A 399-Square-Foot Accessory Dwelling Unit Feels Much Larger and Squeezed A Lot into a Studio

Name: Cindy Brahs, husband, and our adult kids have moved in during COVID-19.
Location: Costa Mesa, California
Type of home: ADU Cottage
Size: 399 square feet
Years lived in: We have renovated the main house ourselves over the past 4 years and just completed the ADU cottage.

Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: Welcome to our “Corona” Cottage. After completing the renovation of our main house, we decided to add an ADU cottage over our garage.

We subbed out the foundation, framing, and drywall and completed the rest of the work ourselves. Our son and his girlfriend are moving in while he completes a restaurant he is building in town.

Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Compact modern farmhouse where “Live Simply” is the motto.

What is your favorite room and why? Technically it’s a studio, so there is only one large room. I am really happy that we were able to squeeze in everything we were hoping to achieve and were able to sneak in extra storage in some places not typically utilized.

What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? The Smeg refrigerator was our one and only splurge—everything else we already owned and simply repurposed.

Any advice for creating a home you love? With a lot of planning, we were fortunately able to squeeze in a full kitchen and bath, and a walk-in closet that is plumbed for a stackable washer and dryer. Fractions of an inch need to be accounted for when building something this compact. At times I begged my husband for another 1/2″. The vaulted ceiling and 100-square-foot deck really help open up the space. Now on to our next project…

This submission’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.

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