This Multigenerational ADU Is Home for the Grandparents Downstairs and an Office Upstairs - Domino

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The sauna was how Ashley, an author and professor, and Aaron, a video game developer, officially convinced her father to say yes to moving to Los Angeles. In the fall of 2020, the couple and her parents had devised a plan for them to sell their Long Island, New York, home to help pay for an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) at Ashley and Aaron’s place across the country. The grandparents would spend half the year there, in the heart of Hollywood, and the other half in Hawaii, where Ashley’s brother lives. “The timing was great because people were fleeing Manhattan for the suburbs,” recalls Ashley. “They sold their house for asking price in less than a week.”

She had a pretty good idea of what her parents would want out of their new space—particularly that sauna, which her father told them was a must-have. “When I was growing up, he would go to the gym at our local Y every day, but his exercise was sitting in the sauna!” says Ashley. But she and Aaron also needed part of the ADU to function as their home office.

black shingle craftsman — The homeowners have zero regrets about splurging on their Craftsman-inspired siding. “So many neighbors have told us, ‘This makes the neighborhood better!’ It feels good to have contributed to the beauty of our little corner of Hollywood,” Ashley shares.

wood paneled siding — Tile, Granada Tile.

So although Hisako Ichiki and Bo Sundius, the architects behind Bunch Design and Bunch ADU, had worked on countless in-law units and backyard cottages, they needed to devise a design unlike any other they had tackled before. Because ADUs are legally only allowed to be 1,200 square feet, they crafted a stacking strategy so that they could squeeze in everything the family requested: comfort, privacy, and, of course, the sauna. It was goodbye old garage, hello two-story structure. A bedroom, bathroom, walk-in-closet, kitchen, and laundry make up the first floor (zoned as a 950-square-foot ADU), with a workspace, powder room, and three patios upstairs (zoned as a 400-square-foot rec room). The two levels connect via an exterior staircase.

Before Bunch Design, the contractors (Lightning Construction), and structural engineer Craig Phillips could begin brainstorming space-saving solutions for the interior, Ichiki and Sundius designed a facade befitting the neighborhood, just one block away from a designated historic area that’s dotted with palm trees and Craftsman bungalows. Not to mention, Ashley and Aaron are on a corner lot and the ADU would be easily visible from the street—its exterior needed to blend right in. A mix of shingle and larch-wood siding, plus low, sweeping rooflines that provide cover for the upper balconies, was the winning combo. “You have this nice outdoor space that’s very private, but then you can also come out of it, pop your head over, and say hi to all your neighbors,” explains Sundius.

green curtains in white living room — The coffee table, bed, and nightstands in the ADU are all from Sun at Six, a family-run furniture company that uses traditional Chinese joinery techniques. “I absolutely loved their work but could not afford it retail, so I DM’d them to see if they had any floor models,” says Ashley. When she heard back that, yes, they indeed did, she rented a U-Haul in San Jose and filled it up with the warehouse finds.

open concept kitchen — Cooktop, Bosch; Paint, Wreath by Dunn-Edwards; Windows, Weather Shield.

The ADU’s 1,400 square feet feels much bigger than that once you’re inside. Part of it is an illusion: Bunch Design cleverly color-blocked the ground floor, outlining the windows and curtains in green to draw attention to all the natural light. “We looked at a few mid-century Hollywood houses, and many had some kind of window detail, so this feels a teeny bit nostalgic,” says Ichiki. Then Aaron and Ashley realized they needed to cut back their budget. Their general contractor, Barak Svisa, and site manager, Pedro, worked with Bunch Design to figure out creative ways to shave costs. One fix was to ditch a window in the office, saving them a cool $7,000.

person crawling out through window — Pendant Lamp, RBW; Custom Desk, Bunch Design.

The raised ceiling in the living room not only makes things feel infinitely more open, it elevates one of the patios upstairs. The outdoor space perfectly aligns with the edge of Ashley’s desk, so she’s eye level with the plants. And when she wants to get some vitamin D? She can step up and out through that very window. “My blood pressure drops the moment I walk in,” she says. When the couple eventually get around to renovating their main house in a few years, they plan to move into the office during construction. Unsurprisingly, Bunch Design prepared for that, too, designing the space to be able to naturally divide into a work area and a bedroom.

bar near balcony — “I always loved this painting, before I knew anything about Los Angeles,” Ashley says of the large Larry Cohen piece depicting their Beachwood Canyon neighborhood. Bar Sink, Concretti; Ceiling Paint, Gentleman’s Gray by Benjamin Moore.

For now, everyone’s enjoying the separate-but-together dynamic. If there’s a game on, Aaron will pop over to the ADU to watch it with his sports-loving mother-in-law. When the couple have dinner parties with friends in the main house, Ashley’s parents usually join in. “I can run off to the Korean spa for the day, and when my husband and I need to work, we know our son will be well taken care of at home,” Ashley adds. The ADU’s most frequent visitor, though, is the couple’s dog, Winnie. “Straight after breakfast, she taps on the door with her little paw until they let her in,” she says. The pup has quickly learned that snuggles and treats are literally just around the corner.