Six containers is all it took to make this... WOW!

We've built two shipping container homes. Welcome to the inside of our first build. On this build we used two 40-foot high cube shipping containers. We originally built our first shipping container home in 2021. This is the 2.0 version. We only used three 40-foot high cube shipping containers. We positioned the doors to try to make it look like we actually used nine shipping containers when we really only used three. So the biggest myth about container homes is that they're cheaper than the traditional build. I'm Ryan and I'm Sarah. Welcome to Dream Mountain. Dream Mountain Utah is located just outside of Capitol Reef National Park in southeastern Utah. The property is 14 acres so we've built two lavish shipping container homes. As children we both had a cabin and we really wanted to create our own cabin so we could have family gatherings. We just have a lot of good memories. We wanted to create the same thing for our family and friends. We really just feel blessed that we found this piece of property. It's been a dream come true to be honest. I just love it. With the property we first had to gain access. You know we have a drainage ditch that water flows down and so we had to put in a culvert and get a road built in and then we had to put in a well and so then you know get the foundation done before we could even bring in the containers. So the biggest myth about container homes is that they're cheaper than a traditional build. They present a big challenge. You have a certain amount of space and then to cut them out it takes a lot of work and then definitely the welding you know that's a lot of work. If you want to build a DIY off the grid container home you can definitely do it for cheap but if you're going to build a two code real house out of shipping containers it's definitely going to cost you more. We actually finished the property in July of 2021 and we didn't put it on the vacation rental site until May of 2022. So one of the greatest parts about building the houses is we've had a lot of help from our friends and family. It just made the experience that much more beautiful. And we just want to send a shout out to all of them. Let them know we love them. Makes me emotional because they're just wonderful people. You're making me cry. I'm sorry. Me too. And they've made our dreams come true. Thank you. Hi guys. Welcome to our very first build. This was our what we call our college. Our schooling to teach us. Gave us a lot of information on how to make a container home. We have a 40 foot container in the front. The house was actually built out of two 40 foot high cube containers put together. The inside of the house turned out to be about 680 square feet with the two decks combined about a thousand square feet. We had to put a roof on. The county required us to put a roof on. I wanted to put the deck on top but the county wouldn't allow it. So you'll see that the deck is on the back and we still have an upper level deck which it worked out. It worked out really nice. Welcome to the inside of our first build. On this build we used two 40 foot high cube shipping containers. We cut out the middle and as you can see we installed an I-beam for support. So as far as the house we had to cut out the containers and we had to support them and then we had to crane one in. Cut out the supports. Crane in the I-beam. Weld it in place and then crane the other container in place and weld them together and then we had to put a roof on. So as far as the space I'm standing in the kitchen. We wanted to try to have a full-size kitchen. Full-size appliances and still have it functional. On this house we actually made the window frames out of steel to give it a little bit of appeal and then we did a shiplap siding. All the walls as you can see. This does have a sofa sleeper in front of you that could sleep two so this house can sleep six even though it's a two bed two bath. As far as the living room it's just tight and cozy. Love the steel as you can see. So my steel fireplace. So in the master bedroom we have a king size adjustable bed. One of the unique things we did on this property is we wanted to have a little more space in the bedroom instead of just having the containers. So what we did this was Sarah's idea by the way. We actually cut off the container doors and welded them on and then created this four-foot nook which just gives us enough room for a nice little reading area. A little work desk wardrobe but then it just makes the space that much nicer. So now we'll come into the master bathroom. So this master bathroom you know just your typical we did a deep soaker tub. One thing that I learned on the build and that made this build difficult is because of building the nooks and the way we set it up. The forklift plate pure solid steel is under this bathroom so it made it a really big challenge for running the plumbing and the tub. We actually had to make custom plating and steel and drill holes and so it was a lot of work. Let's go check out the other bedroom and bathroom. In this bedroom we did just do a queen adjustable bed. We just wanted to give a little more room in the bedroom itself but again we did the same nook feature as the other bedroom. The one thing I did forget to mention is each room has its own mini split their own temperature control. Let's check out the guest bathroom. We went with kind of the funky tile. We liked it but of course our favorite space here is the outdoors and we built a thousand square foot deck which actually the house itself is only 680 square feet but the deck is a thousand. So let's go out and enjoy the outdoors. All right welcome to the favorite spot of the house. We spend most of our time here. We congregate, enjoy the fire, enjoy the outdoor seating, put my feet up and just relax. The wind always blows downhill here and so that's kind of why we wanted people to be able to be out in nature as much as possible and really enjoy the space and so that's where we created this wall of windows to block the wind. The idea all along was to have garage doors that could possibly open and close and block it but since the wind always blows the one direction we just knew let's just make that solid and add the garage doors here. So if it's a hot summer day it's easy to open those up and keep it vented in here and not enough to enjoy the space. So as far as the fire we can adjust the level and we love it and so even in the dead of winter it's been zero degrees outside and we will crank the fire up and over time the steel will heat up this space will get up to 70 degrees which makes it just amazing so you can still enjoy the outdoors even in the dead of winter. We didn't want to fully enclose the whole space because we still wanted to have nature so we left this side open and like we said since the wind's blowing even though it's blowing it's even blowing now down past us but I'm not feeling it here because we're getting blocked and so it makes it so that you can still come out here and eat even though you're outside in the open you're not getting bombarded by the wind. Now we're coming to the sauna highly recommend anyone getting one of these if they don't have one they're great for the body mind and soul. And then as far as my staircase it turned out really awesome let's check it out. All right here we are on the upper deck it's all about outdoor space here and so we wanted to make the inside comfortable for everyone most people that come down here they want to go hiking they want to go into the park and so why not have this outdoor space that showcases it. So behind me over here is actually Thousand Lakes Mountain and on the other side we have Dream Mountain we have Boulder Mountain behind. We originally built our first shipping container home in 2021 and we wanted to take this to the next level so this is the 2.0 version much bigger house let's go for a tour of the outside. We actually built the property as two separate units we split the house exactly down the middle kind of like a duplex but there's a center door as you'll see later that you can access both sides. The house is 3,800 square feet 1,900 square feet per side and there's 50 total windows 25 windows per side. As far as the containers go we had to send it to an engineer for the for the county to be able to get the build completed and so we did have to have engineering plans. We only used three 40 foot high cube shipping containers. We took all the inside cutout and we put it on the upper level and we positioned the doors to try to make it look like we actually used nine shipping containers when we really only used three. So behind me is actually the living room dining room we call it like the sunroom. This whole sunroom we built out of steel the framing and then we used all of the cutouts of the container and used the steel on the bottom to kind of match the appeal of the containers but we didn't want to waste any material we used all the material from the containers. So as far as the sunroom itself the sun rises behind and so in the morning you can get the beautiful sunrise out of the windows and it also in the winter heats up the space quickly and in the summer the sun leaves so it leaves the space nice and cozy. Let's head inside and check it out. Welcome to the inside. Now entering the kitchen. We wanted to make it spacious and flow but we also wanted to keep some container elements. We wanted it to feel like you're in a container and so we did keep one raw wall of the container. We love the container ceiling and we did have to find specific lights to fit inside the ripples. Very very tough on those. So if at one time you want to rent the entire house and have all six bedrooms to yourself we did create a double door pass-through. So let's check it out. They are the exact unit they're mirrored exactly so you have three master suites on each side with a loft living dining kitchen everything it's an exact mirror. So downstairs we wanted an open area where you can gather together with your family and friends but up here this is where you can get away. This is one of my favorite areas because this window is so large that it opens up to the beautiful red mountains and as the sun's setting they just glow red and it's absolutely stunning to get to sit here and watch that. It's just wonderful. Also upstairs we have two master suites one that way and one over here. All the bedrooms are pretty similar as far as beds and setup but each of them has their own specific views and the bathrooms are all a little different. Now we're on the outside deck we have a sauna for you to use. We installed this container door here to kind of give a little privacy from the roadway if you're in the sauna and also just to make it look like there was a container on top even though there's not. These spaces are just so enjoyable and you get to share this place with others. If you have a dream or something where you want an adventure like go out and do it. Fear can keep you from doing some pretty awesome things and we would do it a hundred times over even with all the hardships and the obstacles and the ups and the downs. I talk about it as like a puzzle and life's like a puzzle and so you have this vision in your head and just go chase it. Put that puzzle together. But the greatest thing I learned from doing these projects was to enjoy the journey and that's actually the best part. Thanks for watching this week's episode. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please make sure to like, share and subscribe and I will see you soon with another unique home tour.