We thought we were done building, that this would be our “forever house.” Never say never. Or plan too far into the future. Life has a way of taking curious and unexpected courses.
Last year our daughter, son-in-law, and two youngest grandchildren decided to return to New Hampshire after several years of living in Vermont. They moved in with us “temporarily” while looking for a house to rent. After months of searching, however, they couldn’t find anything suitable. There’s a severe shortage of houses for rent right now, a situation that appears to be occurring throughout the country.
After we all pondered for awhile about what to do, Buzz and I came up with an idea: what if we built a one-story addition that we could move into and rented our current house to them? It seemed like a good financial plan all the way around – not exactly what Buzz and I had planned for our “later” years, but, as one of the saints I’ve written about – Edith Stein – says: “I had my plans and what I hadn’t planned on were God’s plans.”
Since he’d designed our current house, Buzz began some preliminary sketches of what an addition might look like. I looked at various possible designs online and soon realized that the kind of building we were contemplating is called an Accessory Dwelling Unit, otherwise known as an ADU. People in similar situations have been building them around the country and, because of the housing shortage, zoning boards have to approve them – with certain restrictions, such as size.
More research: the zoning board in our township will only allow an ADU no bigger than 1,000 square feet. Originally we’d been thinking of around 1500 square feet, but since our township is rather precise about approving building permits, we decided to try and squeeze our requirements into their total allotment.
More questions: where would this ADU be located? Attached to our current house? Detached?
Finally we decided that we could save building a garage by knocking out one of the windows in our current two-car garage and making that into a door which would lead into the ADU. There’d also be an entrance in front of the “new wing,” which would mirror the current house with a long covered porch. The interior space would consist of a large great room, featuring a cathedral ceiling and skylights, which would serve as our living room, dining room, and kitchen. Off on one side would be our master bedroom and bathroom, and, on the other side, a small guest room and bath.
A particularly nice thing about our planned ADU is that Buzz and I have always wanted to have a great room and, now that we’re older, the thought of having everything on one floor is appealing. A smaller space means less time spent cleaning. And the bathrooms would have walk-in showers – another plus.
But the biggest benefit of this whole arrangement is having the family near us. We’ll have our privacy, they’ll have their privacy, and yet we can see each other whenever we like – get together for dinner or simply drinks on the front porch. No big planning. And when the grown grandchildren return home, they come here. There’s really no downside.
Except one: we have to build it. And the thought of building another house, twenty years after finishing building this one, is a bit daunting. So many things to think about, so much planning. And yet – we have to take the plunge. Pray, hope… and simply begin.