– Carey and Charlie Bentley-Beckham are selling their shipping container home due to their elderly dogs.
– The Wellington home, bought for $420,000 in 2016, was designed by Nick Yen and Shasha Chen.
– The couple is seeking a single-level house with more space for visiting family.
A Wellington couple love their quirky home built from four shipping containers, but they have to sell because their elderly dogs can’t make it up the stairs anymore.
Carey and Charlie Bentley-Beckham bought the unusual three-bedroom home at 25A Bell Street, in Tawa, Wellington, for $420,000 in 2016. It was their first step on the property ladder.
Carey, who is from the UK, and Charlie, a Kiwi, had moved to Wellington after meeting in Australia and were looking for something special.
Natural timber and modern comforts such as double glazing and a heat pump complement its eco-friendly design. Photo / Supplied
The owners enjoy hosting friends at the home because of its seamless indoor/outdoor flow. Photo / Supplied
Charlie had always talked about living in a container home or building his own, so when Carey visited the spacious 25A Bell Street, she knew she was onto a winner.
The home was designed and built by Nick Yen and Shasha Chen seven years prior. The couple told Stuff in 2012 that they craned in the recycled shipping containers onto the 490sqm site to use as the bones of their new house.
Their design left an impression on the Bentley-Beckhams.
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Carey said the unusually spacious home “ticked all their boxes”.
Charlie was working overseas at the time, so she showed him around the house on Facetime. “It’s a good mix of quirky without being so quirky that it’s not homely.”
Charlie agreed it had been a good choice, highlighting the great views out to the Colonial Knob Reserve and the bird life.
The eco-friendly home had also been carefully positioned to catch all-day sun. “It’s got a nice flow to it. It’s just the shells of the containers, and they’ve taken the middle wall out so it’s very open,” Charlie said.
Timber battens conceal the exterior of the shipping containers. Photo / Supplied
Deciding to sell had been hard, they said, and they were only doing so because of their current circumstances.
Two of their dogs were getting older and struggling with the stairs, so they had decided to look for a single-level house. Carey’s parents also visit from the UK each year, and they wanted a home with a larger section that had room for a tiny home for them.
Carey added: “We’ve just loved it. It’s a really warm and cosy and just homely place, and it’s been quite a big decision for us to leave. Our circumstances have outgrown it a bit, but I think whoever gets it next is going to love it.”
– 25A Bell St, in Tawa, Wellington, is for sale with an asking price of $680,000