Pictures from a Green Tour; Homeowners Recovering
By Tam | March 24, 2009
At one point, just minutes before we opened our doors to the almost 600 people who came through our newly built house on a Build It Green tour last June, I found myself clutching a bottle of glass cleaner.
Visitors had, in most cases, bought the booklet that Build It Green had produced listing the construction and interior products that were termed ‘green’ and those were noted by use of small signs attached in appropriate places. We made other signs that remarked on those features exclusive to our house.
Some visitors who filled our house over the next seven hours were neighbors who wanted to see just this one particular house as they had, like ourselves, waited for almost a year and half for it to be finished. Others were professionals such as real estate agents, subcontractors, decorators and architects. Many were in the process of exploring green features to add to their own homes during renovation.
Larry and I hardly glimpsed each other during those seven hours, as we and some of our subcontractors (particularly cabinet maker Greg Smith and greywater specialist John Russell, were overwhelmed with questions about our decisions and specific products: “Where did that ebony flooring come from?”, “Who made the backsplash in the kitchen?”, “Are the light fixtures still available locally?”, and “What makes that feature green?”
Since the tour, an article in the Contra Costa Times, profiled our project and John Russell’s business, Water Sprout.
During the tour, I escorted two senior women into the elevator to experience the smooth, slow ride to the second floor; they had said they were considering an elevator or some way to access an upper floor.
We found out later through the Build-It-Green volunteers expertly manning our doors and taking statistics, that people were entering the house through our ground level entrance but not counted as attending. We personally saw eight people step in through our patio entrance, again not registered in the count.
But we now have a green glass plaque that declares us the “most visited house” with 563 visitors.
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Could you get me a pair of cowboys while you’re up?
By Tam | May 24, 2008
Our metal fabricator, Chris French, asked his colleague, Chrissie, for a pair of C-clamps during the installation of our railings, requesting ‘a couple of cowboys.’ Our metal bamboo railings are in place as well as the exterior handrails. Fortunately, the elevator was available when the installation was taking place on the stairs.
Recently, we heard a knock at the front door followed by a door opening and a friendly-sounding ‘hello’. (We had unlatched the door for frequent trips to the front courtyard and our doorbell wasn’t ringing). We soon realized that a couple had seen the ‘Open House’ signs left by several real estate agents in front our newly completed house (directing house-hunters to other nearby streets) and surmised that our home must be one of the open houses!
Costly additional features and systems for the house itself have led us to decide to become our own landscapers. That and the advice and skill of our daughter, Thea, and her partner, Jeanine. Trips to Bamboo Sourcery in Sebastopol have produced a dozen pots of the popular grasses to be planted in front of, and next to, walls. Four of the running bamboo have been planted in galvanized steel tubs. A visit to the Menlo Park Farmer’s Market allowed us to meet with one of the specialists in protea who owns the firm, Astone Protea in Aptos, California. Son-in-law Ross has ‘babysat’ five Michelia Figos for a year. We hope that they’ll acclimate to their new surroundings and lighting conditions.
John Russell of Watersprout is in the process of installing our permitted grey water system. At the moment, his irrigation system is watering our newly planted dimondia margaretae, installed by Carlo Pessano’s crew. The dimondias allow us to temporarily park or turn around cars in our courtyard, although the small plants will need months of growing to fully allow for that function.
The upcoming Build It Green tour of our house June 1st has prevented me from finishing this post but now I feel that I’ll be able to move back to more frequent posts after that rather daunting commitment. The sod is being laid by Larry and Carlos presently, art is going up on the walls, and a punch list of items that need finishing should be near completion before the tour.
We’ve come across a grape pomace compost that’s being spread around bamboo and other plants; its darkness contrasts well with the light colored concrete and stucco walls.
On one our trips to Flora Grubb in San Francisco, we discovered a versatile plant called a Feijoa sellowiana Berg. (named by German botanist, Ernst Berger, for Don da Silva Feijoa, another botanist from San Sebastian, Spain). It’s been called a pineapple guava, fig guava and most strangely, a New Zealand banana. Its now residing in a planter of its own in furious bloom. Berkeley Hort and Annie’s Annuals have provided other material in the limited areas we’ve planted. Most recently, Miss Willmott’s Ghost has taken up residence near the proteas as the spiny thistle will tolerate moisture and a roof runoff provides that in it’s own planter; the proteas, on the other hand, would be ruined by that same wetness.
I’ve been wondering if the book entitled Miss Rumphius is patterned after Miss Willmott? We are aware, however, that a reissue of the biography of Miss Willmott by Audrey le Lièvre is forthcoming and, in fact, can be preordered at a number of book sites.
Greg Smith has delivered the finished maple refrigerator door panel; it looks like a rippling curtain of wood. He’ll be present during the house tour along with contractors, architects, John Russell of WaterSprout and Ray Anderson representing Colorado vNet (our smart house program) during the tour.
I haven’t turned up any further Burrows Studio Voysey curtains in our dwindling supply of unpacked boxes, but I’m still hopeful that they’ll be discovered prior to the tour to complete our hallway screening. Windows in our bedroom are covered with curtains that have graced five houses since we first picked out the material at a Donghia sale open to the public.
I’m reluctantly hoping the doorbell will be working, even though I haven’t missed hearing one these past few months.
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