Revisiting Homeownership

Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend and we cracked open The Lucky Penny, starting with My SIPs Wall Raising. This weekend I’m taking a break from tiny house building to focus on other small homes. Friday and Saturday I turned over my 800 square foot bungalow in Walla Walla for new renters. And today I’ll be leading The Inside Scoop bike tour as part of Portland’s Build Small, Live Large ADU Tour. Both my guided tour and the self-guided tour sold out quickly, so if you aren’t able to join us today stay tuned for the next one! It’s been amazing how much attention ADUs are getting in Portland and I’m glad the ADU Case Studies Project has played a role in that.

The past couple days it was interesting experiencing another dose of the Joys of Homeownership. I feel fortunate that I was able to purchase property while I was young but I’ve also been amazed by what a burden homeownership can be. During the four years I lived in my little house I spent most of my time, money, and energy on green renovations and creating an edible landscape with bird, bee, butterfly, and bat habitat. I anticipated I’d be moving back to my beloved house as soon as I finished my graduate program in Urban Planning, so it was hard to leave. However, I was excited about trying on tiny house living, so I entrusted my place to a visiting Whitman professor when I headed to Portland. Considering she and her husband added a puppy and a baby to their family in the year they lived there, they left it in decent condition. But it took me three days to get the house back into shipshape for the next set of renters and it got me thinking about how much a year of living little had changed me. I wrote all about this in Oh, the Joys of Homeownership.

Fortunately, the students who lived in my house the past two years took very good care of the place. And this time I had great help turning the house over for new renters. Marty Cook, who has helped me with a handful of home improvement projects in the past, was my right-hand-man for the weekend. Not only was it great having a second set of hands and another noggin for figuring out the best game plan, I also got to hear Marty’s stories. I rarely meet someone so integrious, so positive, so proud of his son, and so utterly smitten with his wife. (If you live in Walla Walla and are looking for a trustworthy builder and landscaper, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Marty!)

As you might imagine, working on my property again the past couple days – taking a toothbrush to the cracks and coaxing the cheat grass away from the raised veggie beds (again!) – got me thinking about homeownership anew. Like how I was scrubbing and weeding instead of visiting with my friends in town. (If I didn't get to see you, please know I plan to come visit as soon as I can on a trip that's about fun instead of work!)

I have learned so very much from owning my home – about home improvement, about my decision making process, about Murphy’s Law. Most importantly, my garden cottage taught me how to make home. What’s interesting is realizing that now that I know how to make home I don’t necessarily need to live in this home. I have made home everywhere I’ve lived since.

As I sat in an adarondak chair on my front patio after the house was cleaned up, sipping a coconut water and watching the ducks in the pond across the street, I realized I still like the idea of moving back into my house someday. But for now living tiny is the right fit for me. And it seems my little Walla Walla house will be a good fit for my new tenants.

I’m not sure whether my house will ever pencil out as a wise financial investment. But it was definitely a good investment in my education and my wellbeing. I suppose it’s all in how you count. For now I’m glad I can rent my house out to others so that they can enjoy a charming home and I have housing flexibility for the future.

And I’m really glad I can clean my tiny house top to bottom in an hour instead of a full day! (Check out my Tiny House Cleaning Checklist for my how-to!)

Oh, the Joys of Homeownership

Last weekend I returned to the two-bedroom bungalow I own in Walla Walla to transition it over for new tenants.  It was a long, hot weekend with temperatures reaching 102 both days. I found myself reminded both how much I love my house and how much time and energy it takes to maintain a piece of property. What a difference there is between caring for my two-bedroom bungalow and caring for tiny house on wheels I rented for ten months!

I purchased my bungalow in a fantastic tree-lined neighborhood in late 2007, just before the housing market took a nosedive. For four years it was my home, sweet home. The house itself is charming with arched doorways, coved ceilings, wood floors, beautiful original 1920s windows, and a wooden kitchen countertop with a drain board. However, it was really the location that convinced me this was the right house for me. My garden cottage was just a few blocks from my job at Whitman College and a short walk to downtown Walla Walla along tree-lined streets. There’s a duck pond across the street and a creek running through the back. I also have fantastic neighbors – the kind of neighbors who stop to chat, who keep an eye out for each other, who trade garden and pet care when the others are camping, who throw an annual block party in the summer and a holiday party in the winter, who help each other out during a windstorm that drops trees on houses and cars.

I learned an enormous amount about building science, remodeling, and retrofitting as I worked on water and energy efficiency projects. I insulated the attic, walls, and crawl space, replaced inefficient windows and doors, installed Energy Star appliances, repainted with low-VOC paints, and added programmable thermostats, an exhaust fan, and a ceiling fan for improved indoor air quality. I dug my own trench when my water main broke and had to be replaced. We decided to replace the entire plumbing system while we were at it. With the help of some talented folks I also tore out a wall, relocated the bathroom plumbing, and moved an exterior wall to create a laundry nook off the bathroom for a stacked washer and a dryer I could use during Walla Walla’s foggy months. (It turns out the chain link fence which I never liked much came in handy for drying clothes outside during nine months of the year. It was also great for growing peas and beans!)

Over the course of three summers I transformed a weedy and barren landscape into a vibrant food forest by tearing out my lawn and planting vegetables and flowers. I loved sitting on the front patio I created, behind a screen of sunflowers and ruby red dahlias, sipping homemade grape juice, watching the bees and butterflies, and plotting to preserve the bushels of pickling cukes and tomatoes overflowing from my raised garden beds. I enjoyed lounging in a hammock under the solar trellis I built, which provides shade for the southern side of the house, support for my tomato “trees,” and may someday also support solar panels. I delighted in selecting seeds, planting my ten dwarf fruit trees, a wildflower meadow, and a variety of berry bushes and Japanese maples. I marveled at how quickly the sage, thyme, oregano, chives, and valerian filled in among the flowers and trees. I built a chicken coop and run and raised chickens from day-old chicks. I also learned to identify Calliope and Rufus hummingbirds as well as several of the finches that frequented the garden. I liked watching the bats come out at night and listening for the hoots of the screech owls. Once in a while I’d even see a great blue heron or a hawk near the creek.

Homeownership brought me great satisfaction, so it was difficult to leave my beloved abode when I moved to Portland to study urban planning. However, I knew a house is only sustainable in the context of its community.  Our transportation, food, and educational systems all matter, too. Walla Walla is a resilient community in many ways, with great potential to be more sustainable. My time working with sustainability initiatives in Walla Walla eventually convinced me it was time to pursue a professional degree in urban planning. After several years on the board of directors for a food cooperative, the Sustainable Living Center, and the Sustainability Advisory Committee for the City of Walla Walla, I realized it was time to take a bigger step towards my life goal of creating more sustainable community. I wanted to focus my attention on the big picture, not just making one very small place more beautiful. As I departed for Portland I was glad to leave my garden bungalow in the hands of fantastic tenants and under the watchful eye of caring neighbors. I’ve been looking forward to heading back to Walla Walla with a tiny house I can park in my nice long driveway. I like the idea of having the flexibility of renting out one and living in the other, depending on which one suits my needs at any given time.

Yet, last weekend as I spent a two long, hot Walla Walla summer days scrubbing floor boards behind the stove and fridge, doing paint touch ups, and tidying up the yard, I was shocked by the reminder of how much work it is maintaining an 830 square foot house on a 50x100 lot! The four years I lived in my bungalow I – like my wonderful neighbors – spent most evenings and weekends either doing home improvement projects or working in my garden. I poured heart, soul, time, energy, and money into my property. Over the years, whenever one of my neighbors had a homeownership disaster (the dishwasher breaking, the basement flooding, the windstorm blowing shingles off the roof, etc.), we would joke, “Oh, the joys of homeownership!” There are, of course, many joys to homeownership, but these were not them! There seems to be an understanding among homeowners that these personal disasters are outweighed by the personal delights of owning a home. A year ago I would have agreed.

But now I’ve lived in a tiny house for ten months. Now I’ve lived in a city that prioritizes sustainability initiatives. Now I know the benefits of providing access without requiring ownership. Portland has invested in its public transportation and bike lanes, revised policy to accommodate urban farms, and created a citywide compost system. It’s the only city I know of that has marked skateboard routes throughout the city. Now that’s an endorsement for active transportation! Meanwhile, the tiny house I rented for ten months took very little work. It is well-built and simple, requiring little maintenance and just a few minutes of cleaning each week. The reminder of how much work it is to maintain even a small home on a small lot has me thinking again about how building small is even more powerful when it's combined with community. My perspective has shifted over the course of the past year. I’m more fascinated than ever by the prospect of Tiny Cohousing, a collection of little homes that share in the benefits and responsibility of caring for a little place in this big world.

My Summer Garden Cottage

Those of you who joined Orange Splot for the Pedalpalooza Accessory Dwelling Bike Tour or participated in Jordan Palmeri's small home tour will recognize my new digs. It's also featured in this video about the ADU Bike tour and mentioned on my post ADU Bike Tour Draws a Crowd. (Not sure what an accessory dwelling is? Check out the Accessory Dwellings website and my posts Showcasing Accessory Dwellings in Portland and A Praising Accessory Dwellings to learn more.)

I feel very lucky to be renting Bruce & Carolyn’s garden cottage this summer. It’s energy efficient and has a plethora of sustainable design features, including advanced framing, heat recovery ventilation, cellulose insulation, dual flush toilet, structurally-insulated panels for the roof, salvaged wood for cabinets, and on-demand water heating. (The house was profiled in this Ecotrope article.) But more than anything, it’s a beautiful space located in a gorgeous garden setting. Should I attribute the great feel of the cottage to the rich red stained concrete floors, the golden earth plastered walls, or the beautiful exposed laminated beams? Or perhaps the fragrance of the splendid flowers, grapes, and berries that surround the garden cottage? Or maybe the rustle of the bamboo through the open windows or the bushes and trees that provide shade and privacy? It must be the synergy of all these features.

Bruce and Carolyn designed this little guest house on their property for aging-in-place. See this article about it on Apartment Therapy. The open floor plan, lack of level-changes, and adjustable counter height make it accessible for people who use a wheelchair. I’ve really enjoyed the adjustable counter height because it enables me to pick the right height for the counters in my tiny house. If they don’t have to be standard height they can actually work well for my needs since I’m not quite 5’2”.

The cottage is about 600 square feet but the open floor plan and natural light make it feel spacious and comfortable. I think I'm going to really love living here!