ADUs

The ADU's materials are very craft-focused, from the custom terracotta tiles that are hand-cut in the factory, to the tinted green concrete base of the building.

Floor Plan of The Monroe House DADU by Ben Locke

Despite its small footprint, the flexible, multi-purpose space includes bike storage and a niche for storing weights.

The flat, postage-stamp backyard has a screen porch that extends off the main house. The couple added synthetic grass.

A bedroom loft is upstairs. “The first level is much more connected to the garden and the community, but upstairs, we envisioned it as being a nest where you could get away,” Sonja says.

A bed in the studio provides a place for guests to sleep. The plywood floor is painted white.

The studio’s dramatic ceiling is nearly 14-feet high. Thomas says that the yoga deck sits in the landscape “like a wooden lake.”

Danny envisioned the space between the ADU and the house as an informal place to gather. "It creates a sort of courtyard sensibility, which works for our intergenerational family dynamics."

Nashville resident Kelli Hix added a 500-square-foot guest apartment onto the back of her 1930s bungalow.

Floor plan of Waterloo Studio by Colter & Co.

The studio is oriented toward the garden for privacy and views.

A screen can be lowered in front of the slider, turning the living space into a theater.

The screening room and living area is off the kitchen, and opens to the garden.

Closed shutters in living room

“The massing of the residence pushes in and out, shifting in response to site conditions at each level of the uniquely situated through-lot, resulting in a continuous flow that both extends to and draws in the immediate environment,” notes the firm.

Curtis completely overhauled the shelving, changing the shapes of the niches and covering them in micro-cement.

The Los Angeles–based design-build company, Homestead, converts underutilized garages or backyard sheds into ADUs that can be rented out or lived in.