Hi everybody ?
We continue to discover for you. Our luxury container house on today’s tour is from France.
Killian Chastel built his atypical house by himself, near Dinan, by welding six containers that crossed the oceans. Today, he wants to make it a profession.
Camille and Killian Chastel wanted an atypical and custom house. They have it in Trélivan, near Dinan, in the Côtes d’Armor.
“The containers went to Hong Kong and Panama”
This contemporary and cubic house of 147m2, built by one man has a soul : the containers that compose it have crossed the seas to Hong-Kong and Panama !
In the small living room which adjoins the large living room of the household, the license plates of these ‘transport boxes’, hung on the metal walls, are there to testify.
A few mini-bumps or scratches that black and mat paint cannot manage to erase, are all scars evoking their adventures.
“This is part of the charm of this house. We must not forget that these are containers. They have seen more countries than us. The stickers covering them had to be sanded. “
Killian Chastel bought them “raw” in the ports of Saint-Nazaire and Le Havre. “Downgraded after ten years of navigation. » Cheaper than new – ” which costs 7,500 to 8,000 € per unit “ – and more authentic, in short.
Once delivered, a crane company positioned them.
Welding and cutting
It was then up to him to play. Holder of a boilermaker title, although a carpenter-organizer by trade, the 30-something sparks at his welding machine in order to assemble these 30m2 metal boxes and bolt them together.
Two upstairs, four on the ground floor including that of the garage, a bit offbeat.
We had to cut into the metal to make the large openings that flood the house with light, facing due south.
Night work
The young man devoted 18 months to this solitary work.
“I went there in the evening after work, not after 10 p.m., 11 p.m., as long as I had some welding because it is noisy. I no longer had a social life: I spent nights and vacations there for the rest of the work. “
Works quite similar to those of a traditional house : insulation, fitting out the kitchen, bathrooms, sanitary facilities, etc. Only the electrical part and the plumbing have been delegated.
Industrial style
A peculiarity all the same : the external insulation carried out with facade cladding ‘Uniso’ © which fit together easily according to him. A material which he says is very satisfied for its thermal and aesthetic performance :
“We heat very little thanks to these gray-anthracite, zinc-like panels which give the house its ‘industrial’ side. The house is almost passive, also because of the bay windows to the south. “
The interior evokes, just as much, this “industrial, black, but warm” design, with the undulations of the ceilings; the furniture and decor recovered here and there and chosen with his wife, Camille.
Thus, the living room has everything of the loft. “It is in line with what we wanted and what we observed during our stays, in Indonesia, in the United States …” recount these travel enthusiasts.
A new profession
The couple sees nothing wrong with their 18 months of being in an atypical house.
For the host of these places, it is a “pride” to have succeeded in its construction from A to Z but also, from an ecological point of view, to have recycled old metal boxes.
Killian Chastel, who designs interiors with his parents in the kitchen company Anne Ménager, in Dinan, now even wants to develop a construction and extension activity for container houses.
Below, a video tour of this unusual house made by Killian Chastel.
You don't improvise like that, a house builder. Killian Chastel started renovating homes with his father, a carpenter, at 17 years old. Gypsum board, insulation, laying parquet, etc. he knows. However, he is not a mason, hence his choice, among other things, for containers.
Cheaper, the container house? Yes, to the extent that Killian Chastel did it alone. “But the savings made have been reinvested in quality materials, so it is difficult to give an objective figure. "
To find out more:
camillecmp and kchastel (on Instagram);
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