Bright Built Barn

I first saw this on materialicious and had to add it to our blog because it is so beautiful and so green (on track to receive LEED platinum designation). It has almost made me question our decision to put white siding on our barn-house and go dark instead. Almost.

The Bright Built project is pre-fab and net zero with a continous R-40 envelope. It also features "a large energy meter on the front façade will simultaneously show current levels of energy use and consumption." Read more on the project's blog. There you can see more pictures, too.

Kohler's Archer tub

The highest form of flattery is imitation, right? Let's hope Chad over at 100k house is flattered and not annoyed that I macked his idea for bathtubs. He posted awhile ago about Kohler's rectangular Archer tub. The lines strike me as quite modern. It's probably the squared corners instead of the typical rounded edges. Anyway, had it not been for reading his blog, I would never have heard of the Archer series. Our Home Depot certainly doesn't carry it in stock and I would not have known to look for it in their special order catalog. But thanks to Chad I did and we ordered two of them last weekend for a decent price of $360 each. The drains were an additional $70 each. They were delivered to the Home Depot a week later and Ryan and I picked them up yesterday. We drive a Toyota Matrix whose backseat storage area (when the middle seat is folded down) is approximately 40"x60". The tub, in its box, was 35"x60". We were able to put it in and tie the back hatch down about one-third of the way...and then drive very carefully over to our storage unit (luckily less than a mile from Home Depot). We did this twice. I had horrible images running through my head of the tub sliding out the back and crashing into a million pieces on the pavement. But we (and the tubs) survived. It was an exhausting and nerve-wracking afternoon that saved us the $65 delivery charge! Totally worth it.

Decision on floors

Sorry for the lack of new material. The holidays were, well, the holidays.

So back to business. If you've read any of our previous posts, you've noticed that we've been deliberating about floors for the first floor of our house for awhile now. We initially wanted polished concrete but since we have a full basement, it seemed unnecessarily complicated and expensive to pour concrete over a suspended floor (extra supports needed to hold the weight, etc.) We then looked into various tiles but had a hard time finding any that met our aesthetic (rustic modern) and our price range. We stumbled across a poured product made by Ecoprocote (see post here) but 100% weren't sure it would give us the look we wanted and no one in this area sold it or had worked with it before. And we wouldn't have a chance to see it in person before making the purchase, which we didn't like. So back to square one.

Then I saw a picture in a magazine of a beautiful home with dark gray slate floors. Perfect! Slate had never occurred to me before but Vermont is famous for it so it would be a locally sourced product...and it's surprisingly affordable. Slate imported from China or Africa at Home Depot runs about $1.87/square foot. Beautiful Vermont slate, in a variety of colors, is available from Poultney Vermont's own Vermont Slate Depot for $2.40/square foot. Our birch floors for the upstairs cost us $4.59/square foot. So slate is decidedly a steal. We ordered a few samples from the Depot (which has been a great company to deal with so far) and fell in love with a richly textured dark gray slate. We think it will hit the rustic modern note we want and to make it even more sleek and streamlined, we plan to buy rectangular tiles (12x18 or 12x24) and lay them in a brick pattern with small grout lines.

Slate will also pair well with our radiant floor heating system. Warm stone floors in the winter...divine. Here are some pictures to illustrate the look we hope to achieve. All pictures are from Beltrami.

Bob Swinburne

Check out these incredible stair designs by Vermont architect Bob Swinburne. They're sleek, modern, industrial-feeling, and affordable. Could we ask for anything more? I am in love. Luckily for us, Bob has agreed to come on board for our project and design our stairs and second floor railing. Very exciting. Besides using birch stair treads, I'm assuming ours will look very similar to these two.



I should also mention that Bob is in the proces of building a project similar to ours, Perry Road, a green, modern farmhouse.


His blog is also a wonderful read and has a lot more information about the Perry Road project. He also discusses topics like composting toilets, SIPs, and good fiberglass windows.

Let's talk toilets (part 2)

So we've made the plunge (get it?) and bought our toilets. In an earlier post, we described why we were excited about the Toto brand. In continuing to research, it seems that Toto really is the way to go. We wish we could afford their dual flush line but decided on the affordable Eco Drake. It gets rave reviews from Terry Love's website and at 1.28 gpf is a good environmentally friendly option. With the soft close toilet seat (which must be purchased separately), the price per toilet came to right at $250. We purchased the toilets on homeclick.com and they are currently running a free-shipping promotion. Sweet deal!

Eames plywood lounge chair

Oh, and I forgot to mention that we bought one of these online this weekend, too. We've always loved the look of them. I bought an Eames-reproduction (Plycraft) black leather lounge chair on Ebay this summer (pictured below) and this is Ryan's little matching Eames item. They will look adorable together.



My eBay beauty...

Costco?!?

So Ryan and I made two purchases this weekend: industrial-looking stools for the kitchen island and a vessel sink for the master bathroom. The sink will sit atop a fantastic old cupboard that we found at a local antique shop a few weekends ago. The combination of the modern sink and the rustic base should be fab. And you won't believe where we purchased both the sink and the bar stools...COSTCO. The online prices are unbelievable and shipping is included.


Costco garage stool: $49.99


Costco square vessel sink: $89.99 (pop-up drain included!)


We also bid on Ebay for a wall-mounted faucet for the vessel sink that looks like this:


Here's the base for the vessel sink.


Lily, our yellow lab, had to check it out...


And then she posed with it...


And then her brother Gus wanted in on the action...

I guess it's about time the other half of our family made their appearance on the blog!

Found a couch!

So after recovering from the disappointment over our doomed greensofas.com order (and a lot more researching), we think we've finally found a modern, eco-friendly, affordable couch for our new home. Introducing the the Giselle from Boston Interiors!


It's currently on sale for $799 (normally $899) and the website says they deliver nationwide (although you can't purchase furniture online). And here's the great part. It seems to be eco-friendly. "All wood is renewable and harvested from American sources. Cores are 10-15% soy based chemicals. All non-toxic water based glue used in frames and cushions. Foam is free of CFC." Woohoo!

Window selection

Although I have been researching windows for awhile, I am just now beginning the process of eliciting quotes from manufacturers. We want the most energy efficient window possible...but are looking for something that's cost efficient, as well. After doing some reading, we've ruled out vinyl and wood. It seems like fiberglass is the best product on the market. There are a number of manufacturers of fiberglass windows. The most readily available in this area is Marvin's Integrity All-Ultrex line. We initially assumed this would be our choice. The price is reasonable and there is a Marvin showroom and distributor less than 5 miles from our building site in Williston. However, the Integrity line does not yet include casements and awnings (of which we have quite a few in our plans). I talked to a rep. from the company two weeks ago and he said he thought it was unlikely that those options would be available by next summer when we build. Frustrating. Marvin's Infinity All-Ultrex has the options we want but it is a more expensive line.

On the up side, this little snag has given me time to reflect on our original decision to go with Marvin and to investigate whether there are other comparable options within our budget. In reading wonderfully helpful posts from fellow bloggers on their window decisions, I have learned of other companies that produce excellent fiberglass windows. I can't express how helpful and educational following the building experiences of other bloggers has been. Read these couple of posts to gain an even richer understanding of the differences between the various fiberglass options available.

The guys building the 100k house in Philly are debating between Marvin and Accurate Dorwin. Jason Hammond (From the Ground Up blog) chose Accurate Dorwin. The folks over at EcoDeep Haus went with Inline.

I sent off emails to all of the following this morning to begin the quoting process:

Accurate Dorwin (Winnipeg, Canada)
Inline (Toronto, Canada)
Fibertec (Toronto, Canada)
Thermotech (Ottawa, Canada)
Marvin Integrity (can be purchased locally)

I'll keep the blog updated with quotes as we receive them.

Industrial floor coating

In reading the 100k house blog (fantastic blog based in my old stomping ground, Philly), I came across a mention of Eco Tuff Industrial Floor Coating. I did some research and found this information from the product's website:

"Eco-Tuff is a single component, zero VOC, high build, high flex ultra tough waterproof coating material. There are no hazardous ingredients, is non-flammable and virtually odorless. It is engineered for the most extreme environments from freezing cold temperatures to the hottest climates around the world. It is capable of withstanding abrasion, UV, chemicals, hot tire pick-up, and submersible applications. May be used on concrete, wood, fiberglass, and metal surfaces."


It looks like an interesting product. It's very green: non-hazardous, zero VOC, LEED compliant, and includes recycled content. Plus, it is waterproof, abrasion resistant, stain resistant, UV resistant, and does not chip, flake or peel. It is a self-leveling material that rolls or sprays on like an epoxy floor and can be applied directly over a plywood subfloor. Assuming competency on the part of the flooring subcontractor, it can give you a smooth finish very similar to that you'd see on factory floors or in industrial warehouses. It comes in a variety colors and several shades of grey, the color we would probably pursue.


This might be the perfect fit for our first-floor needs. We have been looking for something industrial and modern, not too hard (got to watch out for the pups' joints), and eco-conscious. Oh, and did I mention it's relatively affordable? Here is a picture of it applied.


Also, the company provides top-notch customer service. I emailed them yesterday to find out whether the product is compatible with radiant heating systems. They said it would be fine and the heat would pass through the flooring material without a problem. Sounds too good to be true!