Laminate Countertops and Surfaces...

Can you believe these are little snapshots of modern laminate? Though I work for The Artisans Group, I don’t typically work directly in our Design Center. Today as I was passing through, not unlike our dog on a visit to Petsmart, my eyes were roving over all the colors and textures while quickly cataloging little mental notes of “oh, yeah, THAT would be fun…” and “mm hmm, those are going on the wall behind my range…” and before I knew it I had a full remodel worked out in my mind, despite that I just had a full remodel less than a year ago. So many...

Passive House (PHIUS) Concept & Sta...

Written by Tessa Smith, The Artisans Group, for The Nisqually River Foundation The Passive House (Passivhaus in German) concept was created in 1988 by Professor Bo Adamson and Doctor Wolfgang Feist, spurred on by their desire to positively affect climate change while decreasing reliance on a volatile energy market.  Their research combined existing energy efficiency technologies and concepts making Passive Houses the most energy efficient building system in the world.   Today Passive House certifications are administered by the Passive House Institute United States...

Hydronic Radiant Heat...

Hydronic radiant heat installation Hydronic radiant floor heating systems are one of the most energy efficient and effective systems on the market to heat your home. Given that, let me back up for a moment and put ‘radiant heat‘ into context for those of you that don’t regularly think about thermodynamics. Basically, radiant heat is the type of heat we feel from the sun or from a campfire or a warm rock. Most would agree, radiant heat feels the best of all heat sources to warm a body. Hydronic radiant heat installed in your home’s floor indirectly...

Energy Efficient Structural Insulated Pa...

Structural insulated panels (SIPs) are a highly energy efficient building panel used in the construction of walls, floors and roofs, for both light commercial and residential buildings. These high performance panels are comprised of a core of rigid foam insulation that has been sandwiched between two structural skins, OSB (oriented strand board) is commonly used. Because SIPs are made in a factory, under controlled conditions, not only are they of the highest manufacturing quality, but they also can be custom designed to meet the specific needs of each...

‘Best of Show’ and ‘Be...

Earlier this week our team attended the Olympia Master Builders Tour of Homes Award night at Little Creek Casino. We are very pleased to announce that we won the ‘Peoples Choice-Best of Show’ and the ‘Judges Choice-Best Kitchen’. The project we had entered into the 2009 Tour of Homes was a Builtgreen Level 5 Craftsman style, built  on the prairie south of Olympia. Our designs were based on the client’s childhood memories of her grandmother’s house. She wanted a home that felt as if it had been around for a long time and one that typified the charm and...

Green Home Remodeling Part II...

Higher Cost Options Of course, if your budget allows, you may wish to really go green and look at a Passive House retrofit.   Today’s highest energy standards are represented by the Passive House standards of energy consumption.  Ways of implementing a Passive House retrofit can include: installing a whole-second skin of insulation to a home, thus eliminating thermal bridging, installing super-high efficiency windows, extreme weatherization, and installation of mini split ductless heat pumps in conjunction with a Heat Recovery Ventilator.  Most local utilities...

Green Home Remodeling Part I...

Economical Options When remodeling a home, homeowners are faced with a vast array of decisions.  From spatial orientation to color choices, there are an endless number of ways a homeowner can make their house a home.  Yet, one decision should be easy – going green!  A green home remodel will not only improve the aesthetic appeal to your home, but can also offer (depending on the level to which it is done) additional value, monthly savings on utility bills, increased indoor air quality, and of course the added benefits to the environment.  There are green remodeling...

The Electric Grid – How does the B...

Though it’s not about design or construction or cool new interior products, if you are an information junkie like me, you may find this interesting in this age of hyper energy awareness. National Public Radio covered a provocative story earlier this year examining the costs, the politics and other challenges of upgrading our country’s electricity grid. The series covers the big issues surrounding the nations transmission lines from the immediate need for new lines to how renewable power interacts with the current system. Listen to the series here. NPR also created a...

Green Washing and Business Ethics...

So, you’ve heard of ‘white-washing’, it’s a cousin to the ubiquitous ‘white lie’. Easy to do, easy to justify, doesn’t really hurt anyone. Right? Well, wrong…really. “Green-washing” is the daisy-in-the-hair-country-cousin and is a bad seed. Green-washing is a short story; it’s what some companies do or say that makes them appear more earth-friendly than they actually are. Simple as that. Not so simple is determining what’s really green and what’s not given that you spend your days focused on other things. In this time of fortuitous and...

A Little Green for Your Green-Compliment...

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 Hopefully by now, all of you know about the ARRA tax credits and have or will take advantage of them. In the event it’s only now coming up on your radar screen, the two tax provisions related to energy efficiency in the home are: 1. Homeowners Energy Credit Increased and Extended to 2010 Homeowners will be able to take a nonrefundable credit (i.e. you must have a tax liability that the credit can reduce) of up to $1,500 for making qualified energy saving improvements to their homes. The credit is equal to 30% of...