Four months outside, building the place we were going to live.

We bought the bus before we knew everything

In 2018, Chase lost his job. We responded by buying a Nashville Metro school bus: a 40-foot Thomas MVP Saf-T-Liner that would become Tío Aventura. A fairly substantial change of plans.

We were not bringing years of renovation experience to the project. Before the bus, Chase’s biggest home improvement project had been swapping outlets for ones with USB chargers. There is a pretty large gap between that and converting an entire vehicle into a home. We had some learning to do.

The workshop was outside

We spent four months building in the elements. That is part of the story we want to keep beside the finished photographs. The bus did not arrive as a carefully styled room. It was a project we had to work through, outside, before it could become the place we lived.

The timelapse lets you see the scale of the transformation. It is satisfying to watch an empty shell become recognizable as a home. Just remember what that format does to time: months of work become a video you can watch in one sitting.

Our four months are a record of our build, not a deadline for yours. A different vehicle, different scope, different experience, or different amount of available time changes the project. Give your own plan room to be honest.

A house, then a bus

We sold our house and belongings and went on the road. Moving from more than 2,000 square feet into roughly 280 meant rethinking what home needed to hold. The project was physical, but the decision went well beyond cabinetry.

When you are designing the place you intend to live, every choice has a second question attached: how will this feel to use? A room that photographs beautifully still has to get you through breakfast, work, laundry, and a day when you would rather stay inside.

That is a useful place to begin your own build. Write down the ordinary activities before collecting the finishes. Decide what needs to be easy to reach. Think about how you will maintain things after the walls are closed.

What came after the build

Tío carried us through two years of travel. In April 2020, we delivered it to its next owner, who wanted to include it in a tiny-home community near Austin. Our own next project was a Sprinter.

The bus was the beginning of a much longer relationship with making spaces. We could not have shown you the finished version when we started. We had to build our way there.

Watch the original conversion timelapse for the whole transformation. There is something we still love about seeing the beginning beside the end—and remembering how much living happened after the camera recorded that last stage.