hi there Jenna here welcome to my channel where I take you on tours of tiny or incredible spaces
in this week's episode we're going to meet one family who have built several shipping container
homes in Ohio though we've featured plenty of container homes before on this channel I think
you guys are really going to like this one because it's extremely unique not only did they play with
cantilevers and have to fit the containers in a tight canyon-like space but also the interior
design is absolutely stunning and I can't wait for you to hear why they believe building with
containers have incredible benefits but also a few challenges and if you like videos like this
where we showcase people building alternative homes make sure that you subscribe and hit
that notification Bell because we publish a new video for you every single week [Music]
hi we're Emily and Seth Britt and this is the Roka box hop [Music]
so the first interest in shipping container homes came when I was working and I loaded
shipping containers and just realizing that this space is airtight watertight and about the same
size as the house I grew up in so when Emily and I first started dating a lot of dreaming going on
between the two of us at some point I told her hey we should build a house on our shipping containers
one day that'd be cool that's kind of how the Box hop came to be Emily told me as soon as we walked
through this Valley here she said we have to find a way to put a house here and I was like oh no
please um so it was not easy to do what you see behind me you've got two 40-foot containers and
a 20-foot container the Tower with the gold roof on it that is traditionally framed we get a lot of
questions about that but it was not easy getting a 40 foot container down a ravine squeezing it
around these Cliffs and fitting it in here the design of the Roka box hop is not your typical
container design you've got the 20-footer and the 40-footer beside it and then the 40-footer on top
is actually turned so that it could fit in this exact location and then it's also cantilevered
on the first floor to hang out 10 feet in Ohio there are a lot of requirements when building
a house with insulating the roof if you look we've raised the roof up so a lot of Structural
Engineering went into this one a lot of thought on how do we fit it and still make it fit the
space Emily did the design it is a very Whimsical design if you look at the siding you look at the
living roof that we've put on here just trying to get it to blend into the environment around us
Emily has a zoology degree I have a history degree I made dog food for 10 years Emily was
a real estate agent so I think the Box hop kind of helped us find our purpose for this season of
our lives and we'd never designed a home we'd like taken one wall out of a kitchen right
and that was it that's the only experience we had my family is big into environmental
construction his dad has a ton of work building houses so I think we both felt confident that
if we didn't know something we would have this like awesome backbone to help us along the way
this property is on 75 Acres this is exactly what you see in Hocking Hills Hocking Hills is the most
visited state park in Ohio lots of black Sandstone lots of natural rock formations I grew up coming
here with my family hiking trips repelling trips on the Rock faces my father worked in construction
up high with harnesses and everything else so he would always take us repelling I've gotten
to do that with the older two kids that we have ages eight and six the four-year-old and the
one-year-old not yet but I think we'll give them a couple years but they love coming out
here I think by the end of this my six-year-old is going to know how to build a container home
in the next couple of years [Music] this is one of the two waterfalls on the 75 Acres where the
Roca Box Shop is located I'm sure you can hear it behind us Falls around 70 feet and then beside us
here is the Brit family cookout space so we've got where we light the fire it's got this incredible
backdrop around us exactly this location is where Emily and I decided we have to buy this property
this build took five months from start to finish most commonly asked questions we get about the
Roka and other container homes how do you maintain the structural Integrity of the building how do
you put in Windows a lot of cutting metal and a lot of documentation from Structural Engineers and
people that can make sure that you're supporting things before you cut holes we bought a plasma
cutter on Amazon a couple years ago for 1500 bucks and never looked back the foundation we've
got plates anchored into the concrete we've got it welded to those plates all the way around we
smack them together we weld them we're usually clamping and bracing things together using an
excavator to shove it up against the other one so we can make sure all our welds are tight
you can stack them eight High loaded with over forty thousand pounds in each container so that
in and of itself is really impressive the corners of these things are very very structurally sound
the living roof this is the first time we've done something like that so I think we're still getting
used to that my brother spent about two weeks foraging throughout the woods he's got all of
this Moss all of the ferns and we even put dirt and planted seed on top of it just to
make sure that it kind of contributes to the environment and it doesn't take away from it
so one thing that we get a lot of questions about on shipping containers are what are these plastic
things on the end of your shipping container you'll find them on any shipping container
it's air exchange it allows it to ventilate without taking in the elements for us in a
home you don't necessarily want that so on the inside we actually weld over those and
seal those up but we we keep them it adds that container aesthetic we're not trying to hide the
fact that it's a shipping container we always leave the outsides exposed the only pieces we
cover up would be like the traditionally framed sections that you see on the siding one thing
I'll add on the outside of this house this siding was as difficult as it looks Emily Drew something
on a piece of paper and said do this and I'm like it's going to take a lot of time are you
sure you want me to do that how about we do something else no this is what we did
so basically we took off cedar siding pieces right we put them together we carved out five
different templates and cut every one of these by hand with a jigsaw just to get this exact look
we're going to move into the hot tub area Emily
chose this location because it hugs this rock right beside us
if you look at the decking here it all chisels around the rock it complements the space well
and what a beautiful day it's snowing I'm probably going to jump in this hot tub in about five
minutes so this actually overlooks a ravine if you can hear the waterfall from here it's about that
way 50 feet if you're in the hot tub you can cook hamburgers in the grill while you're in the hot
tub if you want I wouldn't recommend it this is up about 40 feet the cantilever on the container
hangs out 10 feet over the foundation and overlooks just a beautiful Sandstone Cliff face
these containers are actually really really old so the way I look at it they've got a lot
of character and they're much more affordable so you'll see some dings and dents we relocated them
so that the window placement and where they come up together will better utilize where they were
seeing some damage but all in all I think these were seven years old before we bought them [Music]
so the Roku box hop probably cost us right around 350 I would say for the structure in itself you
could definitely do it much less I like to add a ton of character to the houses especially this one
that's nestled between the two rocks and it just felt very Whimsical to me we don't necessarily
try to do things the most affordably it's how do we create the best experience it sort of
came easy to me to think okay if this is how we're going to situate them what makes sense
for a floor plan the hard part I think came when I took that and kicked it to Seth and I
was like can you actualize this can you make this into something I am excited to show you
guys inside now you know we're nestled between two rocks we've got this living roof it feels
really Whimsical so you have to have that Hobbit like round doorway that's just in my mind what
had to happen to lead off the entrance to this house so let's go ahead and check out the inside
here we are in the foyer as Seth likes to call it we are actually standing inside a 20-foot shipping
container this gold ceiling was a fun way to enter this house this house is very eclectic it's very
Whimsical so Seth actually had the idea from the black key song to do gold of the ceilings and
that totally complemented all the Accents in this house and my like weird twist to the aesthetic in
here so Not only was the ceiling gold but as you can see crazy wallpaper yellow gold just
very bright and that's a huge feature of this house as well off to the right of the door are
these big picture windows now when I originally thought how we were going to build this house
this whole Tower of a staircase in my mind was going to be glass just totally glass on all sides
and our budget did not allow for that our second alternative was to get the staircase in this
foyer and traditionally Frame Up Above worked out perfect I just added these large picture windows
we've got a small little laundry area to my left we've also managed to fit in a half
bathroom that sort of bridges the gap between this 20-foot container that we're standing in
and a 40 foot container that's directly beside it that are butted up together
let's take a peek at this little half bathroom again that's sort of Bridging the two containers
of the 20 foot and the 40 foot right beside us so it's super small but it is really unique and
I love it it just has a little punch to it with this crazy wallpaper you have this rock for a
bowl of a basin sink we've got a lampshade with yet again another pattern we've got open shelves
with multi-colored books you can see that there still is that difference in the ceiling Heights
because of that bridging in the gap between one container and another and the reason for that
is 20 foot containers typically come in an eight foot height the 40 foot containers that's right
next to it those can come in eight foot or they can come in nine and a half High We like to build
with nine and a half High whenever possible because it just makes the space feel larger
obviously like a higher ceiling height just makes everything bigger the 20 Footers do come with high
Cube they call it nine and a half High ceilings but they're very hard to come by they're called
like the White Rhino of the shipping container world so they're less likely that we could get our
hands on one for a reasonable price that's just why you see that difference in the Heights here
all right we're going to move on over to the dining space right over this way [Music]
not far to go but here we are in the 40 foot container again you see that ceiling height go
much higher I like to incorporate a lot of old and vintage or meaningful things to each of our builds
I do like to collect I go to antique stores and flea markets and sometimes it's just my grandma's
basement or my grandma's house and it's just fun for me to collect items and this chandelier is
actually one that came from my grandmother's house that I grew up going to and visiting and
it was very very special to me but the aesthetic for it just fit really well in this house and it
just keeps the property and the house itself for Seth and I to feel very personal and have our own
touches to it so that's that's really important for us to do that in each space that we create
something I don't want to go without mentioning is the floor that you see it was not easy and
Seth was probably cursing me a few times over while doing it but each tile individually went
in to make this awesome effect that you see with the Checker floor and I just love it I think it's
again perfect for this aesthetic from here to my left is going to be the kitchen one long Galley
kitchen you're standing again in the 40 foot container so you don't have a ton of options
for how you Orient the kitchen it feels only right to put it on one side make it a clean easy access
to your stove your sink your refrigerator it works well when you're working with containers
because of their narrow eight foot wide and one way that I help it not feel so tight is Again
by incorporating the windows as much as possible inside these houses so starting with our cocktail
beverage cabinet we went ahead and put a window behind the cabinet so that you could see through
this glass cabinet all the way through the Rocks behind it we also are very fond of using panoramic
long and skinny windows so that you can see outside on all directions and I think that again
really helps the space not to feel so narrow or so tight so you you have this view of everything
that just feels like the outside is right here with you on the opposite side of the kitchen
is going to be this custom book shelf bookcase whole Arrangement that Seth again was cursing at
me for making it kind of gives you this like warm entry into a living space on the very end [Music]
going with a round window very Whimsical something to Cozy up and read a book have
Rock just on the other side of you the top cubby is going to hide and camouflage a TV
that can be seen and used in the kitchen or in the living space we cannot leave the kitchen until I
give a mention on this red Smeg refrigerator we call it like the cherry red Smeg everyone loves
it and it just adds so much fun pop of color and character again to this ever crazy house
and then right after the Smeg we have the living room and the living area and it just
allows a little extra room to spread out have kids run around this part of the container is
what's hanging off the side of the foundation and there's a drop off below us and then a cliff face
just in front of us so you really get this feeling of like you're suspended and you
see these Cliffs all around you and the snow is falling beautifully so it's almost like a canyon
this little area that it's tucked back in and you get that Essence when you're in this living room
we added this very fun Gallery wall another option to add in character
with wallpaper and then of course a cute little lamp that comes down for reading
having a softer light in the space if you're just hanging out here in the in the evenings
there's a lot to take it as soon as you get upstairs the big rock cliff the top
and meet Ramsay so Seth and I were at a flea market as soon as we saw Ramsay we were like
that's weird and we love it and it's coming with us to the Roca so here he is it's a fun statement
and it fits beautifully with the wallpaper and the surroundings and we just loved we just loved
it doing that coming down the small hallway some artwork and at the end of the 40-footer on the
second floor is bedroom one we like to call this bedroom the Gold Room it's very simple
has a queen bed on the bottom and a lofted twin above it just offers more sleeping space if you've
got kiddos or a friend that's joining you the other thing to note in this room is a skylight
and that's it keeping it simple and sweet just outside as you walk down the 40 footer up here
on the second floor it's going to be really simple so you've got the bedroom bathroom in
the middle and then a bedroom on the end this is the upstairs bathroom toilet pedestal sink
and then this shower that basically set the tone for this whole room it is a tile that
goes on just like wallpaper you literally have to match the pattern of each piece to the next
okay before we head to the last bedroom
if you didn't notice the first time these three round windows again you have these Immaculate
views so I didn't want to just go with boring windows so I decided to go with a smaller size
round window that allows you to see out into this Canyon on your way to the next bedroom
and this is the master suite you have the Skylight you have the picture windows that are just like
the ones we saw in the living room but you're up a little bit higher so again cantilevered
yet again at an even higher elevation we were able to squeeze in a full king-sized bed it
is a lot of the room is the bed itself we're just here to sleep and the party's out there
I added a fun little light in the corner and of course my wallpaper that I needed to have
to really highlight this room in this last section of the house foreign I think it's
something special to be able to create a space where you feel lucky to get to be and genuinely I
feel that way to be able to take our kids here or to create experiences for people because it's not
just you're staying somewhere but it really is an experience and you feel it when you
get here why hotel when you can hop thanks for watching this week's video please make sure to
like share and subscribe and I will see you soon with another alternative or tiny home tour [Music]
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