How one woman renovated a vintage bus into her ideal home

The trend towards tiny home living has been on the rise for the last five years or so but actually making the change and purchasing a tiny home is great in theory for most but not in practice. Jessie Lipskin, a Manhattanite, decided that she was ready for a change. She was tired of paying the exorbitant rent prices for a tiny apartment in the city and wanted to find a way to switch up her fast-paced city life to a more quiet country life on the road.
It all seemed to come together when she found the perfect vessel for her new tiny home on eBay: a rundown bus. It would take a lot of work to restore the bus to working order and refit it to fit her more modern tastes but it seemed like this was the answer to everything she had found lacking in her life recently. As she put the bid in for the bus, Jessie knew she was about to go on a wild ride of renovations and bus interior decorating.

Meet Jessie

Jessie Lipskin was basically a New York City native when she decided it was time to break with tradition and follow a less traditional path than her city slicker peers.

Then in her late 20s, she had a better idea of what it was she wanted in life and scrimping together enough to pay for a closet-sized apartment in the city was not her idea of a lifelong dream. It was a necessity but did it need to be? Or was there a better housing choice just waiting for her to discover it?

Getting Back To Basics

While Jessie had lived in Manhattan for a number of years, she had had the good fortune to leave the city and attend Binghamton College in upstate New York. These college years are what would help to shape her new vision for the future. The campus was situated right within the ready reach of a nature reserve.

Each day after class had finished she would go for a walk through the reserve and do some forest bathing. This was something she found truly lacking in her New York City life and it needed to fixed. But how exactly could she uproot herself and get back to basics?

Sustainable Living

Now that Jessie had set herself on the path to leave the city she needed to develop a plan to make it a reality. It is great to have a dream but making it a reality takes a lot of time and effort. After viewing the documentary Garbage Warrior she knew that she wanted to have the ability to travel and a home that was made from recycled materials.

This would turn out to be upcycling at its finest when she finally secured the structure that she would build her not so tiny home from. But it would take some real elbow grease to get it up to snuff.

The Bare Bones

There were a variety of options when it came to a home on wheels. There was the classic RV or recreational vehicle which has already been converted for easy living.

But this did not appeal to her, while it was retro it did not have the recycled vibe she was looking for. She settled on the idea of finding an old bus which she could retrofit to her needs and enable her to drive up and down the country. She found the bus she wanted on an eBay posted and it only cost $7,000. The first step of her plan was complete.

Meet The Bus

The bus itself was a classic from 1966 that had once been owned by Greyhound and still had the white, red, and blue stripes on the sides giving it a true vintage feel. The real problem with the bus was that it was on the opposite side of the country then Jessie. She was still on the east coast in New York and her new home was in the midst of California state.

Either she or someone she knew would need to pick up the bus from its former owners and drive it to New York to begin refitting it.

No Driver’s License

Purchasing the bus turned out to be the easy part. The hardest thing for Jessie was the fact that she had never learned how to drive and therefore could not pick up the bus herself.

Once she knew the bus was hers she immediately got her learner’s permit and began learning how to drive manual as the bus was not automatic. While she was learning her friends picked up the bus in California and proceeded to drive it to Jessie.

The Interior

The interior of the bus needed a major overhaul. There was supposed to be 400 square feet of space inside that Jessie needed to convert to her living areas. But all of the original 1960s seating was still in place.

With her friends in tow, Jessie and they tore out everything inside the bus and then slicked on a coat of paint on the outside. This was not a home for her though, to refit the bus to liveable standards she would need some professional expertise.

The Layout

Buses are long and narrow which means that Jessie would need to basically shape everything in the bus around the edges of the space. This would utilize the area and make it easier to build inside what she needed.

But she needed to come up with a concrete plan to present to carpenters to follow before they started to build anything. With her trusted friends in tow, they set to drawing out a basic blueprint for furniture and electrical devices.

A Bespoke Bus

With the help of some skilled carpenters and the blueprint for the bus, Jessie’s team began to build the custom fittings that would turn the inside of the bus into a home.

It was a lengthy process that involved a lot of measuring as the built-in tables, drawers, and bed needed to fit perfectly. It was sort of like the fitting of a cabin inside of a sailboat. Little by little the inside of the bus began to transform.

The Bathroom

The idea behind this wheeled home was that everything would be sustainable, recycled when possible and eco-friendly. The bathroom floor was fitted with slats so that the water used by her could be collected as gray water and reused.

There was even talk of a special filtration system. But now that she could recycle water and bathe whenever she wanted further storage issues were brought up. Where would she fit her clothing and accessories?

Built-In Closets

Jessie and her crew mulled over how best to utilize the space for storage. Should there be portions of the floor with built-in storage or was there actually space for physical closets?

The answer was that there was a lot more space, in fact, there was enough for three closets. The curvature of the bus walls meant that the closets could be custom fit to the sides and that way there was just enough room to hang what she needed to.

Let There Be Light

Now that storage was taken care of it was time to turn their attention towards the lighting within the bus and the electronics. Strip lighting was added and it could be dimmed or made brighter by whoever was in the bus.

Appliances were also selected that were low on carbon emissions and not prone to producing pollutants. Jessie did not want to leave a massive carbon footprint as she embarked on adventures in her new home.

Take It All In

Buses have a lot of windows and this one was no different but one thing Jessie really wanted was a kitchen with a view. She wanted to be able to make dinner and look out at the setting sun with nature all around her and know that she was finally living the live she had dreamed of.

She made sure that both an oven and stove were installed along with hardwood counters and a full-size sink. She would not be leading a life of hardship just because she decided to live untraditionally.

Seeing What Works

While most of the interior of the bus was planned out from start to finish Jessie did start to look at other people’s tiny home projects. She liked to see what fittings they used or special ways they used the small space to maximize it.

Just like her tiny home peers, she began to upload images of her bus project so that people could follow along and gain some inspiration from her. Slowly it began to look more and more like a home.

The Bedroom

Besides the kitchen, the bedroom was arguably one of the most important rooms in the bus. This would be where Jessie spent a lot of her time and as she has a love of books it was paramount that a mini library is installed.

Now that all of the rooms had been designed and for the most part fitted with the built-in furniture and the appliances that were mandatory it was time for the finishing touches. The small things that make a home feel like a home.

Three Years Later

This was by no means a quick do it yourself project. No, it took a total of three years to get this 1960s bus into tip-top shape and ready to hit the open road.

The bus had turned out better then Jessie could have hoped for, it was air-conditioned, sustainable, and full of storage so that she would not need to downsize very much. But she still felt like it lacked one thing before she headed out on the road and began to travel around North America.

Staying Present

With everyone attached to their smartphones or sitting in front of televisions, she did not want to have a TV in her tiny home. This was not what she felt was missing.

The nature outside each of her many windows would act as her television or she would delve into one of her favorite books. It was a specific thing that she felt that this bus needed if she was truly going to get used to being on the road and living outside of the city.

Art

You may have noticed that it was a very white space inside the bus. There was nothing hanging on the walls which gave it a very modern chic look but also left it feeling a bit cold.

To remedy this Jessie began to curate a small art collection which would adorn the walls of her bus. This nautical oil painting gave the space an immediate feeling of warmth and the bright colors were definitely needed for this clean expanse of wall.

Treasured Dinnerware

The most personal items that Jessie brought on board were her great-grandmother’s china. Back in the day her great-grandmother had come from a very poor family but wanting to have her own china she had scrimped and saved until she had a set.

Jessie had inherited them and wanted them to be in a place of honor in her tiny home as she hoped her great-grandmother would have approved of her new lifestyle.

Everything In Its Place

Used to being squeezed into her tiny apartment in Manhattan Jessie had developed a very valuable skill that Mario Kondo herself would be proud of: the art of organization.

When she designed the bus she did it so that each item had a place and if it was not important enough for her to have in her apartment she would not have it in her new tiny home. Thus, she began to downsize and only keep the bare essentials.

Going Forward

This project had taken a lot of years out of Jessie’s life and largely consumed her during the whole process. Upon its completion, she realized that she let one important hobby fall by the wayside: reading.

This got her to thinking about what else she could add to her already decked out bus. Did it need more of a library feel to it? Perhaps she needed to add some more books to it to ensure that she did not miss any amazing publications.

Farewell To Thee

Jessie spent a number of years traveling around on her bus and living in it but decided ultimately she was ready to move back to a home without wheels. It was time for her bus to find a new owner who would cherish it just as she had.

She created an ad on Craigslist and posted that the bus would now be sold for $149,000 to whoever she felt would treat it right. After all, it had become something of a treasured friend.

Resting Place

The converted bus was returned to its home state and changed to an Airbnb in Joshua Tree right in the desert. Now desert travelers can rest their heads in this old bus and watch the mesmerizing sunsets and sunrises.

Jessie is still on the road as a remote worker but likes the freedom of being able to travel by any sort of transport she wants. Maybe another tiny home on wheels is in her future.