Downtown Lincoln Container Home

We always say that small doesn’t have to be boring, and this two-story shipping container home in Nebraska is a prime example of that. Just a half-mile southwest of downtown Lincoln in a urban neighborhood filled with traditional homes is a bright, eye-catching container house that draws visitors from thousands of miles away.

Lincoln may not be on your list of must-visit US cities, but it has a walkable size, welcoming charm, and strong economy that have made it a regional powerhouse. We always find that cities with large universities offer cultural amenties that you wouldn’t find in similar-sized towns. As the home of the famous University of Nebraska, Lincoln is certainly no exception.

While the short walk to downtown restaurants, the historic Haymarket district, and Cooper Park are certainly advantageous for visitors, what really makes this container home unique is it’s style and design. With only three 20-foot containers and 480 gross square feet, the designers had to make the most of every inch.

From the exterior, the layout is pretty apparent: two twenty-foot containers on bottom placed adjacent and parallel, with one additional twenty-foot container on top set 90 degrees to the bottom layer. The choice here affords a few advanges.

First, two twenty-foot containers placed side-by-side are 16-feet wide. This gives a lot more width to the ground floor where the common spaces lie. It also means that the 2nd floor container that is 20-foot long creates a 4-foot overhang, perfect as a small entrance porch to the home.

By only using one container on the second floor, the owners were able to make a roof deck that’s approximately 12 feet by 16 feet is size. With access right from the bedroom, this deck offers an elevated view of the neighborhood and surrounding skyline, feeling both semi-private and open at the same time.

When you actually enter the home, you’re immediatley thrust into a large open space that serves as the living room, dining area, and kitchen. The only enclosed area on this floor is the small laundry nook and understair closet; otherwise, it’s a wide-open space that takes away from how cramped you might otherwise feel in a home with less than 500 square feet.

Bright colors, large windows, and modern finishes abound, giving the home a touch of luxury and modern aesthetics. You’ll see quartz countertops, an undermounted kitchen sink, stainless appliances, creative light fixtures, and modern maple-like cabinetry. Inside, there’s no hint of shipping container construction, with the walls and ceiling fully covered.

The kitchen has large peninsula holding the sink, dishwasher, and microwave that forms one side of a galley kitchen layout, but upper cabinets are only used on the far side near the oven and refrigerator. This reduces kitchen storage slightly but once again makes the home feel much more open, with nothing breaking your vision at eye-level from front to back wall. The small eating area is nestled in a corner made from the L-shaped staircase to the second-floor. This helps effecitvely utilize a space that might otherwise be wasted.

When you travel up the staircase, you immediately enter the 2nd-floor bedroom. With only a single-container here and insulated walls on the inside, the room width is just a hair over 7 feet. It creates a cozy nook space for the bedroom with a large pictureframe window behind the bed. So the side is a door opening to the rooftop porch.

One interesting trick employed by the builders was the second floor bathroom. To get just a few extra square feet, they added a small area of approximately 30 square feet that juts out of the container and has a shed roof overhead. This small area makes the bathroom larger while only slightly reducing the size of the already spacious rooftop patio. It’s a great tradeoff to get a more liveable second floor space.

This additional bathroom space is sided with horizontal wood paneling on the exterior that matches the side walls leading up to the shed roof over the second floor container. Both of these wood area textures contrast well with the stark white containers and black accessories and trim.

Let’s take a step back and talk about this floorplan as a whole. While it’s great as an Airbnb, could it realistically serve as a full-time residence?

Probably not without some significant tweaks. The home is missing far too much interior storage, including no bedroom closet or kitchen pantry. The only real closet space at all in on the first floor underneath the staircase.

And placing the only bathroom on the house on the second floor makes it difficult to access for any guests. Plus, it means any guests using the bathroom would have to walk into your bedroom first.

Despite it’s short coming, we think this container home and it’s unique floorplan could have a lot of applications. Whether placed in an urban neighborhood as it is here or a more rural environment, the layout works well for short-term guests.

And with a few interior tweaks that likely wouldn’t change the overall layout of the three containers, you could probably reduce some of the downsides previously mentioned. Adding a fourth 20-foot container to get 640 square feet would probably make it easier to get the necessary interior closet space and ground floor bathroom though.

Instead of focusing on the potential downsides, let’s highlight the good. White containers grab your eye while lowering your electricity bills, let the black exterior trim gives everything a truly modern touch. The rooftop deck and covered front porch are welcome features that are fairly simple to add but make the home feel much larger and useable.

So take the good from this home as a great source of inspiration, and make it even better with your own customizations. Or, if you find yourself in Lincoln, go visit this one and enjoy it in person!