Max - The Bus
Our "journey" towards building a custom skoolie started long before we bought the bus. Candice did a two-and-a-half-month road trip through the United States with a friend back in 2016. After this trip, she saw her first van conversion video and thought, "How cool would that be?" With that, the dream was born.
Fast-forward a few years, add a husband and a dog and a burning desire to hit the road again. We were looking for ideas and inspiration for our next big adventure. Phil proposed the idea of a short school bus instead of a van. He had spent a few summers driving these while tree planting in northern Ontario so he knew they were durable, reliable vehicles. Plus you get a little more living space than in a cargo van.
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After our honeymoon, we started looking for our bus and working through the process of designing and building it into an adventure vehicle. We built 80% of it out in our driveway in Toronto and we finished the rest on the road. We have a map of where we have been here.
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Below we have a series of photos of how it all turned out. We are very happy with the end result but, for those of you who have done something similar, you'll know that this is a never-ending project. We have more that we want to add and change as we spend more time in Max. We hope you like exploring our designs here!
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Designing the floor plan was our first step. We drew inspiration from watching as many van and bus renovation videos as we could find. Then we taped it out on our apartment floor so we could get a feel for it.
Kitchens are the heart of a home. We wanted our kitchen to be large enough that we could cook together. We were able to achieve that, as well as a gas stove with 3 burners, an oven, fridge, deep drawer for storage and a gorgeous under-mount sink with a large faucet. Learn more.
We love to cook together and this space has given us loads of room to have all the spices we need on board. We also built in a little pocket to store remote controls. Finding creative ways to declutter in small spaces is a constant evolution!
Fitting a shower stall into a short bus is a challenge. We prioritized this in the floor plan so that we could really live off-grid without sacrificing too much comfort. We have an instant hot water heater so we can have a warm shower anywhere we go!
Our bedroom is incredibly cozy. We have two custom foam mattresses which allows us to have different degrees of firm and soft. It also lets us be able to incline each side to different levels.
This is a luxury in any tiny home. The closet runs from floor to ceiling and includes three drawers, room for long dresses and a full-length mirror!
Before moving into the bus we had an L-shaped couch that pulled out into a bed. This was the inspiration for this space on our bus. A place where we can relax with space for both of us and Cooper too!
This space is for us to have a few cute decorative elements on the bus. We have plans to bring more plants into the mix from the places we travel to.
Here is a view of how we can turn the couch into a spare bed for a guest to stay with us.
For the exterior of the bus, we started with a simple white paint which was done when we first bought it. We added the name and the green details after we had been on the road for four weeks.
