The Shaw/Rauch Family Living Small

Bedrooms: 1
Property: Owned
Square Feet: 625 approx.
Adults: 2
Children: 2

From the street the Shaw/Rauch family home mirrors the victorians typical of their Mission neighborhood. However, pass through the main house and you are presented with something unexpected. A modern cottage at the end of a garden. It is this little hideaway in the middle of the city that Dav, Kate and their two boys have called home for the past year.  

Townes (5), greets us at the door. He has been playing Monopoly by himself and is eager to let us know the status of his imaginary opponent. We take off our shoes on the deck and walk inside.

Sofas in the living space convert to the boys' beds at night. Lego organisation is answered here with large clear storage boxes.

At just over 600 square feet spread over two floors, most of the house is on display as soon as you enter. The downstairs is comprised of one large room encompassing the kitchen, living and dining areas. Part of this space also converts into the boys’ bedroom at night. Upstairs, a mezzanine level hosts the master bedroom and the bathroom, which holds the distinction of being the only walled room in the building.

The dining area and entrance to the cottage.

The open plan nature of the home has allowed Dav and Kate to take advantage of every square foot available. There are clever and thoughtful uses of every surface and nook. Storage built into walls and under the stairs, skylights to illuminate and open the space, underfloor heating, and multipurpose furniture such as the daybed and sofa downstairs that convert into the two boys’ beds at night.

A functional kitchen, overseen by Lego projects. Bench space is at a premium, but the coffee machine makes the cut.

When Dav and Kate purchased this property in 2012 there was little more than a shack standing in the place of their now tiny home. When putting together paperwork for planning permissions they poured over old Sanborn maps and other documents. Their research gave them evidence of prior residency, which helped them to gain their permission. Even so, the drawn-out process still took around two years.

Storage under the stairs was made possible by moving the water heaters to a pop-out closet outside.

The construction of the building took longer than initially expected, largely due to the fact that the city required it to be a renovation rather than a new build. An edict that made their lives more difficult during the planning and construction process, but one that they are ultimately happy with. Now that the renovations are complete, they have a modern cottage that retains the shape and character of the original structure. The roofline, and upstairs the arch window and french doors that look out over the yard and leafy trees. They appreciate that in this way the integrity of historical buildings are preserved in the city.

Despite their fondness for the cottage, living here can be challenging at times. It’s tough for each member of the family to find solitude - space to work, rest or recharge. This is especially felt by the two more introverted personalities of the family, Kate and Silas, “we both need to get some alone time before we can go back out and face the madness,” says Kate. She adds “I think a lot of it is just getting to know what your needs are and understanding how you take space.”

Silas (8) is cutting up some mango on the dining table. When asked what he thinks of life in the cottage, he echoes Kate’s statement, replying “...Cramped”. Though next he acknowledges the togetherness that they have felt as a family unit. It’s easy to communicate with each other when you are all within a few feet. He also enjoys how warm it is, underfloor heating and new walls and windows make for a cozy space.

Dav, Kate, Townes, and Silas.

For Townes, their gregarious youngest child and resident extrovert, living in such close quarters has been enjoyable. This is true for his dad too, “It’s actually been a really wonderful experience, I thought we’d be killing each other, but I quite like it. Except for those moments where I really need to do work,” says Dav.

Some challenges have mostly been overcome with the help of creative solutions or a little rearranging. Dav and Kate have utilized their deck and outdoor space to allow for entertaining more friends than can comfortably fit inside. An outdoor dining table on the deck, grill, and a fire pit in the yard creates a warm convivial atmosphere. And when the kids need to go to bed, the adults can keep chatting outside without too much disruption.

Little things have made big differences to daily life. Take the large red trunks that sit outside on either side of the front door. These hold all of the family’s shoes. With the footwear stored outside, closet space is maximized inside, freeing up limited clothes storage. Other details, like recessing the toilet cistern into the wall when building the bathroom have all helped to take advantage of the space available to them and make daily living a little easier.

Red storage boxes house the family shoe collection punctuate their outdoor space - a welcome extension to their living area.

On reflection they’ve learned a lot about how they live from their experience, “...the big takeaway for me from living here is that you don’t need as much stuff as you think you do... I’ve really liked the exercise of packing up everything and putting it all in storage and discovering that we really need very little. That was kind of liberating,” says Kate.

She summarises the feelings that have come to a surface as a family of four in a tiny home, “There’s more cosiness, there’s more love and there’s more tension and there’s more fighting. I think everything just gets a little bit more amplified. More intimate, and all of the stuff that comes with being more intimate,” says Kate.

Words: Rachel Jamieson
Pictures: Rachel Jamieson

The Whaley Family Living Small

Bedrooms: 2
Property: Rental
Square Feet: 525
Adults: 2
Children: 2
Pets: 3

It would be unusual to walk down 24th street without passing a mom pushing a stroller, or a kid on a micro-mini, or a dad wearing an Ergo carrier. Most likely you will encounter all three, plus a Labradoodle. Noe Valley has a reputation for being the quintessential San Francisco family neighborhood. It is in the very heart of this most child friendly part of town that I meet the Whaley family. Two adults, two kids, two cats and a dog, perched above a rug shop in their cosy two bedroom apartment.

The short climb up the shared stairs offers a fitting preview to the Whaley’s small space. A cast of items have found strategic homes in wall recesses and behind window-wells. From strollers, to bikes, to toys that have fallen out of favour; the stairwell alone is a well executed project in reclaimed land.

Once at the top of the stairs, the Whaley’s front door opens to a hallway full of original character details. Built into the wall on one side is a charming telephone niche with custom fold down stool, and across the hall, a WC featuring a light well and decorated with old subway tiles. It also features a custom built shallow shelf that allows for bathroom tissue rolls to be stacked high, tidy and out of the way. Continuing down to the end of the hall, the main living area of the apartment opens up, revealing the kitchen, living room and dining zones. Off this space, the two bedrooms and a private terrace patio can be accessed.

Grayson, the boisterous two and a half-year-old, takes a moment to introduce the family dog. He jumps excitedly with one arm outstretched to keep a treat out of reach until Ranger has ‘sat’. Next he bounds into his room. Grayson’s bedroom is kitted out with a toddler bed placed Montessori style on the floor, as well as a twin trundle bed. Tracie and Chris are particularly fond of the trundle, a feature that allows the room to easily transform into a guest room when family or friends visit, or an extra bed for dad to catch some Zs during the newborn nights. The boys clothes, toys, and baby items are given the rather lovely home of an original built-in china hutch, “we decorated it with wrapping paper and changed to draw pulls to get rid of the sharp edges,” Tracie explains. A side door that opens from Grayson’s bedroom reveals a small disused landing which has been expertly packed to the rafters - adding to the tetris-esque theme of extra storage in this apartment.  

In the living area, Tracie feeds four-month-old Beau on the sofa. Available wall space is well utilized in this room, with floor to ceiling shelving that Tracie and Chris sourced second hand. The shelves house everything from the television, to books, to a crate for their dog to sleep in at night. The lower shelves are kept kid friendly with toys and books, with harder to reach shelves hosting breakables and more precious things. Tracie recalls a sweet memory of how they arranged things back when Grayson was just starting to crawl, “we put a mirror down on the lowest shelves… he would crawl over and kiss himself.” Nowadays Grayson’s toybox and train set live at floor level below.

Across in the kitchen, Chris makes a tea and keeps an eye on Grayson who is blowing bubbles on the patio. It’s a small kitchen and bench space is at a premium, but the family are able to utilize vertical planes by hanging utensils and storage baskets. They also organize drawers meticulously to take advantage of what storage is inbuilt. Over at the dining table sits a familiar sight, a well-loved Stokke high chair acquired from Craigslist.

In the master bedroom, Tracie and Chris have accommodated the newest baby Whaley in a way that doesn’t take up a lot of space. They use an Arm’s Reach co-sleeper beside their bed as a bassinet, and choose to eschew the changing table. The couple extend this advice to others welcoming a baby into a small home, “skip getting a changing table… use a bed or couch instead combined with a changing pad,” says Chris. More storage is to be found in this bedroom in the form of drawers under the bed that house linen and clothing.

A particularly treasured feature of this apartment is the private patio. With views out to Mt Sutro, it must be quite a treat to sit out on during the sunnier months. As is, even on one of San Francisco’s wetter winter days, Grayson is able to ride around on his trike accompanied by Ranger, enjoying the fresh air. The family cats also get a special home on the patio, a cat kennel type contraption to which Cinder and Sabine can retreat to escape the dog, or humans, or just to nap as cats generally like to do.

As Grayson comes back inside, Chris lets Tracie know that he has downed the bubble liquid. Toddlers. The household is busy and bustling and with two under three, there is always something to do. That factor doesn’t necessarily get any more difficult in a smaller space, “there’s less space to make a mess and hence less places to clean,” said Chris. In fact, he is surprised at the ease of living with kids in smaller quarters, “you feel more connected as a family, yet with a two bedroom we always have room for our oldest son to play or read independently,” Chris adds.

As wonderful as this little Noe nest has been for the Whaleys, of course there have been some not so wonderful factors. Like noise transparency, a familiar foe for small space dwellers. For Tracie and Chris, that has meant significant compromises to keep things quiet at naptime and bedtime. Watching TV, cleaning, or talking loudly are off limits, “practically no noise can be made after hours.” says Chris. He admits that in some ways it hasn’t been the worst thing to have these limitations, “it forces us to go to bed earlier, or do silent activities like more reading.”

The location is a major factor in making this space work, “we walk to the store for our groceries, we walk to the parks… we love weekends when we don’t have plans that require the car and can just enjoy doing things like shopping and playing together,” says Tracie. Familiar faces abound, the Whaleys are mainstays in the neighborhood and enjoy their community immensely, “we can hardly go a block without running into someone we know - a neighbor, a shopkeeper, we’ve really developed a community here.” Tracie adds.

Note: The interview for this piece took place just a few weeks before the Whaley family were due to move to their new home north of San Francisco. They were keen to share their experience living as a family in their cherished little Noe nest before leaving. We wish them success and happiness. And of course, a little extra leg room.

Pictures: Rachel Jamieson
Words: Rachel Jamieson