Some homes seem to glow from the inside out — not with bright lights or glossy finishes, but with intention. Jimmy’s wooden house truck, built slowly and obsessively over two years, is one of those rare spaces. It sits quietly in the Sussex countryside, its Sapele-clad exterior softening into the landscape like it has always belonged there, and yet anyone who steps inside feels immediately transported.
What looks at first glance like an old railway carriage crossed with a storybook cabin is actually a 2000 Iveco Daily Mk2 chassis cab beneath a completely handcrafted tiny home. But the steel frame and rugged 2.8L diesel engine are the only hints of its commercial origins. Everything above tells a different story — one of craftsmanship, soulfulness, and years of lived experience in building and music, distilled into a single rolling sanctuary.
After decades in construction and a lifetime of creating music, Jimmy wanted a home that allowed him to live simply, slowly, and close to nature. He envisioned a small off-grid home in the Portuguese mountains, and this truck was meant to be both his transportation and his temporary residence while he built a studio and a more permanent dwelling.
Because the wooden horse boxes he loved no longer existed in good condition, he set out to build one himself — from the ground up. Two trucks were purchased: one to donate its old Sapele hardwood cladding, and the Iveco chassis that would become the rolling foundation. Every plank was removed, refurbished, and reapplied; every curve, join, and panel was reconsidered and reworked until it felt balanced. By the time the project was complete, he had invested around £40,000 into bringing his vision to life.
This wasn’t a quick conversion. It was a long, detailed exploration of how a tiny home could feel if it were created not for resale, but for deeply personal, joyful use.
The result is a tiny home that looks like it might have rolled through the Alps a century ago. The Sapele exterior ages into a silvery grey, giving the structure the presence of something timeworn and trustworthy. Oversized skylights, French doors, and handmade joinery bring an artisanal quality rarely seen in mobile homes.
The fiberglass roof is intentionally overengineered, built to last decades of sun, rain, and wandering.
Powering the home is a thoughtfully designed off-grid system centered around a 400-watt solar panel mounted on the roof, which keeps the energy flowing to a 2.5 kW battery bank. When additional power is needed, an external hookup seamlessly steps in. The entire setup was built with future upgrades in mind, making it easy for the next owner to expand the system as their needs evolve.
Inside, the home unfolds in a blend of Scandinavian calm and Moroccan warmth. Locally sourced cedar, larch, and Douglas fir line the interior surfaces, each chosen for its texture and grain, then finished in a traditional Scandinavian lye-and-soap method. The result is a soft, matte wood surface that feels both rustic and refined — tactile without being rough, natural without feeling unfinished.
The entire structure is insulated with natural sheep’s wool. It regulates humidity, prevents condensation, and allows the whole home to breathe. The effect is palpable: the air feels fresh, dry, and grounded, like stepping into a mountain hut after a snowfall.
Everything inside has been shaped with softness and flow in mind. There are very few sharp edges or hard lines. The curves in the ceiling, the sliding doors, and the subtly zoned spaces create a calming sense of movement throughout the truck.
Although this tiny home was created as a stepping stone to a slower life in Portugal, it can’t be imported due to local matriculation laws — a twist that’s left Jimmy ready to pass the home on to someone who will value it as deeply as he has. Now, the house truck — currently located in West Sussex, England — is being offered for £50,000. You can learn more about it here.
The lounge feels far larger than it is. French doors open outward to reveal whatever landscape the home is resting in — Sussex fields, Portuguese hillsides, or a sun-washed Spanish rest stop. The effect is transformative: the outdoors becomes an extension of the living room, turning the world into an endlessly shifting backdrop.
A pair of full-range speakers and a restored vintage amplifier anchor the space — a nod to the owner’s musical life and a reminder that good sound is not just a luxury, but an emotional necessity.
A beautiful wood burner imported from New Zealand anchors the living space, installed with a high-quality twin-wall flue system for safe and efficient heating.
The kitchen sits at the entrance, framed by a large skylight overhead that fills the space with natural light. It’s generous for a tiny home, with thoughtful storage, a sandblasted stovetop repainted to match the wood burner, and a Dometic 12V refrigerator tucked seamlessly behind cabinetry. A set of removable drying poles overhead can transform the area into a compact laundry zone when needed.
Behind the stovetop, a raw steel splashback adds a traditional, slightly rugged touch that will develop a rich patina over time. Paired with hanging pots and pans that sway gently on windy days, it brings a sense of old-world charm and lived-in character to the kitchen.
The kitchen also doubles as a workspace, with a breakfast bar for writing or eating. Slim screens subtly define the area, giving each part of the home its own identity without dividing the space into closed-off compartments.
Instead of devoting a large portion of the interior to a dedicated bathroom, the home incorporates a hidden shower tray beneath a floor hatch and a compact portable compost toilet that normally lives in the cab and can be brought inside only when needed. This approach preserves the openness of the main living area and keeps the interior uncluttered and spacious.
For a home this small, the effect is dramatic — the absence of a boxed-in bathroom allows the kitchen, lounge, and loft to feel unexpectedly expansive.
The sleeping area sits above the cab, accessed by subtle steps and framed like a small cabin within a cabin. The full-size double bed is fixed — no folding, no rearranging — just a permanent, welcoming place to rest.
Above the bed, a removable skylight panel allows the loft to open directly to the sky. The panel is made of hand-blown Japanese glass in a soft amethyst tint, giving the space an otherworldly quality even on cloudy days. On clear evenings, the entire panel lifts out for stargazing.
One of the most enchanting features is the lighting. Instead of conventional LEDs, the home glows with dimmable, blue-light-free bulbs housed in Moroccan brass shades and Pooky fixtures. At night, the interior shifts into a warm amber cocoon, with light pooling gently on the timber walls and reflecting softly off the metal of the wood burner.
The entire electrical system can be switched off at night, allowing the interior to rest in complete stillness — a rare and grounding experience in modern living spaces.
Small in size, rich in spirit, and ready for its next adventure — this rolling sanctuary awaits its next caretaker.
For years, German freelance photographer Kai Branss lived a life most people only daydream about. After embracing minimalism, he bought an old American school...
While sleek aluminum icons like the Airstream tend to dominate conversations about vintage caravans, some of the most important chapters of caravan history were...
In a market where “tiny” often comes with significant compromises, Australian LJM Tiny Homes continues to challenge expectations. A two-time winner of Tiny House...
