Editor’s note: This story is part of a series on nontraditional living arrangements for Whatcom County residents in a challenging and expensive housing market. We’ll highlight their creative solutions to find a home.
Nicole and Logan Hilgers’ apartment isn’t an apartment at all: Technically, it’s the basement of a 100-year-old church. But over their seven-year tenure, the couple have tailored the space into a family home.
Artwork and craft supplies are strewn about the living area, and a platform at the rear wall functions as a play area for their son, Floyd. The sole “bedroom” is small, located just outside a tiny (albeit well-stocked) kitchen. Quilts and prayer shawls drape from seemingly every surface: couches, chairs, the bed, even walls.
“Living in a church, we feel like we have to pray somehow,” Nicole said, “because this place really takes care of us.”
After the church basement caught fire in winter 2022, Logan’s loved ones made the quilts and prayer shawls to keep the couple warm. Restorations took six months — but rather than move altogether, the Hilgers opted to sleep on a mattress in the sanctuary.
Part of why Nicole and Logan stay here, even amid extreme circumstances, is the cost of housing. Their rent is affordable relative to the rest of town; in Bellingham, median rent is now $1,900 per month. Median household income is $54,867.
But living in an unusual space has its perks: Before the fire, Nicole ran a thriving community art studio in the sanctuary. She enjoys the “creative challenge” of making a home from unlikely nooks and crannies.
“Every year we think, ‘Oh, we’ll move. We’ll find a real home, a traditional home with bedrooms and closets,’” she said. “But every year when that time comes, we’re just like, ‘Oh, we can’t leave. What are we thinking?’”
From sanctuary to art studio
Nicole is an art teacher by trade and is completing a master’s in art therapy. Logan currently works for the nonprofit Growing Veterans, and he also has a background in special education. The couple moved to Washington from Arizona in 2018.
Initially, “I was living in my grandparents’ basement down in Alger, looking for a job and looking for a place to live, and it was pretty difficult,” Nicole said. “We weren’t finding anything.”
While scrolling Craigslist late one night, Nicole came across an ad for an unusual one-bedroom, located in the basement of a church. The photos were dimly lit, but rent looked reasonable for the size. As an added bonus, it was mostly furnished.
Nicole viewed the space and learned the building was built in 1910 as Trinity German Evangelical Lutheran Church. Its current owner bought it about 30 years ago; he restored the interior, painted the outside vivid blue and purple, and even added aquatic-themed murals.
“Immediately I felt like I could just see myself — almost like in memories, but of the future — dancing around and just feeling really creative,” she said, “and we hadn’t even gone upstairs yet. We didn’t even know that was part of the deal.”
The selling point was the sanctuary: bereft of pews and pulpits but still adorned with turn-of-the-century stained glass windows. The landlord once used it to host community freestyle dances. He said Nicole and Logan were welcome to use it, too.
Since Nicole wasn’t able to find a job teaching art in school, she saw the space as an opportunity to “do her own thing,” while also incorporating philosophies from her graduate studies. From January 2019 through December 2022, she used the sanctuary as a community art studio, dubbed Creative Hope.
Events ranged from “paint and play” sessions for kids and adults to weekly art clubs, as well as private studio sessions. Local artists hosted workshops in everything from collage to zine-making, tapestry weaving and upcycle “playshops.” The sanctuary even doubled as an event space, with Creative Hope hosting markets for the folk art pop-up Black Rabbit Workshop in late 2022.
“For a few years there, we were doing classes and workshops and events just all the time,” she said. “It almost seems like that space really asks for that. It’s built to be shared.”
Fire and new beginnings
At the peak of Creative Hope’s traction, two life-altering events occurred: First, Nicole found out she was pregnant. A week later, a gas stove accident caused a fire in the church basement, rendering the apartment unlivable.
What wasn’t burnt was covered in a thick layer of soot. Loved ones helped the couple salvage what they could; however, most belongings were lost. “I never felt like that sort of displacement, ever,” Nicole said. “Losing everything all at once … you just never imagine that that would happen to you.”
Repairs took six months. During this time, the Hilgers spent a cold, stressful winter and spring sleeping upstairs on a mattress. The sanctuary lacked a full bathroom and cooking appliances, so they borrowed a neighbor’s shower and kitchen.
Throughout that period, Nicole was “just trying to not be stressed and also enjoy the pregnancy — but also, there’s just all these things to do.”
The accident also called attention to another unfortunate reality: Bellingham’s prohibitive housing market. The Hilgers still had to pay rent, and with a baby on the way, finding a new space might require leaving town altogether.
“We were in this position [of], well, we can’t leave like this,” she said. “We can’t really afford to live anywhere else in town, so we just had to make do.”
Still, Nicole reframed the situation as a “cleansing of the space” before Floyd’s arrival. She recalled the day she and Logan finally moved back downstairs: “I just remember… being home and just crying and letting it all move through. It was just such a crazy ride.”
The church today
More than a year later, Nicole is finishing her graduate studies and focusing on motherhood. She views her tenancy in the church as an ongoing relationship: For everything she puts into it, she’s rewarded with new opportunities.
“It’s an old, rickety place,” she said, “so there’s a lot of little things that we’ve learned along the way, just how to care for it.”
Nicole doesn’t know what the future holds for Creative Hope. But as part of her studies, she recently hosted a fiber arts group for postpartum parents in the sanctuary. In late 2024, Black Rabbit Workshop also used the space for pop-up folk art classes.
Perhaps the biggest project post-fire was transforming the basement — which Nicole estimates to be around 850 square feet — into a family home. “It’s been really fun creatively just to kind of piece things together and switch things around,” she added.
Nicole does find herself frustrated at Bellingham’s expensive housing market, and she hopes prices will eventually lower. Until then, she continued, people should do what they can to support community members who genuinely want to live here — especially those who contribute to what the community stands for.
The Hilgers’ rent has gone up since moving in. However, life at the church is more appealing than other options, and the couple are dedicated to their neighbors and friends.
“Sometimes it is frustrating,” she continued. “And I just want, like, a home on some land. That sounds nice, too. [But] it’s just such a unique space, and it just makes me feel so inspired — even through all these years.”
Cocoa Laney is CDN’s lifestyle editor; reach her at cocoalaney@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 128.
