transform a 20-foot shipping container into an incredible off-grid tiny home

hey hey hey Brenda how's it going okay this is absolutely spectacular thank you

beautiful place yeah I suddenly love it container homes are something I've been

passionate about since was a little girl actually I didn't realize how young it

started to us going through mold journals and back when I was even 13 I

was scribbling little diagrams of containers and how to make the most of

the space with different furniture and layout options and it's just gone from

passion to a hobby and I ventured aside of you know one I just do this so how

big is a shipping container shipping containers a 20-foot container so it's

roughly six meters long by about two and a half meters wide Wow and the interior

bit that I've got here is about four meters long so it comes to just under 10

square meters Wow okay that's incredible because I mean

when you think of somebody doing a 20-foot shipping container build the

last thing that you would expect is that they only use four meters Eric yes what

I wanted to do is keep it under 10 square meters cuz that's the council

requirement for not requiring building consent right great solution yeah

was it tough to build in that amount of space it wasn't actually and there's a

lot of planning that goes into it there I fed it absolutely everything I need

and I'm really stoked with the results so it's been great

okay let's have a look inside okay come on in oh my goodness oh this is

beautifully done thank you when I saw how big the space was from the outside I

would have never guessed it would be this spacious inside yeah I think using

white a lot helps certainly give it that feel and given I've got a mezzanine

floor as well it's some given it a bit more the high roof and especially the

window view we just come and you just hit with that beautiful view I think

really adds to it as well and I think what you've done by actually elevating

the living area I love the sleeping area as well as really clever because that's

just given it a whole place a real feeling of greater spaciousness yeah

kind of look up to it and in front of you it's slightly so it's a bit of oh do

I put the living area at the top which is traditionally what you're doing a

tiny house but I didn't want to sort of be hit with it

floor level of eye level I wanted to be able to come in and see the view and

have that feeling of spaciousness so you have put the bedroom down below sure and

unfortunately I'm young enough that getting on my knees is not an issue so

through it really well I'm really happy I did make that call and how high is it

in here in total it's a high Q container so it's roughly 2.9 and given off that

installation the ceiling down it's probably about 2.7 at the moment right

okay and when it divides up into those two separate compartments over there

what are we looking at there the bottom ones roughly one meter and high Tommy I

want to make sure I could still sit up in bed and read a book and things like

that so just the right amount of headroom and then this is roughly I

think one point six five so you won't be able to stand up I can't no but I'm but

when you think about it when you need a living room you're not really standing

anywhere yes ma'am so it hasn't been a problem at all we just got a home in

better not hit the first time and then you know you learn oh I've got a lovely

great big sofa space here as well I mean had to be lovely for lounging out all

this and it's great actually this some doubles as a beard as well gift so votes

also I am BB this comes up and then I've got my library and linen cupboard in the

faring there as well it pops up in this storage underneath

so everybody furniture and he has got sort of built-in storage of some Sun

Description to make the most of the space and the kitchen is gorgeous again

you've managed to pack a whole lot into a very small amount of space haven't you

yeah absolutely I think but the height still helps you can have sort of thought

height covers and you've also got storage up top

sure and but yes everything I need the fridge is just a perfect size for me

I've got my drawers my pantry my cut three everything's got at space and yeah

it's great and the office space here as well yes I went from home two days a

week so it was important I had my own sort of dedicated desk and this just

fits perfectly into the space and the only non 12-volt appliances I have I've

got a little can inverter that I use this 150 watts and you just plug it in

all these places pop around the face or all 12 volts so cigarette lighter or USB

right so I can add my cellphone run my printer for example or run off

this charging my camera batteries in my drawer battery about the only things on

e 240 volts for and the those fine so let's check out the the

lounge okay yeah see this is a really really lovely space isn't okay and what

an incredible view you have out here well lately yeah it's my favorite seat

in the house you've got right there just looking out over there Bush I can

imagine why and so the 12-volt TV up there as well

yes travel TV with built-in DVD player right and it's fun eh you've got a DVD

of of a fireplace so you know in winter would I have friends around come on and

I've got the fire off so system is quite good yeah but there's an aquarium up

there I know there's an Aquarian up there right now

yes cats favorite program I'm here so um let's check out the sleeping area okay

yeah come on in this base is so cozy yeah it's just the right height I can

sit up and be in and read a book and whatnot and not hit my head I can make

the bed quite comfortably yeah that's yeah it's perfect height really

absolutely and the lighting here as well yes we've got strip lighting along the

wall and we've also got little individual lights for reading by as well

fantastic and you've got your wardrobe all along the back wall there as well I

do yes I've got a couple of shelving units and with a rail in between for

hanging storage so okay did it go on it oh wow see this is actually a really

lovely space yeah awesome I do like to be able to have a shower and wash my

hair without putting my hands all gone for a 900 white shower and studio

traditional 7:50 right and it said as a good space is enough room to change and

things like that which is great absolutely and I really like what you've

done here with the the clear light roofing as well it's bright lights and

heats of natural light natural warmth it's great - you feel like you know

you're you're in the middle of the brush when you're showering a little

Kingfisher that sits on the clothesline and watches me yeah absolutely that real

outdoors bringing outdoors and that's um yeah I love it

this is a utilities cover as well as additional storage right and so

obviously we've got our hot water heating unit at the top it's got all my

camping gear and tools and stuff and right down the bottom here

a little draws we've got my two six volt batteries right along with my 12 volt

pump and accumulator tank under fear my fuses and things they're all tucked away

in this cupboard and so the solar control units here as well it is yes so

at the moment even though it's slightly overcast I can tell that we're drawing

in close to one in right and that one out going out at the moment

as well so I've got some lights on so overall I've drawn in 964 empowers and

used 8:05 so as you can see my little picture there there's a battery with a

smiley face as long as he's happy I'm happy

sounds good to me and you put it on concrete blocks I have yes this is a

like just a tire that's been filled with concrete that's great yes so given it's

just a temporary dwelling and in also the beauty of containers you actually

only need to support the four corners because they're designed obviously to to

have that structural integrity and support there so concrete blocks is all

I really needed and this this containers off grid as well isn't it it is so can

you tell me about some of the off-grid features that have been built into it I

shall carry yes I've got two 12-volt Metro to six volt batteries connected in

series to give me 12 volt everything is wired up twelve volt there aren't many

appliances these days that you can't get 12 volts so I've just done it that way

it means I can do all the wiring myself as well you don't need an electrician

sure I've got two one 35 watt solar panels on the roof right and they

basically just charged the batteries and yeah it's give me everything I need and

what about what about rainwater collection well if you want to come

around the other side I can show you what I do there let's go so at the

moment I'm just collecting rainwater from the roof of the shed which is only

about two square meters right and goes into the guttering as you can see notice

I've got a hedgehog data system and how that works is it basically this like a

cylinder inside the down pipe in the rainwater comes around the outside of

the down pipe fills up goes through this lovely 2p into the two tanks I have set

up right about to 220 liter tanks connected to each other

rain goes into the first one is water seeks its own level they both fall at

the same rate and once they fill up the water comes back up here comes make up

the drain flow and then comes down the inner tube and out through the storm

water which I'll connect up I haven't had to do that yet right so you've got

four hundred and forty liters of water to work with treat

how are you getting on with that it's been fine I mean I've been here three

weeks we have had a fair bit of rain but right I mean it's just showering washing

that you're really using water for sure damn I haven't come close to running out

so fantastic do you have a way of monitoring how much you've got inside

the task very very young high tech solution tech solution very effective

all right I like to always undo and pour more and

if I have to do so and if it hasn't come to that yet it's been fine so I've got

kind of an undercover entranceway right and it also has my utilities cupboard

which is storing my batteries and my water pump as well as a whole lot of my

tramping gear and things like that and but the plan is also that these

container doors they still open right the way up right so once the weather

gets better I do my landscaping I'll have a nice little patio out here and

then those doors can open the indoor outdoor flow and so tell me a little bit

about the the build process did you do a lot of the build yourself I did in the

India contracted out the sourcing and fitting out off the container and my

source the windows and the doors a lot of things he can hand to try and say

well costs but I gave it to professionals to install and yielding a

welder isn't one of my strong points and that yeah I saw some of the materials

myself and then when it came to doing the painting and the installation and

assembly and everything in between me and my dad we've there yeah I managed to

cut it out and so the big question what was the budget the budget was around 30

grand yeah and I've come in I haven't added up

the final tally but I think I probably around 30 35 grand I think for what you

have accomplished here that's a really really good price yeah yeah I'm

definitely happy with it I mean a lot of labor obviously didn't go in today so

that costing was it they don't have being another 20 grand

vadym now it's been a labor of love and I've loved every minute of legend yeah

really happy with the result well thank you so much for showing us around you're

here with a full house it's been a real pleasure and I think you've created

something here that you can really be proud of thank you really appreciate it

thank you Cheers creating a comfortable living space and

10 square metres as an incredibly big design challenge and I think Brenda has

done a fantastic job and really making it into a reality it's really obvious

how much thought and design has gone into each and every aspect of the house

and that means she's managed to create something that's going to be a

comfortable home for me he is to come