SEATTLE 鈥� When you upend your life, there likely will be questions. Twins Melinda Lloyd and Mary Speckart posed the transformative first one 鈥� a biggie 鈥� themselves.
鈥淢elinda lived on Mercer Island, and I lived in Kirkland,鈥� says Speckart.
鈥淢elinda was single since the death of her husband. I have been single because of divorce. We have a home on Lopez Island, too. It was really stupid for two people to have three houses. We said: 鈥榃hy are we doing this?鈥� 鈥�
From there, other questions followed.
Speckart and Lloyd tinkered with the idea of sharing a home. They told Joe Schneider and Kim Clements of J.A.S. Design-Build (Kevin Price of J.A.S. had designed the sisters鈥� Lopez home): 鈥淚f you ever find a perfect house for us to downsize, let us know.鈥�
Schneider and Clements presented potential 鈥� right across the street from their office 鈥� in the form of a sagging 1920s house that had sat empty and defenceless under invasion by icky syringes and greedy vegetation.
Perfection would take considerable tinkering.
鈥淢y first thought,鈥� says Lloyd, 鈥渨as: 鈥業鈥檓 giving up Mercer Island for this?鈥� 鈥�
Yep. And Speckart gave up Kirkland. (They kept the Lopez home.)
And then they got down to work with J.A.S. designer Mike Freeman 鈥� remodelling and re-imagining, but not razing.
鈥淎 lot of people would have said: 鈥楰nock it down,鈥� 鈥� Freeman says. 鈥淲e tend to prefer to use what鈥檚 there. There were lots of good materials to work with: first-growth fir, 800 years old 鈥� you can鈥檛 replicate that.鈥�
Beams were salvaged, as were the front door and sliding windows. 鈥淔or the most part, we kept the structure, the stuff you can鈥檛 see,鈥� he says. 鈥淥ne of the big tricks with a big, open kitchen/dining/office all in one is to not have any walls.
鈥淭o get to open space in here, which really did make sense, we retrofitted the entire front of the house into a truss system.鈥�
It鈥檚 a critically efficient, light and lovely use of space in a home with not that much of it.
鈥淭hey said: 鈥業t鈥檚 1,000 square feet. Can you make it work?鈥� 鈥� says Lloyd.
It took some work 鈥� and some introspection 鈥� but, again: Yep.
鈥淚t鈥檚 surprising in living a life how much you amass,鈥� Lloyd says. 鈥淵ou think: 鈥楾hat was a different time period 鈥� I鈥檓 evolved.鈥� I had lots of frilly things before.鈥�
Adds Speckart: 鈥淲e threw a lot of stuff away in our old households. Especially the repeats. We both have similar taste. We donated a lot.鈥�
In the end, they saved what matters most: nostalgic things (a scale displayed on the storage wall separating the great room from the private wing 鈥渋s the last thing my husband gave me,鈥� Lloyd says).
Historic things (the clock at the end of the hall had hung in their family鈥檚 grocery store in Utah). Things they both love (blue-and-white porcelain). Things they both need (clothing).
The sisters share a closet. It鈥檚 not huge, but it鈥檚 enough.
鈥淧eople say: 鈥極h my God 鈥� that鈥檚 all you have?鈥� 鈥� says Speckart. 鈥淲e share clothes. That helps a lot.鈥�
The closet opens at both ends, linking the twins鈥� bedrooms, which both have bumpouts and are almost exactly equally sized. (鈥淧arity for the twins,鈥� Freeman says).
The bedrooms are not huge, either. But they are enough.
鈥淔or a house that鈥檚 this size, why would we dedicate a whole lot of space for this area?鈥� says Freeman. 鈥淭he bedrooms are a place for a bed. They鈥檙e comfortably large enough to get around a bed.鈥�
Speckart responds with a question that answers itself: 鈥淲hat do I use a bedroom for? To sleep.鈥�
Seattle author Marc Vassallo has included the twins鈥� home in his inspiring new book, Little House in the City: Living Small Within City Limits.
It鈥檚 not about 鈥渢iny houses.鈥� It鈥檚 not about bashing big houses. It鈥檚 a celebration of 37 new/remodelled/even backyard houses, all under 1,800 square feet and all within the borders of 20 cities, from Toronto to Savannah.
鈥淚 call small city houses 鈥榯he next little thing,鈥� 鈥� Vassallo says. 鈥淢y editor and I agreed on one thing right from the start: This would be a fun book. It has points to make about the virtues (esthetic, philosophic, economic, practical and environmental) of small houses and city living. It鈥檚 aligned with several significant demographic and lifestyle trends, but above all, it鈥檚 a fun book.鈥�
His family鈥檚 own house is in there, too.
鈥淢y house in Seattle is small, just 950 square feet, but my home doesn鈥檛 stop at the front porch or even at the front gate,鈥� he writes.
鈥淚t includes sidewalk garden beds; the street; the neighbourhood; and the whole city, all near at hand.鈥�
(Plus, two small 鈥渟hed-studios鈥� for storage, work, exercise, meditation, music 鈥� basically, backyard bonus space.)
Speckart and Lloyd鈥檚 bonus space includes a 550-square-foot lower-level accessory dwelling unit they rent out, a storage/exercise space they call 鈥淭he Oyster Room鈥� and a private, low-maintenance back patio.
And because the sisters love to cook and entertain, gatherings naturally spill out onto the broad and welcoming front porch, where, even on non-party days, Ella their dog 鈥渋s our ambassador in the community,鈥� Lloyd says.
鈥淓verybody is really, really great with walking by and saying hi. We go out and sit with her.鈥�
And therein lies a very fundamental answer to the making-a-small-space-work question.
鈥淲ith a little city house, everything you need is decidedly not in your house,鈥� Vassallo says. 鈥淩ather, you鈥檙e allowing your neighbourhood and your city to become extensions of your home. This is something to celebrate.鈥�
There are other things, too, he says: 鈥渢he pleasures of living in a small house, the pleasures of living in a city, the pleasures of density and proximity, of walkable neighbourhoods, of neighbours and neighbourliness.
鈥淭he pleasures of smallness itself.鈥�
