Couple's Clever Tiny House Features a Tall Shower and Luminous Bedroom

Tiny living can mean different things to different people. For some, it's about downsizing into something more "right-sized" after the children have moved out. For others, tiny houses mean more financial freedom, while others are drawn to tiny living's ultra-minimalism.

For Leo and Shannon Honeywell, a couple living in a tiny house community-based in Asheville, North Carolina, tiny living means more space—and actual homeownership—compared to their previous situation of living in a cramped rental in Brooklyn. Their extra-wide tiny home, nicknamed Apex, has been carefully designed to incorporate a number of smart features that make it one of the best tiny house designs we've seen thus far. It includes an extra-tall shower and a gorgeous bedroom you can stand up in. We get a tour of this excellent little house via Tiny House Expedition:

The couple first became interested in tiny houses when they saw a television show about them a few years ago. Shannon, in particular, was the one who pushed for moving into one, when she realized that it made more sense for them, compared to living in a less-than-ideal rent-controlled (but still expensive) apartment in the big city:

"The interesting thing is that the apartment we had in Brooklyn was a railroad-style apartment. So it was the left-hand side of the building, and it was just about the exact same footprint as the house we're in today. Our house here is 40 feet by 10 feet, and our Bushwick apartment was 10 foot by 42, maybe 43 feet. But it's really interesting because a lot of people ask us how downsizing was for us. And for us, we actually didn't downsize. It's the same exact space, except it has all the thing that weren't working for us beforehand—and we gained all of the outside space."

In working with tiny house builder Liberation Tiny Homes to realize their project, the couple put a lot of thought into their tiny house, and it shows. The cedar-clad exterior has a pergola, and an outdoor deck equipped with a dining set for outdoor meals, while the accordion-style patio door opens up to link the indoor space with the outside deck.

The interior feels quite spacious, thanks to the intelligently designed layout. Here we see the living room, which is furnished with an L-shaped sofa, and a fold-down table that serves as their "breakfast bench."

To solve the problem of where to put their television, the couple came up with an ingenious solution: They mounted it on a track, which allows them to move and swivel it to any position.

They store stools, and this compact treadmill, under their sofa.

Above the living room is their home office, which has a custom-made desk. To address the issue of headspace here is yet another of the couple's clever solutions: Having a space to let one's legs poke down when seated in the shortened office chair.

From the office loft, one can go up some stairs and through a skylight to access the roof deck, which also has some comfortable outdoor furniture.

Coming back downstairs and into the kitchen, we see a luminous space that has everything the couple needs, and a bit more. There is a propane stovetop, a Breville multifunctional oven, a toaster and air fryer, a farmhouse-style sink and pull-down faucet, and some open shelving for plates. A big improvement for the couple was the inclusion of a dishwasher, which they didn't have in their old apartment.

There is also a vertical mini-bar that slides out.

On the other side of the kitchen, we have a deep blue cabinet unit that houses a smart refrigerator, open shelving for spices, and a coffee nook that also has an extra countertop surface that pulls out.

Past the kitchen lies the bathroom, where we find the couple's washer and dryer, sink and vanity.

The rainfall shower is really well done, and behind its glass door, we find this incredible full-height space lit by a window above. There's also a built-in bench here, which Shannon uses to sit and sip her morning tea.

The toilet is in its own room so that the couple or guests can use it without cutting off access to the laundry, bathroom sink, or bedroom.

A set of storage-integrated stairs in the bathroom leads up to the bedroom, which has been built in the gooseneck portion of the tiny house trailer. It is one of the best tiny house bedrooms we've seen so far, because it is an actual room that one can stand up in, and it looks quite comfortable.

Past the bedroom, and up another small flight of stairs is yet another loft, which the couple is planning to use as a potential room for a nursery. Right now, it's being used as a place where their two dogs and cat can sleep.

All told, the couple spent about $160,000 for their lovely tiny home and are now only paying $600 per month to rent the land it's parked on. While it's definitely on the higher end of the price scale, Shannon says that their tiny house has actually helped them to save even more money:

"One of the biggest motivators for us in going tiny, aside from downsized living, was to be able to use it as a vehicle for financial independence. So we're able to really save for our future and think about what we want to do as we grow old together."