• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to footer navigation
  • Skip to header navigation
  • Skip to privacy navigation
  • Skip to recipes navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Blog
  • Contact

Brooklyn Farm Girl

Cooking And Gardening in NYC

PopularStewed Tomatoes
let's be friends
join my free recipe club!
  • New? Start Here
  • recipes
    • Course
      • Breakfast
      • Desserts
      • Dinner
      • Drinks
      • Side Dishes
      • Snacks
    • Type
      • 30 Minute Meals
      • Breads
      • Brownies & Bars
      • Cakes
      • Casseroles
      • Cheesy
      • Cookies
      • Dips
      • Donuts
      • Holidays
      • Kid Friendly
      • Mac and Cheese
      • Muffins
      • Pasta
      • Pizza
      • Potluck
      • Salads
      • Smoothies
      • Sneaky Vegetables
      • Soups
      • Vegan
      • Vegetarian
    • Meat
      • Beef
      • Chicken
      • Pork
      • Seafood
      • Turkey
    • Method
      • Baked
      • Canning
      • Drying & Storing
      • Freezing
      • Instant Pot
      • Roasted
      • Slow Cooker
      • Stovetop
    • Season
      • Spring
      • Summer
      • Fall
      • Winter
  • Vegetable Index
  • Urban Gardening
    • Let’s Harvest
    • Tutorials
    • Seed Calendar
    • Compost in Brooklyn
  • About Me
    • About Pamela
    • Our Garden
    • Editorial Guidelines
  • Life & motherhood
    • Journal
    • Motherhood
    • Our Upstate Adventure
    • Cats, Cats, Cats
    • Crafts
  • Videos
  • PopularStewed Tomatoes
Home ยป Life ยป Upstate Adventure

P+M Upstate Adventure: Painting the Interior of the Shipping Container

By: Pamela Reed
Posted:9/28/16
Updated:9/27/16

What a difference a fresh coat of white paint makes in the shipping container!

It’s been a bit since I talked about the next plans for the shipping container.  This Summer has been dedicated to getting the garden up and growing, with little time to do anything else on the land. With Fall arriving, we’re going to be spending some time getting the shipping container live-in already.  If you guys didn’t read, Matthew and I bought some land in Upstate New York to build a weekend getaway. We got a shipping container delivered to turn into a house.  We have big dreams, but we need to take baby steps due to time/budget.     For the time being, we’re making it pretty and cozy to spend our weekends in as it’s a bit of a mess now.    

We bought the shipping container used because it was much more economical that way.  Even though we will have to do extra work, I definitely think it’s worth it for the price difference.    In the next few weeks we’ll be working on walls, flooring and doors.    First up is painting the interior of the container as it was dirty and had lots of marks due to cargo it spend lugging over the past few years.    Eventually the shipping container will be insulated, so this is a temporary solution to making it feel like home while cleaning it up.

Before:
before-6

 

After:
shipping-container-after-painting

Before:
before-7

 

After:
shipping-container-after-painting_6

 

Before:
before-4

 

After:
shipping-container-after-painting_5

Before:
before-3

After: We’re doing completely new flooring so no need to paint nicely.
shipping-container-after-painting_4

Before: There’s lots of math involved with shipping cargo apparently.
before-5

After:
shipping-container-after-painting_2

Tips:
For all 4 walls (including doors) and ceiling we needed 4 gallons of Valspar Duramax paint.  Each gallon was $40, but we got it during a Valspar sale at Lowe’s so we saved $30. We used Duramax on the garden fence and it worked out nicely.  We used exterior paint on the walls instead of interior since the shipping container walls vary significantly in temperature difference. In the Winter, it’s freezing and in the Summer, it’s hot.  Using exterior paint will help protect from the moisture that temperature changes might cause.  The paint is a paint + primer in one and although with this paint it usually only takes 1 coat, we had to apply 2 coats to completely cover the walls.  
before-shipping-container

Before painting we used a air compressor to completely clean the walls as there was dust and debris on them.  Doing this is going to make sure your walls look the best when painting.  We also used a ShopVac to clean up around the bottoms of the walls. 
20160910_115904

For painting the top of the container make sure to have a ladder, or even better a step stool.  The ceiling is a little difficult to paint (ours is a 9’6″ tall container) and I know Matthew was feeling it for a few days after.  Also make sure you wear a respirator mask as it can get fumy when painting in a tight space like this.  
before-shipping-container2

So that’s it for the interior container paint.  We will be building walls for the bathroom area, so stay tuned for that.  Next up will be the flooring… coming soon!
shipping-container-after-painting_3

How to Paint the Interior Of a Shipping Container. Tips, Tricks and Safety.

Similar Recipes

  • Our New Shipping Container Flooring
  • Shipping Container Home Reveal Before and After
  • Delivery of Our First Shipping Container
  • We Sold Our Upstate Land

Reader Interactions

join the free recipe club

Receive My Favorite Recipes Straight To Your Inbox!

Thank you for subscribing!

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

I love hearing from you! Submit your question or recipe review here. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Made this? Rate this recipe:





  1. nicole says

    March 4, 2017 at 10:46 am

    nice! may I ask what sites you used to look up properties?

    Reply
    • Pamela says

      March 4, 2017 at 3:53 pm

      Pretty much all the big popular realty websites. If you want my 2 real estate agent referrals (including the one I used) shoot me a email.

      Reply
  2. handmade by amalia says

    September 29, 2016 at 6:00 am

    Another brilliant project, Pamela. You always seem to have on going ๐Ÿ™‚
    Amalia
    xo

    Reply
  3. John/Kitchen Riffs says

    September 28, 2016 at 10:22 am

    Totally fun post! I love the idea of a shipping container home — so many possibilities. You guys are having a ball with your upstate property. Thanks for sharing this!

    Reply
    • Pamela says

      September 28, 2016 at 4:32 pm

      Thanks for commenting John! We aren’t sure of the style yet, but we need to start somewhere!

      Reply
  4. Karen (Back Road Journal) says

    September 28, 2016 at 9:35 am

    My daughter studied interior design and often talks about how clever it is to build a home in a shipping container. It will be fun following alongโ€ฆI know the two of you will do a get job.

    Reply
    • Pamela says

      September 28, 2016 at 4:32 pm

      Thanks Karen, I really appreciate that! It’s going to be a journey! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply

Primary Sidebar

welcome!

Hi! I'm Pamela, an artist Mom who shares family recipes. My farm is a 1,000 sq ft apartment in NYC. Let's make dinner together.

Read More

join the free
recipe club!

Receive My Favorite Recipes Straight to Your Inbox!

Thank you for subscribing!

TOP POSTS

Half Sour Pickles

The Best Stewed Tomatoes Ever

Unstuffed Bell Pepper Casserole with Ground Beef

Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce

Recipe Index
Vegetable Index
Follow On Facebook
Follow On Instagram
Free Recipe Club

fresh this week view all

How to Store and Freeze Fresh Blueberries

Irish Potato Candy (Pennsylvania Dutch)

Classic Stuffed Peppers

Peanut Butter Protein Cookies

As Featured On
free recipe club!
Get weekly recipes, videos, and gardening tips to your inbox!
join the club!
EST. 2013
let's be friends
  • Recipe Index
  • Veggie Index
  • Urban Gardening
  • Web Stories
Back To Top
© 2025 - All Rights Reserved
  • Privacy Policy & Terms
Site Credits Designed by Melissa Rose Design Developed by Once Coupled

join the recipe club!

Receive My Favorite Recipes Straight to Your Inbox!

Thank you for subscribing!

52 shares