If you are a longtime reader of ours, you are well aware of our complete obsession with all things tiny homes. Sure, we were dubious about how one could live and thrive in one of these miniature abodes at first, but now that we’ve seen so many innovative builds, we are positively sold on the lifestyle.

We’re pretty much enamored with any tiny home that comes our way, but lately, we’ve been getting deep into the newest and slickest kind around—the storage container.

Yeah, yeah, we know that living in a converted metal space doesn’t necessary SOUND comfortable, but containers actually act as quite the durable shells for tiny homes. On top of being literally ‘iron-clad’, they are also built to survive tornados, tsunamis, and even hurricanes. How many wood-frame houses can say that?

Our current favorite producer of container homes is none other than Backcountry Containers, a designer and builder based out of Needville, Texas that makes 20-ft, 40-ft, and custom homes that can be shipped worldwide.

The company recently hit the jackpot—HGTV decided to base a “Tiny House, Big Living” episode around the building of one of its custom projects.

This particular house was designed for the sister-in-law of Backcountry Containers’ founder, Jon Meier. She decided on the 40-ft, Rustic Retreat XL design, but she had a few custom must-haves. For instance, the soon-to-be tiny home homeowner simply had to have a deck, so Meier added a gorgeous one to the container’s roof.

Talk about a great place to read a book!

As far as the interior was concerned, she made it very clear that she needed a full cooking space, as well as a convertible seating area.

Look—they even managed to fit a wine fridge in the small space. Score!

Why container homes are gaining traction

As we already mentioned, more and more tiny home buyers are beginning to gravitate towards containers because of their inherent structural integrity, but these metal abodes have a lot more to offer than just durability.

On top of having a unique aesthetic, container homes are super eco-friendly, a detail that is not lost on the legions of hip, young tiny home dwelling fans. You see, shipping containers are abandoned on the regular, which means they sit empty until someone decides to melt one down.

Unsurprisingly, it takes a heck of a lot of energy to complete an operation like that—energy that could be conserved if the container were to fall into the right hands. Additionally, shipping containers provide some of the cheapest housing materials around. Makes sense!

While we admit that we weren’t too sure if we could fully get onboard with the shipping container element of this tiny home, we have to say that we are really impressed with this design. Heck, we’d live in it in a heartbeat!

To get a full tour of the aptly named Rustic Retreat XL for yourself, including views of the shabby-chic bedroom and surprisingly roomy bathroom, be sure to check out Backcountry Containers’ site here.

We’d love to hear your thought on this tiny housing trend! Are you in the market for a tiny home? If so, are you considering buying a shipping container home? Do you have any expert downsizing tips that you would like to share?