Faced with an uncertain job market impacted by the pandemic, I decided to take a gap year with my partner in the summer of 2020. We converted a broken down school bus into an off-grid home on wheels (colloquially referred to as a ‘skoolie’) and traveled around the country.

I documented our build and travels on Instagram and quickly amassed thousands of followers. Our account @not.so.still.life was even featured by the National Skoolie Association.

The Build

Nearly every piece of the interior conversion was completed using secondhand and repurposed materials. One of my favorite details was our ceiling, which was compiled of tin panels sourced from a local junk yard. We brought these rusty panels back to life with a good power wash and fresh paint/sealant. We had to doublecheck our tetanus vaccine status for the install, but the result was breathtaking.

The floor was a geometric mosaic made out of roughly 700 individual pieces. Each piece was cut out of a sheet of hardwood, sanded, stained, and glued down. Once everything was in place we varnished and sealed it for protection.

The wood burning stove – our primary source for heat, was found on Facebook Marketplace. We adorned the area with our hand-painted terracotta tiles inspired by Chicago designer, Edgar Miller.

The bus’ ability to function off-grid was enabled by our solar panel system, which is essentially three key pieces – solar panels, a Growatt solar inverter, and batteries. Our solar panels were purchased from an eccentric man in Grand Rapids, Michigan who sold them out of his house. The Growatt box and batteries were purchased from eBay.

Our plumbing system was very simple. It was used only for our shower & kitchen and didn’t have temperature control. We placed our fresh water tank inside under the bed and cut out a hole on the side of the bus for water intake. Then we placed our “grey” water tank outside under the bus, which made it easy to empty. Both tanks were acquired from Craigslist.

The shower was probably the most disappointing part of our build. Our shower used a tankless propane-fueled water heater hose system meant to be used outdoors because the exhaust is carbon monoxide. We attempted to built an exhaust output system for the shower, but it didn’t work very well. Therefore we had to shower with the window open (not ideal) and use the water in short rinse bursts. The water also had very poor temperature control so it was scalding hot or ice cold each use.

Before & After