From a SKOOLIE into a HOME On Wheels all for 10000$ & 6 months work | Self Converted School Bus Tour

[Music] hey guys my name is caleb brackney i'm a grad student at the university of tennessee here in knoxville tennessee where i'm parked right now studying architecture and landscape architecture i studied interior design in my undergrad and really grew an appreciation for the way spaces are laid out and learning how to use textures and materials to improve the quality of life people live so i thought last year i had a little bit of extra money i saved up and i had some time during that summer where i didn't have to do an internship and i thought this would be a perfect summer to do a personal case study to where i could really learn how plumbing works how electrical works and insulation things like that on a small scale and really just learn how to do it myself so i started this project a year ago in february of 2020 and the project took six full months and i moved in august 1st of 2020 so it was a challenging project on a budget i had ten thousand dollars total which three thousand of the dollars went to actually buying the bus in rome georgia i found on facebook marketplace and the other seven thousand went of course to the renovation so one of the biggest challenges of doing a project like this on a budget is figuring out how to use materials you already have or repurposing items that people give you to make it all come together and form like a space like this so i definitely had a lot of growing to do as far as learning you know woodworking and things like that to make to repurpose items and it really was a blast of a project and i'm super excited to show you all the tour of it today let's go inside so as we enter the space you can kind of see down the interior of the bus i wanted to make sure that all the windows at least on one side were kept intact that way i could open them up in the summer and let cross flow come in got a 12 volt fan up there which makes it nice and then also a dometic 15 000 btu unit there in the middle you can see for when it gets really hot but most of the time it stays pretty nice in here even through summers in tennessee well as you can tell you first walk into the space into the kitchen so i have a double sink right here with an instant hot water tank below i've got a hot water heater in the back for the shower but i didn't want to have to wait for water to travel 25 feet to get warm so i put that down there up above i've got cabinet storage and you know magnetic storage for knives there for silverware up top and on this side i have a microwave a wine rack other storage up above and below got a convection oven here with this drawer that has an instapot and fryer it's a ninja foodie which i definitely recommend i also have a hot plate in here that i can use fun making stuff like for a cooktop up front got a little bookshelf here with some other storage and really left most of this the same just the original bus front so it's still easy to drive for the dining room one of the coolest parts is this slide out keyboard so that slides out and i can play piano know wherever i go i love playing music kind of makes it really feel like home and then up above i have mason jar light storage so how i made these was that i just screwed the lid into the shelf and then i just screwed these lights on and then for the ones with the lights obviously i'm not going to put food in there or it would spoil so i use that for drinking cups and makes it nice it's not like it's gonna break or anything when i'm driving on this side got a full closet and so this closet space is about seven feet long as you can tell it can hold a lot and then below i have just storage and little cubbies and then below that i've got storage also for shoes and i'm powered by an inverter that sits behind my breaker and fuse box down there so another iconic part of this bus is the skylight so this is a six foot ten inch tall clear story skylight and as i'm six foot two it's the only place in the bus i can really stand up so naturally i had to put it in front of the closet so when i'm changing every day i can stand up and not worry about hitting my head but it really makes the space feel bigger and as we walk through i kept the existing bus side door which is nice to my dog can jump in and out whenever she wants to and really lets some light and air flow through the bus so as we kind of go into this space have a tv and a swivel so if i'm in the kitchen or dining area i can watch it or in the back i can watch it and i have surround sound on either side which is a must for me if i'm listening to music doing homework or whatever for the couch i love the hest sleep system so if you've not heard of hest i'm a huge fan of them these air mattresses the top is memory foam and the bottom is actually inflatable so you can deflate it super fast and lower it or just roll it up and take it tin camping or you know if you have guests over in your house you can just bring it in the house and then their pillows also you can see i have two of them um it's a memory foam pillow so you unzip it and it turns into like four times that size that's pretty cool but this bed pulls out and turns into a full-size bed which i love here's the ac unit i was talking about and then i have a moonlight above the bed i'm surrounded by a pvc light fixture that i made and just dropped outdoor string lights through it you know it's the same lights that these are um and then i have a queen size bed so plenty of space i have a 50 gallon fresh water tank underneath this bed and then these are on magnets so i can open them and keep stuff i have my shower fresh water or hot water heater back here and as we go to the back a few feet back here i've got my toilet which i have a black water tank underneath that and then my shower and i have a great water tank behind that so it's right in front of the door so if i'm showering um you know it's easy to let the vent out and um also if i'm carrying stuff i can just set it in the shower i right here i have storage underneath there are my sewer lines [Music] [Music] so for the exterior of the roamer bus in the back i've got a hook that i can hang my bike on when i drive or i can hang a green wall i made out of a pallet and plant stuff in that in the summer i've got a tow package at the bottom so i can tow my car with me whenever i go places and up top is my rooftop deck which is actually an old utility trailer that i took the axle off and just bolted it right to the frame of the bus up top it works great on the side i've got my drain for the fresh water tank as you can see the pvc pipe's taken out and then got outlets on either side of course i tinted the windows on either side for privacy and then have 12 volt marker lights up across the top so at night it kind of stands out and then up front i have a keypad entry so i don't have to carry a key with me wherever i go places as we work around to the other side as you can see the tan paint is valspar 360 duramax that's one gallon of that for the whole thing i got that from lowe's and the color was timber dust i think and the bottom is one gallon of flat black rust-oleum paint and only took one gallon of that as well so on this side i've got the battery box i have my 50 amp service the cord is in there i can lock and then have my water inlet and then outlet over here with my black water tank and then sewer valve underneath there so i can drain my tanks so this is the exterior of the roamer [Music] how amazing this school bus conversion turned out and all for just seven thousand dollars and six months worth of work kelp has made such a great use of repurposed materials which was not only cost saving and good for the environment but also added a lot of character to the design of the bus there are so many features in the design of this bus that we love like the skylight and the sliding keyboard desk and we're interested to know what is your favorite part about this bus conversion so leave your thoughts in the comments below and leave a thumbs up if you like this video also follow caleb's journey and reach out to him if you have any questions about the build we'll leave his social media in the description below thanks for watching and see you in the next one bye

Channel: Alternative House

Views: 321,584

Keywords: Skoolie tour, modern farm skoolie, tinyhousetour, Joana Gaines bus, full time travel, bus life, skoolie life, modern skoolie, bus renovation, adventure family, hope for cancer, architect, interior designer, road warrior, life on the road, living free, van life, tiny home on wheels, school bus tour, budget diy bus, low budget tiny house, self built skoolie, explore alternatives, living big in a tiny house, alternative house, florb, tiny home tours, home is where you park it

Id: DuOv99zq3JU

Length: 9min 42sec (582 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 25 2021