As an urban planner, Marina Martos Dabel was dreaming about adding an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, long before she and her husband, Dr. Pascal Dabel, purchased their Silver Lake home in 2016.
“I always wanted to get my hands on a backyard rec room or ADU project,” Marina says. When it came to the stylish addition the family ultimately made to their two-car garage, their vision was clear: It was an excellent opportunity to add value to their home and make the space feel special.
“Our house had been flipped and felt sterile,” she said. “Our ADU was a fun way for us to create something personal.”
The Dabels’ backyard before the family added their stylish ADU.
(Susan Nwankpa Gillespie)
The couple embarked on the project in 2020, collaborating with architect Susan Nwankpa Gillespie of Nwankpa Design. Previously, Marina and Gillespie worked together on architectural projects in the Hollywood Hills.
Despite facing numerous setbacks, including an elusive contractor and less-than-ideal timing, the Dabels saw the project through. “We were a COVID-19 casualty when it came to plan check and permitting,” Marina says.
A nine-foot-long window seat, installed above storage drawers, serves as a twin-size daybed in the ADU.
“We keep the doors open in the ADU, and I can see the boys playing with their train sets while I’m cooking dinner in the main house,” says Marina Martos Dabel, shown here with her husband, Dr. Pascal Dabel, and their architect, Susan Nwankpa Gillespie, center.
“It was a long process,” adds Pascal, a nephrologist, of the more than two-year construction process. “But the result was worth the wait.”
The couple financed the $400,000 project, which had been budgeted at $300,000 before the pandemic, by taking advantage of low interest rates and tapping into their equity and savings. “We thought it was a smart investment,” Marina says.
Gillespie acknowledges that while ADUs started as an accessible way to create more affordable housing, the skyrocketing cost of construction, including the price of lumber, has made them increasingly out of people’s reach.
The kitchen has a full-size oven and smaller appliances, including a dishwasher and refrigerator. Although it is in use as an open, flexible space, there is ample room for a dining room table should they require one.
Marina Martos Dabel stands inside the lower level of the ADU. “I feel like it’s an extension of the house,” she says.
“Much of it depends on the contractor,” Gillespie says. “If someone is good, they’ll work on larger projects [that go for higher bids]. No one is hurting for work right now. The best way to move forward with a contractor is to get recommendations and talk to people. If you build an ADU, you must decide if the cost is worth it.”
Having previously worked together a few years ago on updating the interiors of the Dabels’ cookie-cutter house, Gillespie and Marina were in sync from the start. “We set variables for the small space,” Gillespie says. “They wanted to do two stories. The downstairs needed to be flexible. They wanted a deck, a garage, a private space and a common space.”
Marina Martos Dabel and her husband, Dr. Pascal Dabel, watch their children, Lorenzo, 7, and Lucien, 3, center, play in the upstairs bedroom of their ADU.
The kids play in the second-floor bedroom, which opens to an outdoor deck paved in a patchwork of blue concrete tiles.
Storage was also a requirement for the ADU. “We needed a place to hide the toys,” Marina laughs, referring to the surplus of Legos belonging to her sons, Lucien, 3, and Lorenzo, 7.
Gillespie drew up three or four plans for the ADU, and the ultimate creation is a winner: an 1,182-square-foot modern one-bedroom home with a full kitchen, two bathrooms and a 281-square-foot roof deck built on top of the existing two-car garage.
Because the lawn and paved areas on the 6,000-square-foot lot are already taken up by the family’s activities, the second-story deck became an essential part of the ADU’s design. (The Dabels had hoped to add a steel trellis to screen out harsh sunlight, but after receiving a bid of $50,000, they decided to go with an umbrella instead.)
“If we ever rent it out, any tenant is going to want their own private outdoor space,” says Marina. The homeowners could also add a fence between the two homes, which are 35 feet apart, for further privacy.
The view outdoors is framed by a shower window featuring Midcentury gridded tile.
Gillespie agrees, saying: “I like having punches of nature and privacy, especially in an urban context. Even though there is still a yard, outdoor space is important for whoever lives in the ADU. The roof deck became another oasis and entertaining space.”
The lower level of the ADU includes an open living area with polished concrete floors, a full kitchen installed along one wall and a powder room. Although it is being used as a flexible space, there is ample room to add a dining room table in the future. A nine-foot-long window seat, installed above storage drawers, serves as a twin-size daybed, allowing the couple, or tenants, to use the room for guests if necessary. Thanks to multiple drop-down blinds on remote controls, people can sleep downstairs and upstairs.
The roof deck, laid out above the two-car garage, serves as a private oasis.
Keeping the ground floor free and clear also offers options for future aging-in-place needs. “Aging in place is tough with stairs,” Gillespie says. “But they could turn the downstairs into a bedroom space.”
The sunny second floor serves as the primary bedroom, complemented by white oak floors, a bathroom and a large closet that houses a washer and dryer. The expansive bedroom, which could also easily accommodate a desk or a Peloton bike, is illuminated by skylights and opens to the outdoor deck, which is paved with a patchwork of blue Zia cement tiles.
Both floors feature bold color choices, including tangerine-colored cabinets in the kitchen, a perforated metal panel stairway painted a soft green, a kitchen backsplash in a soft mocha Zia tile and green tile in the shower.
“We want things to be fresh, fun and playful, but still sophisticated,” Gillespie says. “But it doesn’t have to be just primary colors. We used lots of textures.”
“An ADU is a great opportunity to design something fun and aspirational,” says architect Susan Nwankpa Gillespie. “It’s an opportunity to play a little bit.”
The Dabels, whose bedroom in the main house is upstairs and looks across the yard into the ADU, requested privacy for both homes. “I didn’t want to look into the bedroom behind us,” Marina says. “That is why the windows go north-south and not east-west.”
Inspired by the diverse population of Los Angeles, Gillespie, who is Nigerian American, wrapped the exterior of the second floor — a windowless blank stucco facade — in vertical 2½-by-6-foot timber slats installed in a wood pattern reminiscent of hand-woven West African kente cloth. In contrast with the downstairs, the second floor appears to float above the ground floor.
“I am interested in living in a Western context architecturally, but with such a diverse population in Los Angeles, I thought about creating an interesting mix of modernist principles and West African textiles,” Gillespie says. “Part of it was softening the severity of a typical solid facade by creating more of a craft feel.”
A sitting area in the upstairs bedroom is illuminated by a narrow window that faces away from the main house.
The Dabels are happy with the results: ample room to park multiple cars in the newly paved driveway, a concrete pad with enough space for a basketball court and a small patch of lawn where their sons can play with the family’s dogs, Gringo and Sedona.
For now, the ADU feels like an extension of the main home. Marina and Pascal laugh when they recall their November Friendsgiving, which spilled out of their home and into the ADU. “It was packed,” Pascal says. “We had more than 60 people here, including about 30 kids. There were people on the stairs and the balcony. We even squeezed in a bounce house.”
Adds Marina: “The ADU is where people love to congregate.”
Lorenzo Dabel, 7, looks over a chalk drawing he made for his parents.
Although the couple has enjoyed hosting friends and family, including relatives from Argentina and Pascal’s mother from Georgia — she refers to the ADU as her “resort” — they have always intended to rent the backyard home. However, that was before fires ravaged Pacific Palisades and Altadena this month.
At the moment, they are housing a friend’s multi-generational family of five, including their friend’s grandmother, who all fled the Eaton fire.
“We won’t be renting the place out for now,” Marina says, “but we will make it available to friends and family as needed. They’ll be using our ADU as a second base. They very much want to be back home, but have no idea when water service will resume or be safe to use. So we offered to let them come whenever they needed for showering, laundry and sleep. They’re finding it more challenging to be home than they had hoped. They’re very dear friends; it’s the least we could do to help.”
