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Healthy Paints and Finishes of the Earth and for your Home Recently, I was browsing Yolo:Colorhouse's website from our sister city and my old stomping grounds, Portland, Oregon. Yolo is a cool company started by artists producing healthy paints. I especially enjoy their marketing style. It occurred to me that we should have a healthy paint company here in Asheville. Doing a quick search I discovered Earth Paints. Rather than trying to pretend I know much about them I have borrowed some of their thoughts from the website. Also, while browsing I found this great video from Healthy Child Healthy World. The message and marketing style work well together. Finally! Beautiful Paint & Wood Finish without the Poisons!! Earthpaint produces only Healthy Sustainable Finish!  Earthpaint was founded by Tom Rioux, a professional painter for 25 years. Tom was poisoned by the paints and wood finish he was told were safe. He narrowly survived. This is the basis for Earthpaint’s deep, life affirming commitment to make strong, safe paint and wood finish. Earthpaint now offers beautiful floor finish, deck stain, wood finish and non-toxic paint products that are as good or better than conventional paint and wood finish. Earthpaint was the first, and may still be the only, USA based Healthy Sustainable Finish manufacturer. Earthpaint is proving that there are better, kinder alternatives. We do not use toxic petrochemical solvents in deck stain. We do not use mineral spirits in our oil wood finish. No naphtha, toluene, xylene, vinyl or benzene in our wood finish. No Poison! We are confident that Earthpaint is providing the safest alternative on the planet!Our biodegradable paint and wood finish contain non-toxic and natural ingredients derived from plants, vegetables, trees, minerals and elements. Nearly all of these finishing components are gathered locally (within a day’s drive of Asheville, NC) and are domestically produced and harvested. We avoid using anything in our paint and wood finish that gets shipped in from overseas.  Embodied energy and the entire ecological footprint is examined throughout the paint and wood finish formulation process. It is then reexamined on a yearly basis because things change and we need to be responsive to that.For more information on Earth Paints click here.Watch this great video from our friends at Healthy Child Healthy World.[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/9071036 w=413&h=232]

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Local Art Becomes WearableHaving worked in product development with international aritsts I love it when I witness artists taking it upon themselves to repurpose their art for unique applications. Painter Barbara Fisher has recently done this by launching her new design website. She has taken digital images of her paintings to create mirror-image patterns, which are printed onto silk crepe de chine. Backed with solid colored silk habotai the fabric is sewn into luxurious and contemporary, 10" x 60" scarves. All are hand made right here in North Carolina. To view these products and others go to "FishcakeDesign.net. I particularly love her use of stories. Very smart Barbara!Need I mention that Christmas is coming.

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Game-Changing Green Advancements You Should Know About I just read an article from the Huffington Post and had to share a portion of it. They showcased 7 items in the works for Green Advancement worldwide. Here are four that particularly caught my attention. I am especially excited about the green concrete.Concrete might not seem un-green at first, but it's actually the third largest source of man-made carbon dioxide! However, several companies are working on changing that. Enter "green concrete," which not only makes concrete carbon-neutral but even turns it carbon-negative. CO2 absorbing concrete is nothing short of a game-changer.This isn't a ferris wheel, it's the LO2P: Delhi Recycling Center, a concept by firm Atelier CMJN. Built from parts of recycled cars from local junk piles, this novel greenhouse has wind turbines that serve as bio-lungs. While it's still just a concept, it won first place in this year's eVolo Skyscraper competition, which means that the greenest buildings of the future will be of an entirely different ilk than we're used to.When it comes to green, bigger is almost never better. In that spirit, a new generation of homeowners and homebuilders are focusing on living in tiny eco-friendly homes. Gone are expansive kitchens and bedrooms; instead the focus is on integrating your life as much as possible with the outdoors, and winnowing down your lifestyle in size but not in style. Indeed, many of these tiny homes are very design-focused.Forget green building--consider entirely green cities. Tianjin Eco-City in China, slated for completion in 2020, will span 30 square kilometers and will include "an advanced light rail transit system and varied eco-landscapes ranging from a sun-powered solarscape to a greenery-clad earthscape for its estimated 350,000 residents to enjoy."

Samsel Architects win Gold Award with Celo House EcoHouse Magazine singled out five homes nationally including one right here in Asheville. The contest judges especially liked the pairing of energy technology with the use of natural materials inside and outside a 1,538-square-foot home in Celo, N.C.The house won praise for tree preservation; rainwater storage for irrigation; pervious walkways, patio and driveway to control water runoff; and the use of drought-resistant plants. The home also features sustainability-certified wood shingles and locally harvested stone.The home's walls are filled with spray-foam insulation and the windows and doors use low-e (low thermal emissivity), argon-filled glass.It was designed by Samsel Architects, Asheville, N.C.; it was built by Sunspace Homes, Burnsville, N.C.Article portion courtesy of Inman News' Mary Umberger; Photo courtesy of David Dietrich Photography

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Affordable Remodeling that is not Black and White If you've been with me over years of remodeling homes and retail spaces you would have heard me say, during my efforts to be creative and economic, “It’s all about the paint and lighting.” It was over this philosophy that I bonded with Scott Courtenay-Smith last Tuesday night sharing glasses of Spanish red at the Battery Park Book Exchange. Scott is owner and resident artist of  “Renovate with Color.” We all know about Design-Build companies. Scott refers to his company as a Design-Paint company. Get it? I first heard about Scott on the weekend pages of the Citizen Times. His work was featured in the “Home of the Week” section where he transferred a North Asheville, mid-century ranch into a creative retreat for a couple of IBM Executives who moonlight as potters. How perfectly Asheville! He combined a bold color palette mixed with vintage Asian illustrations from the couple’s travels. Scott's inspiration ignites directly from the home or business owner using what they have as the nexus to begin the transformative and aesthetic dialogue. The clients were comforted in the way Scott included them throughout his process, so they felt even closer to the final result.For a business client, understanding their branding is important to Scott and he likes to illustrate their story with his color and graphic choices. Recently, he noticed how the local Benjamin Moore store missed an opportunity by painting the outside of their store a muddy brown. Given the richness and history of the paint company, Scott approached them with his own vision that captured their branding at a billboard scale to grab the attention of the driving audience on busy Merrimon Ave. The result reflects the story of the business itself.Another component that Scott feels is important to his work is the green aspect. He is able to bypass extensive remodeling and waste while transforming a space completely with paint. Once, he convinced a residential client to keep their kitchen cabinets and let him rework them. They were thrilled with the dramatic change, the expert paint treatment he provided and the money they saved in the process. No cabinets and hardware were harmed in the process and, more importantly, they did not end up in the landfill.For merely $125, Scott will come to your business or residence for a one-hour consultation. He follows that up with a summary report and a master color palette tailored for your project. Given the nature of today's economy and home values it sounds like an appropriate alternative for your investment dollars. More with less. I get it. Article by Troy Winterrowd

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A budget-conscious, urban home in Asheville designed by architect Daryl Rantis will be featured in the October/November issue of Fine Homebuilding magazine.The home in the Chicken Hill neighborhood west of downtown was designed with a strict budget to meet the needs of downsized, contemporary lifestyles. The article about the home, “Small & Tall,” shows that despite a tiny lot and a tight budget, the little house can rise to the occasion. The urban feel of the vertical home was specifically designed to appeal to a modern sensibility and fit on a small lot, according to Rantis, the Director of Design at Green Hammer in Portland, Ore., a design/build construction company. Rantis took the position in July after practicing seven years in Asheville. He is still connected to Western North Carolina through an association with Alembic Studio.The style of the house is a fusion of modern and Craftsman, reflecting the contemporary lifestyles of city dwellers while paying respect to the architecture and cultural heritage of Asheville with its rich tradition of highly detailed architecture. Details of the home are more typical of Craftsman-style houses, which are traditionally known for their intricate finishes.The Fine Homebuilding article focuses on the home’s small footprint. The three-story design uses less foundation (concrete) and less roofing (metal), two materials used for their longevity but which are also carbon intensive. The small footprint of the building still allows a reasonable amount of square footage, about 1,500. The interior is appointed with minimalist trim details and modern cabinetry that breaks from the traditional Craftsman. Wood beams and floors in the living areas give it a clean, yet warm interior. Interiors were styled by Asheville artist Denise Legendre of Denuci Design. The skin of the building, made from cement fiber panels, reduces the amount of wood and maintenance. It is contrasted with the use of locally harvested cypress for its warmth and beauty.The neighborhood’s proximity to downtown, the River Arts District and public transportation allows private, detached home ownership in an urban area. A family could live in the home with less dependence on a car. Built and developed by Bill MacCurdy of Sun Construction in 2009, it is designed to be part of a six-building cluster.Photos by J. Weiland Photography

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Today, the last day of July, I took a drive up the French Broad River to Marshall, NC. There stands an old high school full of art studios in a beautiful quaint town with an industrial river location. It was one of those days where that was perpetually threatened by a late summer storm creating shimmering trees. Beautiful.I was visiting one of my favorite young new artists - Leslie Hinton. My aim was to pick up two platters I had purchased from her. By the time I left I purchased four more pieces leaving with six. Ouch! Fun! Art is my weakness having worked with artists all over the country and have had my own art gallery before.Leslie was great. A fellow Cancer exploring the depths of her love and darkness all in one. As you know we wear everything on our sleeves so she portrays it all on the surface of her art. Her art is both sophisticated and naive. It is both city and mountain. It is asian and american. It is young and it is old. Obviously, I was weak for it. I have already hung them around my pad and look forward to helping her find new outlets for her craft. Truly, she is one to watch!

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I recently toured 10 Crowningway in one of my favorite Asheville neighborhoods, Sunset Summit, just off Town Mountain Rd. The current owners, Bradley and Peggy Holmes, purchased the 1964 built, Bert King home in 2006. Having lived in it for a few years they were slowly exploring renovating the home when a pipe burst causing extensive damage and forcing them to seek repairs. This presented the opportunity to expand and bring the house into the future at the same time.As I pulled into the drive of the home I did not recognize it from the photos as I had found from its 2006 MLS listing. It was similar, but not the same house. I pulled out again to check the address. This was it. The confusion stemmed from the house looking so originally 60’s that I thought I was at the wrong house in the same neighborhood of mid-century homes. The house had seamlessly been altered within its original aesthetic. The owners had been careful to match the original wood siding and other appropriate details.  Cool! Mid-Century MakeOvers - Allow me to pause and make a point here. You will often see around the country and in Asheville mid-century and ranch homes that get a traditional makeover by their owners and become a mix of conflicting styles. In Asheville you will witness many being “dragged out” in craftsman style garb such as windows, doors and siding. The end result is conflicting and uncomfortable and often times challenging to sell. I find that maintaining the homes true nature is the best way to go long term. Let's look at people as an analogy. We have all watched those make over shows where they find people who are 40-something trying to wear clothes of a 20 year old, a man trying to hide his balding head with a come-over or a woman trying to shove her breasts into a shirt that is way too small. Without fail the fashion expert will make them over wearing clothes that fit their true proportions and nature, age appropriate and working with their natural bones. In the end they look more fashionable, approachable and walk with more integrity by doing less. The same is true of a house. You don’t have to be a designer to know that it just feels right. Keep it simple and work with what you have. In continuing with my tour I found that the entry space was the most visible, but subtle departure from the original styling. The contemporary slat wall was crafted by a local artist, Craig Wies, using slats of rich Walnut. The choice was a personal statement and reflection of Brad’s upbringing in Pennsylvania and memories of building family homes using walnut off the land. To avoid isolating this feature they tied the wood into the entry flooring and the cap to the kitchen cabinetry.Originally, the home had no internal stairs to the basement. In removing the flooded and damaged laundry from this area and expanding it in the front they created an expansive entry and circulation area. As I toured the bedroom wings there was mention of the house having been expanded in one area to allow for a closet and other closets and doors being rearranged. If they hadn’t told me I would have thought it was all original. Again, it was seamless in its updating. This played out further in the den. Despite closing off an entry to the living space and rearranging a closet they were able to salvage all the paneling and place it back. The warm wood maintained the integrity of what was appropriate to the period and lifestyle keeping the contemporary and cozy feeling of the room while adding a needed third bedroom to the home.Overall, the house was clean, open and comfortable like most of the Bert King homes I have been in. I can’t say much more than they just feel right. Peggy states, “Some architects bring the outside in, but she feels that Bert King's designs really bring the inside out.”  They definitely balance function and flow and make for a quality livable home for generations. Just ask the Holmes who plan to live a quality life in their own for many years. I commend them for their sensitve updating to this Bert King classic contemporary home and hope they inspire others to do the same.

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Revive Asheville will be hosting their third 20th Century Modern design open house on July 1, 2011 from 5-10 pm at 178A Westwood Place in West Asheville.Founded in 2010 on the principle of bringing high quality Modern furniture, lighting and more to the Asheville area, Revive has spent numerous days on the road hand-selecting pieces from names such as Hans Wegner, Milo Baughman, George Nelson, Eero Saarinen, Knoll, Charles Eames and more.Revive has been mentioned locally by WNC Magazine, Modern Asheville and other local and regional websites and blogs as a go-to shop for Modern design.Owner Chris Sabo has a passion for finding, restoring and bringing back to life original pieces of Modern design. “There are a lot of companies now make unlicensed, cheap reproductions of Modern furniture.” Chris said. “Having an original 1950’s teak, oak and brass  table designed by Hans Wegner, one of the most well-respected Danish designers on the 20th Century, is a piece that will stay with you family for many years to come.”Original pieces of quality Modern have continued to increase in value significantly over the past decade.

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Thanks to my friend and fellow mid-century enthusiast, Steven Chicurel, and his savvy scrapbooking skills I am recreating this article from the Asheville Citizen Times for their House of the Week. I immediately recognized the home as 4 Crowningway which I have toured. The plans and windows have been modified slightly from what was published. Notice the images from the original article in the 60's and a few of my photos from two years past when this cool pad was on the market. Following is the original article. Realtor's take note on some past room lingo! Angled Styling Features Raised Ranch The split entry or raised ranch is a favorite with architects and home buyers who like a style that permits considerable flexibility of design.Architect Rudolph A. Matern has utilized this available flexibility in his latest creation for House of the Week. Contemporary styling takes over in this unusual home, with the right side turned at an angle for dramatic effect, yet with no loss of practicality for gracious, large family living. It is impossible to view this house, either from the outside or the inside without being impressed by the striking placement of its components.Although its over-all dimensions are a modest 71' 2" by 36' 3", it is a five-bedroom, three bath house with an amazing 2977 square feet of living area, not including a spacious deck porch, two other porches and the two-car garage.  And because of the raised ranch design, the lower level -- with its huge family-recreation room, two bedrooms, a batha nd a laundry room -- is higher than a basement, has larger windows and gets more sunlight.The boldness of design applies to more than the angles plane. Note the impressive front entrance, with glass squares surrounding the door; the prow-shaped deck porch; the similarly-shaped living room with almost an entire wall of sliding glass; and the upper level reception hall, excellent as  a guest introduction area. And see how the garage is invisible from the front, its two windows blending in perfectly with the rest of the house. The circulation is good and well-controlled from the flag-stone foyer to either level. An open balcony at the stairs adds a touch of elegance. Besides the previously-mentioned 18 feet of sliding glass, the living room has a large fireplace just off the reception hall. From this area it is easy to move out to the large deck porch at the front or, through the dining room, to the smaller deck porch at the rear, also accessible through sliding glass doors. The living room ceiling is the cathedral type which follows the underside of the rafters.What lady could resist a kitchen 20 feet long, with every conceivable modern appliance? And there's a curved wall at the second stairs in the house around which another open balcony is designed. The master bedroom has a bath and shower, a walk-in closet, two other closets and a handy vanity section.  Another bath is conveniently located between to two other bedrooms.  There are two linen closets in the hall.Two more bedrooms are on the not-so-lower level, with a third bath nearby. The family that lives in this house will never lack for plenty of recreation space. Not only is the family-recreation room a whopping 26' by 19', but there is an additional relaxation or what-have-you area on the adjoining sunken porch. A large storage room also adjoins the recreation room.The two-car garage is wide enough to include a workshop and two separated storage areas. All in all, Design H-54 must be considered a house with plenty of space for a large family as as one with extra special styling.