Shipping container homes can be as big or small as you’d like to make them. Did you know that Todd Miller’s Graceville Container home has 6,000 square feet of living area? Of course, not all shipping container homes are this big. Recently, we featured Brenda Kelly’s tiny shipping container home which was made out of a single 20-foot shipping container.
In tiny shipping container homes, every piece of furniture needs to have a place. The furniture also needs to be compact in size, so today we will look at our favorite space saving ideas and furniture!
Get a Pegboard
Pegboards are an incredibly useful way to store small items that normally clutter up your worktops and drawers.
In the photo, Jessica has arranged all of her art and design equipment on the wall, keeping her desk clear for her to work.
You can buy Pegboards in a variety of sizes. Once you’ve attached them to your wall, place hooks into any of the holes on the board and create your own dynamic storage wall!
Pegboards can be used in garages to store tools, kitchens to store pans, and your office to store stationery and files.
To find out the correct size pegboard for your needs, lay all of your items down on a table. Organize them and then measure around the perimeter of your items. If you find that you need a non-standard size pegboard, you could buy two pegboards and hang them together.
Install a Mezzanine Floor
We mentioned Brenda Kelly’s tiny shipping container home in our introduction. She really is a maverick when it comes to making space in small homes.
We’ve included a video of her shipping container home below which was filmed by Bryce from Living Big In A Tiny House.
Look at her bedroom. Do you see that she has installed a mezzanine floor? The upper floor is the lounge which features a TV and sofa which also folds out into a bed.
Underneath the lounge is the bed, which also has a wardrobe at the bottom of her bed to store all her clothes.
The rest of her home is also loaded with fantastic space saving ideas. Watch the full video and you will pick up more great ideas for your shipping container home.
Make Use of Space Under Your Bed
Most people would just place a bed in their bedroom and not think any more about it. However, beds take up a massive amount of floor space especially when you’re living in a tiny home.
The solution is to make use of the space underneath your bed. There are lots of ways to make use of this space. First of all, you could purchase a bed frame which has drawers underneath the mattress. This would mean you could store all of your clothes and anything else you’d normally store in a wardrobe underneath your bed.
Secondly, if you live on your own, you could purchase a high sleeper which has a desk underneath it. This really is clever use of floor space because the bed isn’t actually taking up any space now.
Fold Out Beds and Kitchens
Consider the innovative ideas in Christian Schallert’s apartment.
The entire apartment is 250 square feet which is similar in size to Brenda’s shipping container. Most everything in the home either folds, swivels or rotates away when it isn’t in use. His bed pulls out from the wall and it transforms into a full double size bed. Even his kitchen is hidden behind a foldout wooden panel!
Having to pull your bed out in the evening before you go to sleep isn’t everyone’s idea of bliss, but it certainly does save on the space during the daytime!
Learn From This 90 Square Foot Microstudio
Still not impressed with Christian’s space-saving attempts? Surely Felice Cohen from Manhattan will boost your imagination.
Her apartment is only 90 square feet in size, but she still manages to fit all of her belongings inside. Notice how she uses the vertical height to stack the majority of her items. She says “you have to go up” to organize.
Standard shipping containers are only about 8.5 feet tall (exterior height). If you are planning on organizing your belongings like Felice, make sure you purchase and convert high cube containers rather than standard containers, or raise the roof of your standard container.
Acknowledgments:
- Peg Board Image From: Jessica Fiess-Hill
- Underneath Bed Storage Image From: Rubbermaid
We’d love to hear any space saving ideas that you have in the comments below! If you have pictures, send them to us via the Contact Us page.
2 Responses
Really liked Brenda’s design. BUT, where are the kitchen cooking appliances? where does she cook? Thanks in advance.
Hi Rafaela,
We think Brenda uses a portable gas stove that she stores away when not in use.