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Wonder Bus Is a Gorgeous DIY Skoolie Conversion With Its Own Garage and Roof Deck

For all the minimalism in the minimalist lifestyle, pricing remains prohibitive. For tiny dwellers and RVers, the other alternative to downsizing is to take the DIY (do it yourself) route, but that too is not without challenges.
The Wonder Bus is a 2-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything before 13 photos
Photo: Instagram / Ave & Des
The Wonder Bus is a 2-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything beforeThe Wonder Bus is a 2-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything beforeThe Wonder Bus is a 2-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything beforeThe Wonder Bus is a 2-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything beforeThe Wonder Bus is a 2-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything beforeThe Wonder Bus is a 2-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything beforeThe Wonder Bus is a 2-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything beforeThe Wonder Bus is a 2-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything beforeThe Wonder Bus is a 2-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything beforeThe Wonder Bus is a 2-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything beforeThe Wonder Bus is a 2-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything beforeThe Wonder Bus is a 2-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything before
Those who feel they have the skill, the budget, the time, and especially the courage to build their own tiny home on wheels, the Wonder Bus, a gorgeous skoolie conversion that’s recently been featured on the popular Tiny Home Tours, could be just the kind of inspiration they need. It’s entirely handmade using upcycling and items from the second-hand market, it’s very cozy, incredibly zen, and quite possibly the hippiest thing you’re likely to see this week. We mean that last part in the best sense possible, no offense to hippies.

The Wonder Bus is a two-year conversion by married could Ave and Des. Currently located in Wichita, Kansas, it goes on the road as often as the couple’s timetable allows it; last summer, for instance, it went on a six-week trip across the United States, and everything held together remarkably. The Wonder Bus was completed prior to the trip, and has already survived its first winter with freezing temperatures.

The Wonder Bus is like a sea of calmness washing over a year’s worth of stress, if you’ll allow the comparison. It’s actually an old Thomas bus that’s been stripped bare of everything and filled with the basics of a home for two. It has air-conditioning, a gorgeous bathroom, real hardwood surfaces and heated floor, a comfortable king-size bed, a fireplace, and a roof deck that’s just perfect for family meals and taking in the views. It also has its own garage and, perhaps just as importantly, it’s off-grid-capable.

The Wonder Bus is a 2\-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything before
Photo: Instagram / Ave & Des
Ave and Des are former college athletes and, as they describe themselves, adventurers, so traveling is an important part of their life. In building their dream home on wheels, which came to replace a very sad one-bedroom apartment, they wanted something that would be a reflection of their lifestyle, but also maintain the distinctive elements of the former skoolie.

They also wanted to keep most of the windows on the bus as they were, so that no piece of furniture or walls block off natural light. Even the cupboard under the pull-out pantry in the kitchen, the only thing to block a window in the entire “house,” still has the window in the back, which means you get natural light to look inside it.

Everything on board was either bought on the second-hand market, mostly on Facebook, or upcycled. The driver’s chair is old but repainted, and the two sofas in the living room are actually one single mattress cut in four. When they have guests over, the two sofas become a queen-size bed, and the same wooden section that serves to connect the sofas can be turned over and used as a dinner table.

The kitchen is small but complete, with walnut, oak, and osage orange wood from a local farm used throughout. There’s a refrigerator and freezer, a 1972 oven from an old RV, a microwave, and a deep sink with everything from a soaking rack to a cutting board integrated. Open the window and turn the faucet around, and you get an outdoor shower.

The bedroom is at the rear, with a very comfortable mattress taking up all the space. There are some cupboards at the foot of the bed for storage, and the main wardrobe is under the bed, over the utility area. The bathroom is equally impressive, with river rock floor, a Nature’s Head compost toilet, a hidden hamper, and a shower with a skylight in the only part of the roof that’s been lifted.

The Wonder Bus is a 2\-year skoolie conversion by a couple who had never built anything before
Photo: Instagram / Ave & Des
Despite the clean, unfussy and very zen appearance of the place, the Thomas bus is mostly original underneath. The roof is the original one, as is the door with the opening mechanism, and even the wheelchair lift at the rear, which the couple is now using for the garage. That area was initially meant to be the bedroom, but it now houses a moped and all their adventure gear. The bumper has also been extended and turned into a deck, which will, one day, hold a dirtbike. Also here is a ladder that leads to the roof deck, which actually sits on an aluminum frame over the original roof.

The Wonder Bus is perfect for off-grid living too, although the couple notes that, in this case, they have to stop using the microwave and the A/C. Four 400W panels feed batteries stored separately in a box on the driver’s side. Heating is done via a small wood-burning stove and the heating pads in the floor, and the two swear that it’s enough.

Neither Ave nor Desi goes into details like the size of the holding tanks or for how long they can stay off-grid on the Wonder Bus. Neither do they mention anything about the price of the conversion, though they say they had a lot of help from family, presumably because they’d personally never built anything before this. Desi also mentions that with every DIY build, you should expect the final price to be bigger than what you anticipated. But it’s all worth it in the end, he says, because of the knowledge that you did this and that “your home is wherever your wheels are.”

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About the author: Elena Gorgan
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Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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