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When designer John Jennings and his wife, landscape architect Sasha Tarnopolsky, decided to remodel their 1927 Mar Vista bungalow, they moved into their two-car garage for a year. It was supposed to be a temporary solution, but it took on a life of its own.
But first they had to make the stucco-and-wood structure habitable. “The doors were so warped you had to yank to open them,” Jennings says. “The building sagged so badly that when you stood on the roof the whole structure rocked.” The couple demolished the 400-square-foot garage and replaced it with a slightly larger structure, adding a small bathroom.
Jennings and Tarnopolsky framed the building with construction-grade Douglas fir. Inside, exposed wood frames, interspersed with Homasote panels made from recycled newspaper, created a post-and-beam-like decorative element. The panels were rubbed with linseed oil and beeswax to turn them deep gray, which also caused them to bleed in a way that resembles Japanese brush strokes.
The couple’s Los Angeles design and architectural landscape firm, DRY Design, promotes sustainable architecture, and the pair recycled where possible. They used broken concrete slab as pavers for the driveway. A re-planed Douglas fir ceiling beam took on new life as a column supporting the veranda’s canopy. Redwood studs, salvaged and taken to their office, found their way into architectural models.
They divided the garage’s interior into two distinct zones: a compact kitchen and laundry area below clerestory windows on the north wall, and a small sitting room and office on the south wall. Jennings built a 7-foot-long table on wheels to use as a work surface and desk.
Dutch doors, 8 feet wide by 9 feet high, conform to the building code for a two-car detached garage and are wide enough to accommodate a vehicle. The sleeping loft, hung from ceiling trusses, appears to float above the space. A ladder on the backside of a bookcase provides access to the loft. “It’s like sleeping in a treehouse,” Jennings says. “We are at the same level as the clerestory, so when we lie in bed we see our neighbor’s giant elm tree and, in winter when the leaves are gone, the Santa Monica Mountains.”
Two energy-efficient radiant gas heaters keep the place toasty on chilly evenings. The Dutch doors and high windows catch the breezes and cool the structure, now used as a guest house and home office, on hot summer days.
As cozy as their temporary digs were, the couple faced several practical challenges. Because there was only a small under-counter refrigerator and no room for a freezer, they shopped more frequently for food. And even with the sitting room built-ins, storage space was at a premium. Then, three months after moving in, Tarnopolsky became pregnant and found herself scaling the bookcase ladder several times each night. “She became less enthusiastic,” Jennings says. “Thankfully, we finished the house renovation a week before the baby arrived.”
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Resource Guide
DRY Design, Los Angeles, (323) 954-9084.