Desperate to plan for retirement and reduce her living expenses, Michelle Boyle set out to build a tiny home with a tiny budget. For just a few thousand dollars, she downsized her house, but supersized her financial freedom; and best of all, it ended up changing her life in the most wonderful way. Let's find out how she did it...

Michelle’s tiny house resides on her friend's tree farm in Sherwood, Oregon. The most idyllic setting with a shrub lined driveway, it's not far from the city of Portland and is the ideal retreat to get away from it all. 

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A campaigner for the tiny house movement, Michelle's interest in all things tiny started when she was just 12. After living paycheque to paycheque and being left with no retirement plan, at the age of 48 she managed to build her own dream home for just a few thousand dollars. 

Using cash and sponsorship to build her home, Michelle named her tiny dwelling 'My tiny empty nest'. What was originally designed to be an escape, soon turned into a place that she could call home and she recorded her journey on her blog.

Michelle found inspiration from Pinterest, which was bursting with images of tiny houses, glamper vans and houses on wheels, all of which had been beautifully built and cosy enough to call home. One project that caught her eye was this house, built by Alex Lisefski who runs The Tiny Project. You can see the resemblance to her own structure in the two-storey layout and shape. 

After getting the ideas she needed online, Michelle drew up a plan of her tiny house on a piece of paper, plotting out how best to utilise such a tiny space, which she then turned into a model (as pictured). 

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“Reducing living expenses was a huge driver in the fact that I was deciding to build small. So the emotional motivation was that I have to do something and something now. I knew I couldn’t wait, I needed to start working on this straight away". However, with no savings behind her, even affording to build a home the size of a walk-in closet was going to be a challenging task.

The total cost of the materials needed for the home, plus any added labour, came to $35,000 (£29,000). But thanks to Michelle's drive and canny approach, 60% of this was funded by firms helping her out

The house comes with all the necessary features and is perfectly designed to maximise space. The kitchen is complete with a tall fridge, cabinet and drawer space, a hob, sink and enough counter-top space to prepare meals. Everything you'd expect in a full-sized home!

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Upstairs, the house is fitted with two rooms including this bedroom, which couldn’t get any cosier. Opposite the sleeping quarters, there is a lounge area for kicking back, reading and relaxing. It can even be used as a spare room for guests to stay in. 

The tiny home is fully kitted out for modern-day living and uses propane for heating as well as having hook-up points for water access. To simplify the construction and remove the need for complicated and expensive plumbing, Michelle installed a composting toilet. 

“Living here frees up so much of my time. It takes me barely any time to clean, so I have so much more freedom now," she explains. Now, Michelle spends a lot of her time hosting workshops on the tiny house movement, recording podcasts, writing articles and, when she’s not talking about tiny homes, travelling. 

No matter where she goes, Michelle always loves coming back to her tiny abode. “I’m drawn to intimate spaces. It’s why so many people love tiny homes. It goes back to cave days, where people felt comfort and warmth in smaller spaces,” she says.

“It’s ironic because when I first built it, I named it 'my empty nest' because it was a place to escape for a night or two and be on my own. I was eagerly anticipating the day when my two kids would grow up and move on with their adult lives.”

But now, she says the name isn’t so suited anymore. As she writes on her blog in a letter to her tiny home: “You have helped me see that no matter where my kids are, and even if I am your only official occupant, you will never ever be truly empty."

After feeling at a loose end on the completion of her tiny home, Michelle wanted to start a new project. She decided to design and build four tiny houses to rent out on Airbnb – partly to fulfil her passion but also to set up a sustainable stream of income to fund her in her later years.

The first project on Michelle's list was My Tiny Perch. This cute yellow house is truly minuscule at just 144 square feet and was built to a budget of $20,000 (£16k). Inside it is a riot of colour and features a galley kitchen and a cedar-lined bathroom. With everything on one floor, everything is accessible and guests can relax on the elevated deck outside.

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After completing My Tiny Perch in 2018, Michelle was asked to design and build the first and only tiny house for a project run by the Home Builder Association of Metro Portland, called the NW Natural Street of Dreams. A once in a lifetime opportunity for Michelle, she also had to landscape and stage her final design. She chose to build a 204 square foot home with a large kitchen that took up over a third of the floor plan and was the heart of the home.

My Tiny Hideout is the last addition to the tiny home village. At 119 square feet, it has a queen bedroom in the loft and a well-equipped kitchen with a multi-purpose coffee bar and workspace. The tiny house has 12 windows to bring in the light to every nook. My Tiny Hideout took 15 months to build and was one of Michelle's toughest projects to date. 

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