My House, Myself

These walls can talk, and they tell the world exactly who you are and what’s most important to you.

THE JONES GIRLS KEEP IT REAL   While Suzy Jones, 41, a business-development director at Genentech, and her sister, Mary Ann Jones, a 45-year-old psychologist, were looking for a duplex together in 2005, they passed a community center on Divisadero near McAllister that was for sale, and went in out of sheer curiosity—the women had attended the center as kids growing up in the Western Addition. After seeing the exposed plumbing, blue carpet and fluorescent lights, the sisters’ reaction was, “Wow, what a dump.” But Mary Ann’s son, 13-year-old Hassan Gali, precociously disagreed, pointing out the great potential of the floor plan if only a few walls were knocked out. Fast-forward two years, which have been a whirlwind of permits, architects, contractors and one delightful surprise after another. First they found out the building’s papers made it a “two-unit with commercial mixed use,” a zoning dream that allows the owner to do basically anything. And when they broke through the stucco exterior to install a mailbox, what did they find but a Queen Anne Victorian, whose 19th-century details—wood carvings, moldings, French-paned glass—had all been preserved. Suzy’s unit occupies the bottom two stories, Mary Ann and Hassan’s the top two (doggie doors let their mutts, Latte and Simon, go between the apartments). They upgraded the plumbing, opened up the rooms, put in a large garage and new foundation and installed cherry cabinets, granite counters and marble baths—all while preserving the house’s period details. “This house is a tribute to my family,” says Suzy. “It was my mother’s dream that her girls own a piece of property all their own.” They finally move in this month, and are looking forward to returning to their old stomping ground and getting involved again in the community. “I’ll never sell this building,” says Suzy. “This is going to be my home forever.”

THREE ROOMS OF HER OWN   Eleanor Rouse moved here from Richmond, VA, one year ago to work at Girls for a Change, a nonprofit that empowers young women to create social change. “Richmond was a little too conservative for me,” she says. Rouse pretty much knew what she wanted in an apartment: a quiet building, arched ceilings, hardwood floors, roof access and an organic market and yoga classes nearby. Amazingly, she found all of that in the Lower Pac Heights four-unit building, originally built as a ballet studio, that she now calls home. “It feels like a little cozy sanctuary within the city,” she says. Rouse’s favorite aspect of her one-bedroom rental? The big, south-facing windows in the kitchen and bedroom that overlook a small garden graced with a magnolia and a fig tree. “There’s lots of fresh air and sunshine. When there’s a full moon, I can see it from my window, which I love.” Her one complaint? The cold. “My heat doesn’t work very well.” The 38-year-old has lived all over—Washington, DC; Chicago; New York City; Aspen; Phoenix; Portland, OR—and her cross-country moves have left her little in the way of furniture for the time being. But her most treasured possessions—her books, a crystal bowl from her late aunt, photos of her seven nieces and nephews, three prints by aspiring artists—have stayed with her. Though she rents, she’s in no hurry to move again. “I want to stay here until something even more fabulous comes along. This place fits me. It’s open, colorful, spiritual and family-oriented.”

AND BABY MAKES FOUR, IN A ONE-BEDROOM Three years ago, law-firm administrator Jennifer McClanahan was 37 and living in Hayes Valley in the same apartment building as her boyfriend, advertising copywriter Andy Flint. The real-estate market was reaching fever pitch, but that’s not what made them go house hunting; it was her yearly bank statement, showing a grand total of $24,000 withdrawn for rent, that did it. “I almost had a heart attack,” she says. “Between rent and taxes, we were getting eaten alive.” But she didn’t expect to get the first place they bid on. “I thought it was a practice bid,” she says of the $555,000 offer they made on a one-bedroom Church Street condo in a modern, 30-unit complex. When she found out they got the condo, buyer’s remorse kicked in immediately. “It was hardly my dream house. It had purple doors and horrible carpeting. I couldn’t believe I spent over half a million on it.” She and Flint, who are now engaged, moved in with their Lab mix, Sadie, but it wasn’t until they refinanced a year later and found out the condo had already appreciated by 20 percent that they started to warm up to it. In 2006, when McClanahan got pregnant, the couple began looking for a bigger place, but by the time she was six months along, they decided to settle in and make the condo homier. So Flint visited ApartmentTherapy.com’s “9 Month Cure,” a NYC-based blog about small-space family living, and came up with the idea of sliding frosted-glass panels that would cordon off their office space to make a nursery. It’s worked well for Zoë, now six months old. The couple also updated the rest of the condo, and McClanahan loves the cozy but open design for entertaining, the “funky” fireplace and the neighborhood. But she still hates her small kitchen. “It has no gas—there are just some basics we can’t change.” And though the pair, planning to have another child, still needs to move within the next few years, McClanahan says she now feels this was the perfect starter home. “This place allowed us to own, start a family and still continue our lifestyle in the city. We definitely picked the right place to live.”

photography by Stefanie Michejda

THE JONES GIRLS KEEP IT REAL   While Suzy Jones, 41, a business-development director at Genentech, and her sister, Mary Ann Jones, a 45-year-old psychologist, were looking for a duplex together in 2005, they passed a community center on Divisadero near McAllister that was for sale, and went in out of sheer curiosity—the women had attended the center as kids growing up in the Western Addition. After seeing the exposed plumbing, blue carpet and fluorescent lights, the sisters’ reaction was, “Wow, what a dump.” But Mary Ann’s son, 13-year-old Hassan Gali, precociously disagreed, pointing out the great potential of the floor plan if only a few walls were knocked out. Fast-forward two years, which have been a whirlwind of permits, architects, contractors and one delightful surprise after another. First they found out the building’s papers made it a “two-unit with commercial mixed use,” a zoning dream that allows the owner to do basically anything. And when they broke through the stucco exterior to install a mailbox, what did they find but a Queen Anne Victorian, whose 19th-century details—wood carvings, moldings, French-paned glass—had all been preserved. Suzy’s unit occupies the bottom two stories, Mary Ann and Hassan’s the top two (doggie doors let their mutts, Latte and Simon, go between the apartments). They upgraded the plumbing, opened up the rooms, put in a large garage and new foundation and installed cherry cabinets, granite counters and marble baths—all while preserving the house’s period details. “This house is a tribute to my family,” says Suzy. “It was my mother’s dream that her girls own a piece of property all their own.” They finally move in this month, and are looking forward to returning to their old stomping ground and getting involved again in the community. “I’ll never sell this building,” says Suzy. “This is going to be my home forever.”

THREE ROOMS OF HER OWN   Eleanor Rouse moved here from Richmond, VA, one year ago to work at Girls for a Change, a nonprofit that empowers young women to create social change. “Richmond was a little too conservative for me,” she says. Rouse pretty much knew what she wanted in an apartment: a quiet building, arched ceilings, hardwood floors, roof access and an organic market and yoga classes nearby. Amazingly, she found all of that in the Lower Pac Heights four-unit building, originally built as a ballet studio, that she now calls home. “It feels like a little cozy sanctuary within the city,” she says. Rouse’s favorite aspect of her one-bedroom rental? The big, south-facing windows in the kitchen and bedroom that overlook a small garden graced with a magnolia and a fig tree. “There’s lots of fresh air and sunshine. When there’s a full moon, I can see it from my window, which I love.” Her one complaint? The cold. “My heat doesn’t work very well.” The 38-year-old has lived all over—Washington, DC; Chicago; New York City; Aspen; Phoenix; Portland, OR—and her cross-country moves have left her little in the way of furniture for the time being. But her most treasured possessions—her books, a crystal bowl from her late aunt, photos of her seven nieces and nephews, three prints by aspiring artists—have stayed with her. Though she rents, she’s in no hurry to move again. “I want to stay here until something even more fabulous comes along. This place fits me. It’s open, colorful, spiritual and family-oriented.”

AND BABY MAKES FOUR, IN A ONE-BEDROOM Three years ago, law-firm administrator Jennifer McClanahan was 37 and living in Hayes Valley in the same apartment building as her boyfriend, advertising copywriter Andy Flint. The real-estate market was reaching fever pitch, but that’s not what made them go house hunting; it was her yearly bank statement, showing a grand total of $24,000 withdrawn for rent, that did it. “I almost had a heart attack,” she says. “Between rent and taxes, we were getting eaten alive.” But she didn’t expect to get the first place they bid on. “I thought it was a practice bid,” she says of the $555,000 offer they made on a one-bedroom Church Street condo in a modern, 30-unit complex. When she found out they got the condo, buyer’s remorse kicked in immediately. “It was hardly my dream house. It had purple doors and horrible carpeting. I couldn’t believe I spent over half a million on it.” She and Flint, who are now engaged, moved in with their Lab mix, Sadie, but it wasn’t until they refinanced a year later and found out the condo had already appreciated by 20 percent that they started to warm up to it. In 2006, when McClanahan got pregnant, the couple began looking for a bigger place, but by the time she was six months along, they decided to settle in and make the condo homier. So Flint visited ApartmentTherapy.com’s “9 Month Cure,” a NYC-based blog about small-space family living, and came up with the idea of sliding frosted-glass panels that would cordon off their office space to make a nursery. It’s worked well for Zoë, now six months old. The couple also updated the rest of the condo, and McClanahan loves the cozy but open design for entertaining, the “funky” fireplace and the neighborhood. But she still hates her small kitchen. “It has no gas—there are just some basics we can’t change.” And though the pair, planning to have another child, still needs to move within the next few years, McClanahan says she now feels this was the perfect starter home. “This place allowed us to own, start a family and still continue our lifestyle in the city. We definitely picked the right place to live.”

photography by Stefanie Michejda

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