If you’ve ever dreamed of packing up your life and hitting the open road, Tanya Nestoruk and Arya Touserkani’s story might just inspire you to take the leap.
These two innovative thinkers transformed an old school bus into their very own tiny home on wheels, complete with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and even a roof deck. The result has become an incredible collage of creativity, resourcefulness, and environmental consciousness.
Tanya Nestoruk, an environmental educator, and photographer Arya Touserkani, both in their mid-30s, purchased the school bus for a mere $7,200 in Vancouver. They then spent seven months converting it into a home, documenting the entire process on social media.
“Usually I work nine months on, and I have three months off. I’ve been addicted to that travel, work-hard, play-hard lifestyle,” Nestoruk told Business Insider. “We both lived in a van, but wanted more space, and so this checked that box off for us.”
Their goal was to reduce waste and repurpose as much as they could while renovating the bus. They recycled the seats by donating them to a local kid’s adventure camp and even sold the luggage racks to someone who repurposed them for garage storage.
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They also donated metal and other scraps, and one person they donated to reused the bus insulation for interior walls in their own home.
They installed spray foam insulation to ensure they could stay warm in Canadian winters and cool in Mexican summers and as the bus’ renovation progressed, the couple faced various challenges.
Even so, their level of dedication and commitment to continuously knock out each step along the way was high, so even though it was difficult, it was ultimately a fun process and a rewarding one.
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“We saw inspiration online,” Nestoruk told Business Insider. “Seeing that people were out there doing it — and knowing a bus conversion was possible — really inspired us to do it.”
The final product ended up turning into a beautiful tiny home on wheels, with sea-foam green exterior paint and solar panels on the roof.
Inside the home, there is a gray couch with a small L-shaped kitchen behind it, a hallway that leads to a bathroom, and a bedroom at the very back of the bus with a ladder leading up to a roof deck.
Tanya even sewed custom curtains for the bus windows and skylight using canvas material.
“We were like, if we could build our dream house, what would we do?” Nestoruk said. “This is a dream house within a budget.”
Their journey didn’t stop there. After finishing the bus in November of 2022, they hit the road and traveled through Washington, Oregon, California, Mexico, and Arizona.
The couple then got engaged in February 2023 and are now driving the skoolie through Southern California, documenting their adventures on TikTok and Instagram.
It’s exciting to see how they’ve turned their bus into their dream home, within a budget.