Today was our final shoot day for "Green That House." What a day! We started at 9 am with an extensive walk thru, thinking about all the things we've done over the last 4 months. From pulling up carpet and refinishing floors, to painting, to retiling bathrooms, to updated electrical sytems, to tankless heaters and water filtration, to new floors and furniture, to wallpaper and solar panels whew...utter craziness. It's been a long 4 months but in revisiting it all, I am so totally impressed with what we have done here and how inexpensively we were able to do it. It helps to have a good interior designer with an eye for sustainabiliy on your side. Looking through my house today, I realized that while I did not have ONE piece of furniture when I moved in (I got rid of it all in an effort start from a clean slate), that in my entire house there is not one NEW piece. The hours of antiquing, vintage shopping, and cruising Craigslist really paid off. I really believe in the idea of getting a full life out of anything created-- not expending extra energy, fuel, and time to create new pieces when there are perfectly good old pieces out there waiting for an new home. And to me, there is something really comforting in the history of antiques and vintage furniture.
An additional plus is that by buying older stuff, you really reduce the possibility of off-gassing in your house. Most old furniture was either made before harsh, off-gassing chemicals were a part of the process or has already gone through it's heaviest cycle of off-gassing and emits low if no VOCs by the time it reaches you. All this and it's cheaper too!
So you can see me talk about all of this-- and see the house before and after-- sometime early next year on Planet Green (a Discovery network channel set to launch in December). Tell me what you think!
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1 comment:
the house looks amazing!
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