Who: Jack Gelbloom, 66, retired music teacher; Jessica Goldstein, 70, retired college English teacher; and their daughter Lee Gelbloom, 30, gardener and contemporary dancer.

The history: Jack and Jessica met in 1987, and their daughter, Lee, was born a couple of years later. In 1994, the family purchased a four-bed, two-bath in Seaton Village for $250,000. Over the years, they did some renovations, including a $20,000 backyard landscaping project, which involved tearing down the existing garage.

In 2007, at the age of 17, Lee left home to study in Israel, then got a bachelor’s degree in contemporary dance at Concordia University in Montreal. After Lee moved back to Toronto in 2014, she lived in more than five different places across the GTA, everywhere from an apartment above a fish market in Kensington Market to a friend’s cabin just outside of Brampton. But nothing really stuck.

Then, in mid-2019, Lee heard about the city legalizing laneway suites. She had taken a workshop about tiny home construction and got excited about the potential for erecting a secondary residence behind her family home.

The build: Construction started in late 2019 with expected completion in the summer of 2020. The project went smoothly, even with Covid delays.

Lee and her parents opted for several upgrades, including rockwool insulation, larger windows, and custom tile work. The final cost of construction was $350,000.

The outcome: Lee moved in and finally had a stable home.

Here’s the master bedroom:

With a built-in open wardrobe:

Here’s the living room. Lee loves reading near the big window.

And the kitchen:

To subsidize her living costs, Lee rented out the lower-level bedroom to a close friend.

Lee was initially concerned about privacy, but her parents have been respectful of her space. They plan to spend more time together in the backyard.

After years of instability, Lee finally has a home she can call her own.