Could you fit 8 rooms in a small sized cargo container...

[Blue]

Few years ago I got really interested in tiny houses and the tiny apartment movement, mainly using advanced design to maximize the use of small living spaces.

I saw the life edited contest on inhabitat and the entries blew me away...

http://inhabitat.com/nyc/lifeedited...s-awesome-green-new-york-apartment/06_bigger/

But the design that REALLY blew me away was this guy living in a 350 sq ft. Apartment in china using motorized file cabinets with floor tracks to pack 8 transforming rooms into that minuscule space... Need your shower hit a button and your room becomes a bathroom, hit another button it becomes a laundry room, hit another button it becomes a kitchen, hit another and it's a bar and entertainment center.... Really flipping amazing...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB2-2j9e4co

BUT

I move on average every three or four years, and I want to move more often than that, so I designed a cargo container with slide outs that would do what this guys apartment does using the same filing system tracks... Only problem is the filing system even without the electric motors will cost upwards of $25,000.oo to put in, figure another 30-40k to get the container and outfit it with the stuff I want. Then I pay to ship it around or buy a mini-semi truck (30k I figure) to tow it around...

It's a great idea, but likely I'll never be able to afford it. Great idea though for anybody who can.

 

[sparky1]

my 2 cents
for the combined $$ and labor you could get a entry level Motorhome "a couple slides. your able to move any time you wanted, motorhomes are less than 400 sq ft by Law. and everything will be in it except your clothes, food, pots & dishes.
mine is wide body & 35 ft long sleeps 6 has everything but washer/dryer $1,000 & they are water hogs & take forever to dry 2 pr pants.
I have Gas 3 eye stove top ,Oven, Microwave, Large refridge dual AC's, dual Furnaces,I also have electric heat, bathroom tub & shower, 2 TV's ,100 gallon water tank, electric & propane water heater, the entire bottom cabinets underneath go all the way thru. you can carry more than most people can imagine.
millions of families live full time in large Campers, fifth wheel trailers & motorhomes.
sparky1.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Our friend is building in a shipping container in Or. Nothing that complex, but he has a good plan for to space.
His box was $2000 and $500 to get it delivered.

 

[Blue]

I had a 35 ft rv that cost me 45,000.00 (now attempting to be sold for 15,000 and needing 20k of refurbishment) bathroom was cramped, kitchen was tiny, mattress was thin and painful, there was never enough storage space, inviting people over took hours of cleaning and putting away stuff. sitting on seats and tables (cf: storage space) and did I mention that 3 years living in Alaska destroyed just about every system (propane, water, gas tanks, heat pump, generator, electrical systems, etc all)

no... The design I got above would give me 3x the width of the motor home and the 8 transforming rooms would each be larger than the largest open area of a modern mobile home,(did you watch the vid? Why don't they make motor homes like that ?!?!) and that's kind of the point... More living space in the same amount of space as a motor home parks in. But too expensive.

My minivan cost me 2,500 bucks, improvements (so far) about 1,000.00 and I expect to pay another 2,000 or so for everything I really need (in a verry minimal way) rest of my money will go to travel expenses rather than incurr more debt for a used or entry level motor home. Less is more.

 

[spd2918]

That looks interesting. This guy has used a small space well at a fraction of the cost:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hJkBlqLJLWA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The furnishing from this company are very expensive, but they save a lot of space. If you use the same space for multiple uses, you save:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9nljmEUeLbY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Blue]

Yeah I've watched those before, some of the furniture has Merritt but the other guy... I'd be bumping my head into crap all over his apartment... That's sort of a problem with a lot of tiny house designs... One of the runners up for that life edited contest was a big cube you could move to any apartment, Swiss Army knife style... Was pretty cool but again... I don't like climbing ladders when I'm sleepy and want to get to my bed... I'm not thrilled by bunk beds at my age.... (Though the race car bed is still pretty cool!!!)

 

[jeanontheroad]

blue: 35 ft RV … cramped

Me: DH and I lived for 4 years in a 32-ft Jayco trailer with no slides and had plenty of room. Everything had a placed and lived in it. I had enough room for a basic office wardrobe because I was working. DH had enough room for doing homework because he was back in college. We even had our son and DIL visiting for a week and had a cabinet for them to use for their clothes. No hours of cleaning and or cramming things into corners before we could have people in.

If you can't live comfortably by yourself in a 35-ft rv without being smothered by your own clutter, you need to take a good look at your stuff and see what needs to go to Goodwill. Seriously. It's no fun to live in a junk pile. You have to work too hard to do even the basic tasks of living.

---

There are several Youtube videos on exactly the kind of convertible space you are taking about, but usually they require more space than you are talking about. The mechanisms, themselves take up a certain amount of space. I saw one very clever model that was down to an old carriage house - in Italy or France, I think. However, I can find it again.

 

[jeanontheroad]

Yes, controlling the junk is the trick. We all have weaknesses. Mine is currently tshirts. Don't ask me why. I must own over a dozen, but I only wear my favorite 3 or 4. We rinse things out almost daily and we do laundry often because there's no room to let it pile up.

DH's is currently electric cooking stuff. He has everything, sometimes in duplicate, and he would sooner take a bullet than part with any of it.

We also seem to have a bizarre collection of water bottles that seem to have collected themselves. No accounting for how that happened.

 

[ReadinessRob]

Mine is travel type mugs and water bottles. I am still looking for the perfect or close to perfect all around insulated travel mug. I am not expecting it to keep ice for 5.5 days like the Thermos uncle Sam issued me for the desert. But I would like to keep cold or warm for at least a day. Any recommendations from anyone? My wife sure would be happy if I cleaned out the cupboard.