The Compound Before the Compound
When we first started planning our future family compound, I imagined writing about house plans, gardens, and construction updates. I didn’t expect one of the first chapters to involve campers and a storage container.
Like many families, we assumed we’d find a rental home while we prepared to build. After several weeks of searching, it became clear that finding a house large enough for our family of four and our five animals wasn’t going to be easy. In our corner of southern Oklahoma, rental options are limited, and finding one that checked all of our boxes proved nearly impossible.
That’s when we started looking at campers.
Instead of waiting for the perfect situation, we decided to create our own. We purchased a destination camper and set it up on what we can call Base Camp.
My in-laws moved their camper to Base Camp as well, and together we’ve created what we jokingly call our “mini compound.” The two campers form an L-shape, with a shared outdoor space between them. We plan to place a large picnic table beneath the awnings where the six of us can gather for dinners, conversations, and long summer evenings outdoors.
In a way, we’re already living part of the vision.
The biggest challenge was our animals.
There was simply no realistic way to comfortably house a Golden Retriever, an Aussie Bernadoodle, and three cats inside a camper long-term. After a lot of brainstorming, we found a solution: a used 40-foot storage container.
We’re currently converting the container into three separate spaces: a dog room, a cat room, and an office.
The dog section will include elevated food and water stations, two cots for lounging, a basket filled with toys, and direct access to a secure outdoor yard. The yard sits beneath two massive shade trees that will help keep them comfortable during Oklahoma’s hot summers.
The cat section is being designed with their happiness in mind. A long wall-mounted table will hold their automatic feeders and water fountain, while litter boxes tuck neatly underneath. Climbing shelves, hammocks, and catnip toys will give them plenty of places to explore, nap, and play.
The final section will serve as an office, giving us a quiet space to work while we navigate this season of temporary living.
What I love most about the container, though, is that its story doesn’t end here.
Once the compound is complete, the container will begin a second life.
My youngest has already claimed it for a future fort.
We’ll move it beneath a grove of willow trees where it will become part garden shed, part gathering space, and part childhood adventure. The first ten feet will serve as a garden tool shed. The middle sixteen feet will become a lounge area, and the final fourteen feet will be transformed into a potting room.
Above it all, we’ll build a fort across the entire roof of the container (inspiration pic below).
Right now it’s solving a practical problem. One day it will be a place for gardening projects, family gatherings, and childhood memories.
We’re still very much in the planning stages of the compound. No ground has been broken. No houses have been built.
But as I sit here looking at our campers, the storage container, and the shared space we’re creating between them, I’m reminded that the compound didn’t begin with construction plans.
It began with family.
It began with figuring things out as we go.
It began with making the most of what we have while working toward what we’re building.
This may not be the compound yet, but it feels like the beginning of the story.
