Neighbor Spotlight: Marian | Sebastopol

Marian, a long time resident of Sebastopol, was asked on countless times over the years by friends if she would rent out rooms in her home.

418 sq ft
Junior ADU

1 floor
Studio
1 bathroom

Marian’s junior ADU project started when three different friends asked to rent space in her three bedroom house. But she knew it was not for her. “It’s really hard to say, ‘I’m sorry, no’, but I tried having a roommate before and it did not work.”  

However, especially after the fires, Marian wanted to help the community. Plus, she wanted to downsize and have more money to travel, “I fantasized about reinventing myself as a traveling teacher of beadwork. It turns out there is a market for that.”

She considered a bigger project, a two car garage with a unit on top. Instead she went small and split her existing house in two.  “Close off one door, add another, small kitchen and bang, you’re done, for $10,000,” Marian explained. “I went from applications to permits in hand in eight days,” Her message to others is simple, “It does not have to be daunting. Sometimes it’s really not that hard.”.