Michelle de la Vega purchased a home just outside of Seattle with money from a divorce settlement. However, she wasn’t planning on living in the main house — she was going to transform the 250-sq-ft garage into her personal sanctuary. Her plan was to rent the main house and move into her new “second home” on the property.
“At that time I was coming out of the ashes,” she told The NY Times, “and knew I needed to come up with a good survival strategy for starting over as a single person.”
After nine short months and just $32K in renovations, Michelle’s once old, dingy garage is completely unrecognizable — and quite impressive.
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“I was somewhat out of my mind,” she said. “But it was also fantastic. I was hiring, firing and contending with men and their power tools for a good nine months.”
Michelle wanted to keep as much of the original structure intact as possible. However, she raised the frame by four feet to create a sleeping loft.
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She replaced the garage doors with beautiful wood french doors; access to the outdoor space makes the home feel much larger than it really is.
Michelle used many second-hand items from local shipyards, steel mills, and the Sea-Tac airport, to construct and decorate her tiny home. The ladder to the sleeping loft was once on a ship.
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The storage lockers underneath the loft once belonged to a United Airlines maintenance building at the nearby airport.
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“The garage and the elements in it are all defunct, unwanted things that were reclaimed and given new life,” Michelle said. “Given where I was coming from, building it was a deeply redemptive experience.”
The living area is simple and understated with tall ceilings. The sofa doubles as a guest bed and the framed pillows above were part of an art installation Michelle did, in tribute to her father, called ‘Dream House.’
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To stay warm on chilly nights, Michelle installed an efficient wood stove surrounded by gorgeous brickwork.
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Michelle’s kitchen has a small fridge, sink, exposed shelves, and a propane camp stove that has been converted to gas.
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The kitchen sink is actually a vintage janitor’s mop sink.
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To the right of the kitchen, Michelle used french doors for the entrance to her bathroom.
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The artist’s claw foot tub in her spacious bathroom is what she calls her ‘sanctuary.’
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The next view shows just how large the bathroom really is. The sink sits on a steel vanity next to a vintage Thonet chair.
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Michelle also made sure to create an outdoor sanctuary as well. Her backyard boasts raised vegetable beds.
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You’d never guess Michelle’s beautiful tiny home was once a run-down garage. Take the full tour of her creative space in the video below.
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