A-D-U spells home 'Granny flats' come of age in Bay Area - Space10 Interiors
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A-D-U
spells home
‘Granny flats’ come of age in Bay Area
By Vanessa Ochavillo Photos by Adam Pardee
T
im Pond took a seat at his computer. He stared at a
digitized blueprint — a fraction of what most builders
have as a starting point. And he had about 35 projects
like this in the queue: all in-law units, granny flats,
casitas, tiny homes. They go by many names, but the more widely
used technical term is accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, and they
are usually built on property that already supports an existing
single-family home.
Pond is a designer and builder and he remembers how just four
years ago the concept of an ADU was fringe.
“It’s just kind of exploded as a full-time operation,” Pond said.
Since then, he’s turned dozens of Coastside families onto the
idea, including Gretchen Meighen’s family of six.
Meighen, who has four boys, just happened to finish their
ADU when the pandemic hit. The main house, while spacious,
started to feel full with six people schooling and working remotely.
She started taking calls in the casita, as her family prefers to call it,
and it helped her breathe a bit better.
“I remember for the first four months, my boys were oblivious
to the fact that I was there all the time. It felt like a hideout for me,”
she said.
The Meighen casita is about 500 square feet. It’s one big room
with a bathroom and a pull-down bed in the corner. The space is
unassuming and perfect for that reason. It quickly became a place
for her kids to hang out with their bubble of friends and for her
eldest to take his college courses online. Just recently, a friend came
to stay with them.
Moises Contreras built his ADU in Montara himself. Other
homeowners are happy to contract the job.
20 C O AS T S I D E APR IL 2 0 2 1 COA S TS I DE A P RI L 2 0 2 1 21
“ WE HAVE
THIS LAND.
HOW CAN
WE MAXIMIZE
WHAT WE
ALREADY
HAVE TO
SUPPLEMENT
OUR
REGULAR
DAILY
“
INCOME?
GRETCHEN
Photos courtesy Jennifer Glynn
MEIGHEN,
CASITAS OWNER
Homeowners are eager to make the most of limited space in an accessory dwelling unit.
Universal principles, custom did of the Meighen’s ADU, and her
design attention quickly landed on the sliver
Designing for small spaces often of wall between the bathroom and
requires extra attention to durability, the living room. That’s a high traffic
said Jennifer Glynn, a Coastside corner, she thought to herself. She
designer. recommended that the family invest
“Most of the time, an ADU is in an aesthetic ocean print on vinyl
multi-use space,” Glynn said. “ When wallpaper, a material that cleans easily
you’re designing that space, you want after sticky hands grab the wall.
to think about how it has to work really Glynn has her best practices for
hard.” multi-use ADUs, but each one she’s
Glynn often recommends concrete worked on is different. Pond agrees.
floors, natural stone countertops and Both say there are so many variables,
porcelain tile that are easy to clean and from the way the main house sits on the
resilient against wear. lot to whether there are surrounding
She recalls a walk-through she homes peering into the backyard, that
Photos courtesy Jennifer Glynn
22 C O AS T S I D E APR IL 2 0 2 1 COA S TS I DE A P RI L 2 0 2 1 23
“ I REMEMBER FOR
THE FIRST FOUR
MONTHS, MY BOYS
WERE OBLIVIOUS TO
THE FACT THAT I
WAS THERE ALL
LIKE A HIDEOUT
FOR ME,
“
THE TIME. IT FELT
GRETCHEN
MEIGHEN,
CASITAS OWNER
determine the ADU’s floor plan.
As Pond worked in his home
office, clicking and dragging windows
and doors to different areas on his
gridded screen, he said, “I will never see
this lot again.” For this reason, he could
never use predesigned ADU floor
plans. The uniqueness of each unit he Moises Contreras says he hopes to help someone make ends meet by keeping rent affordable.
designs is driven both by the physical
property and the client’s needs.
Short- and long-term uses
Michelle Briggs owns a be flexible for both long- and short-term stays. ADU for $1,500 a month. That’s 30 percent lower
700-square-foot ADU in Half Moon The longest stays have lasted a few months. than the average rent for two-bedroom apartments
Bay. When she had her first child 13 Briggs has hosted traveling nurses or medical in Montara, according to Apartment Home Living.
years ago, she and her husband decided residents at Stanford and San Francisco hospitals. Contreras moved to the Coastside 20 years ago
that they would each work part time to Between these lodgers and grandparents’ visits, she from Oaxaca, Mexico. After working some odd
spend more time with their daughter. often lists her ADU for shorter stays on the popular jobs, including at a bakery, he found his niche as a
And that urge to be home, now with vacation rental site Airbnb. building tradesman. He built his ADU himself as a
their two children, never went away. “We go back and forth between short- and creative challenge and has turned it into a place for
Building an ADU became a way to long-term renters depending on our needs,” Briggs people in need of a place to stay without expectation
generate passive income to supplement said. of payment.
part-time jobs. “I built it with the purpose of helping someone
“We have this land. How can we A spare space for cheap who can’t afford the really crazy housing market
maximize what we already have to One of the biggest draws of ADUs is their right now,” Contreras said.
supplement our regular daily income?” affordability. A University of California, Berkeley, Contreras beams when he talks about his ADU.
Briggs asked. study found that building an ADU in the Bay Area, The unit currently sits empty, but he imagines
When she began construction on on average, costs $237,000. This could be half the firefighters, nurses and teachers living there in the
the unit, Briggs admitted she didn’t cost of building a single-family home, by some future. And, maybe, one day, when he and his wife
have specific plans for how she would estimates. retire, they might move into what appears to be
Josh and Gretchen Meighen enjoy the porch of their ADU. use it, only that it would give her A few months ago, a friend of Montara resident a miniature version of their current home, but a
options. Now, the space has proven to Moises Contreras asked to stay in his two-bedroom separate space onto itself. COASTSIDE
24 C O AS T S I D E APR IL 2 0 2 1 COA S TS I DE A P RI L 2 0 2 1 25
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