Rainy Saturday Building Container Home

The rain has brought relief from the heat while we complete the insulation and prepare the container for the AC system.

Plywood Walls for Container Home Interior

Today's progress was framing the main glass sliding doorway and beginning to install the plywood walls.  These walls will be painted Sherwin Williams Ultra White in eggshell finish.

Ceiling Insulation Goes In Container House

Dale has been hard at work adding the ceiling insulation for our container house.  He went ahead and purchased the really thick stuff because he has been out there working in the thing in the hot Texas summer heat.   I have stopped by several times for this blog's sake, and I will describe it as a sauna within an oven sitting on top of the desert sand.  I sincerely hope this insulation work does the trick once Dale cranks up the AC.  The air conditioner is a portable, and I will get the specifics for everyone in the next blog post.  I think it is a Ramsond.  I wanted Mitsubishi, but Dale insists it pulls too many amps for our solar panels.  Like I said, I will get all the specifics as well as an update on the internal temperature of the container in the next post. 

I haven't heard from him all day, but I did manage to get my hair done:

Hi Sweetie!  I had a nice day at the spa :o)
Love YOU xoxox

Dale's Aquisitions

So far, Dale has amassed a little collection for the property:

• Inverter
• Generator
• Wood Chipper
• Air Conditioner
• Chainsaw
• Loper
• Riding Lawnmower
• Cistern

Wendy's List:

• Rubber Boots
• Camo T-shirt that says "TEXAS" across the front

Sliding Glass Door for Container House

Dale successfully installed the sliding glass door into the end of the container today. Since the steel structure of the shipping container is perfectly square, it was very easy with no unlevel-ness. Always a plus!

And while Daddy was building our container house in the 122 degrees, the Wawwa was playing at home in the AC!

Moving Right Along

Dale has almost got the walls framed in so we can put up the plywood walls. I plan to paint the walls white, Sherwin Williams Ultra White in Satin Enamel finish. I have this in the nursery and I love it so much! It is durable and beautiful just like all the pictures in the catalogs :o)

Walls Inside Container Home

Our daughter, Chelsea (20), and son, Brad (12), with Venus's puppies.

Dale is getting to have all the fun right now!  It's way too hot inside a raw shipping container for me to be able to bring Walter along, so I am staying at home with the babe while Dale prepares the container for air conditioning.  He began on the insulation 2 days ago, and today he began the framework seen here in hot pink 2 x 4s.  The overall raw dimensions of our container is 40' x 8' x 9'6", and we are forced to give up some of the interior space due to insulation, wood framework and plywood.

We are placing the framework onto the 9 x 8 foot outer sides with the boards in a typical position allowing 4 inches of space between the plywood walls and the steel structure of the shipping container.  For the 40 foot walls, we will  lay the boards flat against the steel structure so we only lose 6 inches give or take of our 8 foot width throughout.  I did have a chance to go inside and get a feel for the space today, and it will be just fine as long as we have about 50% glass on the wall facing the deck.  I called Star Windows. a company here in Houston that manufactures custom size architectural windows on the cheap!  I had them make my 24" x 24" and my 18" x 60" windows in Walter's nursery.  They are sleek and stylish as well as energy efficient, and I love them!  My plan is to try to find some good quality windows from salvage out of a remodel via CL (craig's list). 

I will refer to my beloved craigslist as CL for here on out on the blog.  Let me just say this:  I am not happy with my impatient man for running out to Lowes for the wall supplies!  See, I have a vision for the container home to be finished with 100% supplies foound on CL that are reused/recycled and cheap if not FREE!  Now, my antsy madman  has thrown a kink in my plan.  He is so excited, like a kid in a candy store, and I don't have the heart to make him wait until the right supplies may or may not become available a la CL.  We will have solar power everything, windmills hooked to inverters and used truck batteries, etc.  As for the interior decor, I will make sure to recycle and reuse as much as I possibly can find on CL and at the thrift stores/garage sales and the like.  It's going to be a party for me and Chelsea because we can't get enough Goodwill hunting :o)

Our Container

OK, so here it is. This recycled Genstar shipping container will be our 320 square feet of Texas Hill Country cottage paradise! We feel we got a good deal on the unit from our buddy "Joe", who has a stockpile of the used shipping containers from the Port of Houston. Although I love the rust brown color of this one with the original graphics, etc. I can't resist the urge to paint it TEAL. I love blue/green hues and if not teal it will need to be a light color besides rust brown. We want a light color so it will reflect the hot Texas sun's powerful rays during the extreme Summer months.

Dale has already gone to Lowe's to get the insulation. I wanted to be there at our Houston shop to help with each aspect of the construction, but it is still very hot and I have the baby. We will just kick back and let the guys do all the preliminary work. While I am home with the WaWa, he is at the shop taking care of installing the insulation. This is one of a few construction needs we will be completing prior to transporting out to the property.

Countryside in Muldoon, TX

As we patiently await the closing on our property, we are like two little kids playing with legos.  Our plan for a container home means we need to have the configuration of our containers decided before we start moving them out to the property.   Dale wants 5 containers and 2 stories, but I want no more than 3 and to keep it on one level.  If we find a spot on the farm that has a great view once we clear the brush I will go for the big one with a second story.  If we can't see great views of the beautiful Texas Hill Country then I would prefer to keep it simple and close to the ground to enjoy the peaceful views of the surrounding forest and pond.  Either way, it will be the alternative green weekend retreat we have been imagining for several years.  I hope we can find that one amazing spot on the farm where a view of the Texas  hills in the distance reveals itself.  We had been looking at 6 acres near Wimberley that had views of the Devil's Backbone, but the drive was double the distance and time.  Now that we have "the Wawwa", we need to keep our roadtrip shorter.  Also, the other property was about $15,000 more with 3.5 less acres.  We fell in love with this place and I know it will be all we ever need and want!

Boots for the Garden

`` `I know I may be jumping the gun, but I couldn't resist these boots for the farm.


I was taking inventory of my faves list and decided to check out Zappo's to see what they had in the way of a good farm boot with style.  I found these beauties which arrived yesterday. I can't wait to break them in as soon as we close on the land. I have big plans for these boots. Here's my garden from last year we planted in the back 40...feet of space behind the 2 car garage in the burbs: Maybe my garden on the yet-to-be-named farm and ranch will be much better than this one we managed on our 55 by 120 foot lot in Gleannloch Farms. Like I said, I can NOT Wait to break these babies in!

SOLD!!!

Fayette County

• This property has been sold.
• Details about the Land:
• County:Fayette
• Type: Acreage
• Acres: 9.25
• Price: Property Sold
• Description of the Land Small acreage in Fayette County is hard to find and especially with all the amenities for a peaceful and secluded home and retreat.* Just eight miles from historical town of Smithville* Gently rolling terrain with sandy soil* Centrally located between Houston, Austin, and San Antonio* Densely wooded with open areas and nice mixture of trees* Attractive pond for wildlife and water activities* Winding trails throughout property* A very quiet and tranquil area