Off-grid

7 Stunning Converted Homes: Chicken Coops, Streetcars & More (Videos)

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Upcycling an old toilet roll or jam jar is child’s play but recycling whole structures and vehicles to live in is a whole other league. See what it’s like to be living in an old school bus, a former chicken coop, an upgraded tool shed, or train car. I’ll tell you up front, it’s wonderful. As you can see in the following videos.

 

1. Converted chicken coop

The owners bought their property in Petaluma (California) 15 years ago, which was then a teardown. The couple didn’t think about tearing down the buildings. Instead, Chris, a carpenter and contractor and his wife converted the old structures into livable shelters.

 

2. Toolshed turns clutter-free tiny home

Instead of building a big house on his Oregon farm, Brian Schulz has built, or renovated 5, tiny structures on his Oregon farm workshop focusing on handcrafted life with communal spaces and a solar bathhouse.

3. From school bus to tiny mobile home

This dweller lived for 10 years in a tiny log cabin. His love for small homes led to living the past 2 decades in ecosystems worldwide, including desert mountains in New Mexico, cloud forest in Ecuador, the woods in New Hampshire, tropical beaches in Micronesia, and the highlands in Guatemala.

 

4. Would you live in a streetcar?

Claudine Désirée has lived with 3 young boys in a one bedroom home built from old streetcars (from 1920s Santa Cruz). When the boys got older and needed more space Désirée, learned to build with cob (at a natural building workshop). “I fell in love with cob because I don’t have the patience to ‘everything has to be like this and the rules and at this angle and we have to measure it and the codes’. I’m more into let’s just do it”.

 

5.  Garage becomes a surprisingly roomy, transformable tiny home

WhenFrench photographer Jérémie Buchholtz couldn’t find an affordable apartment in Bordeaux to his liking he stumbled upon a listing for a garage. The typical garage, with big metal doors that blocked out any sunlight was transformed into a light, spacious, apartment.

 

6. Airstream trailer, retro indulgence

Nadise grew up on the 20th floor and doesn’t like apartments anymore. Still she wanted to live in a small and affordable home and doesn’t like all the rules of trailer parks. A retro Airstream trailer she found for rent in a backyard in her Northern California town offered a solution.

The tiny home,  measures only a couple hundred square feet but got all she needs like a kitchen with double sink, a refrigerator (even a freezer), microwave, dining table, living room with 2 easy chairs, double bed and bathroom complete with flush toilet, shower and bathtub.  And a private garden, something often not allowed in trailer parks.
Previously finding solace in shopping, Nadise downsized her belongings and limits new purchases just to thrift shops and garage sales.

 

7. Shipping containers recycled into awesome home

Real estate broker Jeff White was a pioneer in transforming used shipping containers into affordable housing. He converted a 40-foot-long, 9-foot-6-inches-tall and 8-foot-wide container in the driveway of his Salt Lake City (Utah) into a stunning home.

 

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