New Zealand is suffering a housing crisis in many of its cities – the cost of buying a first home have skyrocketed over the past couple of decades since my wife and I first purchased a place to live. Given that I have many children who will want to enter the housing market over the next two decades, I’m interested in alternative approaches.
Earlier this week Stuff ran a story on a container home in Auckland that appears to have been done “just right.”
Her house in the bush is deceptive from the outside. Painted in a black steel paint with white window trim, it’s hard to tell this is a container house, until you walk to one end and watch her open up a large services hold by pulling on the traditional steel rods that close up the container.
Kelly has put her two containers at right angles and mounted them on deep piles – she needed just four per container, rather than the dozen or more that would be used for a typical house. The longer 40ft container accommodates the entry, sitting area, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, while the second 20ft container houses an office and guest bedroom.
Not surprisingly, everything is adaptable. Kelly imports her own furniture, specially designed for tiny houses. Items include a corner sofa with huge storage beneath the cushions. The sofa can also become a double bed. And there is a lift-down bed on the wall in the second bedroom, a desk that opens out to form a bed, and a portable wardrobe that can become a room divider. Her own bed is equipped with storage. So it’s clear every inch counts. In fact, Kelly says the house can sleep up to seven people.
There is also a huge 30 square-metre timber deck off the living area, which is effectively a large entertaining space. It is covered with a clear, arched pergola, and plastic sheeting can be pulled down to keep the wind away. Kelly says even in winter, it’s a warm spot to relax.
Very cool.