hi there welcome to my channel where I take you on tours of tiny and unique homes and showcase
stories of people living alternatively in today's video we're going to meet Heidi and take a tour
of her incredible schooly Heidi has embraced the nomadic lifestyle so that she could travel the
country with her home in tow while she's searching for a place to possibly settle down in the future
how do I know if I want to settle somewhere or where I want to settle if I've never seen that
place that's kind of what I've been looking for is a place that really feels like home
if you like these kind of videos make sure that you subscribe and
hit that notification Bell so that you know every single time we publish a new tour but
right now let's meet Heidi and take a tour of her awesome bus turned tiny home [Music]
thank you
[Music]
foreign [Music] ER the bus
before I moved into the bus I did the whole typical College you graduate you get a job you
start working and I got caught up in that even while I was living in the city I felt like I
wasn't exploring to the full potential and that I didn't have enough time for myself why am I
doing the same thing over and over again when I could be seeing something different every day
the main reason that I chose this bus is because of the length of it is 28 feet so it's longer than
a super short bus and it's shorter than a long bus I was able to find it just on Facebook Marketplace
but I had been looking for like six months I was very quick to go down and look at it I was
very quick to check it out and commit to the bus I said okay it's going to take you a year to build
out this bus and I stuck to it it took me a year from the date that I purchased it to the day that
I moved in but it was working on it basically every day I didn't have a job at the time and I
was with my parents and I built it out in my dad's driveway it was constantly there I woke up and all
I thought about was the bus all I thought about was going down to do construction or to do demo
or to paint it was a long year of building the bus all together the bus cost me about twenty thousand
dollars [Music] to be honest living in the bus wasn't that much of a transition because I've
lived in like small apartments and small house now I'm in the bus and it feels more like home
than any of those places ever did [Music] so I've been on the road for about nine months looking
forward to exploring more of the West Coast and just really seeing some of these giant Landscapes
and seeing a part of the country that I'd never grew up in that I never got to really experience
you can have a vacation but you're always going back home and home is always with me now
[Music]
foreign she's a 1999 International 3800 School Bus she's about eight feet wide and 28 feet
long and comes in around 20 000 pounds the wayfinder has a t44e engine and an at-545
transmission she gets about eight miles to the gallon she does not sip fuel she guzzles
[Music] so on the side of the bus it's seven windows long I decided to delete
a couple of Windows one on this side two on the other side where I would
not be able to access them after putting in the construction so my shower is behind this window
Up on the Roof I have 800 watts of solar and an AC unit that I added along with
a fantastic fan and the pipe over here is for my water heater not a wood stove
so in the back we have my deck which was essential to carry all of my extra stuff as far as propane
gasoline generator to power my air conditioning unit the deck is quite the feet I'm very proud
of it because the company we were going to get metal from wanted about 300 for the Box tubing
and I went to the scrap yard instead and found an industrial cart we cut that into multiple pieces
re-welded it together and put it onto the frame of the bus and now I have a deck for twenty five
dollars instead of 300 the generator I would like to replace with something smaller this
is what I had available to me at the time but I don't need something that's 6000 watts to run my
AC unit on top of the bus my solar takes care of everything else if I lose power for several days
in a row with no sun I have cloud coverage I do want that generator as a backup [Music] one of
the features I love about my bus is the mandala that I painted on the side it was a custom piece
that I drew out projected and painted I like it because it's stand out and it makes me unique and
it taught me a lot of things about patience and troubleshooting along the way I would recommend
painting your bus if you feel confident because once the paint is on there it's on there there's
no going back unless you strip it all the way down but it was a fun project and it taught me a lot
another feature I love is my Live Edge table it's a little tall but it does allow me another
platform to put things and set things down when I'm outside and camping the main reason
that I wanted a handicap bus was for the door and this is why it creates an amazing indoor outdoor
space and it opens up my whole living room to be a nice open area in such a small space
originally I was going to get a bus with a handicapped door in the back which would be
where my bed is but I honestly love this so much better I have two hooks inside
where I can hang a swing and I can look at my view hang on the swing outside the door and
it really just helps open up that space inside let's take a look inside [Music]
welcome to the inside of the bus so the interior height is six feet tall I'm 510 so when I stand
up I only have a couple of inches but it's just me and my rig so it works out fine and I didn't
feel the need to do a roof race one thing I do want to point out is that the floor was raised
above the wheel wells it came like that from the factory due to the fact that it's a handicap bus
I lose a little bit of Headroom but I also didn't have to build around the wheel wells
and over here we have some stuff I like to hang up when I'm parked it's my plants my chandelier
I have a couple more little plants it's nice to have knickknacks and stuff for a homey feel
but it also becomes kind of The Dumping Ground for whatever I want to put there as I'm coming
in so there's a double-edged sword there with that so here we have my kitchen I decided to
repurpose all of these cabinets from Habitat for Humanity I just repainted them and added
some new hardware and got a simple countertop from Ikea and these used to be toilet paper
roll holders for the bathroom but I turned them sideways and turned them into my upper cabinets
because I didn't want a lot of space taken up overhead the restore was a great resource for the
bus build in general because all of my cabinets cost me 140 dollars and my sink was originally
a double sink that I cut off the smaller side and then used in the bus for only twenty dollars
I have a two burner stove here which I can accomplish most anything on
and my sink is nice and big which I'm very happy that I went with that size I can't
stress enough how important it is to have enough room to do potentially laundry all
your dishes I have this peel and stick tile that I just used to dress up the wall behind the sink
I think it just adds a really cool element without having to do a lot of work tiling
so to wrap up the kitchen I went with a side loader fridge and it's 110 it has served me
very well I love it so much I rock the cooler for a couple months and after I got my solar installed
I was able to run my fridge and it's seriously a game changer I also have my basket up top for my
pantry Goods it's just me in the rig so I don't need a lot of space for those Dry Goods so I have
them all on top of the fridge all right so if you come down and look here I have a riser for the
fridge it makes it easier to reach things inside the fridge and it acts as a storage spot for my
dog's bowl that is a slow feeder Bowl because Porter will inhale his food [Music] foreign
[Music] I just reused my old mattress that I had been sleeping on for a couple of years it's a full
size a twin I think would have been a little bit too small and anything larger than a full
might have taken up too much of the space but I really like my space back here because it's kind
of secluded it's a little Nook I feel very safe and cozy and I also Incorporated some storage
underneath the bed for everyday items I have like dry shampoo I have lotion I have stuff like that
and my closet was also from Habitat for Humanity and it was ten dollars and it is very functional
for me I can fit a lot of clothes I have a full length mirror and in the back I have my instant
on hot water heater that's the pipe in the back going through the roof I decided to go with an
instant water heater so as to save a little bit of water and conserve use my propane wisely so
far it's been really great I've not had any issues with it so I also have my original emergency hatch
that I added a skylight to because I wanted to keep the functionality of the hatch but
also allow extra natural light into the bedroom area since it is more closed off welcome to my
bathroom in my bathroom I decided to go with a full-size situation I don't like the idea
of a wet bath or having to move my toilet out or having to dry my toilet after showering so
I wanted to take up three windows in the build which is doable because again it's just me so I
have a full-size shower and space in between and then I have a DIY composting toilet in my shower
I have a snake mural which I thought would add a little bit of uniqueness and artwork to the
bus I decided just to seal those wooden plywood walls with Spar urethane I sprayed 11 coats on
to ensure that it was watertight in the shower I also added a skylight bubble which is opaque but
it adds an extra five inches to the ceiling height because I'm 510 and it gets shorter towards the
edge of the bus I needed that extra space to be able to stand up and actually wash my hair
I decided against buying a manufactured composting toilet because I felt confident in the fact that
I could accomplish that same so I built out a box and I used a urine diverter that I bought
from strumpet in trollop it's a really great company and I love the way that it separates
the solids and liquids and I was able to build my toilet for less than two hundred dollars
so as we move down the hallway um I will point out my fantastic fan that I retrofitted to the
original emergency hatch schooly.com actually provides the panels that can adapt to a 14
inch hole from the original 32 inch hole of the bus from here we'll come to the AC unit
which I had to cut a new hole in the ceiling it was quite the feet but we got it done and
I used the surround from the original hatch over this hatch to try to finish the edge
something that most people notice right away when they walk in is my mini artwork collection
I have had this collection for several years and I've been building on it every year and it
was one thing I was not going to compromise when moving into the bus so I'm glad that they all fit
and they all came with me because they're very sentimental some of them are from places that
I've traveled to in Europe or wherever and some of them are just from vintage stores or thrift shops
it just depends usually the painting calls to me and I pick it up here we have my couch I wanted to
make sure that it was a functional space for me I did not want to dinette so in addition to the
couch that also pulls out to a bed it pulls out to an L shape and I have a flip forward table [Music]
I used my old bed frame and re-welded it into different pieces to be able to just
flip forward from behind the couch and I can use it to eat on I can use it to play
cards I can host people or I can just use it as an office space to work initially I was
just traveling off of savings I'm a commercial photographer so I do that every now and then
whenever somebody needs it and lately I've been painting some murals so that's been fun
I've had several people approach me about doing that so that's been a nice source of
income as something different that I haven't like done before something interesting and new
well for anyone watching the video I would hope that they walk away feeling like it is
attainable it doesn't matter what your rig looks like on the inside or the outside it's
more about the spirit of traveling it's about the spirit of meeting people I don't feel like
I'm missing out on anything I think I have everything that I need right here in the bus
this is the life that I want to live I want to explore and see the world because how do
I know if I want to settle somewhere or where I want to settle if I've never seen that place
that's kind of what I've been looking for is a place that really feels like home eventually I
would like to buy a homestead maybe park the bus I don't feel comfortable settling
somewhere until I've seen all of what the US has to offer which is a lot [Music]
thanks for watching this week's video please make sure to like share
and subscribe and I will see you soon with another unique home tour [Music]