Grove House Blue Ridge

Nestled in the mountains of North Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest, the Grove House offers a serene escape about 90 minutes outside of Atlanta in the scenic town of Blue Ridge. The area is a paradise for those seeking laid-back charm and abundant outdoor adventures. You can chase waterfalls on numerous hikes, explore mountain bike trails, catch a ride on a scenic railroad, or even visit an apple orchard. 

But the real star is the container home, where you might just be content to sit quietly on the porch, enjoying the view. This home, created by Jen and her partner Erik, proves that innovative, sustainable luxury can be anywhere you want it to be. Even if that’s a forested backroad miles from the hustle of the city. 

The owners found this nearly 4-acre property and paired it with a vision for container home living formed during the Covid pandemic. Through its timeless design, the home elevates the idyllic setting of the land. And it’s all based around a simple 40-foot high-cube shipping container. Leveraging their own skills in graphic design and construction (plus the help of a few friends), the owners created the retreat as a short-term rental.

Despite its basis in shipping container architecture, the design skews more modern than industrial. It’s somehow simultaneously sleek and cozy, like a chic hotel married with a mountain cabin.

You enter the side of the cabin from the enormous front porch through a set of glass doors. There, you find the living room with a fold-out couch, the fully-equipped kitchen, and a small dining bar. Through the interior door is the spa-inspired full-size bathroom. And past that, on the far end of the container, is the bedroom with a queen bed and huge floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open onto the other side of the massive porch.

Layout-wise, it’s pretty standard fare for a 320-square-foot container. After all, there’s only so much you can do with a small space. Except that the home has a couple of surprises. The first is that porch we mentioned, which easily doubles the size of the house when the weather is nice and you’re looking for an indoor-outdoor vibe. Out there, you’ve got a fire pit, seating, and even a projector for movie nights.

The other unique feature is the indoor-outdoor shower out back. Through a glass door in the bathroom, you can enter a secluded space behind the container, which is covered and private, yet open to the breeze. The owners essentially built a lean-to attached to the back of the container that adds to the area under the roof, though, like the front porch, it isn’t conditioned space.

Overall, the design focuses on clean lines and expansive glass to flood the house with natural light and guide your eye to the scenic outdoors. The point here is to either get outside or at least enjoy the view of it.

Despite how put-together it looks, building the home as a DIY project was not without its challenges. Even getting the container to the build site was complicated, delaying the project schedule by weeks when the truck couldn’t navigate the twisty, hilly terrain. But the owners utilized their resourcefulness to get things back on track. For example, they reclaimed wood from an old barn on the property to bring some rustic warmth to the home, and created concrete countertops rather than purchasing other counter materials. Thanks to their planning, diligence, and ingenuity, they were able to secure permits and pass building inspections, too.

With room for a couple, a small family, or even a friend group that is ok with the pull-out sofa, the Grove House is a container home that lives and looks bigger than it is. It has some great ideas to draw from as you think about your own personal retreat or investment property built from shipping containers. What do you think?