How to Select Green Cabinets...

Choosing what is actually green these days can be head-spinning, how can you always be certain that what you are choosing is the best option for you and the environment? For cabinet selection, here’s one good way to know if your cabinet of choice is sustainable:  The  Environmental Stewardship Program Seal (ESP) is an environmental certification program that specifically targets kitchen and bath cabinets, developed by The Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association (KCMA).  This Seal is what assures you that the manufacturing practices and materials used meet...

Best Whole-House Remodel Award...

The Olympia Master Builders graciously hosted the annual Remodel Excellence Awards (REX) this past week. There were many beautiful projects submitted and it’s always a delight to see the craftsmanship of all the fine builders in Olympia. We were greatly pleased to win the award for the Best Whole House Remodel in the $150,000-500,000 category. The home we submitted was a charming and modest, albeit, funky waterfront home that was due for some serious attention. I wrote up a three part posting on it a few months back if you are interested in the full story. The short...

Passive House Training...

Passive House Training By Randy Foster, Owner, The Artisans Group I recently completed the first three days of training as a Certified Passive House Consultant last week.  During the first day of class, I was struck by the fact that there are a lot of really smart people studying the Passive House approach.  I was impressed by that, and I felt really honored to have been accepted into this year’s training program!  Each of the 25 students in my class seemed to fully grasp the fact that designing and building a Passive House is rooted in attention paid to many small...

How to: Outdoor Kitchen...

Outdoor Kitchen Project-The Artisans Group Seems like all us PNW-ers like to do ’stuff’ outdoors, whether it’s raining or not. Fortunately, our winters are mild and the other seasons are heavenly, a fair balance, I think. We also seem to like to cook food and gather with friends. Because it’s so mild here year round, it’s an ideal place for an outdoor kitchen. An outdoor kitchen doesn’t have to be elaborate or costly. In our climate, a very basic outdoor kitchen will commonly have overhead coverage, a cooking unit, usually a grill,...

Affordable Kitchen Remodel...

The other day a friend, we’ll call her “Mary”,  told me that she was bored with her kitchen, she said she wanted to do something with it, but couldn’t justify a “real kitchen remodel” as she put it. Mary’s kitchen is in mint mid-80’s condition. She doesn’t cook very often, but her kitchen is integral to the great room where all the action of life takes place. So, it’s visible… and boring. As much as I’d love for The Artisans Group to design and build for her a fun, new kitchen, short of that, there is...

Greenest Countertops in Olympia...

Lots of ‘green’ countertops to choose from out there these days. Many of those products are incredibly viable, beautiful, and green. When considering among green options, one consideration should be the proximity of the product to the job site. How far did that product have to travel to get on-site? If you live in the PNW, or more precisely, in South Sound, then Paperstone is the ‘greenest” product around. It’s manufactured right in our back yard, in Hoquiam, WA, about 30 miles outside of Olympia. Paperstone is made from cellulose fiber...

Best of South Sound Contractors...

Pretty exciting news first thing Monday morning! It appears we took the highest place in The Olympian newspaper’s on-line poll for  “Best of South Sound” contractors. What is Best of South Sound? Best of South Sound is an annual special section published by The Olympian that showcases businesses chosen by the community as the “Best of South Sound” for the previous year. How does it work? The Olympian’s readers may vote online from February 8th until March 8th. Each reader will be limited to one ballot and one vote per ...

Lego Kitchen Island...

…A little Sunday afternoon design inspiration. I just spied this super cool Lego kitchen island in my most recent copy of Dwell magazine. It may not be for everybody, but you aged Lego fans know who you are… Read on: Lego Island Story by: Miyoko Ohtake Photo by: Celine Clanet Step back, Jacobsen, Utzon, Kjaerholm, Wegner, and all you other great Danes. When it comes to Danish design domination, the unrivaled champ is undoubtedly the almighty plastic brick—Lego. Billund, Denmark, could easily be considered the prefab capital of the world: Each year, its...

Construction and Demolition Debris...

At The Artisans Group, we are always looking for ways to reduce our jobsite waste and to avoid putting anything in the landfill. For you DIY’ers out there, it may be useful for you to know some of our local resources where you can dispose of your project ‘waste’. Our Preferred Approach Recovery 1 Tacoma, WA (800) 949.5852 This one works great for construction site debris, but the scope of their work is much broader than just that. A pretty cool outfit, worth a look at their site. Reuse Building Materials To purchase materials for a project or to drop off...

Green Home Guide-USGBC...

The US Green Building Council recently launched GreenHomeGuide.com. For homeowners or potential homeowners (those seeking their next home) who are making the move to green, this site is a good clearinghouse for answering many questions, it’s also a great aide towards helping a homeowner to ask good questions. The site features exclusive content written by experienced working professionals from across the nation, many architects, designers and other industry folks. The first page opens up with a rolling set of relevant and provocative questions all pertaining to some...