In 2014, Timothy Miller stumbled across a blog called Hank Bought a Bus, which chronicled an architecture student’s—the titular Hank’s— conversion of a bus, which sparked inspiration for his own project. At the time, however, he and his wife Meryl had just graduated college and were living in West Philadelphia. “We just didn’t have the funds,” says Meryl.

After saving up for four years, including contributions they received as wedding gifts in 2018, the couple—she’s a graphic designer and the owner of Jubilee Paper; he’s a product manager—were finally ready to embark on their own bus conversion. A month after getting married, they found a 2000 Bluebird bus for sale in Madison, Wisconsin, through Facebook Marketplace and booked one-way tickets from their home base in New York City to close the deal. “We still didn’t have a place to park it—in fact, NYC was an even worse place to have a bus than Philadelphia—but figured it was time to get started, and that we’d just figure things out,” says Timothy.

$5,500 Bus	$363 Paint	$1,860 Insulation
$89 Wall Framing	$240 Subfloor	$870 Baltic Birch Plywood Walls
$200 MDF (Cabinets)	$120 Screws & Fasteners	$85 LVP Flooring
$260 PVC Ceiling Boards	$98 Caning (Cabinet Fronts)	$550 Bathroom Tiles
$90 Woodburning Stove Heat Shield	$543 Lights & Hardware	$190 Kitchen Sink & Faucet
$35 Outdoor Shower	$900 Cubic Mini Grizzly Woodstove	$2,506 Appliances
$120 700W Solar Panels	$960 Tesla Model S Battery Module	$2,100 Electrical
$1,022 Plumbing	$345 Propane	$1,670 Miscellaneous
Grand Total: $20,716

Initially, the couple parked the bus on Staten Island, commuting every weekend from Brooklyn to get to work. The conversion started with repairing and outfitting the exterior shell. The couple demo’ed the bus down to the bare metal, then treated it for rust, fixed holes, added insulation, and refinished the interior, making sure to incorporate their must-haves into the redesign.

“I really wanted to have six-foot-high ceilings because I’m six feet,” says Timothy. “And insulation is really important when you’re in a big steel tube because the sun is beating down on it, [and] we were going to be traveling through desert, through snow, through blizzards. But the amount of insulation, especially in the floor and ceiling, was calculated very much based on my height.”

In April of 2015, the couple needed to park the bus closer to their Brooklyn apartment in order to finish the build-out by the end of the summer. “For the next four months, we moved the bus every two weeks for street cleaning, cycling between spots we found in Cobble Hill, Red Hook, and Gowanus,” says Timothy. “Sometimes we were lucky and could park outside our fourth-floor walk-up apartment. On those days, I tossed two daisy-chained 50-foot extension cords out our window to power my tools while working on the bus. Other days, I used the portable generator, hoping that I wasn’t building up too much ill-will from the neighbors.”

Converting a bus, as opposed to an RV, appealed to the couple because it was a “blank canvas to paint on,” and weight restrictions weren’t a limiting factor. “You can really go hog wild with it and build your dream,” says Timothy. “Some people have washers and dryers in their buses, and bathtubs,” adds Meryl. “You can really do whatever you want.”

The couple opted for an airy palette of white walls, light wood accents, and cane-front kitchen cabinetry, all arranged around a central aisle. A peninsula counter bisects the kitchen from the living area, and creates a sitting area and extra prep space. A raised platform at the rear supports a double bed with storage underneath, and a mini wood stove keeps the interior cozy.

Many components were bought secondhand—such as the RV battery salvaged from a wrecked Tesla Model S that was found on eBay—or handmade, such as the cushions for the modular couch that were sewn by their mother.

“We built all of our furniture from scratch, save one storage bench which was a wedding present,” says Timothy. “We even manufactured our own brackets for the solar panels with the help of our neighbor, Dave.” The bus is designed so they can live off-grid, from showering to cooking, for two weeks.

The couple were attracted to the project as a creative enterprise and as a means to travel—they never planned on living in the bus permanently. They hit the road in September of last year, driving west from Massachusetts, and travelled through 15 national parks until the pandemic cut their trip short.

“There was talk of states closing their borders,” says Timothy. “It was clear that it wasn't the right time to travel. With heavy hearts, we started heading back east—a global pandemic is no time to be on the road.”

Since arriving in Pennsylvania, the couple have bought a home in the Poconos and are starting a new renovation. “The bus chapter was a great one, but now it’s time for the next chapter,” says Timothy. Their bus is currently for sale, and the couple hopes to pass it on to new buyers with a similar urge to go the distance. “The bus is built to be a home,” says Timothy. “It’s filled with lots of storage and big tanks, and it’s built to be lived in. It’s not for a weekend trip.”

Related Reading:

This Family of Four Calls a Cool, Renovated School Bus Their Full-Time Home

A 1980s School Bus Becomes a Tiny Home With Scandinavian Vibes for a Family of Five

A 320-Square-Foot School Bus Becomes an Airy Abode For a Family of Five

Project Credits:

Design and Build: Meryl and Timothy Miller (@busplusus)

Also Appears In

Budget Breakdown: A DIY Couple Turn a Bus Into a Dreamy, Off-Grid Home for $20K