You Don’t Need to Live in a House Made of Straw Bales to Prove That You’re Eco-Friendly. Our Planet Appreciates Your Choices!
James would spend every morning in the Greenhouse attached to his deck as the breeze gently caressed the bamboo chimes, which responded with a reassuring melody in deep hollow octaves.
Like a shepherd tending to his flock, he would slide into his gardening gloves, straighten his hat and begin his daily routine of trimming, misting, testing the soil, inspecting the leaves for parasites, turning them over twice to be sure. Just then, something caught his eye, and he froze.
His face was glowing with pride. He was holding a ripened heirloom tomato, admiring its size and shape, turning it over his hands to catch the light from different angles.
Welcome to the urban garden. James is part of a growing movement of people growing their food. A study done by the National Gardening Association found that roughly a third of Americans grow their food.
But that’s just the beginning. We want our homes to reflect our personas, passions, interests, styles, beliefs, and attitudes about the world around us.
Let’s take a quick peek at a Treehouse in Sydney, Australia. The eco-friendly homeowner felt strongly about the impact of the house’s construction on the local environment.
By elevating the house into the tree line, the design team created a natural cross-ventilation system, with the breeze helping keep interior spaces cool during the summer months. The design captures natural light from every direction possible and maximizes energy efficiency.
This stunning eco-friendly home also features several water intake points, with rainwater used for flushing toilets, laundry, and gardens. As a family home, it was also important the materials and finishes were non-hazardous; many of them are natural or non-toxic.
Eco-friendly homes are becoming increasingly popular for energy savings or lowering our carbon footprint. But they are often striking in their design and stand out from traditional houses in their innovation and harmonious integration with nature.
You don’t have to live in a Treehouse in Australia to make your house more eco-friendly. You can start growing your food in a garden or window box.
Eco-friendly accents and decor are also becoming more popular, as people look to add a personal touch that reflects their environmental values without breaking the bank.
Interior designer Karen Mills loves to repurpose vintage furniture and antiques that represent meaningful people and events in her clients’ lives. “The most eco-friendly design move we can make is buying vintage and making it work, adding personality to the space and recycling in a beautiful way,” said Mills.
Mills reupholstered some of the chairs that her clients inherited from their grandmothers to blend the pieces into contemporary design environments.
Or suppose you live in a rural area or have the cringe-worthy job of removing an unwanted tree from your suburban backyard. In that case, you could carve an old tree into several thinner pieces and convert them into live-edge tables with rich, circular patterns that record the tree’s age. A survival story dating back hundreds of years is etched into each growth ring —living art in your living room.
The Eden Mist Shower recycles water. Its hydraulic system guides water through a collection of plants. The reeds planted in the sand do the initial cleaning. Then the roots remove the heavy metals and bacteria. Finally, by adding oxygen to gray water, freshwater is regenerated.
Of course, there are much less expensive ways to demonstrate your commitment to the environment by installing low-flow showerheads and toilets. Low-flow showerheads can save up to two gallons of water per minute, while low-flow toilets can save four gallons per flush!
Another way to save water is to install a rain barrel that collects rainwater from your gutters and redirects the downspout to water your plants and wash your car. You will save water, but you’ll also reduce the amount of storm water runoff that can pollute our waterways.
A rainwater harvesting system collects and stores rainwater for use in your home, reducing the strain on local water resources. Millennials and Gen Z are obsessed with saving the planet. As the next generation of homebuyers, the eco-friendly sensibility in residential design resonates deeply.
Your rain barrel can become a focal point for your gutter and downspout. Pottery rain barrels look like traditional clay pots. They’re often decorated with colorful designs and used as planters or water features.
Of course, the dividing line between eco-friendly homes and traditional ones is solar power. If you haven’t looked into it recently because you think it will destroy the aesthetics of your house, you might want to consider revisiting the idea. The solar panels that use a black backing sheet with a white one blend into traditional slate roofs, and the wires are only visible up close. So unless visitors are standing on top of your roof, they won’t see it.
Of course, the dividing line between eco-friendly homes and traditional ones is solar power. If you haven’t looked into it recently because you think it will destroy the aesthetics of your house, you might want to consider revisiting the idea. The solar panels that use a black backing sheet with a white one blend into traditional slate roofs, and the wires are only visible up close. So unless visitors are standing on top of your roof, they won’t see it.
But regular contributor Derek Fricke, branch manager at Flat Branch Home Loans, warns homeowners that some solar companies put a lien on homes with solar panels during refinancing to secure their investment in the event that the homeowner sells the property or fails to make payments on the system. By putting a lien on the property, the solar company can ensure that they will be paid back for their investment if either of these scenarios plays out.
Trends in eco-friendly furniture often border on the absurd. They have caught the imagination of pop culture media, including a chair that looks like a toilet, a table made from recycled tires, and a chandelier crafted from recycled bottles.
The more typical fare, such as recycled glass for countertops, is losing its luster as more creative design sensibilities take shape. Recycled metal is trending for light fixtures, doors, hardware, and cabinets.
But if you want to take things to the next level, look for inspiration from an eco-friendly home in New Mexico built from straw bales. Covered in plaster, it creates the sense that the straw bales have consumed the structure whole. As if this wasn’t enough, the home also has a rainwater management system and solar panels.
Then again, if you are a more passive Shepard of the earth, you can still participate in the eco-friendly movement. All you have to do is change your lightbulbs.
“You can drastically reduce your carbon footprint by switching out the old energy-guzzling fluorescent bulbs for the LED ones that last forever,” said Builder-Developer Bryce Johnson.
Johnson pointed out that these bulbs consume less than 10 watts of energy compared to 50 watts for traditional bulbs. “Just four to ten new LED bulbs can reduce energy use by about 1,000 watts a day,” he said.
Life In Style, the bi-monthly publication from Team Real Estate, is dedicated to helping homeowners make smarter decisions about their homes and lifestyle. It features original news, commentary, tips, and analysis from leading industry experts. To be considered for inclusion in future episodes, email lifeinstyle@teamre.com.