Washington couple keeps it simple.
Story by Janice Brewster
Photos by Dale Lang
When a piece of land adjacent to their daughter’s home went on the market in Langley, Washington, Carol McNeil and Larry Kwarsick didn’t hesitate. They bought the lot and began planning a life-changing move.
For 20 years, Carol and Larry had lived in a 2,100-square-foot traditional home also in Langley, a small town on Whidbey Island. “We had a lot of house we didn’t use,” Carol says. “We thought it was a great time to downsize.”
The couple’s new lot, with its view of meadow and trees, called for a home that would blend indoors with out. The couple enjoys spending time outside and wanted to feel connected to the surroundings and the island’s temperate climate. Large windows, an open floor plan and a contemporary style appealed to them. They recalled that an acquaintance of Larry’s, architect Emory Baldwin, had founded FabCab, a company based in Seattle that designs and sells pre-fabricated, environmentally friendly homes.
Designing Small
For FabCab, pre-fabricated doesn’t translate to cookie-cutter homes. “Clients like that we are not starting from scratch,” Bruce Waltar of FabCab says, “but most, if not all, our clients make changes.” Carol and Larry worked with FabCab’s design team to reconfigure one of the company’s standard plans for a three-bedroom home into a home with two bedrooms: One would be their master, and the other would serve as an office and sewing area.
A large center space would accommodate the kitchen and great room under a roof that slants up from an 8-foot height at the entry side of the home to a 14-foot-tall wall of windows flanking a gas fireplace.
When complete, the plan called for a home measuring just 1,440 square feet. Some people find downsizing daunting, Waltar admits. “Storage is always an issue.” For Carol and Larry, it was a matter of timing and attitude. “Stuff doesn’t mean a lot to me,” Carol says. “Getting rid of stuff and simplifying seemed like a good thing.”
Carol, a retired nurse, had watched her parents age, and wanted to create a home where she and Larry could be comfortable for years to come. FabCab emphasizes universal design with clients as a way to make homes work for people of all ages and abilities. The couple’s one-level home includes a threshold-free shower in the master bedroom and wide doorways.
Choosing Green
Living with a smaller footprint is inherently more environmentally friendly, with less space to heat over the years and fewer resources required to build the home initially. With FabCab’s help, the couple upped the green ante by also including passive solar heating, bamboo flooring, carpet tiles in the bedroom and recycled-material countertops in the kitchen. Energy star appliances add to the home’s eco-friendliness.
FabCab has worked with other clients to include green roofs, solar energy systems, geothermal heating options and rainwater collection systems.
Under Construction
Carol and Larry chose to use FabCab’s TimberCab system that calls for a traditional timber frame skeleton enclosed with structural insulated panels (SIPs). The panels, which are typically made by sandwiching insulating foam between sheets of oriented-strand board, create a tight envelope around the house, leaving the wood frame visible on the interior. The frame also allows for expansive windows.
Jim Hall of James Hall & Associates built the home in about six months. Once the foundation was prepared, FabCab began delivering the building materials for the shell, including the frame’s posts and beams and the SIPs. A typical FabCab home can be weather-tight in about three weeks, Waltar says, which is faster than a conventional stick-framed home.
The SIPs arrive on site with openings already cut for windows and doors, and chases already drilled for wiring that will run through the exterior walls. The frame is pre-cut, as well, and ready for assembly. Pre-fabricating the home’s elements before delivery decreases waste on the job site and helps ensure a quality finish.
A New Beginning
Now that the home is finished, Larry and Carol are thrilled with the outcome and the way the home looks like an unassuming ranch from the curb, disguising the soaring interior. “I love the feel of the huge open space,” Carol says. “It feels like the whole outside is inside.”
She and Larry enjoy watching the wildlife that share their land. “There’s so much glass, almost anywhere you sit you can see heron, bald eagles, coyote and deer.” At night, they star gaze through the windows in the master bedroom and watch the moon move across the sky.
They adapted to small-home living by purchasing a low-profile king size bed and selecting a drop-leaf table that sits behind the sofa most days, but that extends to fit 10 people for their frequent family meals. Window seats on either side of the fireplace provide extra seating when family and friends visit.
With the joy of family and the beauty of their location surrounding them, Larry and Carol don’t miss that extra space one bit.
When a piece of land adjacent to their daughter’s home went on the market in Langley, Washington, Carol McNeil and Larry Kwarsick didn’t hesitate. They bought the lot and began planning a life-changing move.
For 20 years, Carol and Larry had lived in a 2,100-square-foot traditional home also in Langley, a small town on Whidbey Island. “We had a lot of house we didn’t use,” Carol says. “We thought it was a great time to downsize.”
The couple’s new lot, with its view of meadow and trees, called for a home that would blend indoors with out. The couple enjoys spending time outside and wanted to feel connected to the surroundings and the island’s temperate climate. Large windows, an open floor plan and a contemporary style appealed to them. They recalled that an acquaintance of Larry’s, architect Emory Baldwin, had founded FabCab, a company based in Seattle that designs and sells pre-fabricated, environmentally friendly homes.
Designing Small
For FabCab, pre-fabricated doesn’t translate to cookie-cutter homes. “Clients like that we are not starting from scratch,” Bruce Waltar of FabCab says, “but most, if not all, our clients make changes.” Carol and Larry worked with FabCab’s design team to reconfigure one of the company’s standard plans for a three-bedroom home into a home with two bedrooms: One would be their master, and the other would serve as an office and sewing area.
A large center space would accommodate the kitchen and great room under a roof that slants up from an 8-foot height at the entry side of the home to a 14-foot-tall wall of windows flanking a gas fireplace.
When complete, the plan called for a home measuring just 1,440 square feet. Some people find downsizing daunting, Waltar admits. “Storage is always an issue.” For Carol and Larry, it was a matter of timing and attitude. “Stuff doesn’t mean a lot to me,” Carol says. “Getting rid of stuff and simplifying seemed like a good thing.”
Carol, a retired nurse, had watched her parents age, and wanted to create a home where she and Larry could be comfortable for years to come. FabCab emphasizes universal design with clients as a way to make homes work for people of all ages and abilities. The couple’s one-level home includes a threshold-free shower in the master bedroom and wide doorways.
Choosing Green
Living with a smaller footprint is inherently more environmentally friendly, with less space to heat over the years and fewer resources required to build the home initially. With FabCab’s help, the couple upped the green ante by also including passive solar heating, bamboo flooring, carpet tiles in the bedroom and recycled-material countertops in the kitchen. Energy star appliances add to the home’s eco-friendliness.
FabCab has worked with other clients to include green roofs, solar energy systems, geothermal heating options and rainwater collection systems.
Under Construction
Carol and Larry chose to use FabCab’s TimberCab system that calls for a traditional timber frame skeleton enclosed with structural insulated panels (SIPs). The panels, which are typically made by sandwiching insulating foam between sheets of oriented-strand board, create a tight envelope around the house, leaving the wood frame visible on the interior. The frame also allows for expansive windows.
Jim Hall of James Hall & Associates built the home in about six months. Once the foundation was prepared, FabCab began delivering the building materials for the shell, including the frame’s posts and beams and the SIPs. A typical FabCab home can be weather-tight in about three weeks, Waltar says, which is faster than a conventional stick-framed home.
The SIPs arrive on site with openings already cut for windows and doors, and chases already drilled for wiring that will run through the exterior walls. The frame is pre-cut, as well, and ready for assembly. Pre-fabricating the home’s elements before delivery decreases waste on the job site and helps ensure a quality finish.
A New Beginning
Now that the home is finished, Larry and Carol are thrilled with the outcome and the way the home looks like an unassuming ranch from the curb, disguising the soaring interior. “I love the feel of the huge open space,” Carol says. “It feels like the whole outside is inside.”
She and Larry enjoy watching the wildlife that share their land. “There’s so much glass, almost anywhere you sit you can see heron, bald eagles, coyote and deer.” At night, they star gaze through the windows in the master bedroom and watch the moon move across the sky.
They adapted to small-home living by purchasing a low-profile king size bed and selecting a drop-leaf table that sits behind the sofa most days, but that extends to fit 10 people for their frequent family meals. Window seats on either side of the fireplace provide extra seating when family and friends visit.
With the joy of family and the beauty of their location surrounding them, Larry and Carol don’t miss that extra space one bit.
