It’s not every day you find an old shipping container laying around. But if you ever happen to see one on Craiglist or sitting in a junkyard, you need to get it!
Shipping containers offer so much potential to create amazing spaces with. All it takes is a little bit of innovative thinking and some TLC to turn an old container into a one of a kind place.
Don’t see how this is possible?
Keep reading to discover ten incredible things you can do with a shipping container.
1. A Tiny Home
Tiny homes are popping up all over the country – and for good reason! These minimalistic spaces make life such a breeze. They’re fun, cozy, and just the right size to hold everything you and your family need.
Living in a tiny home sometimes means you can take your house anywhere you go if you make it mobile. It’s also a great way to save a huge amount of money on energy costs and other home-owning bills.
Plus, it’s pretty fun to see how different container homes are from one another. Their size may be about the same, but each home’s design and overall setup is completely unique.
2. A Large Home
If you’re not sold on the idea of tiny living but you do think it’d be cool to turn shipping containers into impressive architecture, design a bigger home. This is almost the same as turning one container into a tiny home, but instead, you’re creating entire rooms and walkways out of one container at a time.
This is a much bigger project to take on. You want to make sure you have an outstanding team of architects and contractors helping you create this vision. Such teamwork ensures the best safety and overall efficiency of your shipping container home.
3. A Property Add-on
You don’t necessarily have to relocate to enjoy the cool architecture of a shipping container. You can turn it into an add-on for your house instead. Pay careful attention to your building plans before you do so, though.
The last thing you want is to dream up the most amazing annex only to realize it won’t work out where you hoped it would be. Consult the professionals before you make any demolition/redesign plans and move forward.
4. A Gym, Art Studio, or Man Cave
If a home annex isn’t working out, consider putting the shipping container somewhere in your yard. It sounds a little crazy at first, but a little bit of paint and decor can make the container look brand-new.
This makeshift “shed” gives you space to create anything your home is missing. It could allow you to bring your workout to your home with a personal gym or give you the space you need to create your projects of choice. Or, it could just become your new man cave if your family is expanding and you need to make more room for the children inside the house.
5. A Food Truck
Here’s something to think about: taking a shipping container on the go and turning it into a food truck!
Food trucks are all the rage right now. People love grabbing quick bites no matter where they are or what they’re doing. Your food truck could easily be the next big hit at the local bar scene or the community farmer’s market.
6. A Garden
Instead of using a shipping container to sell food you make, you could turn it into a place to grow your own food. An old shipping container is like a blank canvas for you to design the greenhouse of your dreams.
This means you can grow so many of your favorite fruits and vegetables all year round. It’s one of the best ways to encourage your green thumb, or to finally discover what gardening is all about!
7. A Barn
Just as you can turn a lot of shipping containers into a big house, you can use the sides of shipping containers to create one large barn.
Picture yourself pulling up to the driveway and seeing the kids playing with the chicks or your spouse dismounting the family horse. If you grew up with a similar lifestyle and want to get back to your roots, a shipping container barn may be just what you need.
8. A Sauna
Maybe you work hard enough at your job and outside of the house that you just want your home to be a place to relax. If that’s the case, consider using an empty shipping container as the foundation for a home sauna.
There’s nothing like sitting in the sauna for a little while after a weekend of heavy drinking or a particularly intense workout. Saunas are meant to detox the body in multiple ways and they do wonders for your mental health, too.
9. A Swimming Pool
Maybe you prefer to soak in a pool instead of sitting in a sauna. Great – you can still get what you need with a shipping container. You just have to think about it a little differently to create the space you want.
A shipping container pool would have to be above ground and a standard rectangle space. There are ways to make this luxurious and more in-line with your home/backyard, but it would be a more intensive project to take on.
10. A Public Service Space
The final way people use shipping containers is by creating public spaces with them. Access to the right amount of shipping containers for sale can lead to the opening of new schools, hospitals, and community centers all over the world.
This doesn’t just make people think differently about unused items. It changes the way entire communities interact with one another and supports their neighbors.
How Everyday Shipping Containers Turn into Unique, Incredible Spaces
It’s one thing to think about what you could do with a few shipping containers and another to make it happen. The next time you get the chance to get your hands on one, take it. You never know how amazing the result could be!
Keep in mind it takes a lot of work to turn a shipping container into one of the spaces mentioned above. You need a lot of planning, an eye for design, and of course, the right budget to make it happen.
Click here for help with the design aspect.
