The Shakalo Tiny House Is a Self-Sufficient Retreat, Perfect for Getting Away From It All

The Shakalo tiny house is one such haven. Tiny houses have come a long way from their original functionality, which was that of providing alternative housing for those looking to reduce their carbon footprint and live more sustainable and intentional lives. Today, they can be anything from economical permanent residences to fancy mini-mansions, weekend retreats, glamping units, and even doomsday-ready solutions.

The Shakalo was designed as an occasional retreat from city life. It's a custom build by Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses completed in 2021 and designed for a couple that wanted a place they could escape to for longer stretches, where they couldn't be bothered by anyone.

This meant an isolated location, which, in turn, meant the tiny had to be self-sufficient. Shakalo was built with complete autonomy from the grid in mind, relying on solar for energy and a propane backup generator, a water cistern for water, and a composting toilet.

To anyone interested in tiny living and alternative mobile housing, the Shakalo can serve as inspiration, perhaps even for a DIY (do it yourself) build. In more general terms, the Shakalo shows that, as far as tiny living goes, simple is best. If you're really committed to downsizing and living intentionally, basic will do just fine.

This tiny house is just 20 feet long and 8 feet wide (6 meters by 2.4 meters) and sits on a dual-axle trailer, so it's a standard towable – not an oversize park model that requires special permits and is designed to sit in the same location much like a brick-and-mortar home. It's compact and mobile, and more importantly, it's self-sufficient, which makes it the perfect retreat.

Sakalo relies on a solar array mounted on a pole up a hill to get the most exposure, with the solar equipment located in the front bump-out but accessible both from the inside and the exterior. The propane tanks for the backup generator also live there, on the trailer tongue.

Because of limited resources with the solar, heating is done by means of a propane direct vent furnace. A high-efficiency mini-split can double as an extra heating source and provides AC, but use time is limited. A Lunos eGo heat recovery ventilator helps to eliminate moisture and bad smells, with the builder saying it can bring in fresh air even on cold winter days without opening a single window.

The layout is a basic two-loft one, with the larger loft reserved for sleeping and the smaller one for storage. The secondary loft is so small that it looks more like an oversize floating shelf than an actual loft, so forget about having a guest spend the night over. This is exclusively a storage solution, unlike most secondary lofts in other tinies.

Spatial limitations impose a very minimalist, almost rudimentary layout. The ground floor holds a small kitchen with the cooking block on one side and the pantry on the other, under the stairs, the bathroom under the sleeping loft, and the smallest living room at the opposite end. Appliances in the kitchen include a two-burner stove, a microwave with an integrated hood, a solar refrigerator, and a coffee maker, while the bathroom has a standard shower, composting toilet, and a small sink with vanity.

Because the owners asked for a build that was durable and low-maintenance, Shakalo features standing seam metal siding in charcoal black, with dark stained cedar for the window trim and lighter cedar trim for the bump-out. The interior is drywall for the walls with beetle-kill pine for the ceiling and wire-brushed engineered oak for the floors. The furniture was designed to match in simplicity and functionality.

Visually, the Shakalo is not the prettiest or the most memorable tiny house, but that's because it’s not meant to be either. Unlike many tinies we've covered recently, many striving to show you can have an aesthetically pleasing or even a luxurious home inside such a compact footprint, the Shakalo goes for functionality – and functionality only.

The Shakalo was designed as an escape from the busy, stressful city life, a self-contained retreat that's durable and low-maintenance, so the owners could go months without stopping by and without having to worry about damage from the elements. As such, it's perfect.

The builder notes that this tiny sold for $62,000, which didn't include the solar setup but did cover extras like the small exterior deck, delivery, and leveling of the home. Whether that's the kind of money you'd be willing to pay for such a retreat is, well, entirely dependent on how badly you want to get away from the proverbial maddening crowd.