all the original lights all of the original annoyingly cctv cameras the anti-tamper so we couldn't get rid of those without having to hit them with a hammer um and then we've kept other original features sort of chair steering wheel which a kind of almost wasted space we're not sure if there's something we want to do with it that might be more practical but at the same time it's quite fun just having those original plus features um one of the big challenges of the bus was being a a normal commuter bus was that it's got the disabled access at the front which which meant that we had this split here so that sort of there were all these raises in these these level changes in the bus which we started as a challenge but ended up being something that really started to help us define the different spaces within the bus that we wanted to create kitchen lounge dining bedroom and then sort of arrival space so down to the the nitty gritty show you some of these spaces so as you come in we've kept the arrival space or the lobby as you would in a house is completely sort of ready to take dirt um it's not we haven't put anything nice or exciting on there but it's really practical we can come in we're on the farm so quite often we've got muddy feet um so this is sort of an area that we're quite happy to to trash kept the original red plastic floors um and then we retain this little cubby hole here um where we can just shove our shoes shove our dirty stuff um and then as you come through being lowered we've got these massive wheel arches which you can see the profile here so as opposed to this being a higher bus where we sort of sit above the wheels or small wheel arches these really took up a huge amount of space uh so we had to build this cupboard in around to hide the wheel arch but managed to get our drawers flowing on the top and then managed to retain some of the storage space just in here on top of that um and butcher the carcass of that kitchen to get that in and then this space here we thought it'd be really nice just to have a nice sort of low area where we could just come in it's where we sort of throw our keys put fruit bowls some food and just sort of little welcome hamper it's really useful piece of space and so as you come through um something we really wanted sort of going back to the farmhouse field was to have a nice big belfast sink um and that has proved like so useful it's really deep so that the splashes of water don't come flying out and get over the wooden worktops um and then we built a tap out of copper pipe which was uh a nice feature we think um we haven't got hot water running straight in we've kept it as simple as possible really um so we only have cold water coming in and then if you want to wash out we boil the kettle um over here we've got our fridge freezer which is an undisclosed fridge freezer um sort of full size we're not compromising on on how much space we wanted um so we can get a load of food and beers etc in there um here we've got uh two gas burner uh glass plate hogs and then all the drawers underneath which keep utensils and then we've got storage down here for pots and pans and stuff like that um tray space herb rack and then over here more storage for food um pots and pans and other kitchen stuff um sort of going back to the open field we didn't want to have wall cabinets and we we loved all the windows that we had running through so it was really sort of important when we were designing it not to to start to to build bulk up on the sides we wanted to keep it as open as possible so we used the same beach block worktops that we cut down to make these um open shelves that run along um and these will run on the trajectory of these upper windows so that that line carries on all the way through the bus and you can see the blinds also hang to that level so you've got this really nice sleek line running along and the only issue with that is that you have to be nice and neat and tidy and buy matching plates um so yeah so i think that's that's the kitchen and then just the other thing is coat hangers as you come in so you can hang your coats up so coming through this is the lounge area so we've got this nice stepper um which again as i said was kind of a challenge to start with working out how that was going to be but it ended up making this really nice slightly raised space and the other benefit is just the ceiling height you get with the with a city bus you can stand up throughout the whole bus which is really nice [Music] so this is a really simple area we've used these kitchen cabinets um and just led them on the side so that the storage goes back all the way underneath that sofa um they're 500 ml wide so we've got two meter sofa and then we've got a custom built cushion to go on top of that um and then the flooring is just a simple uh tonne and groove pine flooring which is just used for floorboards normally in houses people cover it up in carpet um it's not actually designed i don't think to be a display floor but we thought it was really beautiful flooring and wasn't too costly um this is an old piece of furniture we had an old set of chairs that we upcycled with a with a chalk paint um and then just all along the sides we took the original cladding of the bus off um and then boxed that out put insulation in and then just used a bead and butt type effect mdf so that comes as a massive board of bead and butt style and you just sit that on so that allowed us to just clad all of that really quickly really simply we do as i showed have these lights working um as the original lights although they don't give off the nicest light so we've brought in our own sort of feature lights here with the copper which matches the the taps we wanted to keep that theme running through uh one of my favorite features of the buses is fireplace so it's a little five kilowatt fire um it's quite small but it burns beautiful and brings a good temperature into the bus gets us really toasty and cozy in here um we looked at venting the chimney out the window but wanted to have this feature chimney running up through so cutting this through the roof was a bit of a challenge but um i was really pleased with actually how that came out and then to set this on we we didn't obviously can't sit it on the timber so we actually just built some shutters and just poured made a concrete mix and just pulled in such a concrete so we've just got this nice concrete slab that that sits on um which we think looks really nice actually we're very pleased with how that how that finished one of the things we we knew we wanted to do was have a as keep it open but split between the bedroom and the lounge so that you felt like you're transitioning into a different space and so we put these uh these aren't structural um but these just sort of create this nice doorway that you can walk through as you come through into the bedroom um and then we put these little side boards here just so you've got these extra shelves and one thing you don't have a lot of in a bus is shelf space generally or places to display pictures so it's really nice just to bring some of these personal elements in um in places just for pictures books etc and then the bed we we we've got a back door there that's the original emergency exit um so we did think about having the bed all to one side which you see quite often in schoolies but decided we just wanted to make this really nice big grand statement bedroom that just looks straight down um so you're sort of king of the castle when you're up in the bed and then again we've used sort of matching cabinets but painted a different color so we've got storage running all the way under the bed where we keep all of our clothes and we've got these big side boards here which you can put stuff on while you're in bed um and then we've got these little lights as well which just sort of add a little secure to the space um the only place where we've got blackout curtains because curtains we realized not within our budget um curtaining an entire bus is extremely expensive you've probably got more window space in here than you do in most average sized houses um so we decided that actually we'd just have blackout curtains around the bedroom um so you can completely cocoon yourself in the bedroom um and then put this on this is a copper pipe i think it's just 12mm copper pipe and then we could fix fix that up with these lovely little brass fittings um and just create this continual curtain rail that runs all the way around the bed um so some other bits and pieces um some of the more technical stuff we've got a tv in here uh which sits down here and then we just move it up and it's a perfect size just to go on there so you can just flip that round whenever you want to um and then that runs off an aerial which is just a metallic area it's got a great big magnet on there it's um it's digital area and that just picks up full signal um and i think that was about 15 quid off amazon so that seemed like a a good deal to me um so in terms of getting power to the bus um as it's stationary we we did look at doing solar panels but in the uk one thing we don't have in uh abundance is sunshine um so it kind of meant through the winter that we'd be really struggling to generate enough power in order to power the fridge in particular um and it also also as the bus doesn't move we don't have any recharging potential so that we're not going to be able to charge electricity up so we actually run a cable up from our farm sheds so the bus is kind of on an umbilical cord essentially where we have water and power running up from from from the sheds about 100 meters away and then we use sustainable energy suppliers so that we kind of feel that it's still essentially sustainable and so we're just using another company solar powers um and then water um again is just mains water so we get really good water pressure up here which is great so i think the next thing to do is show you outside the bus um and you can come and take a look at our shower and toilet unit we decided that we'd build this sort of glamping type shower unit um so we raised it up and put it on skids so that it it doesn't it doesn't have any foundations we didn't need to do any digging or do any structural damage to the ground and then in here we have a standard porter potty i think they're made in australia and then the shower king glamping shower um so this is um gas powered so we have a lpg gas canister behind there and then you just run the pressure through um and that gets up to to too hot actually if you want it to so and it's as good as any shower i've had in the house so um it's really nice getting to to shower shower outside with a view um which is awesome so this was one of the bits whilst i sort of taught myself the the carpentry that i needed to learn inside the the doing the electrics was one thing where we got in um a proper proper electrician who knew knew exactly what he was doing um we we sort of ran all the wires and worked out where we wanted to have all of the power points and plugs and fridge etc inside um and then um got the professional to to wire it in but we've got a fuse box here and then this is just your standard um i think um sort of campsite plug-in that you'd get for a for any kind of rv or caravan so this is the the garden space or just one of the little elements of the garden space which we love and as you can see it is just these beautiful panoramic views of the of the countryside which is awesome so it's so tranquil and it's so peaceful um and and so the stress doesn't seem to exist now that i'm living here which is really really nice and quite a change from when i lived in london and we built this little fire pit area that's still smoldering away from last night and this is where we like to sort of sit down wind away and relax in the evenings so yes so i started the the bus project i was a i was a single man at the time um and started it on my own and then met nekeisha 10 months ago yeah um we actually had our second date in here because we were in deep lockdown um and i basically just got that we had what do we have floors in it was pretty much complete it was fairly complete but because it had no soft furnishings yeah um so so you were appointed head of interior design yeah i was um i think you kind of made it quite clear that you wanted to keep it quite neutral yeah um kind of like creams and whites but also just kind of adding nice bits of texture in the bus so it was like a trip to ikea a few hours picking bits um i quite liked the the bamboo blinds um yeah they were really good choices but when they're fully down it kind of gives a nice kind of ambient lighting um to the bus um and you introduced me to the world of scattered percussions scatter cushions um i think i did a few moon balls actually because we weren't quite sure if um some ideas were a bit crazy and that's when you were like no neutral neutral neutrals um but it didn't quite fit in with the kind of farmhouse feel yeah um so we knew we wanted to bring some some color in with the plants um kind of scatter those across the bus um that wicker poof that you chose and and the really nice um i mean this rug's gorgeous as well you pick this sort of hemp rug yeah yeah um table and chairs as well that was like um a weekend project we did yeah down at the farm we just wanted to use the colours to create space um so it doesn't feel too cluttered um that was quite important yeah and keep it as open as an airy as possible wasn't it but also kind of keeping it contemporary as well um but you certainly put a nice touch on things the soft furnishings i think was so important and bringing it to life um and candles obviously love candles especially at night time nice ambience doesn't it yeah it does and the fairy lights the fairy lights just you're insistent it's like laying under stars at night time it's really nice yeah but it's awesome yeah it's great we love it we do i hope you love it too we're very pleased it's it's really hard to pick a favorite thing in the in the bus because when you worked on it and built all of it you sort of like all of it i suppose but i guess our favorite thing in the bus is is just the way the the sequence of spaces work and and that view you get as you you enter the bus you turn right and there's this lovely sense of openness and um and it just invites you into the into the space you you want to walk in and we're really really pleased with how how that worked would i recommend converting a bus into a tiny home for those thinking of doing it um yes absolutely i'd say take the plunge um i think it's one of those things you don't need to know the skills before you do it you can do it on any kind of budget we've managed to convert this for 12 000 pounds um so you can be thrifty along the way you'll learn so many new skills that are applicable to all sorts of life and you end up with something you love living in and and something you can be truly proud of um so yeah absolutely um take the plunge and do it [Music] so we decided to sight the bus in a really sort of secluded corner on the farm so you got this really nice sense of tranquility um in this sense of being sort of separate from the hustle and bustle of life we we sighted the bus between two blocks of woodland so whilst we kind of knew we were sacrificing views out um we we get this lovely sort of wash of green out of all the windows and and the trees provide natural screening from from the elements and the rain and and sort of provide that additional bit of insulation that we wanted and sitting in the shade of the trees you get this this lovely shade and it keeps the bus cool um and also provided a really lovely space where we could could make these little garden spaces so we've managed to put in a pallet seat which sort of acts as our outside lounge and an eating area we've also managed to put a hammer cut between two of the trees which is just a lovely spot to go and sit and read so yeah we're we're really pleased with how the the bus is bedded into the landscape so yeah that's my bus my tiny living life which has started thank you

Channel: AlternativeHouse

Views: 98,583

Keywords: retired city bus, diy bus home, city bus, converted bus home, small space furniture, living big in a tiny house, self built skoolie, self built bus, diy home, diy bus, tiny house, tiny home, room tour, living in a village, living tiny, Skoolie tour, modern farm skoolie, tinyhousetour, Joana Gaines bus, bus life, bus renovation, architect, interior designer, living free, budget diy bus, low budget tiny house, explore alternatives, alternative house, florb, tiny home tours

Id: hk2AfkVkVB0

Length: 21min 0sec (1260 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 29 2021