A Los Angeles architecture and interior design family business is recycling classroom trailers into low-cost but chic modular homes. According to the LATimes, research+recycle can seam two of the units that measure 24 feet by 40 feet together or reconfigure the individual units, as well as raise the ceilings 15 inches to give a larger sense of space. Begun by Chase Anderson and his parents last year, they buy the classrooms for $10,000 each, gut the interiors and rebuild around the steel frame, offering EnergyStar appliances, low-flow toilets and shower heads, different finishes and fixtures, and strand board flooring. MHProNews.com has leaned the 1,500 square foot modular prototype cost $100,000 to transform.

(Photo credit: research+recycle/LATimes)