Sisters Amanda and Melissa Shin are the cofounders of Shin Shin Architecture, an award-winning, full-service design and architecture firm based in Los Angeles. Before moving to Highland Park in May 2021, Amanda was living in a studio apartment in Koreatown. Seeking more space, she set her sights on a 1923 single-family bungalow located behind an active commercial corridor filled with hip restaurants and natural wine bars.

“The location checked all the boxes,” she says—although the property itself was flagged with years of code violations and had fallen out of escrow twice before. “We opened the door, saw what a wreck it was, and were like, ‘This is great!’”

Not ones to shy away from a challenge, the sisters worked together to execute a complete gut renovation and redesign, transforming the structure from a single-story, single-family residence into a two-story home with a separate accessory dwelling unit (ADU) that can be rented out for added income. “We needed some sort of passive income stream in order to afford the investment,” says Melissa. “We saw that as part of our financial model.”

ADU Costs:

$168,000 Labor & Raw Materials	$1,600 Flooring (Laminate)	$1,200 Tile
$180 Light Fittings	$1,800 Doors	$390 Windows
$650 Kitchen Appliances	$2,300 Plumbing Fittings	$11,620 Millwork & Installation
$3,250 Counters & Installation	$200 Hardware
ADU Total: $191,190

Main House Costs:

$342,000 Labor & Raw Materials	$6,250 Flooring (Engineered Maple)	$1,900 Tile
$1,150 Light Fittings	$2,700 Doors	$6,000 Fleetwood Glass Sliding Door
$2,400 Windows	$9,200 Kitchen Appliances	$7,250 Plumbing Fittings
$15,300 Millwork & Installation	$5,600 Counters & Installation	$450 Hardware
Main House Total: $400,200

Final Tally:

$10,250 Permits & Clearances	$5,700 Site Work & Excavation	$3,900 Landscaping
$400 Rain Barrels	$2,375 Consultants	$191,190 ADU
$400,200 Main House
Grand Total: $614,015

The attached ADU is rented out, providing passive income to help finance the project." layout="wide" credit="Photo by Eric Staudenmaier" photoUserId="6133442274358185984"/>

In both the main house and the ADU, the indoor and outdoor spaces are blended to create a serene ambiance that is accentuated by greenery. “Living in Southern California, we’ve always embraced this idea that you can activate outdoor spaces in a way that they’re usable year-round,” says Melissa.

In the ADU, a multipurpose, greenhouse-inspired sunroom serves as both a dining patio and an extension of the kitchen, with new millwork concealing a washer/dryer station.

These indoor/outdoor spaces also help to break up the clunky massing of the existing home’s exterior. “We saw them as ways to carve the massing, giving it a little more porosity and glimpses of light here and there,” notes Melissa. “Sometimes people hear ‘Mouse House’ and they think it’s really small—It is more that it’s been carved like a Swiss cheese block.”

One of the biggest and most impactful purchases was a $6,000 sliding glass door that opens to an outdoor patio on the second floor. Though the main residence’s footprint is fairly compact at around 1,465 square feet, pockets of built-in shelving, closets, and integrated storage maximize space. (The ADU adds 730 square feet, for a total of 2,195 square feet.)

For Amanda, designing her own home was a liberating experience—and one that enabled her to experiment with new layout ideas and aesthetic choices. For instance, in the main house, the bedrooms are strategically located downstairs and the social spaces are lofted up top. “We liked the contrast between the first floor being functional, tight, and compact—and as you go up, everything opens,” says Melissa.

Color was another medium for experimentation. Inspired by the classic California architect Irving Gill, the sisters selected light peaches and soft greens, which combine in a playful color palette. Though the majority of the home is airy and white, the architects also incorporated a range of textures throughout the interiors.

The duo selected four different types of wood, including maple flooring, furniture-grade birch ply for shelving, OSB sheathing on the ceiling, and laminated veneer lumber beams. This textural variation imbues the spaces with warmth, comfort, and visual interest.

“We wanted the materials of the ceiling to juxtapose the cleanliness of the rest of the house,” shares Melissa. “We like this idea of each material having its own texture.”" layout="" credit="Photo by Eric Staudenmaier" photoUserId="6133442274358185984"/>

Subtle variations in texture can also be found in other areas of the home—the plain white shower tile is composed of 20 percent glossy and 80 percent matte pieces, which give the space a distinctive look. “There are a lot of things in the house that are proof of concept now,” says Amanda. “Those are things we’ve always been interested in doing—but clients are pretty hesitant about it, because it makes it very different.”

The curve of the ADU’s semi-arch is picked up by subtle material choices, like the “puffy” tile in the kitchen and upstairs powder room—the latter of which is Amanda’s favorite room in the house.

“It’s a bit cheeky,” Amanda says of the powder room’s pale-green tile and the clear polycarbonate ceiling, which echoes the roof of the sunroom in the ADU. “That’s a moment in the house I really like.”

More Budget Breakdown stories:

Partway Through a Renovation, the Potential of This Atlanta Home Becomes Clear

An Architect Turns Her Parents’ Garage Into a Tiny Home for $2,695

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Melissa Shin, Shin Shin Architecture / @shinshinarch

Landscape Design: Orchid Landscape

Title 24 Consultant: Sheer Energy

Furnishings: Herman Miller