"L" Shaped School Bus Conversion Layout | The Finished Product | Skoolie Conversion | Skoolie Build — Becca Mathews: Private Photo Editor & Photographer (2024)

When I first started researching other skoolie conversions to begin designing the layout of our own, I knew we would rather an “L” shaped layout rather than the traditional center hallway down the middle. With the L layout, we’d be able to keep more windows, which would make the interior brighter and feel bigger, and we liked how it allowed for better separation of the living/bedroom/bathroom spaces. The problem when I was researching, was I could really only find 1 or 2 examples of other skoolies with a layout like the one I had in mind. There were TONS of images, and even floor plans for center-aisle layouts, but I ended up having to plan out the layout completely on my own to get what we wanted. I spent weeks drawing up different layouts to scale down to the inch, and I began realizing that it was definitely harder to make everything fit with the L layout, which is probably why most people go with the center aisle. After weeks and weeks of playing with the floor plan, I finally figured out the one that we ended up building. It allowed for booth seating with a table for eating and working, a decent sized couch (which our dog Sam claims as his own space), and an “L” shaped kitchen with enough counter space, and a small open area within the kitchen to make the space feel less cramped. We created TONS of storage under the couch and inside the booth, so we don’t feel at all deprived of storage space or anything because of the roomer layout.

On the back of one side of the booth, we have storage for shoes, keys, dog leashes, doggy bags, etc. On the back of the other side, we tucked away the wall mounted wood stove from Cubic Mini. This little stove might not look like much, but it heats up the bus really well during the winter.

Heading down the hallway, in front of the wheel well we did a sliding barn door for the bathroom to save space. The bathroom has a Separett toilet, which we LOVE and highly recommend over “composting” toilets (don’t even get me started on why composting toilets on skoolies, vans, and RVs don’t actually compost), and a shower with marble tile, and an RV retractible shower door. We chose not to do another sink in the bathroom to keep the space smaller and have less plumbing to deal with, and we haven’t regretted it one bit.

Then, we have the bedroom in the back. We really love the L layout because the bedroom ends up feeling like a completely separate space and SO cozy. We have a 32” TV mounted on the wall, storage around the outside edge of the bed, and storage underneath the bed on both sides. On the inside, we have drawers under the bed, and if you go outside and open up the back door, there is a whole “garage” area under the bed where Josh keeps all his tools. The 100 gallon fresh water tank is also under the bed, straight across the back. Next to the bed we have two closets. The one on the left is for clothes, and the one on the right is out utility closet. The utility closet is Josh’s masterpiece, and has all the electrical and mechanicals for the solar system, the propane hot water heater, and a lot of the plumbing. Next to the closets, we have a cabinet for clothes and our Magic Chef all-in-one washer dryer.

Excuse the cell phone photos here! On the outside on the right side, we mounted truck toolboxes underneath to add more storage for wood, tools, etc.