Amy Magyar’s ADU: Friend Next Door & Nest for Me
When Amy Magyar and her partner parted ways, her house felt too big. So she took out a home equity line of credit (HELOC) and transformed her carriage house into an ADU, doing most of the design and building herself, while preserving the building’s historic character. Amy’s friend from Baltimore, a self-declared “Covid refugee,” moved into the primary house, providing rental income for Amy.
Ruby Perry & Andy Simon’s ADU: Inspiration for the Neighborhood
Aging-in-place was a key design consideration for Andy Simon and Ruby Perry as they designed an ADU in their daughter and son-in-law’s backyard. Their one-story ADU incorporates doors with adequate clearance for a wheelchair. Ruby and Andy’s ADU was completely paid off in three years and it is now serving as Andy and Ruby’s dwelling, just as they’d intended. Three generations have created a web of mutual interdependence including childcare, gardening, and shared meals.
Accessory dwelling units and the coronavirus: can ADUs help?
The author is quarantined in his own accessory dwelling unit, during the coronavirus pandemic.
Evelyn Brom’s ADU: Another House for the Other Street
In 1995, Evelyn Brown purchased her property in Seattle, WA and immediately imagined building a second house on it. The property was a through-lot, meaning that it spanned the distance between two streets. Her house, at one end of the property, fronted on one street and her garage, on the other end of the property, fronted the other street. Twenty years later the city caught up with Evelyn’s vision and she now lives in an ADU she has plenty of time to dream about.
Carrie & Sterling Whitley’s ADU: Housing Stability for Two Generations
Two generations of the Whitley family found a solution to both their housing dilemmas when Carrie and Sterling were approved as the first residents of Monterey Bay Habitat for Humanity’s My House My Home program. The big idea behind the innovative My House My Home program is to build ADUs to assist low income senior homeowners who might be vulnerable to housing instability because they are living on a fixed income.
Sharon Nielson, Keith Pitt, & Stephanie Mix’s ADU: A Miniature Mansion
Because Keith & Stephanie’s home is located in an historic district and their garage was considered a contributing structure, they had a few additional design considerations. They were required to go through a Type II Design Review and retain two walls of the existing garage.The guiding principle for this project is to build a miniature Irvington home with all the features.
Sheila Butler’s ADU: From Shack to Guesthouse
Sheila Butler and her husband Brad first learned about ADUs when they purchased a piece of property that had a half-built shell in the backyard. The previous owners had begun construction of a guesthouse and never finished the project.
Victor & Kendra Duong’s ADU: Doubling Rental Opportunities
Editor’s note: this ADU is featured on the upcoming ADU Tour
Kendra and Victor Duong, a wife and husband architecture team, have always dreamed of one day designing their own ADU. In 2015 they built an ADU in the backyard of their existing rental property.
Ray Chirgwin’s ADU: Carlton Street ADU
Ray Chirgwin first learned about accessory dwellings through his work as a licensed architect. He had familiarized himself with Portland’s zoning code, so he knew that ADUs are allowed by right in Portland and was familiar with their requirements. As Ray and Natalie explored design criteria for their ADU, they landed on a design that allowed them to have a living space above and a shop below.
Lisa Florentino & Patrick Kernan’s ADU: An Asian-Mexican-Pineapple Chalet
To create their ADU, Lisa and Patrick tore their 2-car garage down completely and built from the ground up with a brand new foundation. But, of course, this happened in typical Brad Bloom style, meaning that as he deconstructed the garage, he salvaged everything he possibility could for reuse in the new space.
Lisa Lonstron’s ADU: An Artistic Basement Apartment
Lisa took out a home equity line of credit to fund her basement ADU and supplemented it with a portion of each month’s income from her employment. However, many of the finishing touches were a labor of love. Lisa’s key design consideration was staying on budget while using creative design and décor to make it interesting.
Barbara Gundle’s ADU: A 2-Story Garage Conversion
As Barbara worked with Jack Barnes to begin noodling through the design considerations for her guest house, they decided to work with the existing conditions whenever possible. Working within the existing shell was both an efficient use of materials and a way to avoid possible complications from the historic design review process.
Nancy Abens’ ADU: A Cluster & A Courtyard
Quick Facts Setting: urban Neighborhood: Grant Park, Portland, OR Type: detached new construction Use: owner’s mother’s primary residence Square Footage: 450 Year Built: 2015 Owners: Nancy Abens, Maggie Abens, Scott Bailey Designer: Confluence … Continue reading
Nan Haemer’s ADU: Crepe Myrtle Cottage
Nan Haemer’s neighbor convinced her to build an ADU on her property and she spent the next several months salvaging materials at the nearby ReBuilding Center.
Billy Hines’ ADU: Modernizing the Carriage House
The first time Billy Hines saw his three bedroom house in Portland’s Alberta Arts District, he decided that someday he’d make the old carriage house into an apartment. In 2006 he went through the process of converting the existing accessory structure into a permitted ADU.
Katharine Lawrence & Charlie Weiss’ ADU: Third Time’s a Charmer
The economics of a rentable space were appealing to Charlie and his partner Katharine, so when the couple built their own home they designed it to include an apartment. They’ve now included ADUs in two more homes they’ve built and they’re grateful that Portland’s policies now support the creation of ADUs.
Jane Doe’s ADU: A Second Home on a Tight Budget
Jane says her greatest inspiration was to have a flexible place which she could live in herself or rent out to family or tenants. In order to fund construction of the ADU, Jane refinanced her car, sold stock, worked, and scraped money together.
Cheryl & Jim Levie: Recreating a Period Piece
Cheryl and Jim Levie of Ashland, Oregon transformed an old chicken coop into a nice little guest house. But the fact that their home was in a historic district caused some complications along the way.
Joe Hermanson’s ADU: A Daylight Basement Rental
Joe wanted to provide a private entrance for his tenants. The ADU has its own walkway and stairs on the side of the house, so it looks and feels separate from the rest of the house. There were a few challenges in designing and building the ADU; however, they were fairly easy to overcome.
Dan Gray’s ADU: A Retreat Above the Garage
Dan Gray was used to living in the mountains with lots of room around, so when he built his Ashland ADU, he put it above the crowd.
Caleb & Tori Bruce’s ADU: Existing Home Becomes Secondary Dwelling
As a builder, contractor, and cabinet maker, Caleb Bruce builds boxes for a living, but he has also developed a knack for out-of-the-box thinking. Here’s the story of how Caleb turned an existing house into a secondary dwelling (or an accessory dwelling as we call them in Portland, OR).
Lesa Dixon-Gray’s ADU: Putting Mom in a Home, Sweet Home
Lesa Dixon-Gray stumbled across ADUs as she was researching multigenerational housing options for herself and her aging mother. Lesa’s mom, Shirley, was having a difficult time deciding where she wanted to live, but knew she didn’t want to live in the same house as her children. Lesa realized she might be able to entice her mother to move to Portland by giving her a place of her own. As Lesa began searching for duplexes, she discovered ADUs and accessory structures.
Jill’s ADU: A Home of Her Own
Jill’s little home includes salvaged materials, low-flow fixtures, three salvaged doors, no dryer, solar panels, a ductless heat pump, a Rheem water heater, rain garden, skylights, and Marmoleum floors. She also installed grid-tied solar panels on the ADU which cover electricity for her lights, appliances, and heating.
Susan Moray’s ADU: Updating History in Ladd’s
As she worked with Jack, Susan’s primary design consideration became maximizing the size of the ADU while adhering to Historic Neighborhood requirements. Prior to applying for her permits, Susan paid for a design consultation meeting with the city of Portland and Jack brought preliminary sketches to explore various possibilities.
My architect, Jack, did his homework on what could be built, given these limitations and nailed down a design that was accepted on the first try with no changes. That was impressive. We were told by everyone we would never get what he wanted past city permit without going through design review but he did. -Susan Moray
The Granger House: Own Two, Rent One
When I biked up to Bob and Julie Granger’s place I was greeted by their ten-year-old grandson, standing sentinel across the street. The young man asked a few questions about … Continue reading
My tiny house after 5 years: things I would have done differently
I’ve written here about how well my tiny house is working out — I converted my detached 1.5-car garage to a little “accessory dwelling unit” and have mostly rented it … Continue reading
My garage apartment — a place that redefines family
I’m pretty much an obsessive planner when it comes to big projects. I researched and penciled out a lot of scenarios before I developed my garage into a little apartment, … Continue reading
Accessory Dwellings 