By using color, wood, and polished concrete floors, this apartment in Berlin is full of personality. In the kitchen, polished statuario marble covers both the island's countertop and the backsplash in the custom kitchen cabinet block. PSLAB designed the light fixtures, and the island has open shelving incorporated into it for easy access to cookbooks and other reading material.

A Carrara marble backsplash adds cool contrast and a sense of drama when set against the custom oiled-steel black cabinetry in the renovation of the kitchen in this A. Quincy Jones home in Los Angeles.

Architect Craig Steely has become fast friends with Russell-Clarke and Moolsintong. He hangs out in the kitchen and lives not far from the house.

While shopping for containers, Hill was instantly drawn to this one’s existing blue color and chose to buy it and leave it as is. Poteet added floor-to-ceiling sliding doors to allow light in, as well as a cantilevered overhang to shade a window on the left side, which houses a small garden storage area.

In February of 2007, two San Francisco art and travel addicts purchased a 3,200-square-foot former Chinese laundry and tooth-powder factory with column-free interiors and a zigzagging sawtooth roof in lower Pacific Heights. They customized a pair of shipping containers to accommodate their collection and reflect their passions, and hired a local company to sandblast the interior to expose the board-formed concrete walls and replace the carpeted floors with Georgia hickory pecan planks to further lengthen the loft and make it look more like a warehouse.

The Salvatori marble tiles in the bathroom were added at the last minute, once everyone was confident that they would not put the project over budget.

Mary and Kundan Bhullar built a shipshape country escape that sits lightly on the land in the Aravalli hills near Gurgaon, India.

The house for Kundan's mother, dubbed Chameli, is constructed of two 40 x 8 containers located next to the family's garden.

Talo Mini chrome sconces from Artemide installed atop the mirror in the master bathroom effectively disappear, becoming what Maca calls “subtle 3-D sculptures.” The Neo Blanco vanity, from Porcelanosa, is clad in the same Douglas fir as the ceiling. The IQ faucets are from Jado.

The apartment overlooks views of the IJ-River.

Mays chose Graham & Brown’s Verve Stripe wallpaper for the downstairs bedroom. The chrome lamp is vintage.

“The walnut unit between the kitchen and dining room ties into the fumed oak floor,” Dubbeldam says. “The rest of the materials in the house—glass, marble, stone—were selected to offset the wood.”

The apartments face a landscaped common courtyard. The site is an irregular trapezoid, a fact the zig-zagging sidewalks reflect well.

The eight container apartments, huddled together in a wise use of the space, are situated on an old used car lot in downtown Phoenix. A decommissioned container costs between $1,800 and $5,000, says architect Wesley James. Transportation, handling, and site assembly run at least as much.

Nine-foot ceilings, white walls, and IKEA furniture define the bedroom, located at the back of the container.

Prioritize either storage or easy cleaning. While extra storage is always nice, it is important to note freestanding vanities are also known for being harder to clean, since there are more corners and nooks where dust can hang out around them.

The bathrooms are lined in luxurious Estremoz marble.

Davor (with his wife, Abbe, and son, August) designed the main living and dining pavilion as a double-height space to increase its perceived volume, and added high cubbies for extra storage.

In the master bathroom, Chris clad the tub and walls in Carrara marble. An AJ Wall sconce by Arne Jacobsen for Louis Poulsen sheds some light on bathtub reading.

In the kitchen, the continuous kitchen worktop and table are made of marble from Caledonia Marble. The pink Tamatik dining chairs are by Connie Chisholm and are from the Canadian design shop Made. The Blinding Love pendant lights are by Periphere, which has shops in Montreal and Toronto. The iron rails were inspired both by screens the couple had seen on their travels in the Middle East and by the ornate wrought ironwork favored by their Portuguese neighbors. Barzel Ironworks fabricated the banister to Sawatzky’s design by slicing up iron pipe, welding it, and painting it.

The kitchen features a concrete island topped with marble. Deja-Vu stools by Naoto Fukasawa surround the island. A print by Guy Gormley, as well as a painting bought during holiday in St. Tropez, hang on the walls.

A copper tub on the larch veranda encourages al fresco living.

The tiny budget still allowed room for some strategic splurges, such as the vivid green Verde Ming marble in the house’s only bathroom

The 800-square-foot house is among the first shipping container residences in San Diego County, according to Mike. He hopes it will soon by joined by a larger container home on the property, at which point it will become the guesthouse.

The containers are fused side-by-side, giving each apartment a 16-foot width. They are then stacked in four pairs with wrought, industrial-style exterior staircases in-between. To spare living space and installation headaches, a cinder block core houses utilities and a bathroom for each unit.

Located at The Proxy in Hayes Valley, San Francisco, AETHERsf is a concept space constructed from three 40-foot shipping containers stacked on top of each other. In addition to a curated selection of design-focused outerwear, the space features a custom, glass-encased cantilevered lounge with reclaimed oak floors and a belt-driven "dry cleaner-style" conveyor system.

This eco-friendly escape is powered by solar panels and a wind turbine—and it even includes a full bath.

Established in 1997, Artisans Group in Olympia designs modern homes throughout the greater Seattle and Portland areas. Their design-build models allow the company to provide full design services, and thanks to a partnership with Phoenix Haus—a Passive House panel fabricator—they are now able to develop Passive House prefab homes.

The outdoor terrace folds up, and the roof can be detached so that the container home can be easily relocated.

Insta-House by MB Architects

Project Name: Box Office

The architect and his team devised an armature on the back of the container that will eventually be covered with vines, concealing the AC and heating unit, the reservoir for graywater and the composting toilet outlet.

Project Name: Seatrain Residence

The galley kitchen, which includes a washer/dryer combo, separates the living room and bedroom.

The kitchen is beautifully textured and veined thanks to white Carrara marble countertops installed by New Marble Company and reclaimed cypress cabinets built by Wayne Berger.