My partner and I live in a 230-square-foot school bus with an L-shaped layout. Here's what it's like.

My husband, Charlie, and I bought an old school bus for just $3,500 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and converted it into our dream tiny home.  

We had been living in Chicago, Illinois, and even though we knew we didn't want to be in the middle of a city any longer, we couldn't decide where to plant roots.

So we compromised by moving into something mobile, as that would help us determine where we wanted to eventually settle down.  

The build took nine months, and we've been living in the 230-square-foot space ever since. Here's what the experience has been like, so far:

Our build features a full living area, kitchen, wet bathroom, and queen-sized bedroom, but one of our favorite parts of our space is its L-shaped layout.

We decided on this layout to create privacy and also allow for a bigger kitchen and bathroom. 

Our kitchen is where the L-shape starts, with the counters extending into the middle of the bus. Plus the deep-green cabinets tie together the warm colors throughout the rest of our build. We want guests to be greeted with a cozy feeling when they enter our home.

Our main living space has a pull-out couch that converts into a guest bed. And there's also a dinette, which allows us to have a permanent workspace, as well as a place to eat our meals. 

On the opposite side of the kitchen wall lies another favorite part of the bus: our bathroom.

I really wanted two separate sinks — one for the kitchen and a vanity for the bathroom — with different purposes. 

This was important to me, and adding the vanity is what led to the L-shaped layout. We needed room for a sink, mirror, shower, and toilet in the bathroom, so we had to find a way to make it all fit. 

The bathroom is fully tiled, so it naturally flows into the shower area, which features a rainfall showerhead, complete with a skylight to give us extra headroom. 

We had no experience with tiling prior to this project but loved playing with different options and are really happy with how it came out. 

Heading toward the back, there are two closets — one for clothing and another for our electric system — before entering the bedroom.

I've really fallen in love with mustard yellows, burnt oranges, and neutrals, so we opted for warm tones in our bedroom, which truly makes me happy when I enter it. 

We were also able to fit a desk for Charlie and a washer-and-dryer unit. 

The whole build took us about nine months. We jumped on the bus with our 13-year-old cat at the end of March 2021 and haven't looked back since. 

Our first destination was just anywhere warm. We built the bus in Wisconsin and it had been brutally cold.

Plus getting used to tiny living wasn't as hard as we expected it to be.

The first couple of weeks were an adjustment period, but we've always made traveling a priority as a couple, so we're pretty used to being in small spaces together. 

Both Charlie and I work remotely full-time on the road, so we need internet. We equipped the bus with a few different Wi-Fi options, but the place we're parked needs to have a signal for it to function. 

We both have video meetings, so we needed two separate workspaces to do so. Thankfully, the L-shape layout gives us this. 

Privacy can be hard to find in small spaces, so creating this separation made the transition a bit easier.  

We've made it our mission to chase sunshine and good weather, which can mean we're sometimes moving around more than we'd like. 

Most people assume we're saving a lot of money by living tiny, which is true to an extent, but there are also costs you obtain on the road, like gas. We make that up a bit by finding free camping places, often on public land around the United States.

Our vehicle is entirely self-contained so we're able to boondock for about two weeks at a time. Plus we have 100 gallons of fresh water, 1,050 watts of solar power, and a fridge-freezer combo, so we can live off-grid. This was a huge priority for us during our build so we didn't always have to pay for RV hookups.

It can be stressful to have to think about where you're sleeping each night but the pros far outweigh any cons or stress.

We plan to continue our adventures for the foreseen future.

Living in an alternative home, especially a moving one, has really opened our eyes to how many different ways there are to live. 

We're having so much fun on the road and aren't ready to give up full-time traveling quite yet.

We also haven't found the place we want to permanently call home, but we're confident we'll come across it along the way.