Marin County Home Prices Made A Tiny Home in California The Obvious Choice
I interviewed Julia Cooper, trained in interior design, currently Director of Consulting for HOK, a global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm. I also spoke with her husband, Nigel Cooper, a helicopter pilot who grew up in New Zealand. They live in a 380-square-foot cabin north of San Francisco, built in 1948. In addition to Julia’s lovely tiny home interior design touch, Nigel raised the ceiling and put some sheds on the property for other purposes. Julia commutes to work across the Golden Gate bridge on her bike.
Julia read to me from her entry to a competition held by her office during the COVID mandatory-work-from-home era. She won first place with the separate tiny office Nigel built.
Julia: I was looking for something this morning, and I found an old document.
It was the San Francisco office – we had a little competition about work from home and venues, how people are working from home.
I got first place in the little separate cottage competition.
I said, “We live in a 380 square foot tiny home in Mill Valley, about 15 miles from the San Francisco office. My husband is a first responder pilot, which means he works away from home every other week. When he’s home, he’s off duty, and has no place to hide during my work day.
Thank God he loves outdoor projects. Around August, once it became clear we weren’t going back anytime soon, and acknowledging the weather would eventually turn, we decided a stand-alone office was required. He built this from leveling the ground, so he had to prepare the ground, level the ground up in about three and a half months.
He did all the exterior and interior work, it’s amazing.”
That’s what I wrote. I just happened upon that this morning.
Me: That’s really cool, by the way. Did he buy anything like a kit to start, or did he just design it from the ground up?
Julia: I think we looked at some of those, but they’re more expensive than doing it yourself.
I mean, there’s that sweat equity. It was definitely more affordable.
He had a vision in his mind and he drew it up.
Nigel: And then of course COVID hit and Julia was working from home and the crunch for the office was that I came in one day and it was a rainy day and I walked through the back of her video meeting and someone in her meeting said, “Hi, Nigel.”
I’m like, no, that’s not going to work. I want to watch a replay of a hockey game or something like that. And I just can’t. So that was how the office started.
Me: With an ADU you have to have indoor plumbing, versus what you’re building would be considered more of what, like a shed or something?
Nigel: Yep, just a shed. Actually, we’re unincorporated Marin County here. You can build an outbuilding, up to 120 square feet, without a permit.
We started the interview talking about how they decided to buy their tiny house.
Julia: It’s kind of a quirky area and it is a little reminiscent of New Zealand.
We weren’t looking for a small home. We were just looking for something that we could afford and that we would want to live in.
Once we saw it, we just thought, well, this is great. We will just make it work. I don’t remember being concerned about the size because it was just so cute and in a great setting.
Nigel: We could see the potential and we’re on a quarter acre in the giant Redwoods.
You’re sitting in the hot tub with a cocktail at night time – right around dark, where you can still see the sky and the trees and they’re 220 feet high.
As long as they stay standing, it’s a wonderful spot.
Me: When you guys first saw the house, were there things immediately that you thought, “Maybe we could change this?”
Julia: I think the first thing was that Nigel built a little storage shed.
We just needed to have some things on site, like a place to put the bike that wasn’t all the way up the hill, you know, a secure place to put the bike and some other things. So that’s the first thing that we did was to build that unit out there.
Me: What did you particularly like about the house? You mentioned that the previous owners used parts of a redwood tree in the interior – one that had been on the property?
Julia: You kind of felt like you were, like, of the area, you know, they used a lot of the tree that they had to top that wasn’t doing so well.
Me: Tell me about raising the ceiling – Nigel raised it by four feet, right?
Julia: What was amazing to me was how much more floor area you got by doing that – usable floor area. It was amazing. It felt like it was double. Not only could you stand up in the center, but we could put in two dresser drawers. So three drawers each that are, I think they’re 30 inches wide. Nigel made another top [out of the redwood] that kind of looks like the other ones and a little alcove.
Behind the alcove, we put in a hanging rail. So we have other things hanging up there. And then we have clear storage boxes that we can put extra bedding and things that were stuffed here and there, previously, that we can put up there.
It takes the pressure off. Certainly we don’t have any external storage that we’re paying for now.
So we have everything on site.
Me: It sounds like it gave you more vertical space because suddenly it wasn’t just a corner. It was more of a wall.
Julia: Yeah. It’s amazing. Yes. It’s more vertical space for sure. But the amount of horizontal space was increased because you could get to it. Maybe you’re a little crouched over, but before it was just totally unusable, you couldn’t even be in there.
Me: You have a ladder going up to the loft?
Julia: Yes. To the loft. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Me: Is that ever an issue?
Julia: Yeah. I think about it every time I go up and down, I only fell once.
My three sisters were like, we would never do that.
I have to kind of sit on the floor, scooch over, get my legs over and then flip around because I’m not going to turn around and just go back without already having my feet on the thing.
Me: What challenges have you found that you just hadn’t thought about before, you know, that you’ve had to come up with something in a slightly different way?
Julia: You know, that blurred line between indoor and outdoor is something. We live in an area where we’re able to do that, but it also makes keeping that indoor clean a little bit hard. So putting some storage outside and tucking things around, is something that we’ve done.
Me: What are some of the things that are a challenge?
Julia: There’s no place for a nice little foyer. Look, I will just come in. I’ll put my bag down here and, you know, it’ll stay there. I’ll put my coat over, drape it over this thing. You’re in the main room right there. So there’s no staging.
Like when you’re packing for a trip, especially if you’re both packing at the same time.
Everything’s a staging area and nothing is.
It is multifunctional because of the limits. So there’s not, I do this in this room and I do this in this room and I do this in this room.
That thing that I missed the most is not being able to sit down inside and have a formal eating area.
Tiny House in California and the Outdoors
Me: From a peace of mind perspective, do you think that it’s positive being outside more? Do you think there’s an upside to that or do you think it’s just different?
Julia: It’s different. There are wild animals, even during the day.
The other weekend, when Nigel was home, he left the gate open. We’ve got a full fence and it’s got a nice gate and keeps the dog in.
I came outside looking for Nigel and my neighbor was calling down through the woods about our dog. Right then, Nigel came back and I said, “You know, I think you probably left the gate open because Boy [the dog] is out there.”
Nigel said, “I just saw the biggest coyote I’ve ever seen walk up the path.”
He said the coyote was bigger than Boy. Boy’s 90 pounds. So that’s a pretty big coyote.
Me: Do you think there’s anything inherently more or less secure about living in a small house versus a larger one?
Julia: I grew up in a really big home, like 10,000 square feet. There were nine bedrooms. It was an old home. We had seven kids in our family. It was built in 1901. And it was terrifying if you were by yourself, when you’re old enough to stay there by yourself.
Because you didn’t know what was happening in the rest of the house. And you would hear all kinds of weird old house noises.
There’s been some burglaries, not of any of the houses around us, but just in the town.
Some neighbors and I were talking about it and I said, “Oh, I always lock the house and I lock it even when I come up here.”
They said, “No offense, Julia, but I don’t think – if a robber is going to target a house – they’re going to target the smallest one that they can find because what are they going to get out of it?”
Me: Wow. Brutal.
Julia: I know! I said, “Well, it’s a very good point. Point well taken.”
So yeah, that made me feel a little bit better about it too.
Me: Oh, that’s funny. I love that they said that though. Like, yeah, don’t humor yourself.
Julia: But I’m like, well, that’s true. I hope they hit your house instead then! Oh my gosh.
Advice for Prospective Tiny Home Dwellers
Me: What would be your advice to someone who was looking to either downsize into a tiny house or get their first small home?
Nigel: Well, if you’ve moved as much as us, so we’ve lived in 11 locations in 23 years. If you still have boxes that you haven’t unpacked from two moves ago, just take it straight to Goodwill because you obviously don’t need it.
Me: Here’s my actual last question. So there is the idea of a tiny house movement, which I know you probably just more happened into the house that you wanted. In a location that is probably one of the most expensive places in the country to live, it just makes sense.
Do you ever think of yourselves as part of a larger idea of downsizing or going more minimal?
Nigel: Absolutely. I’ve always been that way.
Growing up in New Zealand, I was hunting and fishing. When I was a teenager, on a long weekend I would go with a buddy, get dropped off by my mom in the national park and be gone for four or five days.
We would typically have a couple of days of food and we would catch fish for the other days. And if you didn’t catch fish, you just went hungry.
No cell phones. You were just gone and you just had to get back to the pickup point on the predetermined day.
And all those huts, tiny forest service huts, and you just sleep in a sleeping bag, and I didn’t think anything of it.
See Interview Part 2 and Other Posts from Jennifer Cooper
- Interview Part 2 Tiny House Office & Much More
- How to Field Tiny House Questions
- 5 Ways to Live With Intention
- 8 Relationship Tips: How to Live in a Tiny House Together
- Raising a Family in a Tiny House
- Preparing to Move Into a Tiny House
