Of all the things we have done on our house, identifying and defining which products are “green friendly” has been the most incredibly challenging and completely perplexing single process. Obviously you don’t have to be Al Gore to know that using rare, exotic hardwoods like Zebrawood, Rosewood or Ebony for cabinetry is not exactly a green friendly choice. However today you can get the look of many of these rare beauties with out the “bad karma” that goes along with pillaging the earths resources.

Initially when we first started looking at cabinet materials we had ruled out the possibility of having the look of some of the beautiful exotic woods that we both loved. However to our amazement we found there were dozens of incredibly realistic high pressure laminate options available. Unlike the laminates that most of us remember from the 70’s, these were highly detailed and incredibly realistic looking. We quickly found an Indian Ebony laminate that we loved and it seemed that our search was over. Laminates were certainly more environmentally friendly than harvesting wood, right?

Then a few weeks back our cabinet maker Matt Eastvold offered us a new option, reconstitute or composite veneers. A line of veneer products from Brookside Veneers that offer a line of real wood veneers by Alpi, with the look of exotic hardwoods but made from highly renewable and abundant native trees. With a stunning range of materials to choose from and a very convincing, green friendly story behind the use of a an abundant and renewable resource to create the look and feel of an exotic material, it seemed we were back to square one. Both products offer the exact look we were going for, yet which one actually the “green” choice. With so many factors to consider around each products carbon foot print we’ve done hours of research and have yet to decide on a clear winner and our deadline is looming closer.

One of the composite veneers.

A high pressure laminate.

The veneer and laminate together, can you tell the difference?

I, (like most men), find great comfort working on various project in my garage. In particular I am excited about working on projects in what I consider “my posh new garage” with insulated walls, high ceilings and ample working room. Yet the thing I am most excited about having in my new garage is my radiant in-floor heat and super insulated garage door.

The in-floor radiant heat in the garage was an upgrade, that we decided on late in the project. The idea of keeping the space below our bedroom heated only seemed logical but this exposed another issue, keeping the heat in. If you’ve ever looked at putting a new garage door in you’ve found there are ton’s of design and structure options but few of these provide any significant insulation. With many residential and commercial doors offering somewhere between R-9 and R-14, I was concerned that my heating investment was going to be money and energy lost. Then on top of all of this, I still wanted to have something that looks good with the design of my house. I started some late night web searches to try and find a modern looking, highly energy efficient garage door. Finally I stumbled upon a door company called Haas Doors who offers a commercial door, made of galvanized steel featuring CFC-Free polyurethane insulation. The Haas Therma-Pro™ door boasts an R-value of 25.8, the highest in the industry. Needless to say I contacted a local dealer (Everyday Doors) and placed my order.

The Haas ThermaPro™ door is one of their commercial lines
and offers an industry leading R-25.8. They also offer several
other commercial and residential products with great R-values.

Most of us who are fans of modern design are quick to turn up our noses at the idea of “Big box” stores with their pedestrian offering of products. If you are one of these people it may be time to lower your head and take note, as it appears that modern design may be coming a bit more mainstream. Home Depot is gearing up to release its new Home Hero line of products. Born from Home Depots new partnership between its own internal creative group (Orange Works and the Arnell Group) who’s goal is to offer distinctive merchandise at an attractive price.

I stumbled upon the first of these products in the cool design magazine Metropolis. Looking something like a new Apple iPod device it caught my eye. When I realized that it was actually a completely functional and mostly utilitarian fire extinguisher I was stunned. This response was only magnified when I discovered that this award winning design was born from the “Big Box” Home Depot. My hope is that this and the smoke detectors that are as equally cool will be available before the completion of our home. If so I may need to make a very special and public display location for such a cool piece, or maybe it just sits right on top of the coffee table? It’s really that cool.

Let’s put out some fires! Seriously, this is great product design
at it’s best. And in my opinion a brilliant brand positioning for
Home Depot.

It’s a 15 digit number that serves as a the key to the travel journeys of our latest design purchase. Each morning I plug it into see where my newest design jewel has spent the day, Freemont, CA, North St. Lake City, UT, St. Paul, MN, and finally arriving at my front door. By lunch time I usually know which piece has arrived and my excitement to get home and rip into the packaging off is often times overwhelming.

This week brought the arrival of our first lighting fixture when our George Kovacs Artemis ceiling fan arrived early in the week. Ceiling fans have often been looked at as the pariah of home design by people who love modern design. This distaste for ceiling fans was not born out their opposition to a cool gentle breeze but more as a result of the complete lack of design options available, that don’t feature antique brass, ornamental tassels or faux oak fins. the Kovacs Artemis is not one of these type of fans! It’s three long fins (in clear arcylic or a liquid nickle finish) seem to gracefully unwind out from it’s stainless steel body hanging down from a simple clean lined pole. This beauty is far from a modern design pariah — it’s somewhat of a showcase piece and I can’t wait to see it hanging down between the exposed trusses in our new living room.
The week was not over before I had news that another one of design treasures had made their way across the country and into my home. Most modern design fans have a love for the works of the mid-century design masters and try and fill there homes with as many of these pieces (originals or otherwise) as they can. For me however, there is only one mid-century design piece that I have ever truly coveted — the Eames Bent Plywood Lounge Chair. The Eames had utilizing the pliable attributes plywood takes on when put under extreme pressure and heat, creating one of the most stylish and surprisingly comfortable furniture pieces ever. I had been searching and searching the web for some time trying to find a replica of one of these pieces, at a price that I found affordable. Often times they were well out of my self regulated price range or the shipping was so outrageous that it cost more than the chair itself. Then about a week ago I stumbled on them from a site called moderncollections.com and they were offering FREE shipping. I was at first, a bit skeptical as I had heard from a few people that the knock-offs seamed to lack the quality of execution or failed to keep the proper proportions, that the ones featured at stores like Design Within Reach or Room and Board have. I had sat in these chairs at both stores and knew that they were perfectly constructed and balanced and I wanted that same feel in mine. I cross referenced the dimensions of each with the ones I had found online and they seemed to be almost identical. When they arrived on Thursday I have to say I was very nervous but ultimately pleased. The walnut veneer finished I had ordered was impeccable and the fit and form was equally impressive. Having to put them back in the box until we make the move into our new home was not an easy thing to do.

The George Kovacs Artemis ceiling fan and light. We’ve selected
the clear acrylic blades but it’s also available in liquid nickel.

The Eames Bent Plywood Lounge Chair (shown here in Oak)
is a staple among modern design collectors and fans.

Wednesday I took the day off from work and put in a little sweat equity into my project. Thankfully the crew from Berget Construction was kind enough to let me think I was doing some good by helping out. I had been on site for the first few panels on Monday but I really wanted to get in and get a hands on understanding of what goes into building a home with SIPs panels. I had spent summers in college doing various construction jobs from pouring concrete walls to framing homes, but SIPs panels were nothing like what I had seen before.

The idea of an entire home built from foam insulation sandwiched between two pieces of OSB plywood really sounds crazy. Each panel comes in a 4 foot section and is tipped into place on the bottom sill and fastened with screws every couple of inches through the OSB into a plywood flange that is inserted into a groove in the insulation. The flange is adhered to both panels with some incredibly  sticky blue adhesive and spray foam to create an airtight connection between the foam in the two panels. Like Giant puzzles pieces each pieces ties into the one before making the entire structure very strong and very straight. For the most part all the panels go together well, however occasionally need some minor adjusting. This is done easily with a circular saw, a reciprocating saw and a foam heating tool. After completing about 3/4 of the first floor walls we were less than 1/4 of an inch out of square and with the slightest little adjustment, the crew was able to bring the house back to square. Although this was the crews first SIPs home, they quickly learned the key techniques from Curt Stendel of Panel Works Plus and after a few panels they were off and running.
Thursday I was back in the office and out of the way, while the crew was on-site to set the floor trusses in the garage, frame up a few of the interior load bearing walls and set the major beam to hang the remainder of the floor trusses.

I arrived at the site just before our major down pour to snap a few photos of the days work. The panels for the roof had been delivered and they seemed to dwarf the building. Tomorrow the steel truses for our living room arrive from Leum Engineering. Next week the second floor should be sheeted, the walls should be set and if we’re lucky the roof panels may even go up.

After Wednesday most of the first floor walls were up.

The boy enjoying the view of the dirt pile from our front windows.

Finally an idea of where the front door will go.

I’m not exactly sure how thick the insulation is on the roof
panels are but they’re really something to see at over 20″ long.