Long Island Woman Turns Bus Into Tiny Home

LINDENHURST, NY - Most people have probably ridden on a school bus at one point or another, but now you can live in one.

Lindenhurst resident, Catherine Ovejas along with Jose Rivera worked together to make a 30-foot-long bus in to a 225 square-foot home.

This was the first tiny home build for both Ovejas and Rivera, who plan on doing more builds.

Now that their first conversion, which they named Apt. 84, is complete residents can rent the bus for personal use or for business.

"We want to do more. I think this is such a fun project and I think we work so good together that we can get really creative with more builds," Ovejas said. "The thing is with tiny houses or any kind of conversion whether it be a school bus or RV conversion or a container house, it's going to be customized for your needs because everyone is different."

It was a difficult task for the two tiny home rookies but they managed to turn the typical yellow school bus into a colorful, warm tiny home.

They first found the bus on Craigslist from New Jersey.

"The reason we went with the school bus is because school buses are well maintained and taken care of, they have to be to transport kids," Rivera said.

The two started off with no layout or plan and had to figure out all the details as they went along.

According to Rivera, when he first got the idea to turn a bus into a tiny home, people thought he was crazy.

"I just kept going, I didn't let that stop me," he said. "As I started seeing the results then the whole mindset change, now people were saying 'you're a genius.' We started creating this not having a vision of where it was going to go, and it has gotten so much attention that it's unexpected and it all started with a crazy idea."

Eventually after an estimated $35,000 and 6 months of labor, the project was completed.

Ovejas decided to name it Apt. 84, inspired by her two children. The 8 represents her daughter, Taini Votaw's, current age while the 4 is for her son, Cree Votaw's, current age.

The bus has already drawn a lot of attention from local residents, and not just because of the new bright blue exterior.

"You should see how all the kids look at it, it's an attraction, they all want to stay here," Rivera said. "And I mean, everyone can relate to a school bus but you come in and it doesn't feel like a bus."

While the tiny house trend has become pretty popular in certain parts of the country, it's still new on Long Island.

"I think there's a handful on Long Island, not a lot," Ovejas said. "When I talk to people about 'skoolies' because that's what they called converted school buses, in the city not even on Long Island, people don't event know what it is about so it's a pretty new concept and I drive it around and people don't even know what they're looking at."

Ovejas has never even seen another converted school bus until she created an Instagram account for Apt. 84 resulting in several converted school bus accounts following her.

"There is an evolution happening now with people wanting businesses on wheels now, you see the food trucks all over the place, but now people are getting more creative with what they can do," she said. "They're taking box trucks and making boutiques out of them, they're taking school buses and making barber shops, and even spas."

She has already integrated the unique bus into the Lindenhurst community. Last month she took the bus to the local 'trunk or treat' event as a haunted house. She has also volunteered to bring the bus to schools to show students to inspire them to want to build something of their own.

For those who are curious about the skoolie and want to see it, can check out Apt. 84's social media page here.

Check out the photo gallery below to take a full tour of the tiny home:

Patch Photos