2569 days ago

What New Zealand Minimalist House Looks Like (Can You Live in It?)

Max from Northcote

📚 YOU WILL LEARN:
- How Convenient it Is to Live in a Shipping Container Home;
- The Size and the Cost of the Typical Shipping Container;
- How Life Necessities Are Implemented in a Container Home;
- The Optimal Layout of a Shipping Container Home;
- How Much This Type of Housing Is in Demand.

👉🏻 TABLE OF CONTENTS:
00:44 – Visit a Shipping Container Home
01:18 – The Layout of Brenda’s Container Home
05:47 – The Cost of the Shipping Container
07:13 – The Review of Container Home’s Engine Room

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IMPORTANT:
- The information does not in any way whatsoever constitute financial, accounting, legal or other professional advice and the owner of this channel cannot be held liable for any acts or omissions that arise from your use.
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TRANSCRIPTION:

KiwiBuild builds as Labor’s Kiwi and to tackle rising house prices is being revamped, as housing continues to be less affordable in this country. Last week an international housing survey found homes and New Zealand’s eight main centres are unaffordable and six times the median household income.

Renters are not any better off, so what are the alternatives to the traditional home-owning dream? Let’s take a look at one. When it comes to the so-called housing crisis is the solution thinking outside the box or is it actually moving into the box?

Brenda Kelly has one of the steel shipping container homes. “How would you describe living in here to people?” asks Lisa Owen, the investigative journalist. “Modern, functional, comfortable, everything you could want in a house. I have loved it,” answers Brenda.

“You have not mentioned size at all in their description,” added Lisa.
“No, I have not. I admit living in smalls is not for everyone, but it is more than enough space for what I need,” says Brenda.

The design she developed is L-shaped, one 40-foot container with the kitchen, lounge, bathroom and main bedroom. Perpendicular to that there is a smaller 20-foot container, which can be a flexispace, guest quarters, office or second lounge.

“How big is that?” inquires Lisa. “It is around about 45 square meters,” responds Brenda. 45 square meters is about a quarter of the size of the average stand-alone new house, and widthwise the containers are slimline.

“Strictly speaking how wide does that?”, questions Lisa. “2.2 meters. Seven people can sleep in this model,” replies Brenda.

Let’s count them. There is a double bed in the main bedroom, a double fold-out sofa in the lounge area, a nifty desk that converts into a single bed. Hidden in the wall as a queen-size bed pull it down and the second sofa retracts into the same wall. Grand total is seven sleeping spots.

Back to the tour, a left turn through the front door leads you straight into an apartment sized kitchen with a full fridge, an oven and a two-seat breakfast bar.

Double doors open out onto 30 square meters deep. It makes the container setup feel way bigger. Wander up the hallway, and it is narrowish. The bathroom is off to the left.

“It is a pretty reasonable size. It is not like you are sitting on the loo with your knees up against the wall. Where is the water coming from?” inquires Lisa.

“The water for the sink is coming from the mains, and the water for the toilet is coming from our thousand-litre water tank which is rainwater from the roof,” responds Brenda.

Outside is an eco tank, tiger worms munched their way through the waste. Inside at the end of the hall is the main bedroom. One person would have to scramble over the double bed to get out though because it is pushed up against the wall.

“We have used a few tricks of the trade here like mirrored doors on your wardrobe. It actually gives it enhances the feeling of space when you are lying, and the bed in the room feels twice as deep,” says Brenda.
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