Accessory Buildings

Accessory buildings are fun to design. They have all the attributes of a real building but often with a far more open ended list of needs.

A place to relax, read, play games and a little office space is how our outbuilding in Mill Valley was described. It added an extra living room and some coveted square footage to a hard to add onto home in a desirable part of town. The outbuilding was placed on axis with the main house, connected by a deck with a view to the yard in between. To keep all the books and games in order, the main room was lined with fin-ply cabinetry. The floor is an engineered wide plank rustic oak. A simple clean burning wood fireplace will provide heat when needed. The outbuilding has the feel of a classic summer cabin, only with better insulation for year-round use.

Photographer Joseph Schell
Contractor Abacus Builders

In the Santa Cruz mountains, in a place called Happy Valley, we are in the design phase converting a garage to a guest house. The cinderblock and board and batten garage is nestled between mature redwoods and overlooks a small vineyard on the property.