Alone in Her 50s She Built a Tiny Home to Secure Her Future

The housing market's still really tough. Times are challenging right now, but today we're about to visit an inspiring woman who alone in her 50s took on the challenge of DIY building her very own tiny house. And the result is pretty incredible. Hi Mel, it's so lovely to see you. You too, Bryce. Lovely to have you both here. Yeah. This place is absolutely gorgeous. Yeah, I have no complaints. And your house looks fantastic. Tell me about your journey into tiny house living. I'd woken up one morning, I'm an insomniac, and it was like two or three in the morning. And I was like really wanting my own home. And I didn't have that kind of money that you need to buy your own home. And I found this little old man who built a cabin for two grand on YouTube. And then the next thing I see, a tiny house. So this is going back 13 or so years. That was it. I was on a mission to build my own home. So yeah, COVID hit and I was able to start the process. I've been designing this house for years. I built a caravan out and decided to live in that for a couple of years, or four years actually, so that I could save to build a tiny house. And then, yeah, I just started. And so that was when COVID hit. So it's been about five or six years. So it's 99% finished. But I like unfinished projects because there's always something to do. Yeah. I think when you're a DIYer, your projects are never truly finished, are they? There's always other things that you can add on and change. I'll do something, and then two months later, I'll go, oh, I really want that to be green. And then I'll do it again. The kitchen cupboards I've painted like five times. Right, yeah. And so you built this tiny house yourself. Tell me about that process. Yeah, well, I designed it and then I had a little bit of money. So I bought the trailer. When I bought the trailer, it was half the price of what they are now. So it was affordable. And then I designed the frames and I had a manufacturer polish that off to make them work within code and stuff like that. He had them manufactured through a company and then he went bust. Oh no. So he very kindly did me a favour and installed the frames for me. And then I proceeded to build it. Yeah. So you obviously had a bit of skill to do all of this before starting this project and experience doing renovations and stuff like that in the past. Tell me about your sort of journey learning to do all of this. I'm a tomboy. And I was brought up helping dad in the shed. Oh, great. I was always there helping him out and he loved to try a bit of carpentry. Then I went and studied construction and I'd always renovated my own camper vans and caravans and things like that. And my favourite thing is to get in the shed and build. You know, like I'm happy in there for a week without seeing people. Maybe three days. So yes, I just started building out the rest of it. I had electrical and plumbing done by professionals. I had the roof done by a friend, but yeah, everything else I've done myself. The windows took me a long time because they're all recycled vintage windows, which are just beautiful, but they do let in a bit of air and they do need maintenance regularly. And can you tell me what it was that really made you fall in love with the idea of building a tiny house? Why did you choose to do this for yourself? It's kind of something within you. If you need to build a home, it's just something you gotta do. You know, so that was always there to build my own home. And living in the rental that I was living in, it was I think $420 a week. So we split the rent, there was two of us there. And some weeks I was a few hundred dollars out. You know, like I just couldn't quite get ahead. So effectively I'm paying about the same now, like half of that. And then I don't have the bills. Home ownership, especially at the age that I was, which was about 56, 57 at the time, the desire to create my own home was massive. And I hadn't seen many other women doing it. I went and did the Cert I in construction, which enabled me to be able to do my build. I could have done the build before, but the Cert I really helped me because I totally lucked in with that. It was a free course, or I think it cost me like 20 bucks or something ridiculous. And when I got down there, our project was a tiny house. And I was just like, you know. What luck. I know, it was really incredible. So we worked on it from the ground up and that was really perfect for me. Yeah, wonderful. And this parking spot that you found for your house is so idyllic. You've got these wonderful views looking out over the dam and you've even got the shed with this property as well, don't you? Yeah, the shed, I manifested the shed. I was walking my dog. I met this lady and we were chatting and I asked her if she knew of a spot for a tiny house. She said, I'll keep an eye out. So I walked off and I'm walking along and I just said out loud to myself, I just said, all I want is a ginormous shed and some beautiful land. So that was that. Anyway, I ran into her again the next day and she goes, I've got this friend and she's got this huge block of land you might be interested in. And then she goes, oh, but you probably won't be. And I said, why is that? She goes, oh, it's got this huge shed. And so I moved in about a week later and I've been here just over six years now. Wonderful. And having that shed is such a fantastic resource for you as well, because you do still tinker away at projects. I see you've got the caravan that you're working on out there. Yeah, yeah, too many projects in there. But the main ones are my, I'm doing a shepherd's hut. I'm about to build one. I'm starting to get all the materials together for that. And then I've got a big old caravan out the front, which I'm not sure what to do with at the moment, whether to sell it, keep doing the reno or strip it down and use the trailer. And what size is your tiny home? The base is six metres and the top goes to just under seven metres. So part of why that happened was I designed a box and I freaked out. I thought, I can't live in a box. So I decided to splay the ends out. The caravan I'd lived in sort of had a similar design but had like the, I don't know, shark fin roof as well. So it just made sense. So that was it for the shell. Yeah, great. That trapezoidal sort of shape, it adds a lot of complexity to the build though, not an easy one for a DIYer. Yeah, well, when the frame was being built, the guys manufacturing the frame came back to us and said, you're gonna have to put these steel posts on the corners, like heavy duty steel posts to support the actual structure. So that's what we did. Yeah, and I think the finished look is definitely worth the complexity. Yeah, yeah, for sure. In a perfect world, I would strip all this off and put cedar cladding on it so it's nice and light. Right. But cedar's really expensive at the moment. So yeah, no, it's working well for me. I'm pretty happy with it. It's a little bit rough around the edges, but it's all good. It certainly is. And I see you've got the solar panels here as well. Are you off the grid here? I'm partially off grid. I've got one solar panel that's set up for the compost slough and then I've got gas for my water and cooktop. And then I'm connected to the grid just for the rest of my power, which is really, really minimal. I've got a whole heap of solar ready to get set up so that I can go live in the middle of a paddock with a water tank and be happy as a pig in mud. Fantastic. Yeah. Well, already I think you've done such a fantastic job with your home and I cannot wait to see the interior. Can we check it out? Absolutely, let's go. Let's go. This is so cool. I love the eclectic style of what you've created here. Thank you. That's pretty much it, bang on, eclectic. I wasn't really going for anything. Like things actually just unfolded for me to put into the house, like material wise. Yeah, the map feature wall you've created is such a cool addition. Yeah, thank you. I had a few ideas to paint on that back wall and then I remembered I had this old map of California and thought it'd look really good up there. And so I found a whole bunch of them and they're a couple of bucks each and I wallpapered it. I love the old maps. I mean, they're just so beautiful and they tell such a story. I love it. What a cool feature. And it's a great, very functional sort of lounge office combination that you've created there. Yeah, for the space that I've got, it provides pretty much everything I need. Ideally, it'd be nice to have a separate desk, but you know, it's a tiny house, so got to compromise. Absolutely. And you've built lots of storage into this part of the home as well. Yeah, so I've got storage under the lounge, which was always the intention. I've got storage at the front door and then I've got clothing cupboard to your left and then I've got some storage bins next to you. So, yeah. Yeah. What's this box that you've got by the door? I found like three army boxes, these old ammo boxes and that one I've put tools in. So it's like a mini tool kit so that if I want to fix something in the house, it's right there. Oh, fantastic. Yeah. I like that. And then the kitchen, tell me about the design here. Yeah, sure. So it's a bit of a hodgepodge. Materials have come to me from all different places. This is a door. You don't find wood like this anymore. It's so expensive to buy wood and this is just beautiful. I worked in a plumbing store and I got lots of tapware and the sink came from the plumbing store that I worked at. The cabinets were vintage cabinets that I've upcycled and basically the kitchen's a layout for cabinetry that I might do later on because I'd love to do a fresh build for the kitchen. But right now it's all serving its purpose really well. Yeah, great. And really lovely use of vintage materials in here as well. And I can tell that you've had a lot of fun on Marketplace seeking out all these treasures. Yeah, I do do a bit of Marketplace scrolling. I used to restore furniture as well. I had a chalk paint furniture business and so I love an old piece of furniture. The shabby chic isn't really my thing but when you start sanding an old piece back and you see the years and years of history, it's just really hard to paint over that. So a lot of my stuff is shabby chic because of that. Yeah, when you find those things that just have so much character, you don't want to strip it from it, do you? No, I mean, you can feel the history in them once you start getting the layers off. So yeah, for me, that tells much more of a story than a piece of MDF being together. Very true. And your kitchen's got absolutely everything you need? Yeah, I just installed the dishwasher. I had that on my must-have list for many years and then finally I thought, just do it. The oven is a caravan oven. So it's vintage, it's barely ever been used. It's in perfect condition. And I think it was like $100, $150 on Marketplace. Oh, what a find. Yeah, so it's great. I've baked in it and made pizzas and all sorts of things. Yeah, lovely windows in here as well. Again, they just add so much character to the home. Yeah, thank you. I found them on Marketplace where I lived before I went alternative and they were from a fruit shop. Okay. Yeah, I just absolutely love them. They're not perfect when it rains heavily, but. Okay. I don't care. Yeah, the texture just does such beautiful things to the light as well. Yeah, I really love that. I've got quite a bit of that. I'm not sure what it's called, dappled glass. There's quite a bit of that throughout the house. It'd be nice to have a few more clear windows to look out over the views, but yeah, I do really love that aesthetic. Yeah, clear windows. It's a double-edged sword though, isn't it? Because if you're parked up in a spot where you have really great rural views, like here, you want the clear windows, but then when you are parked in sort of more of an urban driveway, you are probably really thankful for the obscure glass. Yeah, yeah. And your sleeping loft upstairs, I really like the way that you've used your very colourful wardrobe as a bit of a privacy screen for your sleeping loft. I had all my clothes in a cupboard for years, and then I kind of, I remembered I'd done this before in the caravan. And so, yeah, I got a piece of copper and attached it with old leather straps to the roof and then hung my clothes. Yeah, adds a lot of colour to the space as well, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah. It is a really small space. I'm not a minimalist by any means. And I do like a bit of a punch of colour. So yeah, that was a good way to do it without splashing it on the walls. Great. And it is a very cosy space that you've created up there. Yeah, it's kind of a little bit like a tree house, and I sleep pretty well up there. I've got these two beautiful vintage pink windows upstairs. So I had them on display in the house that I used to live at. And when I started building the tiny house, I thought they would look so awesome in my loft. Beautiful. Yeah. I love your little crystal collection up there too. Yeah, yeah. I've always been a fan of crystals. I do like use them to manifest as well. So you will see them throughout the house with like a manifestation written underneath them of what I want to create. So yeah, don't mind a few crystals myself. And what are you manifesting at the moment? I'm manifesting the successful build of my shepherd's hut. And that to be an ongoing thing for me, like to create a small business. So this is my wildest dreams. Just success, feeling good within my body, just simple stuff like good relationships. All beautiful things. And through the kitchen there is your bathroom. Can we poke our heads in there? Yeah, let's. All right. This is brilliant. Fantastic tub you've got there. Yeah, thank you. It's a Japanese, an antique Japanese spa bath. So the owner had bought 10 over from Japan and they were all left sitting in the backyard for like 10 years. So this was one of the probably two or three left that were in good condition. So yeah, I grabbed it. What a fantastic find. Yeah, it's a pretty cool one. I could turn it into a spa if I wanted to, but I've just got it as a bath at the moment. Yeah. Yeah, and I decided to make some of the fittings. So I bought some copper and I bought a copper bender and I made the shower rail out of that. Oh, very nicely done. Yeah, thank you. And you really sense the angled wall in here as well, don't you? It gives you a lot of extra feeling of space in here. Yeah, yeah. It's just like a really small tweak to the design and it just made such a big difference in this space. So yeah, I'm really pleased with that decision. Yeah. You've got the composting toilet here? Yeah, yeah. I had made one originally and I used that for years and it was fantastic, but I really wanted a porcelain toilet. So I've got the best of both worlds. It's composting and it's porcelain. Great. And another brilliant find with your base in there too. Yeah, good old marketplace. It was bought from Morocco. They had never used it. It was sitting in a reno that, yeah. So we shelved and I scored. Beautiful. So you've been living here for a good number of years now. How are you finding life in the tiny house? I don't know. I feel quite complete living here because I've got everything I need. My rent's really affordable. I live in an amazing, beautiful location and I've got tons of privacy. So I have no complaints. Yeah. Your reasons for building this home were really centred around home ownership, housing security. Have you found all that here? It's ticked all of the boxes for me because I couldn't find this anywhere else really. Like with the budget that I had, which was quite small, yeah, I didn't sort of think it was gonna be as good as it is. So it's been really, really worth the effort. Yeah. So on that subject, what was the budget for this build? I don't really know. I'm thinking around 30 to 40 grand. Oh, wow. $30,000 to $40,000 for what you've created here is outstanding. Yeah. But I mean, I got in early with the trailer and the steel frame. Those now are easily double what I paid for them. Having the install gifted to me as well saved me quite a bit of money. I can find a bargain anywhere. You sure can. And I love that this project has also given you so many skills. Everything that you've learned building this home, these are skills that you now get to carry with you for the rest of your life. Yeah, I feel that my next project is gonna be so much easier than doing this. And when I did the caravan, that was massive. That took me years and spent a lot of nights thinking about it. The next project is kind of like rinse and repeat. It's gonna be a lot easier. When I started this project, I was single and in my 50s, couldn't see myself owning property. And I just felt cornered. So I ended up having to come up with a solution. Really, it's freedom for me because if I wanted to sell it, I would get a decent amount of money and that could buy me the next step or the next step. So it's given me that, but also it's safety, it's sanctuary. And I'm here, I'm home. I don't have to do anything if I don't want to. I don't have to sell. So I've kind of crafted my own comfort. A life that I had chosen and dreamt of. One thing that's really interesting is that the largest demographic of people who are going into tiny homes now is actually solo women in their mid 50s. What advice would you have to somebody who is looking at starting a tiny house project or who is dreaming of doing this, but right now can't see a way of actually making it a reality for themselves? When I started doing this project, I actually got really sick. I got Ross River virus and I ended up in bed for eight months. And I vowed that if I recovered, I would build my tiny house. Anyway, so when I got up and at them, I just went hard at it. Like the driving force behind all this was to inspire women like me or that had had injuries or disabilities to just chip away at it and just do step-by-step until you can achieve your goal. So it really is about breaking it down into bite-sized pieces. Yeah, definitely. What resources did you find helpful? Burnout was a good one. That's an odd resource. Well, just going hard at it. You know, I do it, I still do it now. If I go really hard at something and then I'm just burnt out and that's the lesson, you know, like just don't go so hard at things and just do it step-by-step. Resource wise, obviously YouTube. Yeah. YouTube's got everything on it. I picked out what I needed and found my way, so. I think YouTube really is such a great resource like that, isn't it? No matter what you're wanting to accomplish, no matter what you're wanting to build, there's somebody who has created a how-to or a step-by-step and if you sort of spend enough time on YouTube University, you can learn to do anything. Absolutely. I get really excited when I can't find what I'm looking for because it's kind of like a segue for me to do it and show it. And now though, you have got a very exciting project for the future, don't you? Yeah. I have Blockerland here in Queensland. I sold the Blockerland and I didn't know what to do next. So I went to Spain and I bought a house in Spain. Wow. Yeah. Tell me about the house. It's like this massive stone barn. It's an industrial property. It is in a residential area. People in the area live in these properties. So it is able to become residential with a bit of work and a few fees and things. It is a long-term plan for me. I may retire there. I may live there for three months a year. I may sell it. I don't really know. It just came up. It was like super duper cheap. What are we talking? It was 6,000 euros. No. Yeah. That is wild. Yeah. I thought so too. It just ticked all the boxes. It's doable. It will take time. It will take a fair bit of money as well. Yeah. So once again, chip away. I've got five years till I retire. So hopefully in that time I can do something. Yeah. So maybe in five years, we'll be visiting you again in Spain and seeing your brand new project. You never know, hey? You never know. Oh, I just think that is so fantastic. I'm so excited for you. And with everything that you've already made a reality here, I have no doubt that you're gonna make it happen for yourself in Spain as well. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful home with me. You're welcome. Thank you so much. Mel has created so much more than a wonderful little home for herself here. She's created freedom, security, and most importantly, she's crafted a life of her choosing. I know that doing this couldn't have been easy, but it was all worth it in the end. Look at this wonderful space that she's created for herself. She should be so immensely proud for everything that she's done for herself here.