Couple Transforms Shipping Containers Into Dream Home (Exclusive)

Lexi Newkirk and her husband, Diego, are building their dream home, and it’s far from traditional.

In November 2024, just one month after closing on a 12.5-acre property in Texas Hill Country, the couple, who had recently tied the knot, purchased two shipping containers that would eventually be stacked to form the foundation of their one-of-a-kind home.

Although they were eager to dive in, construction didn’t officially begin until April 2025. After returning from their honeymoon, Lexi, 25, and Diego, 26, took time to settle in. They bought and renovated an RV to live in during the build, then returned to the property and got to work. Before placing the containers, they had to clear the land — which was densely wooded and required extensive landscaping.

“My husband’s been building the entire house from the ground up,” Lexi tells PEOPLE exclusively. “We originally thought we’d build an Airbnb-style wellness ranch, a retreat where people could escape city life, since we’re about an hour-and-a-half outside of Austin.”

“But our neighbor wasn’t happy with that,” she adds. “So now, we’ve placed it here permanently, and we plan to live in it for the next two to three years.”

Though the couple has been working on the house for more than a year, there’s still plenty left to do. Recently, though, they reached a major milestone: they officially moved in and are now learning to navigate life inside their unconventional space.

Lexi says the design was all about intention, especially when it came to natural light and making the most of the home’s 640 square feet. The house features a full-size kitchen and one-and-a-half bathrooms.

“The bedroom faces the sunrise and the bathroom faces the sunset,” she says. “We came up with that because my childhood room faced east, so I was always an early riser. I just thought it was something cool — to let the sun wake you up. When you sleep on the west side, you naturally wake up about an hour later. So that big window placement was really thought out.”

When asked about the most difficult part of the build, Diego, whose family owns a mold remediation company, doesn’t miss a beat.

“Definitely the plumbing,” he says. “We’ve got a bit of an extravagant bathroom design upstairs, and I knew from experience that plumbing in such a tight space could get tricky. I’ve done plumbing before, and I could’ve done it myself, but I didn’t want to deal with future issues. So we decided to hire someone.”

That decision became even more complicated when the couple discovered the property didn’t have access to water.

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“We had four different plumbing companies come out,” Diego recalls. “Two of them basically said we were crazy and told us we’d have to make major changes. But eventually, we found someone who understood the vision and could make it work without all those modifications.”

“We’ve had to since get water delivered from a city about 30 to 45 minutes away,” he adds. “They brought in 2,700 gallons. Eventually, we’re hoping to install a more permanent water system.”

Since the start of the project, Lexi, who owns a digital marketing agency, has been sharing updates on Instagram. She later expanded to TikTok, where her behind-the-scenes videos have racked up millions of views and earned her nearly 300,000 followers.

The comment sections on Lexi’s videos have also been flooded with questions, one of the most common being where they bought their shipping containers.

“We chose 40-foot, single-use high cube shipping containers,” Lexi says. “When you’re shopping for containers, the price really depends on the condition, whether it has flaws or not. Ours had only been used once, which is why we went with them. A lot of other containers are used for multiple trips, but since this was going to be our home, we wanted something blemish-free. We didn’t want to risk potential issues down the line, like holes or rust.”

Diego adds that another question they get asked is about the cost, to which he explains, “It’s more expensive than people think.”

With plenty of land to work with, the couple is already thinking ahead. They hope to build a barn-style condominium just down the hill on their property and install solar panels.

“It’s super unique. There’s not many homes like this out there,” Lexi says. “I think that’s the reason everyone’s like, ‘What the heck? This is crazy.’ But we have so many more plans. We’re about to be starting a garden and get chickens. We’re going to put up a fence, hopefully get some cows out here and just start a little homestead.”

She adds, “This is just our starting point.”