Winter Slump

Everyone’s yard looks a little bare and brown. The crisp winter air makes my skin feel overly dry. Our house, no longer decorated for the holidays feels drafty and empty. I’ve officially hit my annual winter slump and it’s difficult to escape the warm embrace of the down filled, comforter covering my bed, to begin the day. As far as I’m concerned, winter could end after the New Year. I’m ready for longer hours of daylight, warmer daytime temperatures and dining outside on our patio!

The best way to lift your spirit is a home improvement project!

For 2 years, we have debated converting our garage into a legal Junior ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit). With teen children still living at home, I fantasize about having a living room with no television. Images of reading a book in front of the fire, taking a nap on the sofa, or putting together a puzzle on the coffee table dance in my head. The living room could transform into a calming space without a television. Plus, an ADU would down the road come in handy. We have retirement dreams of traveling and the plan, ideally, would be to load our personal items into the ADU and rent the house out while we travel for a year abroad. An ADU is also a great option for extra income in retirement. We could have a renter. We could also use it for a caregiver if one of us would need one down the road.

Deciding to move ahead, we contact our architect friend, Amy Shock and ask her advice on how to bring our dream to fruition. She comes up with ideas and draws up some plans.

Permit applications began. It’s not easy in our small town to rush a project and it takes a few months to get the okay to begin. We rip out the garage shelving and give it to a design client who wants more storage in her garage. The cabinets are in great shape, but in an attempt to get rid of that “garage feel” we want to start fresh with an empty space.

We also order a new sliding door and recycle our old metal door. The parameters set by the city for a new door are rigid. Needing the highest rated fire protection and earthquake protection, translates into to a costly purchase. The new sixteen foot door was the biggest expense of our project.

We also forgot a new door meant new stucco installation – this plywood was soon covered in protective paper and chicken wire before it was stuccoed and painted to match the house.

Final Details…

With the outside complete, the inside begins. In June, I traveled to Chicago for a friend’s wedding. I stayed with the sister of the bride in her incredibly chic loft, in the city. I was amazed to see she had white painted concrete floors and I fell in love with them! Concrete paint is actually very tough – especially indoors where we are able to avoid outside elements. My family does not wear shoes inside and I found myself falling in love with the idea of an all white space – white walls, white ceiling, white floors. One of my concerns about this ADU unit was the height of the ceiling. In the main house space we have very tall ceilings – eighteen feet in out front hall, fourteen feet in our living room and nine feet in the kitchen and bedrooms. The former garage, now ADU, has only standard eight foot ceilings. Using wall to wall white will help alleviate this concern. White expands the walls and makes the walls almost fade into the ceiling. The furniture, low profile, will also help expand the feeling of vertical space.

What a transformation! After painting, we installed custom drapery to match what we have in the rest of the house, new rugs, a B&B Italia Sectional, Ottoman, Wabi-Sabi ceiling light, some of our favorite artwork (Jennifer MaHarry, Bob Larkin art pictured above) and the television, now no longer in the living room! The kids have already claimed the space for this weekend with a long list of films they will be screening.

We still have a few more projects – the mini kitchen/bar area is plumbed but not installed and we are only just beginning the design of the bathroom that will be separately permitted and added on to the back of the space. But suddenly, mid-winter time seems less depressing. I am no longer in a slump. We have this new space to escape to and enjoy as a family.