Living small: Lulu’s shipping container home

January 1, 2012 at 2:07 pm · Filed under ACTivism, Climate Change, Consumption, Food and Drink, Free, Healthy Living, Lifestyle, LOW Tech, Mother's Day, Our Planet, Personal Growth, Politically INcorrect, Suggestions, Venusian, Video and tagged: Argentina, California

Lulu is a single mom who went back to school and didn’t want to have to work full-time hours on top of her studies just to pay her rent. Instead, she and her daughter moved into a shipping container — for a steal.

“I think I’m a little claustrophobic, so the storage container was a little daunting, but I got the container for free,” she said.

Lulu went to work, honing her DIY skills on the box that would become her home. She put in windows and a door, installed a kitchen and insulation, and then fitted a bed, couch, bookshelf and cabinets into the 160-square-foot cube.

When Lulu decided they needed a bit more space, she went from shipping to trucking waste and began to build their bedroom on a used flatbed trailer.

“It’s really mostly built like a shed. It’s a nice looking shed, but it’s really an 8 by 16 shed with windows in it.”

Using only recycled building materials- including used floorboards, windows, cabinets, doors, bathtub, toilet and sinks- she built the entire thing for about $4,000 (trailer included).

Related articles

• Boxpark: First Shipping Container Pop-Up Mall in London (moleculedesign.wordpress.com)
• London mall made of recycled shipping containers (redferret.net)
• $1800 Refrigerated Shipping Container Becomes Beautiful Architect’s Studio (Video) (treehugger.com)

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