Danny Lim and Jennie Lee are proof that if you can survive living in a 400-square-foot studio for four months with newborn twins and a six-year-old, you can survive pretty much anything. While it’s not an experience they’re keen to repeat, they got through it with their humor and sanity intact.

The couple considered themselves lucky when they purchased a 1921 Craftsman in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. With just two bedrooms in a little over 1,200 square feet, the house had its shortcomings—but the 7,000-square-foot lot offered something more: the opportunity to create a multigenerational property for themselves, their growing family, and Jennie’s parents.

As an architect, Danny felt confident about assuming general contractor duties in addition to planning a renovation that would right some wrongs undertaken by previous owners. He would also design and build the home’s 600-square-foot addition and a standalone ADU—all while keeping his day job working for the architecture and design firm Gensler.

And then the reality of what he’d taken on set in. “I’ve had experience working with contractors, but I underestimated how hard this was going to be,” Danny says. “And as much as I tried to phase it perfectly, when the twins were born, the house wasn’t done, and we had to live in the studio first.”

$14,200 Concrete Slab	$14,750 Rough Framing	$2,100 Insulation
$2,300 Roofing	$6,500 Plumbing	$5,700 Electrical
$2,850 HVAC	$3,800 Doors & Windows	$5,200 Wood Siding
$4,300 Drywall	$4,100 Painting	$3,100 Kitchenette Counter
$500 Shower Hot Mop	$5,700 Shower Tiling	$2,100 Concrete Finishing
$2,200 Kitchen Cabinets	$3,100 Custom Shelving/Carpentry	$1,710 Appliances
$2,100 Lighting	$130 Hardware	$2,990 Kitchen/Bath Fixtures
ADU Grand Total: $89,430

“My hubris was not unfounded,” he adds wryly, “but it didn’t quite play out the way I expected. I was fortunate to build relationships with so many wonderful subcontractors who were experienced, patient, and willing to partner with me on all my crazy ideas, but also push back when necessary.”

Though he relied on builder Konrad Ilnicki for the big moves, like the foundation, grading, framing, and roofing, Danny oversaw the other trades, from the plumbing to the painting. It helped, Danny says, that his and his wife’s visions for the property aligned. “We’re both Korean-American, and taking care of your parents is part of our culture. We knew we had to expand and create an ADU for them.”

It also helped that they were able to complete the project over the course of nearly four years. “We had what we had financially, and there was no going over it,” he says. “Because everything took so long, and the pandemic happened at the tail end, the final touches took a while. Some of them I took on myself, while for others we hired people as they became available. At that point, we were able to get more loans because we’d added square footage and there was more equity. That’s how we were able to do the pool at the end of it all.”

The property’s transformation began at the front, where Danny sensitively streamlined original details (like the windows) while retaining the home’s bungalow credentials. “I gradually modernized the language of the exterior as you move to the rear of the property,” he says.

For the ADU itself, he leaned into a more contemporary aesthetic, complementing the main home’s lap siding with cedar siding laid vertically. “I changed the orientation of the siding, but it maintains the design language of the house.”

To save money, Danny set the kitchen and the bathroom back to back to consolidate plumbing lines, paired Ikea cabinets with Semihandmade fronts, and added trim to update existing windows. Rather than install costly flooring, he had the concrete slab ground down to expose the aggregate.

A vaulted ceiling and north-facing sliders lend a feeling of airiness to what is essentially one large room. The diminutive kitchen is all about efficiency, with smaller appliances and built-in cabinetry. There’s room for a dining area, and beyond that a living area that doubles as the bedroom thanks to the sleeper sofa.

Along the way, Jennie designed landscaping that would respect the family’s need for privacy while making everything feel as natural and organic as possible. Complementing the decomposed granite and gravel used for the hardscaping, she selected an array of drought-tolerant plants and trees in various shades of green.

Looking back, Danny, who launched his own firm, Holdstead Design, about a year into the project, says the challenges were an undeniable learning experience. “As an architect, you have standards. One of the biggest psychological challenges was being the designer and having these standards—but also being the builder, as well as the owner with a budget.”

Asked if he would offer any advice to other architects considering a similar project, he laughs. “Don’t let your hubris lead the way.”

More Budget Breakdown stories:

In a Pandemic Pivot, a Couple Take Up Carpentry and Build Their Own Home for $35K

In Norway, a $91K Garden Studio Teeters Atop a Boulder

How a Couple Built a 480-Square-Foot Home for $68K in Cash

Project Credits:

Architect and General Contractor: Danny Lim, Holdstead Design / @holdstead_design

Builder: Konrad Ilnicki, Konrad I. Inc.

Structural Consultant: Patrick Bambrough, Smits + Bambrough / @smitsbambrough

Interior and Landscape Design: Jennie Lee

Landscape Installation: Carmen Orozco, Barranca Landscape

Pool Contractor: Cody Moore, Artistry Pools Los Angeles

Cabinetry and Millwork: Arturo Morales, Morales Custom Cabinets / @mcc_custom_cabinets