Top 10 School Bus Conversions That Feel Like Home

Skoolie Life is growing almost as fast as the vanlife movement and converting a school bus is an excellent alternative if you want slightly more space inside your tiny home. Many vandwellers will make the move from camper conversions to school bus conversions as their family grows or when they decide to live a more static alternative lifestyle as they make perfect affordable tiny homes. 

We have already shown you Mercedes sprinter conversions, DIY camper conversions, custom vans and many different tiny homes and today we’re going to showcase the ten best DIY School Bus conversions to inspire your tiny house build. So, if you’re looking to upsize your camper conversion, or maybe you’re wanting to start an off grid adventure and ditch the white picket fence then read on to discover how good your adventure bus could look.

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1. Hanzian Bus

First up on our list of the ten best DIY school bus conversions is @hanzian_bus. This beautifully converted bus is home to a young family of three who lives life on the road in their off-grid home.

This tiny home features a comfortable double bedroom at the back of the bus, followed by a bathroom and a bedroom for the baby. This space looks like a cosy place to sleep with enough room to move around with ease. 

Our favourite area in this bus conversion, however, has got to be the open place kitchen and living space. This country cottage staple kitchen is so eye-catching, the turquoise of the cabinetry is bold and beautiful. This pop of colour adds some zest to an otherwise neutral space, with a white floor and walls. The colour scheme is a good balance, allowing light to flood through the space, giving it a light and airy feel. This bus looks like a wonderful place to live and to bring up an adventurous child within, with everything you could possibly need at hand. 

2. Flat Out Travellers

Second, on our list on the ten best DIY school bus conversions is @flatoutravellers, a Canadian couple who are currently travelling North America in their self converted school bus Ol’ George. The bus is a gorgeous space with a dark timber roof and complementing floor, giving the bus a relaxed feel. The deep tones of the wooden ceiling and floor allow the bright white cabinetry of the kitchen to shine and stand out as a beautiful, and functional, feature. 

We love the layout of this space, which is entirely open plan with the sleeping area on view at the back of the bus, followed by some storage and a galley kitchen and finally, the seating area with a sofa on onside and table booth on the other. We love the lack of any walls inside this bus; it allows the space and the light brought in by the many windows to flow freely. This bus is the perfect base for the ultimate American road trip. 

3. Soulful Bus Life

Next on our list of the best DIY school bus conversions is a bus that is home to not one, not two, not three but four different species! @soulfulbuslife house an American couple as they travel full time with their dog, two cats and two bunnies. Who said that living tiny had to mean no pets?! This home is designed not only to be comfortable and spacious for the humans on board but also for all of the animals. The bunnies have a large hutch running along one side of the bus, giving them plenty of space to roam around; the cats have a great DIY scratching pole and play area, and the dog has a cosy place to sleep at the foot of the bed. 

Even with so much space dedicated to their furry companions, this travelling couple has still found plenty of scale for everything needed to live a comfortable life. We particularly love the wooden ceiling that adds a warm atmosphere to the interior, as well as the carpet, which will help keep the heat and adds a drop of luxury to the bus. This bus is a spacious home to all of its inhabitants and a fantastic space to live and travel in. 

4. Happy Home Bodies

Up next on our list of the best DIY School Bus Conversions is @happyhomebodies a couple living and travelling the USA in their school bus. This is a huge school bus, with plenty of space for two people and three (yes, three!) dogs inside. This spacious tiny home has an uber-cool neutral colour scheme running throughout the bus with whitewashed wooden walls and grey sofas. Besides the seating area is a large kitchen area for preparing tasty meals while on the road and, at the back of the bus is a bathroom and a private bedroom.  

Our favourite feature on this bus has to be the wood-burning stove. A fire is a great way to heat a small space such as a bus, not only does it make the whole space warm through the night but it also looks great and is an affordable heating option. The seating area in the main room of the bus can also convert into a second double bed, meaning that this bus conversion can easily host guests. It is great to be able to welcome friends and family into your home, no matter the size. 

5. We Travel By Bus

We’re halfway through our list of the top ten best DIY School Bus Conversions and this time we’re heading to Europe with @wetravelbybus. This School Bus Conversion is a classic American School Bus conversion in miniature, with the bus being about half the size of a regular school bus. This bus may be smaller than your average skoolie, but it gives you more space than a van and is easier to drive than a bigger bus on the narrow European roads. 

The interior of this bus has a stunning rustic aesthetic with shabby chic cabinetry that instantly catches your eye. As well as being beautiful, this bus is also a functional space with a large double bed with storage and a pull-out table below, a bench seating area that also acts as passenger seating, a kitchen space and a wood-burning stove. We love the detail in this conversion, especially the features such as the passenger seat and ceiling that are reminiscent of the bus’s original function. 

6. Wild Drive Life

Next up on our list of the ten best DIY School Bus Conversions is @wilddrivelife. This bus has been home to Maeg and Ben as they completed a 22,000mile road trip across the USA and is now their full-time stationary home. This bus is a beautiful example of how much you can squeeze into a tiny home without making a cluttered space. It has everything you could possibly need or want, but everything has its place, creating a clean and ordered feel, giving you space to chill out and relax.

We love the white colour scheme of this van conversion, the white ceiling, walls and cabinetry make this space feel bigger than it is. The wooden accents around the windows and cupboard doors complement the hardwood flooring and, along with the dusty green splashes of colour, give the bus an almost nautical feel. This bus looks like something straight out of a design magazine and would be an absolute pleasure to live in. 

7. Evergreen Bus

Next up on our list of the ten best DIY School Bus Conversions is this build by @evergreen.bus. This spacious bus is home to travelling couple Brooke and Daniel who plan to visit all of the USA’s national parks in it. This bus has a great layout, with the bedroom at the back, followed by the bathroom, large kitchen and finally the living room area. This bus conversion has fewer windows than most school busses which gives this home a more private and cosy feel, more like a traditional house. 

Deep colours such as the dark turquoise on the cupboard doors, the deep red of the rug in the kitchen and the oak brown colour of the sofa give the bus trendy pops of colour against its white base. The turquoise of the kitchen cabinets brightens the area which is very spacious with a full-sized fridge freezer and oven, allowing enough space to cook up any meal in this fantastic travelling home. 

8. Bilby The Bus

We’re heading to Australia with @bilby_the_bus for the next bus on our list of the ten best DIY School Bus Conversions. This beautiful Australian bus spends most of its time travelling the coastline, and it certainly does have a beach hut vibe on the inside. The shabby chic pale blue kitchen cupboards elegantly match the pale blue exterior of the bus and tie together the colour scheme of the bus. 

One of our favourite features of this School Bus Conversion is the white vaulted ceiling. This curved roof ensures the bus is full of light, making it feel super spacious. The ceiling also nicely breaks up the wood on the walls and floor, complementing it and working together to create a bright space. The layout of this bus, with the bed curtained off to the rear of the vehicle, gives the impression of two rooms- a kitchen/living room and a bedroom, we love this feature as it’s great to be able to separate your bed from the rest of the home. 

9. 2 Cool 4 Skool Bus

We’re nearing the end of our list of the top ten best DIY school bus conversions and up next we have that you don’t want to miss from @2cool4skoolbus. This bus is part-time travelling home to a couple and their young daughter who are currently travelling the USA in their epic conversion. This bus features the bedroom at the back of the bus with a cosy double bed, followed by the bathroom and storage. Once you step into the central area of the bus, you can see how bright and spacious it is, with enough room for the whole family. 

We love the cute neutral colour scheme running throughout this conversion, the white and greens complement each other to create a relaxed space. The addition of the playful cactus wallpaper catches the eye and, along with the cactus and llama passenger seats adds some fun to the room. This is a fun space, but there is also everything needed for the ultimate holiday, including a full kitchen, a booth to eat at, a sofa and even a washing machine! No more trips to the laundromat! 

10. Tio Adventura Bus

Last, but not least on our list of the top ten best DIY School Bus Conversions is this beautiful build by @tioadventurabus. Chase and Mariajosé have been living and travelling the USA in their converted school bus for over a year, and their bus is amazing. We love the unusual layout, which isn’t linear like most school bus conversions. This bus features an L-shaped kitchen. This smart design allows more kitchen worktop space and creates a clear divide between the bedroom and living space, making them completely separate. 

We love the pale colour scheme in this van with lots of white and neutral tones, light floods the space and making it a bright place to live. The dusty green of the kitchen cabinets adds a country cottage feel to the kitchen area, complemented by the hessian rugs and huge sink. This space may be beautiful but it also functional with a full-sized fridge, a sofa bed in the front to host guests and individual areas for the couple to play video games and store makeup. This is the perfect first home to travel a fantastic country in. 

Final Thoughts…

We have reached the end of our list of the top ten best DIY School Bus conversion to inspire your travel lust and conversion ideas. As we have seen today, there are so many ways of converting a school bus to turn it into a travelling home, and each design is as good as the next. The important thing to remember when you venture into a School Bus Conversion is that there is no wrong, as long as it feels like home to you. Let us know what you think of these busses by joining the Van Clan over on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.