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Sale Price: $1,610,000 Size: 3516 sqftAmenities: 4 Beds + 3.5 Baths + View Great to see that this house recently sold up at Ciel this year. Below is from a past article I had written on it in 2011.The Bower House The Bower House is in punch list phase of completion and I was fortunate enough to get a little tour yesterday from the listing agent. The 3516 sq/ft. home encompasses 4 bedrooms and 3.5 Baths and is currently listed at $1,595,000. Overall, the two things I like the most about this speculative designer home is the scale and the way it sits on the lot. Hunter Paul Coffey of Blowing Rock designed the contemporary home and is savvy to dramatic mountain settings. The house comfortably takes advantage of both the slope and the dramatic view, offering some indoor/outdoor living options including a retractable wall that slides open to allow for an additional outdoor living room with fireplace.Interior Designer, Talli Roberts, chose interior materials that warmly blended the mountain and modern aesthetic. Constructed by Cottonwood, it is a very solid, livable mountain home that blends with its mountain environment without overstating itself and wisely bucks the trend of massive living spaces. I think its a high quality home for this moment that will only get better with age and patina.

Green Home Educational Tours courtesy of the Arboretum

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The North Carolina Arboretum and our Community Partner and Mosaic are pleased to offer the following tours in conjunction with the “Sustainable Shelter” exhibit. See below for tour descriptions, dates and times. Tour space is limited, so please pre-register for your tour(s) of choice. You may register by calling (828) 665-2492 and speaking with Peggy Eavenson or Kelly Ball or through email by contacting membership@ncarboretum.org. If registering by email, please include the name(s), date(s) and time(s) of the tour(s) you would like to attend as well as your name, address, phone number and names of any guests attending with you.A cash donation of $5.00 to $10.00 to The N.C. Arboretum Society is suggested at the time of the tour. All tours begin off-site and attendees are responsible for their own transportation.

OTHER TOURS

Sunday, November 6th– Green Home Driving Tour

Caravan in your own vehicle (carpooling with family and friends is preferred) and visit new green homes and green construction sites throughout Central and West Asheville.Tour starts at 2:00 p.m. and lasts approximately 3 hours.Meets at 1 Perdue Place, Asheville, NC 28806 

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Grandma's House Gets Modern Updates David Way of Roost, LLC gave me a call today while he was putting the finishing touches on a very traditional ranch house not far from the Grove Park Inn. As I have only spoken to David about the new homes he builds, I don't think he was aware of my passion for ranch homes and their livability. He soon found out as I was on site in ten minutes. After all, he was in my hood.I caught David outside scanning his Mac on top of some discarded cabinets along the drive.  As is typical of many ranches in our mountain town, the garage is on the lower level. This means the homeowner is often greeted by an unfinished basement when they arrive home navigating ceilings of dangling fiberglass insulation through a sea of gray concrete. David easily carved out a new downstairs entry that was well lit with new recessed lighting and had a surprisingly nice looking ceramic tile on the floor that he found at Home Depot for $2 per tile. Deal! In the process he framed out a new office and laundry for the owners adding extra square footage and useful rooms with better access.The stairway was now well lit and open, drawing you upward into a new living space created from deconstructing a narrow corridor of doors, a typical ranch house issue. The house, having given up a few walls, offered a flowing lifestyle from kitchen to hall to living to outdoors. You could hear a collective sigh of relief from the owners who can now breathe in the openness of their relaxing new space bouncing with good chi. Cabinets, flooring, fireplace and lighting were all new of course, sporting a blend of contemporary styling. Sweet.Though ranch homes are very predictable in their challenges, they offer compact one level living that is so desirable by my clients today. Asheville has a variety of wonderful established neighborhoods that offer walkability and close proximity to amenities. Thanks, David, for giving us a peak!For more information on ranch home remodeling in the area search my blog or call me for some insight on good areas for buying and design resources for remodeling.Article and Photos by Troy Winterrowd

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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!