Man Buys Old School Bus And Transforms It Into A Luxury Tiny Home

Going Solar

In order to be environmentally friendly and energy efficient, Talley decided that he wanted to add solar panels to the roof of the bus. According to him, it was the toughest day of the build and it didn’t help that there was no one else available to help him fit the panels. “Installing my solar panels. This was the most frustrating day of the build,” he said. “I was doing it myself, it was very windy, and things kept falling off the roof.”

Tiles For Days

One of the standout features of Talley’s kitchen motif were the tiles he had fitted. “The only cosmetic design that I knew I wanted in the bust was dark hardwood floors, butchered block, and white subway tile with black grout,” he said. “Researched the hell out of tile in an RV and got to work. Not the best job, but then again, first time I’ve ever done any of this stuff.” Although he was modest about his work, it looks thoroughly impressive.

Armadillo Bus

Interestingly, there is a heartwarming story behind why Talley chose this specific vehicle for his home transformation. The answer lies in his childhood. “My bus was the ‘Armadillo’ bus. I have two friends who actually rode this bus when they were kids,” he said. However, it turns out that Talley had to make a sacrifice in order to apply the finishing touches to his mobile home. “I had to sadly scrape this off so I could paint the bus white,” he said.

Dream Office

As previously said, Michael Talley is a designer (hence the impressive illustration below) and needs an office wherever he ends up living. Seeing that the bus transformation was going to plan, he needed to make sure that he had an office. “Being a graphic designer I need a proper workspace. Most tiny houses have these little dinky desks that flip up from a wall or are tucked away in a small alcove,” he said. “This desk is 5 feet wide and 2 feet deep, the largest desk I’ve ever owned!”

Recycling At Its Finest

Not only has Talley been efficient with his space in his new home, but he has also been thoughtful when it comes to what materials he uses for it. His proudest moment has to be what he used for interior furnishings. “I need to say I SUPER lucked out with this wood,” he said. “It’s reclaimed floorboards from a house here in Hyde Park in Austin, from 1941. I just flipped it upside down and used the unfinished sides for all my accent walls/couch.”

Back To Basics

There were many other factors that Talley needed to take into consideration outside of the home’s design. Basic essentials such as electricity and plumbing needed to be executed to a tee in order to make the vehicle work as a home. Once those things were done, Talley moved onto other aspects of the construction. He ended up fitting solar panels onto the roof. After this, he applied interior panels to the ceiling. This allowed Talley to start working on the wooden furnishings.

Cut In Half

Here is an image of the bus after it was completely cut in half. It is something that Talley knew needed to be done, but this photo clearly shows just how literal he was when he set he was going to cut the bus right down the middle. “Used a Sawzall to cut the roof from one end to the other,” he said. “Have I mentioned how nerve-racking it was to basically destroy my bus by doing all of this?”

Keeping Cool

Since Talley was working during long, sunny days while he was in the thick of the build, it was absolutely imperative that he stayed cool. This meant that he needed to make sure that he was constantly hydrated. One thing that helped was that he could do the majority of the heavy labor inside the bus, in the shelter. Talley also had fans dotted around the vehicle to make things easier. “Building up my fridge and entertainment center frames,” he said.

The Wheels Fell Off?

When “the wheels fall off,” that normally means that something is going very wrong. However, when Michael Talley made one wheel come off, this was an indication that quite the opposite was happening. Everything was still going to plan. However, there is no doubt that changing one of these school bus tires was financially demanding for Talley. “Changing a tire on this thing was more expensive and less fun than I had thought it would be,” he said.