Detached Offices, Sheds, and Playhouses in the Backyard

April 27, 2010 by  

3 Comments

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I love homes with built-in flexibility. Features like in-law suites and guesthouses get me every time. But what about less built-out flex spaces? Over the past weekend, I was house-sitting in a suburb of San Francisco and on Sunday visited several open houses, all of which coincidentally had some sort of free-standing structure added to the backyard. The first was a sweet little cottage, which clearly had been used at one point as an office, but now served as storage. The main house is a 1920s home on a 0.2 acre lot. [View house on Redfin]

A sweet little cottage-style shed or office. I would happily live here.

The second home I toured has an interesting history. It originally belonged to the town’s country club, who sold it to their golfcourse’s caretaker for $1,000 back in the 1950s. The home was renovated in the 1980s, and a 2-story addition was added in the early 2000s. Even with the addition, the large 0.4 acre lot has ample space to accommodate not one but TWO additional structures–a shed and a child’s playhouse. [View house on Redfin]

A lovely tool shed, don't you think?

Oh, and did I forget to mention that there’s also a hot tub?

Wouldn't this hot tub be great at night, with some grape vines growing above? This is also the exterior of the playhouse.

My handy assistant inspected the playhouse and declared it fit, if sorely lacking in toys.

And folks, I’ve saved the best for last. This is a stunning office, secluded in the back woods of a gorgeous home on a large 0.73 acre lot. You can’t even understand how amazing the setting is. I actually took a long video of the whole backyard, but then I realized I’d forgotten to push record! The realtor was starting to look at me funny, so I packed it up and moved on. I did take a short (kinda crappy–sorry!) video of the office, to give a better sense of it. What’s crazy to me is that the listing happily displays the stately home and guesthouse (which, ok, is phenomenal), but seems to skip over this rad office. Priorities, people! [View on Redfin]

After seeing creative structures like this, I can’t help but wonder–is all this legal? I presume that these houses wouldn’t be on the market with illegal buildings on the lot, but that’s just one town. What about building a little office, shed, or playhouse on YOUR lot?

I did a little Internet digging, and it looks like the best thing to do is check with your city’s municipal department to see if there are explicit zoning rules that you can understand. If that fails, check with a local contractor, since he or she will certainly know the rules. The regulations vary drastically by city or town, so don’t assume that just because it’s fine in one town, it’ll be legal in yours. It seems like people are generally allowed to build sheds, but once the structure exceeds a certain size, or once you want to wire it for electrical purposes, you start getting into permit land.

I hope these homes have stoked some creative thinking about space usage. For more inspiration, here is a site dedicated to adorable pre-fab “tiny houses.” You can also buy plans from them to build your very own tiny house.

Who knows–your lawn could be the future site of the neighborhood’s most popular playhouse!

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  • jshattuck

    I want to live there! This is the most adorable place ever! Great idea about the grape vines …. how beautiful that would be!

    Say, Rebecca, on Vimeo I saw a video you'd done on a tenancy-in-common. You wrote, “They allow multiple owners to share property when creating a condo building isn't an option.” What do you mean? Do several owners own a single unit or a multiple-unit building or what? Sounds interesting; I'm just not clear on what it is. I love that place you videotaped, btw. That second bedroom with the two windows and greenery outside. I could imagine curling up and reading on that bed!

  • Rebecca

    You have to have permission to create a traditional condo building, in which each unit is treated as its own entity to be bought and sold. Since SF doesn't often grant this permission, people turn to TICs. Usually, with TICs, people buy a multi-unit building or house, and then each person has the right to occupy one unit within that building. I haven't heard of multiple people owning a single condo under a TIC agreement – in that case, they'd probably all just sign the loan together and create an LLC which owns the home. Hope that helps!

  • Rebecca

    You have to have permission to create a traditional condo building, in which each unit is treated as its own entity to be bought and sold. Since SF doesn't often grant this permission, people turn to TICs. Usually, with TICs, people buy a multi-unit building or house, and then each person has the right to occupy one unit within that building. I haven't heard of multiple people owning a single condo under a TIC agreement – in that case, they'd probably all just sign the loan together and create an LLC which owns the home. Hope that helps!