Outbuildings
Room of the Day: A Converted Garage Grooves Out in California
A designer converts part of her backyard garage into a guest suite that mixes function and fun
Kirsten Flynn wanted to capture the spirit of a 1970s California beach shack when she transformed half of the detached garage at her Palo, Alto, California, home into a backyard guest suite last summer. The interior designer pulled from her collection of thrift store finds and garage sale purchases and played up the materials, colors and textures of the era to create a hip and functional studio apartment on a budget.
The kitchen and dining area sits a few feet down the wall from the desk. A full closet is just out of view on the wall to the left, and the bathroom is just through the door on the left.
The kitchen area has a small sink, a small refrigerator and two stovetop burners, all housed in a purchased compact kitchen unit. Flynn personalized the unit with a leftover square of textured 3form recycled plastic as a backsplash. Wall shelves display daily essentials with an array of colorful retro patterns. Flynn discovered the daisy cookware at a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store, and she’s had fun collecting vintage Mikasa Majorca dinnerware for the studio.
Flynn wanted the functionality of a built-in for the dining area and also wanted to incorporate live-edge wood to reference the burled wood coffee tables of the ’70s. She bought an urban salvaged walnut slab from West Coast Woods, a company in California that gets its wood from trees slated to be cut down that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill. The counter provides plenty of room to eat and can be used outside of mealtimes. “I was very much designing down to the inch,” she says.
Flynn says that a lot of her design process involved putting herself in the space and envisioning what someone might want to do. If the two dining chairs spin around to form a circular seating area with the lounge chairs (seen in the next photo), the counter can function as a serving area or bar. She imagined herself wanting to sit at the counter to work, so she installed an outlet behind the plate rack to transform the dining area into a workstation.
The kitchen area has a small sink, a small refrigerator and two stovetop burners, all housed in a purchased compact kitchen unit. Flynn personalized the unit with a leftover square of textured 3form recycled plastic as a backsplash. Wall shelves display daily essentials with an array of colorful retro patterns. Flynn discovered the daisy cookware at a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store, and she’s had fun collecting vintage Mikasa Majorca dinnerware for the studio.
Flynn wanted the functionality of a built-in for the dining area and also wanted to incorporate live-edge wood to reference the burled wood coffee tables of the ’70s. She bought an urban salvaged walnut slab from West Coast Woods, a company in California that gets its wood from trees slated to be cut down that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill. The counter provides plenty of room to eat and can be used outside of mealtimes. “I was very much designing down to the inch,” she says.
Flynn says that a lot of her design process involved putting herself in the space and envisioning what someone might want to do. If the two dining chairs spin around to form a circular seating area with the lounge chairs (seen in the next photo), the counter can function as a serving area or bar. She imagined herself wanting to sit at the counter to work, so she installed an outlet behind the plate rack to transform the dining area into a workstation.
The living area is in the corner across from the kitchen. (The studio’s entrance is just out of frame to the left of the stacked stools.) Flynn bought this pair of midcentury chairs from a garage sale in Palo Alto 20 years ago for $25. They sat in her attic unused until this project, when she pulled them out, oiled the frames and had new natural latex foam cushions made with custom upholstery to match the chandelier.
Flynn’s company’s name has “sustainable” in it, so of course the paints are zero VOC, the window treatments are made of natural materials, and the wood flooring is FSC certified, but she considers durability another part of her sustainable practice. Using items that will last is important — another reason a lot of the pieces she designs with are vintage.
When buying vintage pieces on a budget, Flynn says it’s important to have a basic understanding of furniture history and construction — and to look at the condition of the piece to determine if it’s worth the investment. If you have to put a lot of time and money into making something usable, it’s not a bargain. Don’t be afraid to walk away, she says, noting that “sometimes you just have to let something beautiful die.” Flynn also suggests making friends with the people who will revive your vintage pieces — upholsterers and woodworkers — and get to know the projects they like to do.
Palo Alto is a university town, among other things, and Flynn has found a niche renting out the studio to visiting professors and researchers who want the amenities of a house but can’t commit to a year-long lease. She says she likes being able to provide these visitors who are far away from home with a taste of California.
More: 5 things to consider when creating new living space in the garage
Flynn’s company’s name has “sustainable” in it, so of course the paints are zero VOC, the window treatments are made of natural materials, and the wood flooring is FSC certified, but she considers durability another part of her sustainable practice. Using items that will last is important — another reason a lot of the pieces she designs with are vintage.
When buying vintage pieces on a budget, Flynn says it’s important to have a basic understanding of furniture history and construction — and to look at the condition of the piece to determine if it’s worth the investment. If you have to put a lot of time and money into making something usable, it’s not a bargain. Don’t be afraid to walk away, she says, noting that “sometimes you just have to let something beautiful die.” Flynn also suggests making friends with the people who will revive your vintage pieces — upholsterers and woodworkers — and get to know the projects they like to do.
Palo Alto is a university town, among other things, and Flynn has found a niche renting out the studio to visiting professors and researchers who want the amenities of a house but can’t commit to a year-long lease. She says she likes being able to provide these visitors who are far away from home with a taste of California.
More: 5 things to consider when creating new living space in the garage
Room at a Glance
What it is: A garage converted into a small apartment
Location: Palo Alto, California
Size: 200 square feet (19 square meters)
Flynn thought through this studio’s flow and furniture arrangement like she would her other projects, even though it’s just one room. She used the entry door and the floor space in front of it to separate the public areas from the more private areas, and arranged mini zones by use to overcome the feeling that no matter where you were, it would feel like you were sitting in a bedroom. The traditionally public areas — kitchen, dining and living area — are on one side of the door, and the more private zones, like the bedroom and office, are on the other.
A photograph of Avila Beach, on the state’s Central Coast, sets the tone as you enter the studio. (The room’s entrance is to the right of this photo.) With the vintage platform bed, desk and colorful Lucite light fixture, this sleeping space takes you back in time; the light-colored bedding and walls keep the room breezy. Flynn tied the color from the light fixture into the rest of the space with the single strip of color down the white bedding, and the powder-blue walls pull the water in the photograph and the bedspread’s muted blue together. She included two traditional-patterned rugs for texture and a handmade quality.