Michael Talley of Austin, Texas had a dream and he made that dream come true with $15,000 and a lot of hard work and sacrifice.
But he made it happen and now he lives in the home of his dreams.
He wanted to turn a school bus into a home with an entertainment center, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. First, he purchased an old beat up school bus for $2,200 from the Austin Independent School District.
To get money for the project, he moved out of his studio apartment and into a tent which saved him about $1,200 a month in rent and other bills.
“Ultimately I decided upon a school bus because I thought ‘Hey, there’s already four walls and a roof,’” he said, according to noteabley. “‘Throw some wood and some light bulbs in there and call it a day.’ How foolish of me. I ended up doing a complete build on the back of the bus.”
During this time he lost his job, dog, girlfriend, and grandpa.
“I design T-shirts for a living. I lost my last job while building the bus actually, but got a much better one once the bus was completed,” Talley told Chron.com. “Perfectly enough, I work for the company that is responsible for all those “Keep Austin Weird” shirts around town.”
First, Talley had to gut the bus. He then realized that he would have to raise the ceiling since he is 6’6″ and the bus’ ceiling was more than 6′ tall.
So he took to YouTube to find videos on how to make that happen.
He ended raising roof from the middle by about 20 inches. He then had to use riveted steel to seal up his bus and cover all the windows. He later made holes for a few windows.
Talley is a professional designer, so he made sure that every inch of space was put to good use.
“This is my ‘final’ design for the bus. I like to entertain so I put all the public areas towards the front and all the private areas in the back,” he said. “Having people over outside to grill or chill, the two most common areas they would need to access would be the kitchen and the bathroom.”
He built his bathroom from reclaimed wood.
The final results left him with a living room with couch space to lounge on and an adjacent entertainment center.
He paneled his walls and ceiling with beautiful wooden pieces for a gorgeous rustic look.
He even created some desk space where he could his sit down and use his computer and store his guitar.
He also created a beautifully tiled kitchen with lots of counter space, a good sized sink, and air conditioner to keep things cool.
There are outlets for appliances, fantastic lighting, and shelf space.
He also has a good sized refrigerator.
His bedroom is placed at the back of the bus where he had a large bed, more of that great lighting, and a TV.
“Finished bedroom. I really wanted to keep the front and the back walls original, and it’s a lot of fun opening the back emergency door at night and waking up the forest every morning. I originally didn’t have a TV in here, and entertainment center was designed to be a headboard,” he wrote on Imgur.
“But after a few weeks of watching Netflix on my phone I decided I was kidding myself that I couldn’t have a TV in my bedroom and bought this guy the next day. 8″ Memory foam Sultan mattress from IKEA, cedar wood, 12v LED lights, lots of pillows, and one hell of a view.””
He also installed solar panels on the ceiling. And he was beyond pleased with the finished product.
“When I bought my bus I was living in a studio apartment in North Austin for around $1200 a month including rent and bills. I moved into a tent in order to save money while working on the bus, commuting 40 minutes to work every day, just to afford more steel and more wood,” he explains.
“I had never built anything before, and I couldn’t sleep for months because my brain was constantly going a mile a minute about how to build this and what I was going to do to build that. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. While I was building the bus I was cheated on, my dog died, I lost my job, my grandfather died, and Central Texas saw it’s wettest year in ages, putting me through 2 floods and multiple hail storms. I know it’s a cliche at this point, but seriously: If I can do it, you can too.”
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
