becky's Profile

Totally agree, Home Body - you took the words right out of my mouth. Design TV is usually not educational, it's entertainment. I like Design TV for the drinking games. Any time someone says some cheesy cliche like "wow factor," "make it pop," "focal point," "zen" or "bring the outdoors in" you can take enjoy a guzzlet (sp? I stole that word from Andy Cohen) of your cocktail, or at least laugh with your friends about how the homeowners obviously watch way too much HGTV, while ironically, you sit there watching too much of it yourselves. Over this past weekend a friend and I got a big kick out of how the Property Brothers' hairdos and facial hair changes, from episode to episode and even within the same scene.

I cannot tell you how many times I've noticed a piece of cheap crown molding being nailed up crooked on a house flipping show, which you know looks 10 times as bad in person. Have you ever seen one "art project" on TV you would let within a square mile of your home? Houses tweaked by a show that will remain nameless up the street from me all lost almost all of their "improvements" within the year, to what I assume was weather, poor quality, shoddy workmanship and matters of taste. However, even if it's not very up to date or educational, design tv is HIGHLY entertaining.

Darn You! Why didn't I think of writing this post! Bravo! ;)

Wow thanks so much for including our blog over at Hatch: The Design Public Blog! We've been looking to AT for inspiration and entertainment since way back in the days when y'all only had one site, based in NYC :)

Becky

All of these actually look perfectly staged to me, and they are beautiful. While I like the unstaged staged aesthetic of Todd Selby, looking at a bunch of unmade beds, toilet seats that are up, cords in the way and clutter all around bums me out. If I want to see that, I'll look around my own house! Long live beautiful staging!

I had the opportunity to interview the owner/architect of this home awhile back and asked him the same LEED question (by the way, it is platinum LEED certified). Maybe this will answer some of your questions. Also, the first shot makes the home look MUCH larger than it actually is; it works with the hillside and topography:

Wow! I am guessing this house is relatively large, yet you managed to make it Platinum LEED-worthy! Please tell us about some of the details, materials, and systems that make this home sustainable.
"The house is really quite small by custom home standards. It's just 3 BR and 3.5 BA. We didn't want or need a large home. The 3rd bedroom is a guestroom suite and is detached from the main house so we don't really use it unless we have guests and therefore don't use energy to heat, cool, or light it unless we are using it. The house appears to be large from the exterior because of the variety of decks and terraces at all levels. I am writing this from the master terrace which makes the 12x12 master bedroom feel much larger. Efficient design and not building more than you need is very sustainable. From a system perspective we have employed solar hot
water, radiant floor heating, solar electric by Solar City, fresh air intake and exhaust to supplement the many operable exterior doors and windows, natural day lighting, high efficacy lighting in the form of LED and fluorescent, recirculating hot water loop, energy star appliances by Whirlpool, super insulated walls and roofs, super insulated doors and windows that are thermally broken by Fleetwood and Nana, reclaimed exposed roof framing, no VOC interior paint by Mythic, FSC Certified cabinet cores, engineered Walnut flooring, high fly ash content in all concrete, home automation system that controls lighting and sun shades, close proximity to services and public transportation to limit automobile usage, low-flow plumbing fixtures by Kohler, High recycled content in all concrete counters by Concreteworks, High recycled content in the exterior stone, drip irrigation and no lawn. "

As for the comments about LEED, well, it shows we are all getting more sustainable-saavy. We had to start somewhere and LEED certification broke new ground. I don't think many designers would even have tried for green standards if everyone had to live in a shipping container and poop in a composting bin. It is huge that so many designers are striving for this certification now, when 15 years ago not many could be bothered to consider sustainable architecture, or even define what it was.

I love that the dog is the perfect accessory in that chair. It's like a throw pillow.

Oh my god, this is the funniest commode I've seen since "The Love Toilet" on Saturday Night Live. Hilarious Bling Bling to the ultimate degree!

Totally stupid, but I love the way you wrote this post, and I got a total chuckle out of the idea. It's like a Regretsy idea, but on a bigger scale, and doesn't involve a dead pet or vajayjay theme.

Totally fun, I esp. love the green Adirondack chairs.

WOW! Love the ideology, love the results even more! This is one of the first house tours I've seen in a long time (anywhere) that has such a clear and strong point of view, and that shows off the resident's personality so much. It's great to see such an eye for graphics and fonts. I think all of these things combined is what makes it work so well. Oh, and the coffee roaster bag ottoman is totally genius. It looks like something that would cost $1000 at South of Market.