The Long Shed Tiny House Cleverly Disguises Itself When No One's Around

This is The Long Shed, one of the newest projects from UK-based builder Echo Living. Echo Living was founded by Sam Booth long before the current boom in alternative housing, which includes mobile homes like tinies, RVs, bus and van conversions, and pretty much everything in between you can think of.

Originally focusing on folded metal furniture, Echo Living later branched out into modular prefabricated homes while striving to maximize efficiency and reduce waste during the production process. Their motto is "Build small, build smart, build beautiful," and it's beautifully exemplified in this particular project.

The Long Shed was completed in 2023 and unveiled to the public in the first days of the New Year. Like all Echo Living projects, it's a fully custom commission work, so we don't get details regarding pricing. Also like the other projects in the company's lineup, it's a prefabricated unit, but the difference is that it retains a certain degree of mobility thanks to a triple-axle trailer and road-worthy dimensions.

The Long Shed is legally a residential mobile home, 10.6 meters (35 feet) long, with a gorgeous minimalist but functional interior and expansive glazing that allows heat and natural light in.

Its name is derived from its ability to "disguise" itself as a simple shed when not in use. The decking goes under the cabin for storage, the external sliding shutters close, and the extra-wide gangway goes up over the entrance door, completely obscuring it from view. From afar, this fancy mobile home looks like an agricultural shed.

But when it's inhabited, The Long Shed becomes the kind of dream home downsizers can't stop raving about. Airy and brightly lit, it requires no foundations to install and can run off the grid, thanks to a generous water tank and a solar array.

Echo Living has mounted four solar panels on the roof, each with a 415W capacity, hooked up to two 12v batteries, a controller, and an app to monitor resources. A 725-liter (191.5-gallon) water tank is hooked up to the sinks and shower, the cooktop, oven, and water heater run on gas, and the toilet in the bathroom is a composting one. There's no mention of potable water, though, so presumably, residents have to make do with their own supply.

Heating is done by means of a wood-burning stove and large double-glazed windows, while wool is used for insulation.

Finishes are pale spruce with timber beans and dark-stained engineered oak in the floors for contrast.

All pieces of furniture are minimalist in styling but with a focus on functionality so as to keep from creating the impression of clutter. The Long Shed might be "long" in both name and form, but the total available footprint is just 28 square meters (301 square feet). Like with every other tiny house, compromises have to be made to make the most of that space.

Still, every creature comfort is present. The Long Shed offers a generous main bedroom with a king-size bed and an entire wall of glass, and, perhaps fanciest of all for a tiny house, a sliding door that ensures maximum privacy. Also here is a "hidden" door that opens directly to the outside, offering what the builder describes as an excellent "opportunity [of] an early morning conversation with the ponies in the field."

The layout also includes a generously sized living room that integrates the open-plan kitchen and the wood-burning stove but is otherwise left unfurnished. The kitchen is on the smaller side, but you still get a two-burner stove and oven, a deep farm sink, a compressor fridge, and plenty of storage.

At the opposite end of the house is the bathroom, with a sizable shower room, a floating sink, the compositing toilet separated from the rest of the room, and even more storage options. Ultra-high ceilings allow for additional storage over the kitchen and bathroom area, though the space isn't used this way in the display photos.

If you're new to downsizing and the whole mobile lifestyle frenzy brought on by tiny houses, The Long Shed is a beautiful way to become acquainted with both. It's a very elegant but halfway solution to downsizing, which brings the bonus of sustainability throughout the entire manufacturing process, not just once you move in.

Whether as a family home (a vacation house or long-term residence), a unique glamping unit, or an off-grid retreat, The Long Shed works to combine the best of both worlds. It brings comfort, style, and high quality to everyday living while striving for efficiency and a reduced carbon footprint. Pricing is probably where this is the most apparent if past experiences with this type of custom prefabs are anything to go by.

Tiny sustainable living has come a long way since the early 2000s, when it first became a trend, but not as regards pricing, which remains prohibitive.