Winter in Paris

Before diving into our skoolie conversion project, we set an arbitrary spending allowance. While both of us intend to use the bus for our businesses—Steve, a vintage motorcycle broker, and me, a freelance writer and artist—setting a budget seemed the best way to be mindful of our expenditures.

Although we have no idea what the conversion will cost, we want to do as much work ourselves as we can. So, we doubled the price of the bus and arrived at $15,000; $7,500 for the bus, $7,500 for everything else, give or take a few bucks. Since we intend to eventually work, travel, and live in our skoolie full-time, we agreed not to be too critical of exceeding our budget. Let's face it, not having a mortgage is priceless.

After we finished cleaning the bus, we trudged the road to Home Depot. Looking for something rustic and virtually indestructible for the floor, we bought about 140 square feet of Winterton Oak Pergo and underlayment, which protects the floor from moisture and fumes and provides a little extra cushion.

Since the bus has virtually no rust, and we aren't traveling to the Arctic, we skipped insulating the floor. Our friend Todd, a master carpenter, helped with the installation. We used two-inch strips of aluminum, custom cut from a local sheet metal shop, to secure the edges.

Afterward, I primed the inside of the bus. Ideally, this should have been done first, but initially we considered leaving the walls as they were, since most of them will be covered anyway. But once the floor was in, forgoing the paint was a bit like dressing up for dinner without taking a shower. I used acrylics to hand paint one side, then slathered Winter in Paris on the other.

Flooring - $515.94
Paint - $149.61