Mom’s house

Owners and tenants of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) share key insights about how to navigate the unique living experience.

The overall home is constructed with larch timber, a British wood, and features a central ridge beam that gives it a butterfly-shaped roof. Shou sugi ban was done on the wood to give it a charred finish.

The living room is right off the kitchen, and has views of the garden.

One of the smaller bedrooms is now configured as Roberta’s office. For easier access, the room has no door. Floor to ceiling storage can be opened using an app on her phone so she can easily access what’s inside.

The entry has a cubby for Roberta’s shoes and a branch-shaped grab bar made of bronze by British designer Phillip Watts.

Rather than a traditional frame construction, the Kansas City, Missouri, home of architect Jamie Darnell and Michele was built using SIPs (structural insulated panels) that came in four-by-eight-foot sections in kit form. With ladderlike steps leading to the front door, the place feels like an ultrapolished tree house. The arboreal atmosphere was intentional. "We’re tree people," Jamie says. Jamie built the decking, of ipe, to accommodate a tree by the entrance to the garage.

A rear view of the garage and the deck off the master bedroom.

The clients insisted that none of the trees on the property be disturbed, so Kevin Alter and his team at Alterstudio Architecture built a deck and an overhang around two of them.

The layering of the remodeled house is revealed in this image of Robin and Jeremy relaxing on the front deck.

This open-ended box, lined in mirrored glass, performs like a kaleidoscope, amplifying the mature Melia tree’s presence within the dining room.