Behind the Design of Our Skoolie Bus Conversion | Creative Living

It will be two years in August since we brought home Birdie (the name we’ve given her) and it’s hard to believe it’s been that long. What is even crazier is to think back on all the obstacles and stories we’ve gone through to get to where we are now. We’ve parked it at at least 5 different places around Phoenix, spent endless hours  researching and coming up with designs, asked a million questions to people who have gone before us, and had multiple instances where people would work on it for a little only to leave us hanging. We literally had a guy drop it off at our house tell us he would see us in the morning to continue working on it and never heard from him again. We’ve had people come and go and promise big things, getting our hopes up and leaving us disappointed and back to square one again. Needless to say there have been lots of tears shed over the course of this project too.

We finally had some good momentum going on the last place we had it being worked on and once the biggest things were done, like plumbing and electricity and wood work we brought it home to button up all the loose ends and get it finished. Although, it’s hardly been just a “buttoning up”. Many more unexpected details have come up as they always do with projects like this, but we are getting there little by little.

I thought for this post I’d share some of the inspiration behind the design and what we came up with for the layout of the bus. A few things I knew from the beginning that I wanted were for it to be aesthetically pleasing, feel cozy and comfortable in every part of the space, and have STORAGE EVERYWHERE! Part of the fun for me has been coming up with all the creative ways to put these things together. We drew up multiple layouts at the beginning, measured things multiple times, put tape and markings down all of the inside of the bus until we finally came up with what felt best for our family living in it for weeks at a time. 

The feeling I kept coming back to that I wanted for the overall design was a comfy, cottage feel. I pictured us being tucked away on the bus in the woods camping or next to the beach and kept dreaming of a place that felt like a little cozy home that we would hangout in with the beauty surrounding us wherever we were visiting.

Now, I’m no professional interior designer, but I love putting things together that are beautiful to me. I also love the process of deciding and picking out all the pieces that I think would come together for the look and feel of what I’m wanting and would want others to feel as they enter the room. These are all just my ideas with the use of my own two eyes, nothing fancy or “by the book” by any means. 

So here are some pics of the layout we came up with, the process the bus has been in and a couple different inspiration boards I threw together to get started on the areas in the bus I was dreaming up.

I also have this Pinterest board here I’ve been saving and pinning over the last couple years to give more insight and feel of what I'm going for. 

Although the journey of it has been so up and down, I’m so glad we’ve stuck it out and are so close to traveling in it soon.

Tell me what you think in the comments below!