Houzz Tour: Off the Grid in a Treehouse Hideaway

After Sam Booth successfully designed an off-the-grid cottage on a beautiful plot of farmland for these owners, they commissioned a second structure nearby: a treehouse retreat. “The joy of the first one was that it was in the middle of a field, had big windows and was all about the views,” Booth says. “We wanted this to be an inversion of that.” A womb-like design evolved, carefully structured to focus the mind on the immediate surroundings and make it a real treetop retreat away from the stresses of everyday life. Sustainability, self-sufficiency and originality characterize the ethos of the design.

Houzz at a Glance
Location: Southern Scotland
Size: Main pod: about 10 by 11 feet (3 by 3½ meters)
Designer: Sam Booth

As the sister structure to a cottage that is all about open views, family time and eating outside, Brockloch Treehouse was to be for couples — romantic and all about being inside and locked away from it all, safe in the treetops.

“It’s funny, because although it’s a treehouse, which you would normally associate with children, this is actually a space for adults — more a couple’s retreat,” says Booth, of Echo Living. Clad in Douglas fir from a local forest, enveloped in corrugated tin, and with 150 millimeters (about 6 inches) of sheep’s wool insulation in the walls and 200 millimeters (about 8 inches) in the roof, the treehouse is unbelievably cozy.


The right-hand pod houses an open-plan sleeping, dining and kitchen area. On the left is the bathroom. The smaller structure holds all of the power equipment, such as a (sophisticated) composting toilet generator and batteries, which are charged via solar panels on the roof. Galvanized steel steps lead up to a little platform with a front door. A tiny hallway allows you to go either right into the living space or left into the bathroom.

Booth chose to have three pods instead of one larger, to tie into the notion of the structure’s being a tree. Practicality also played a part, as all of the structures were made in the Echo Living workshop and transported to the site via tractors, and smaller pods were easier to maneuver.

The home is totally off the grid. Everything is powered by the sun via two 250-watt solar photovoltaic panels and battery storage, so it’s both energy efficient and self-sufficient. With hot water and solar-powered electricity, “it’s hard to tell it’s not connected to the mains. The only things we avoided were TV and Wi-Fi. It’s supposed to be sort of a digital detox,” Booth says.


In the largest pod is the kitchen, dining and sleeping area. Storage in the kitchen area includes one of the cupboards (the other is for a fridge), two drawers under the sink and an inset shelf above the cooktop. “When you have a small space, rather than hiding everything away, it’s nice to have a shelf with things on it, so they become part of the decoration,” Booth says.


This is the view from the small hallway into the larger pod. It’s a very small kitchen, but it has all of the necessities, with a cooktop, small fridge and sink tucked into the freestanding cabinetry unit. Pastel paint colors from Laura Ashley and Farrow & Ball give it a cheerful yet understated edge.

A wood-burning stove is raised on a slate and plywood shelf to give it more presence in the room. Booth fitted a marble slab below it to protect the oak floorboards should anything fall from the fire.

Wood-burning stove: Hobbit, Salamander Stoves; paints: Green Ground and Pointing, Farrow & Ball, and Sage and Duck Egg, Laura Ashley


The interior walls are cross-laminated wood, which is similar to a chunky plywood but with a greater thermal mass (it can hold heat and release it slowly). Booth painted small areas to mark them out and subtly define the separate spaces. A table and chairs found in a junk shop were partially painted in the same color to tie them to the space.


At the other end of the pod is the sleeping area. What makes this space special is the full-width fixed skylight above the bed. “This is a designated dark skies area,” says Booth, “and there are the most amazing stars at night.” When lying in bed, you can look through the canopy of trees and beyond to the night sky. “It’s like sleeping under the stars, just a little more sheltered,” says Booth.

Stool: Alseda, Ikea; sofa: My Furniture

Check out 11 amazing treehouses you can stay in


Rather than full-length windows, Booth opted for a more unusual effect with these small openings that frame tiny views and let in pockets of light. “The idea was to re-create the dappled light you get through the leaves of the trees,” says Booth.

Bedside lights: Häfele; pendant light: Rennes, Garden Trading


The bathroom, in the smaller pod, carries on the color scheme of bare wood with pastel touches. To make the wood waterproof, it was covered in a Formica laminate in a gray-green color called Seed.


As it was designed as a couple’s retreat, an intimate little feature of the bathroom is that as you walk in, there appears to be no door and only a basin and bath present. The wall to the left of the basin pivots to expose a toilet. The idea is that when one person is having a bath, they can leave the door open to feel connected to the person in the other pod, but if privacy is needed, then the wall can simply be pivoted across to shut off the bathroom.

Tub: Victoria Plumb; sink faucet: Axor


A bucket filled with stones balances the window on the left. It ties in with the slightly childlike vision of the building that Booth and his clients had. “We could have used a high-tech hinge,” he says, “but this seemed like a much simpler and more playful way of doing it.”


The pods resemble cloud-like trees atop their trunks. While they’re perhaps abstracted a little too far to blend in with the forest, the similarities are certainly recognizable, and the creativity and originality are unmistakable. “We wanted something that would attract attention,” says Booth. “It’s a totally different experience staying here.”

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