Size, Cost and Decisions

The previous post looked at just the layout of the floor plans, and some comparisons between them. Here we talk about some other issues that were raised by these plans, and what we've decided to do.

Size

After seeing these two sketches, we spent a while discussing size. The first sketch, with the fully built downstairs was around 2600 sqft. The second, with only stairs on the lower floor, was 2300 sqft. We decided that we could not fit everything we wanted into just 2000 sqft without feeling cramped. We do a lot of entertaining, and hosting people comfortably requires space — space for a dining room big enough to seat 10-12 people, space for a dedicated media room big enough to sit 10-12 people, space for a kitchen big enough to support both of us cooking regularly, etc.

Looking at projected costs, our budget, and our desires, we decided that 2500 sqft was a reasonable target. That would give us enough space to comfortably fit everything we really wanted without going outside what we can afford. This pushes total estimated cost to roughly $825k, which is a far cry from our original estimate of $700,000. However, as we get closer to starting construction, we have a better idea of how much money we actually have saved versus how much we need to borrow. Based on those numbers, things look fine.

Are we worried that costs will keep increasing like they have been? Yes and no. We are not in a situation where things are costing more than we expected in an initial budget. Instead, we are choosing to increase our budget to get more space than we originally planned.

Plus, now that we are close to locking down a layout, the size will be fairly fixed. The remaining unknown cost is construction, and that tracks size fairly closely, so our costs should be stabilizing. There is some contingency built into the construction budget, and other large budget additions can be planned as alternate additions (which we can choose to include or not later in the process). So hopefully, at this point, we should be able to manage the costs at a finer level.

Decisions

We had a good meeting with Markus (the architect) and Yuval (the builder) to discuss the plans, and work through some options. We considered (and eventually abandoned) an interesting design that attempted to combine the media and living room on the north edge of the main room; we could shut off a smaller media room or open it up to the main living spaces to get seating for larger groups.

We eventually decided to go with a modified version of plan two, with the stair on the west. Because we could not get a media room that met our criteria on the main floor, we decided to build out the media room downstairs. This allows us to shrink the north-west corner of the main floor (the media room in plan 2) and use it as an office. This should allow us to hit our target of 2500 sqft, and get a nice layout all-around.

With the general layout/relation of rooms locked down, we'll move to a deeper exploration in CAD to allow us to get sizes nailed down, and start getting a better idea of what the house will look like on our site in all three dimensions!

More Sketches

We received some sketches right before Thanksgiving and a second set right after. Now, a month later, we finally have a chance to discuss them. Our architect has graciously allowed us to share his sketches so you can see how the design has progressed. First we'll go over the sketches and discuss our thoughts on them. The next post will talk about some issues that these sketches raised, and what we decided to do.

Both plans share some similarities that come from the constraints of the site. The garage is on the east side. The house is an approximately 30' by 30' square to the west of that. The garage overlaps the main floor, causing an indent of several feet on the east edge, starting at the north and going down about 25'. This effectively turns the main floor into a rectangle, with a little jut out at the south-east corner for the entry.

The upper floor takes up the full square; we will use part of the space over the garage for an upstairs deck. The lower floor can run the full north-south length, but only about 15' or so deep (from the western edge) due to the hill on the east.

Plan 1: Stairs on North

Plan 1 is approximately an open floor plan interpretation of the traditional four square, although the stairs on the northern wall are separated from the entry in the south-east corner. The stairs leave a narrow space in the north-east corner; just large enough for a very small office and a powder room. The kitchen takes up the south-east corner; counter, pantry, cupboards, etc. run along the east wall; a north-south oriented island defines the edge of the kitchen.

On the south edge, cutting between the main kitchen area and the breakfast nook, a walkway leads from the entry in the south-east, along the south edge of the kitchen, then to the living room. The western edge opens the main living and dining space to the view. The dining room lies in the north-west corner and flows into the living room in the south-west corner.

On the lower floor, the stairs let out directly into the media room, which fills most of the space. The north-west corner, next to the stairs, has an office/guest that opens onto the media room. The south-east corner contains a full bathroom, again off of the media room.

The upper floor has a large gathering area in the center from the stairs to the south edge. To the west lie a pair of bedrooms; a play loft connects the bedrooms. The bathroom just to the east of the stairs services these bedrooms. The master suite takes up the eastern wall. The dressing room and closet space lie in the middle and provides access to the deck above the garage. North of this (the north-east corner) is the master bath, and the south-east corner is the sleeping alcove, which is just large enough to fit our bed and a couple of nightstands.

Plan 2: Stairs on West

Plan 2 moves the stairs to the west. They bump out so that the landings fall outside the main straight-line envelope of the house. In this sketch, the lower floor is not built out. The stairs go down to open space roughed out for future expansion.

The living room is still in the south-west corner of the main floor. The north-west corner contains a media/guest room. There is a full bath off of that room, located in the center of the north wall. The kitchen is just below the bath, oriented east-west, with the dining room as an open area between the kitchen island and the south walkway (which connects to the entry, same as in the first plan).

The upper floor is similar to before, but now the two bedrooms are split by the stairs instead of closets. The open family/play area has been converted to a smaller utility room with washer/dryer, sink, counter space, and storage. The master suite has been enlarged to fit a small office into the north-east corner, off of the dressing room, since there is no space downstairs for it.

Comparison and Issues

At first, we found the stairs on the west a bit odd; the western edge seemed best for the main living area: it has the views, and it provides the best connection to a deck outside. But western stairs provide some interesting advantages.

With the stairs on the north, there is a relatively narrow slice of space to the east (since the garage cuts into the east-west space on the main floor), and that space can only open to the south. This basically requires it to open into the kitchen, which is not great. With the stairs on the west, there is room for comfortably-sized rooms to both the north and south, and access to the bathroom is not directly off any of the main living spaces.

This layout allows for a nice L-shaped kitchen, which gives us a nice amount of counter and cabinet space. Western stairs provide a nice focal point for the interior layout, and they make the space in the northwest corner more private. However, the dining room in plan 2 is a bit small, and we worried about it spilling into the walk-way from the entry.

In contrast, putting the stairs on the north provides a large open space along the western edge of the house. There is less distinction between the living and dining rooms. It would be much easier for them to visually merge into one space (this isn't necessarily bad, but is different). The kitchen is more linear and, since the north end of the kitchen provides access to the north-east corner, has less space for counters and appliances. The office on the main level is too small for two people, and isn't really necessary if there is a second office downstairs.

Both layouts had some issues with the media room since we hadn't provided enough clarification. Neither was able to be closed off completely to block out noise, a key feature for us. In plan 2, the media room was not the right size.

Both sketches were interesting, and had some really good elements; but these are both larger houses than we had originally planned on...

Design Sketches

Things have been fairly quiet until recently.  We got the first round of design sketches a couple weeks ago and have been reviewing them.  There ended up being various delays, so it's taken longer than we hoped to get these first sketches.  But thing seem to be moving again, so hopefully we will soon have even more progress to report.

In this round of sketches we're mainly focusing on getting room layout finalized.  However, the sketches also start to incorporate details such as benches, window seats, closets, counters, etc.  It is nice to see some of our customizations and personality start to show in these diagrams.

Overall, the general functionality on each floor is roughly the same as in our original discussions.  We are considering fully building out the bottom floor, which would have a guest room and full bath in addition to the media room.  We're still playing with some ideas, and may make the guest area an extension of the media room instead of a separate room to conserve space.

The upper floor sketches provided a nice idea of what the master suite might look like.  It is really nice to see that coming together, and how it might work for us.  But other parts still need some development; we've decided that we don't really need a large play/gathering area upstairs; and would rather have a smaller, focused utility room.  So that will result in some bigger changes to the upper floor.

Overall, the plans are still larger than our target size, so we need to work towards reducing the overall area, see what does and doesn't fit, and determine how much space everything really needs.  I think that will actually be the most challenging aspect. Certainly, it's the most in-flux aspect at the moment.

There has been a little more activity than just the sketches. Earlier in November, Yuval hosted a party for everyone on the project.  We met our new neighbors, and they all seem great.  We also got a chance to meet some of the other people we'll be working with during the process.

New blog address!

Just a reminder that we have a new blog address!  We're now at http://setsuzokuya.blogspot.com.  Make sure your bookmarks and reader feeds are updated.

Our pattern language

For once, I (Erika) am writing a post.

A Pattern Language provides the classic reference for defining the qualities that make buildings work and houses homey. My own sense of what I want from a home developed largely from reading and rereading this book. The book is massive; it contains 253 patterns which can be used to define everything from an entire geographic region to a corner of a room. Such complexity seems overwhelming, but fortunately the authors provide a way to get started. In the words of the book:

[E]ach part of the environment is given character by the collection of patterns which we choose to build into it. The character of what you build, will be given to it by the language of patterns you use, to generate it.

For this reason, of course, the ask of choosing a language for your project is fundamental. The pattern language we have given here contains 253 patterns. You can therefore use it to generate an almost unimaginably large number of possible different smaller languages, for all the different projects you may choose to do, simply by picking patterns from it.

To generate your own pattern language, A Pattern Language, suggests the following steps:

1. First, find the pattern which best describes the overall scope of your project. We chose pattern 76, "House for a small family"
2. Turn to the starting pattern and read it. Add the patterns mentioned at the end and any other interesting patterns mentioned and add them to your list of candidate patterns.
3. Repeat step two until all of the connected patterns have been read. 
4. Remove any patterns you aren't sure about. The list of patterns can easily get too long. We ended up pruning over 30 patterns from our initial list.
5. Add your own materials. If there are things you want to include that aren't captured by patterns in the book, add them.
6. Change any patterns that you want so that they are appropriate for your situation and desires. Change the name of the pattern so that it captures your changes clearly. 

We have gone through all but the last two steps. In a future post, we will  talk more about the patterns that make up our personal pattern language.

Status & Inspiration

The beginning of October was a bit slow for house design.  We were both sick and had several events during the weekends, so we didn't get a whole lot done.  What we have been spending time on is collecting a lot of inspiration photos and notes.  We compiled a document with links and photos to things we like, and made some notes about what especially we like in each photo.  If you're interested, you can view the document.

We also have written up a lot of notes about what we liked and didn't about the initial proposed design, both by ourselves and meeting with Yuval.  Right now we're working to get the overall layout, sizes, orientations, etc. set; and then go into more and more details of each piece.  Hopefully in the next couple weeks we will have a firmer idea of what the rooms will look like.

Setsuzokuya

With our decision to switch to the Bellevue project, 'Taltree 4' no longer works as a name. As we pondered new names for the blog, we decided to come up with a name for our house, which we could then use for the blog.

The theme of our house is connection: we want to facilitate connection between our family and guests and the outdoors, between our family and the community, between our family and guests, between guests with each other, and between the family remembers living in the house. The idea is to design it in such a way that these relationships happen naturally, and are encouraged by the layout of the house.

We wanted a name to reflect this theme. A name should have a meaning, but it should also be a distinct identifier. Calling our home 'House of Connections' sounds a bit strange; it is more a description than a name. We decided to use another language, since we can use a word that has an appropriate meaning; but will not be immediately understood or interpreted by most people. We both have connections to Japanese, and will probably have some Japanese influences in our house, so it seems appropriate to look there. We found the word 'setsuzoku', meaning 'link, connection, union'. We appended 'ya' to that, which means 'house, shop' to get 'Setsuzokuya'. This has the same meaning, but sounds more like an appropriate name or identifier.

As you can see, the blog has this new name already.  The blog URL will be updated to reflect this on November 14th.  At that point, you'll need to switch your RSS feeds and bookmarks to point to http://setsuzokuya.blogspot.com.

Architect Pre-meeting

As part of the land purchase process, we had an introductory meeting with the architect who will be working on the project.  The purpose was to get a feel for what a house might look like that fulfills our program, on this piece of land.  I call this a "pre-meeting" since at that point we had not officially purchased the land, or signed a contract to work with anyone on this project.

The architect YS Development has hired for all of the Bellevue 41st project is Markus from Whitney Architecture.  We spent about two hours with him going over a proposed design for our house.

The lay of the land and orientation towards the street pretty much fixes the garage to the east with entrance from that direction; but the front door to the house on the south east corner (well, the front door could be moved around, but it doesn't look like there are many other good locations for it).  The advantage to this is that for guests, the front door from the street will kind of by-pass the garage, so our house should be more inviting, instead of having a big garage door greet you, with the entrance tucked off to the side.

With the land sloping down from the east side to the west, we're probably going to go with the main floor on the same level as the front door and garage, a second floor with bedrooms above that, and then a partial floor below the main floor on the west side (probably just one larger room).  This bottom floor won't be a basement, since it will be at ground level on the west side, and probably tucked into the hill only a little bit.

The exact layout, size, and orientation of the rooms will certainly change throughout the process; but we had a really good discussion, and I think a lot of good ideas were brought up.  Markus was very willing to let us throw around ideas, and talk about what we liked and didn't like about this design.  Overall, the meeting was really good, and talking with Markus was awesome — we're very excited to be working with him.

Land: Acquired

As of last Wednesday, September 29th, we officially own the land in Bellevue for our house.  This is the first full commitment to the project, but also means that the whole process and timeline is now a go.  We will be starting design very shortly (as soon as we recover from various bouts of busy and sickness over this past weekend), and spend the next few months on that.

The land acquisition ended up being a bit quicker than we thought.  The lot was owned by the bank, so we would be negotiating with them on the price, and doing the actual purchase from them.  We informed Yuval of our decision on the Bellevue 41st project, and he told us he would work on our land purchase in about a week and a half, after he had finished closing a transaction on another lot in that same project.  However, less than a week later, I got a call Monday after lunch from Yuval that someone else had put in a bid for that parcel!  This would have a couple of potential problems: obviously it would put our project back into limbo; but as this was someone not involved with YS Development, a one-off house along with the other four houses from the Bellevue 41st project could throw off the continuity of the community there.  So we had to get an offer submitted ASAP that could beat this other offer.

We met with Yuval that evening, and he had an offer prepared to submit to the bank next morning.  It was for an even $200,000, which was $25k-50k above what we hoped to be able to negotiate down to; but we felt this should be enough for the bank to accept a competing offer; and while it was at the same price as the other offer, we had the advantage that our offer was all cash (therefore a quicker process not dependent on getting financing), and did not have any brokers or agents involved (avoiding the extra commission the bank would have to pay out of the proceeds).  Unfortunately, this did bump up the overall price to around $730,000.  While not great, this project still offered the best timeline; and a 4% increase is not terrible.  Since we've been waiting around 9-10 months, we decided that with the extra savings we've accumulated in that time, we could cover the increase, so we decided to go ahead with the offer.

Late the next morning we heard that the bank had accepted our offer; so in under 24 hours we had gone from biding our time, to having a pending purchase in place!  The offer was set up to give us about 10 days to cancel if we decided the lot really wasn't feasible for us; and a few more days beyond that as a buffer so that we could maintain a closing date before the end of the month.  Since YS Development had already planned on using this parcel, a lot of the work for assessing building, permitting, etc. feasibility had already been done; so it was mostly a matter of verifying that it would work for us in particular.

The first piece of this was an initial meeting with the architect to get an idea of what our house might look like.  I'll cover this in more detail soon, but the short of it is that we got a good feeling for how the land would constrain our design, but also showed us the possibilities that it offered.

The next piece was to make sure everything else was in order.  For the legal part, we used a benefit from Google which is (essentially) a subscription legal service, where we pay a fixed amount every month, but can use the service at any time to have a lawyer take care of standard things, such as reviewing real estate documents.  A few good points were identified, and prompted us to get a title report in enough time to have it reviewed, too. There ended up being quite a few things on the title report; which isn't entirely unexpected, given that this is a recently-subdivided part of a lot in Bellevue proper which has been privately owned but not yet built on since sometime in the 1960s or so.  Along with all the expected utility easements, there were also claims for a road (which has since been built and is the main access to the parcel) and similar.  But nothing was objectionable, and the review pointed out a few items that weren't relevant anymore and could be cleared.

On Monday the 27th, two days before the scheduled closing, we gave the go-ahead for the purchase.  We were going through Chicago Title for the title insurance and escrow/closing, since Yuval had worked with them and knew they were good.  We got a closing statement and wire instructions that day, and the next morning we sent a wire transfer from our bank to the escrow account.  Then Tuesday afternoon we went in-person to sign the documents for our part of the closing.  On Wednesday the 29th, the bank completed their part of the transaction, and the land was officially transferred to us.

This was our first ever real estate transaction, and overall went relatively smoothly.  It was fairly quick; luckily most of the hard work was done by others, especially YS Development. I probably learned the most from the lawyer's comments — while in some ways they felt like extra complications, they did help to point out issues we weren't really clear on, and helped to clarify some vague points.  We also learned that in a cash transaction, the amount of documents to sign is actually pretty small (apparently that changes completely if you have financing involved); the purchase offer to the bank was a half-dozen pages (one of which we signed and the rest we initialed), the title policy was maybe 10-20 pages total (but none that we had to sign), the closing statement and documents were about 15 pages, of which we signed seven.  The only large part was the supporting documentation for the title report, which was over 100 pages; but that was all copies of county and city documents and I certainly didn't read through it all.

Now that we own the land, we do have a bit of recurring expenses for it: taxes and utilities. Since it is bare property, the taxes are not too bad; about $1600 for the whole year (this will obviously go up a lot once we have a house on it).  For utilities, the city bills for storm drainage for all land, though the bills should be small since the land is undeveloped (0% impervious coverage).

I will admit that the financial and business transaction parts of this process are not my favorite.  I'm glad that this portion has been successfully resolved; and now we can focus on the more enjoyable design process for the next few months.

Bellevue 41st

We're moving to Bellevue! We decided to buy the last lot in YS Development's Bellevue 41st project.

Location

We can give a list of place descriptors, but unlike Seattle or Kirkland where geographic labels mean something to us, we do not really know what these labels entail. The good thing is that even you folks outside of Seattle will have only slightly less understanding of our description than we do.

The site is on Somerset Hill (this one makes sense; it's a geographic feature), near the Factoria Mall (but what is the Factoria area?), but also in the Newport area (the high school and library near-by are named after this), in the south part of Bellevue (the actual city). One thing we know is that people react much more positively when we say "we'll be living on Somerset Hill" than when we say "we'll be living in Factoria."


View Larger Map

Basically, the site is just south of I-90 (major east-west freeway that heads west into Seattle, and east out to the Cascade Mountains and Eastern Washington) and just east of I-405 (major north-south freeway that parallels I-5 on the east side of Lake Washington — this is the main corridor for the Eastside).

This area seems out-of-the-way to someone who lives up in Kirkland.  From there, we rarely have any reason to go south of I-90 unless we're going all the way to the airport, which is another 10 miles beyond Factoria.  Shopping, stores, and most other activities we frequent are either in Seattle or in the Kirkland-Redmond-Bellevue (downtown) area.  We don't go down to Factoria regularly (we've probably been down there less than a half-dozen times). We only pass by it as part of a longer trip south. That makes it seem far away.

But in driving distance, it isn't far.  If traffic on 405 is good, we can make it down there in about 15 minutes; taking the back roads is maybe 20-25 minutes.  Coming from Microsoft, downtown Bellevue, or even downtown Kirkland is less than that. The only awkward part to the location is commuting by bus between there and Kirkland; which is, unfortunately, what Erika does (however, we've already discussed alternative options for her, so we can hopefully find something reasonable).

Project and Site

The project consists of five custom homes; the others are in the range of 2300-2900 sq ft. and $800k-$900k in price.  We're going to be coming in a bit below that at closer to 2000 sq ft. and a bit over $700k (which was the high end of the Taltree project).  The houses are arranged with a short driveway down the middle and two houses on the upslope, three on the downslope.

The houses will probably all be oriented toward the west to take advantage of the views — a few trees close in on the lot, then across Lake Washington to some hills in the south part of Seattle.  The upper floors should be able to see some of the lake, too.  This development won't have the same major community features as Taltree, but there is already discussion of putting in some shared amenities near the end of the driveway.  This development is well along; as of several weeks ago, the first house was fully framed; the second had most of the foundation laid; the third was in design; and the fourth is close to being sold.  I'm guessing we'll start design on a similar schedule with the fourth house.

We are taking the fifth lot, which is closest to the (very quiet residential) road, but is at the western edge of the group (on a western slope, so there will be one house behind/upslope from us, but we shouldn't have anything besides trees blocking our view).  There is a trail that we are hoping the city will develop into real stairs that lead down to the Factoria Mall.  The trail goes right by what will be our backyard, and leaves a nice gap in the trees for the western view. We do have a view of the freeway, and there is some noise; but I found that as soon as you stopped paying attention it disappeared; inside it should be completely quiet.  There should also be enough flat space between the house and tree line to the west for a backyard, which will be below street level.

Design

What does this mean from a design perspective?  We're not as familiar with the lot yet (we'll be meeting with the architect soon for some preliminary layout); but a three-story house has been suggested to take advantage of the slope, with the lower floor being just one room; potentially a media room or guest room.  We're assuming that the entry and garage will be on the east side at the main floor, with the major social areas there; and private living spaces upstairs.

It will probably be mostly west and south oriented; since north is closest to the next house over, and east will be towards the driveway and another house.  West and south are more private, have good light, and have better views.  But we don't yet have a good idea of what the overall shape or layout of the building will be.  The backyard will be at the lowest level, which may be below the main social space, so we may have a larger deck off the main floor (one of the houses currently under construction has this setup).  Overall, though, we want the same functionality and general relationship between areas as we discussed for the Taltree project.  On the upside, now we will have a personal garage right next to our house, instead of a shared one in a different area of the site.

Personal Thoughts

In the end, how do we feel about this?  Well, it is a shame that the Taltree project wasn't coming together in our time frame.  While there is no hard limit in our current location (in fact, we've been quite happy here and could probably stay a lot longer), after more than nine months of waiting, we are very ready to finally have our project underway.  This has the best timeline and least uncertainty of all the options; and also gives us the best value — being part of a project that already has agreements with various manufacturers, we will get those same deals.

We are not familiar with the neighborhood down there, so that is a source of uncertainty.  We did a little bit of exploring, and there are ups and downs.  While it is considered very walkable (an 82/100 on WalkScore), that is pretty much all to the Factoria Mall.  This is not exactly the most pedestrian-friendly areas, but there is a good variety of businesses. Certainly more than Taltree which only had walking access to a (much smaller) strip mall. Being up on the hill is nice. It provides psychological separation from the mall even though it is only a short (though steep) walk away.

Jeff's commute will improve; he may not even need to drive to the near-by park and ride to catch a bus into downtown Seattle. If he ever ends up working on the Eastside, he'll be a short drive away.  Erika is not as happy, since the best bus is a route that takes about 50 minutes from Factoria Boulevard up to Google Kirkland.  On the other hand, she knows there are co-workers who live in that area which might make car-pooling an option; or if she is willing to drive, it will be fairly reasonable, even avoiding the freeway.  Certainly not as good as Taltree would be, though.

While the community will not be as extensive as it probably would be at Taltree, the existing members have formed a good community already, and it sounds like a nice group.  It is difficult to predict what will happen; but even at the other development, nothing is assured.

One disadvantage is that we'll have to change this blog name... (any suggestions?)

Overall, we're happy.  We've both decided it is the best decision; we are happy to be moving forward; and still happy to be working with YS Development.

Update: Site Changes

Apologies for the infrequency of recent posts; we haven't abandoned this blog, but not much has been happening until just recently.  First, a little catch-up for some proposed Taltree changes; and then some information about a choice we have to make now.

A few months ago, we got word that the garage plan for the Taltree site was changing.  The underground garage was deemed too expensive, and changing it to above-ground parking would allow for a change in unit mix.  There was little demand for the largest units, and more demand for the smallest units. A more cost-effective parking setup would the largest units could be eliminated in exchange for more small- and mid-sized units.  The exact details of the proposal kept changing; options included: parking directly attached to most units, parking mostly at the front of the lot with some attached parking along the south, and parking spread out (with a garage for us at the south-east corner, nearish our unit).  This change had some advantages, so we were fairly happy with it; but wanted to wait until the change was finalized before posting details.

However, a few weeks ago we started talking about some alternate options.  The Taltree project still has an indefinite timeline due to difficulties finding enough committed buyers for the project.  Talking with Yuval, we came up with a few options to consider: take the last lot at the Bellevue 41st project, reduce the community aspect of the Taltree site in such a way as to allow that project to happen in stages, or find a stand-alone lot elsewhere to buy and build on.

Bellevue 41st

The Bellevue 41st project is five lots, each with a single-family home with personal garage (no shared parking) down in south Bellevue (it is in Somerset Hill, right next to the Factoria Mall, but several hundred feet up).  The homes and lots (and therefore prices) are bigger than Taltree, and the location is further south than we would prefer; so we originally weren't considering it as a possibility.  However, this project was started earlier than Taltree, so is much further along; in fact, the first house is already framed, the second has a foundation laid; and the third is in design already.  If we decided on this, we could start design right away, and be ready to move in roughly 12-13 months later.  The trick is meeting our budget: we're aiming for $100k-200k less than the other homes in this development; however, we also want a smaller home.  If we can get the lot at a reasonable price, we could be a home there within our budget.

The main site is nice, up on a hill with some really great western views and trees around it.  The neighborhood is pretty nice, and has some of the best schools in the area.  The general location, however, is not ideal.  It is further from Kirkland, where Erika works, and further from where most of our friends live now.  However, it is quicker to get into Seattle, where I work, and driving the backroads between Kirkland/Redmond and Factoria does not take as long as it seems like it should; it's even faster if you take I-405 (as long as there isn't traffic).  There are more restaurants and stores within walking distance (even if they're all in strip malls or the main mall).  The community wouldn't be the same as at Taltree, as there is no group parking, and there is a (short) driveway between the houses.  However, the current members have already started to form a good community and are talking about adding some small shared amenities at the end of the driveway.

Taltree (phased)


Another option is to change the plan at the Taltree site. One proposal was to subdivide the land into several lots. One half-acre lot would have a smaller community of four houses; the other half-acre would be divided into two or three lots with a single home each.  The individual lots could start development before the community section, and they would be developed independently. Since the number of total units would be reduced, this change would would depend on getting a good deal for the land from the bank. However, it would allow parts of the project get started sooner and allow the builder to stage development. It would also make it easier to hit the threshold of the community section to start development on that.  For this option, we'd get our choice of lot and total time would be maybe 14-16 months.  On the downside, this setup would probably not have the same kind of community as the original Taltree proposal. Plus, since we would be in the first phase of building with others at indeterminate times, we might be living right next to other construction for a while.

Compared to Bellevue, this location continues to have the same advantages it did before: it is close to friends, it is a good commute for Erika, and, although it is not quite as walkable as the Bellevue location, it is still a pretty walkable location.

Separate Lot


The final option is to find a separate lot in a different neighborhood, and build a single house there.  This would require more work to find the lot, and get it ready to build. The timeline would be more like 18 months.  Since this would have no community at all, the main advantages would be finding the best location (preferably within walking distance of Houghton, where Erika works; and/or downtown Kirkland; both locations would put me within walking distance of the main bus that would take me to downtown Seattle for my work), and maybe a slightly larger lot for more gardening/play space (since we won't have shared spaces for these things).  Unfortunately, it looks like all the lots that even meet the location criteria are going to be more expensive than we like, and would probably push our overall cost up by around $100k.  Between the cost, longer timeline, and difficulty of finding/developing a new lot, this option is the least-feasible right now.

So...

We have not made a final decision yet, but we will soon.  In the next few weeks, we will find out if we can successfully get a good-enough deal on the land at either Taltree or Bellevue 41st to make those options possible.  At that point, we will need to make a decision (or have already decided), since there are other potential buyers interested, too.  Once we've decided, then actual development can start relative to the time frames listed above.  By the end of the month, we should know where we'll be living!

Inspiration: Metal & Wood

Nearly all design styles feature wood as an element of living spaces. It is a soft, warm, organic material that feels welcoming and cozy. When sanded and polished with a simple stain, it can look and feel luxurious. Left a bit rougher and unfinished and it provides a more rustic, natural feel.

Because of its industrial and non-traditional associations, metal appears less often as a design element in homes. Stainless steel appliances are probably the most common use of metal. However, it can be used to great effect as an accent material, and often is used as such in modern design. It is a cold, hard, inorganic material, and large amounts can make a room feel clinical, sterile, and generally inhospitable. But just a little bit can draw the eye, provide a contrast in touch, and provide some extra interest to a room. Like wood, it can be polished to bring out the natural grain of the material and show off its natural beauty.

Together, metal and wood can be used to provide contrast: the coldness of metal versus the warmth of wood; hard versus soft; organic versus inorganic; and browns, tans, reds versus silver, white, gold. The best balance usually involves more wood and less metal; for example, a common application is to have open wooden stair treads (thick slabs of wood), with a metal banister and thin metal wires in the railing (thin threads of metal).

With judicious use, metal can provide elegant, modern style to a home. Just a bit of metal accent can both complement and contrast beautifully with the wood in a house.


Photos from:

• Mont-Saint-Hilaire Residence
• Division Knoll Residence
• A House by the Park  (Photo Album)

Outdoor Spaces: The Garage

The garage will be primarily for vehicles and activities related to them. It could be used for other outdoor work/hobbies, but we currently don't have any.

The main house will have a single primary entrance for both residents and guests. The garage, however, needs two distinct entrances: one for people and one for cars. A garage door does not work for people — it is the wrong scale and feels awkward. That entrance operates mechanically, via a remote. This works from a vehicle, but feels slow and annoying to a pedestrian. To accommodate people, we will have a second, standard sized door. Ideally this will be connected to some kind of covered walkway that leads to the front door of the house. For most single family homes, where the garage is right next to the house, this would be a short gap of less than 10 feet; but in the Taltree development it will likely be longer.

The garage should have space for parking two cars. There should be enough space on all sides of the car to comfortably load/unload people and parcels. (Including the front — while most cars load people from the sides and parcels from the rear, some cars, such as Porsches, have storage space up front and the engine in the rear. Even more interesting, the Tesla Model S has all the hardware in the floor, so both front and rear are storage; and the rear includes two seats for children.) The garage floor should be level and smooth.

The interior should have good lighting. Light sources should include a mix of natural and artificial sources. Most garages are fairly dim; light makes them feel more comfortable and welcoming. It also improves safety and makes it easier to load and unload the car. We would like to have the lights on a timer and/or sensors, so they automatically come on when entering the garage and turn off once everyone has left.

We like to clean and detail our car(s), and being able to do this in the garage would be delightful. It would allow us to keep the car looking good even in the winter or when it is raining. Detailing is about more than making a a car look nice — wax or paint sealant helps to protect the metal and paint from water and dirt, so regular detailing can help maintain the car. For detailing, we need a drain and hose spigot inside the garage, plus ample surrounding space. An electric outlet would provide power for detailing tools.

I like to work on my cars. In addition to work space, this requires storage space for tools, jack, stands, parts, etc. Both overhead and movable task lighting are required. Both lighting and tools need regularly-spaced outlets. We will also need storage storage space for wheels/tires and other seasonal items. Car work can be dirty, so an in garage sink would be nice.

We will need space for cabinets, drawers, and other organizational aids to store supplies and tools. We may not install all of the cabinets we want at once, but it is important to design in the room for these things.

Looking forward, we want to be able to eventually install an electric car charging station. A normal household circuit is 120V at 15 or 20 amps. Large appliances (such as washer/dryer) might run at 240V/30 amps. Electric cars can use a larger circuit to charge more quickly. For example, Tesla's site lists home charging up to 240V/90 amps; and it has support for 440V commercial circuits (I don't even know if that is possible to get installed in a residential home). Getting a very high-amp 240V circuit run to the garage seems like a good thing to have done up front.

Even if it is not part of the main house and is a more focused space, the garage will have a big impact on the quality and enjoyment of our living situation; so making sure to think it through carefully before we start building is important.

Private Spaces: Second Floor

The second area (and second floor) of our house contains the private spaces. The activities located here are more personal: sleeping, bathing, dressing, and quiet activities such as reading, writing, crafts, etc.  There will also be storage and laundry space.  The second floor works well for all of these, as it is separated from the public areas of the first floor, and is "deeper" into the house than the first floor — you must cross through the public areas and go up the stairs (a transition) to get to the private spaces.  This provides a feeling of privacy and security.

Mirroring the first floor, the second floor must have an entry. Where the stairs enter into the second floor should be a landing or distribution area.  Unlike the first floor, where the open public spaces allow flow through each area, the second floor should have direct entry to most of the spaces (e.g., you should not have to cross through the master bedroom to get to one of the children's bedrooms).

Our bedroom (the master bedroom) will contain two functional areas: sleeping, and dressing.  In most bedrooms these areas are combined into one large room; we are considering having them a bit more separate, but we haven't decided for sure yet.  Clothes storage is part of the dressing area, but this does not mean we'll have a traditional walk-in closet; instead, we may look at built-ins along the wall which would conserve floor space while still providing plenty of storage.  One of the areas should accommodate some quiet activities that require light — for example, reading a book, or writing a journal before bed.

Attached to the master bedroom will be the master bath, with most of the normal pieces: shower, sink and toilet.  We will probably skip a bathtub, as neither of us use it regularly; instead, we'll just have a larger shower and still save space.  We do want two sinks so we can share the use of the bathroom.

The other main area for upstairs will be bedrooms for children (we want children; but we prefer to have only one major life change at a time, so we'll wait until the house is done).  Planning ahead for children can be a bit tricky, and the needs of children change over time; building in one particular way might not work even if we already had kids.  We're thinking about starting out with a shared room (with private bed alcoves) for when they are young. We would design it in such a way that it could be divided as they get older (especially if they end up being different genders).  This could possibly be accomplished with dynamic walls that allow us (or them) to join or separate the rooms as desired.

We think that the convention that adults should have elaborate master suites while children should have simple boxes is backwards. The rooms for the children should accommodate sleeping, dressing, play, homework and many other activities that we, as adults, would use the office or living area for. They will also need a bathroom, which will have a combined shower/tub, since it is much easier to use a tub when kids are young.

The laundry room will be upstairs, near the bedrooms, as that is the most convenient place to use it.  We will probably have space for both machine and hand wash (a large sink, for example), and machine and hand dry (racks and lines for drying).

There will be various storage upstairs — for linens, towels, clothes, kids toys, books, etc. Don't tell the kids, but we also want to design a small "secret" storage place into each child's room (different in each room, of course).

We will also have some space for pets upstairs.  Right now this is a pair of cats, and all their associated litter, water, food, toys, etc.  We would like a space that is semi-private for them to feel secure in; and that is easy to clean up messes (hairballs), food spills, litter, hair (i.e., not carpet!).

Inspiration: Black & White

One of the simplest design elements to play with is contrast and color. A mix of black and white elements can look sleek and elegant*. Some modern designs will go for an all-white look, which does look very modern; but is usually too sterile, or too distracting in the absolute perfection of all that white surface area. Mixing in black provides contrast to help define elements, to give the eye variety, but also to make it look more natural or normal. Black and white are are also basic tones to work with — they can mix with a variety of other colors and materials, they can easily serve as a background setting for other elements, and they don't need to draw attention if used correctly.

In the pictures below, there are several things to notice. Black & white can be used just for individual pieces of furniture, or for whole rooms.

The combination of black and white may be used strictly, or it can provide a foundation on which other elements can build.

Very few natural materials are purely black or white. However, many natural materials can provide shades of black and white. This provides variety of material and color, while linking everything together through this simple choice of colors.

* Note: Erika is totally not inspired by black and white. She thinks it's okay if Jeff finds them inspiring, but she will be writing her own color inspiration post once she gets around to it.

Images from:
Elysium 169 House
Vivienda 19 House
Villa Amstelveen
Book Shelves by Acerbis

Public Spaces: First Floor

Our first region is the "public" region. Since we are designing a home in the community, it is worth pointing out that these are the "private public" regions of our home, not the shared community spaces. We will talk about those later.

We want the public region to be the heart of our home. This will be where we conduct many of our day-to-day activities and welcome and entertain our guests. These spaces include the entry way and areas for socializing, dining, cooking, and entertaining (i.e., media usage).

The entryway is the most public area of the home and the place where people enter and leave the building. It is rarely designed as its own room in contemporary homes. In fact, the area as a whole is often sorely neglected; in many homes it is little more than whatever space was leftover near the door with a closet thrown in for storage. However, the entry way is important both functionally and socially. It needs to pack a lot of functionality into a small space. It should connect well with the rest of the public area, both carefully revealing the home and welcoming visitors into it. We will likely have our entry open into the living area or some space between the kitchen and living area.

We want the social, dining, and cooking areas to be closely integrated, so we plan to have a fairly open plan that includes the kitchen, dining area, and living area. These areas will not have walls between them, but they will be differentiated by changes in flooring type or height, ceiling height, room shape, furniture clusters, and for the kitchen, the appliances and counters. We are inspired by the Farmhouse Kitchen pattern. This does not refer to the decor of the space but rather to the connection between the spaces.

The living area will be focused on socializing, not media usage, so there will be no display screen. The focal point will probably be a view through a window. The emphasis will be on interacting with other people — chit-chat, serious discussion, board games, etc. This area will hopefully be connected to a patio where we can move our socializing when the weather is nice.

The kitchen should accommodate the two of us cooking and baking together. It will have to handle prep, cooking, baking, clean-up, and serving — for simple dinners for the two of us; for nicer dinner parties; for our weekly potluck with friends; for parties where there is not much cooking or baking, but lots of food set out for snacking; and for special holiday gatherings with tons of food and people. It should be well-placed to serve both the dining area and living area.

The dining area should be able to hold a table big enough for a large group of people (at least a dozen), and it should be well-placed to serve or dish food from the kitchen. We do not feel the need for a formal dining room, and are happy to have it open to the kitchen and other areas.

We often entertain with the aid of digital media, but integrating a TV into a social area is difficult. Although these two activities are often combined in contemporary homes, they have different goals. For entertainment, you want everyone focused on a single point — the screen. For socializing, you want everyone focused on each other, which usually means some form of a circle or other convex shape. Additionally, when both activities might be happening at the same time, isolating the entertainment area (and its attendant noise) provides a benefit for everyone.

We plan to have a dedicated media room that can be better acoustically and visually controlled than a common room, and can have a more focused setup that helps optimize the number of people who can comfortably consume media together. This allows us to optimize the living area for socialization, in turn. Some ability to link the two would be nice — perhaps via french doors or a moveable wall, but that is still speculation at this point.

A guest room is a semi-public space. It does not quite belong in the private family spaces, but it should not be open to the rest of the public space. An office is also a semi-public space. It should allow isolation when needed, but we will often want to remain connected to the public areas of the home while we are using it. To address both these concerns, we plan to have an office that can be converted to a bedroom on the first floor. Having the guest room and a full bath on the first floor will also be useful as our relatives get older. It will give us the option of moving our own room downstairs as we age.

Finally, there must be some access for the stairs to the upper level. This will likely be towards the back, away from the entry and (at most) on the very edge of the public spaces. There is a balance needed here between being a dividing line to the private spaces that keeps away visitors, but also welcoming residents to the more private areas of the house.

Next we'll move on to the upper floor and private spaces.

Introduction to Spaces

Designing a home can be an overwhelming process. The key thing for a home designer to remember is that you are designing a home for you. The best way to start the home design process is to think about your life and needs. What do you do? Consider both day-to-day and special activities. How are these activities related? Which ones naturally fall into groups? Think about how these activities are grouped in your life. This may differ from traditional groupings. How do these activities map onto rooms? Which things must/must not/could share space? We are going to skip the boring details of our activities (brush teeth, feed cats, host friends for games, etc.) and start at the end of this process. At this point we are still very far from a complete design, but we have an idea of the different regions our home will contain.

At the highest level, our home has four regions: public, private, vehicle, and common (i.e., community). These map roughly to the first floor of our home, the second floor of our home, the garage, and the outdoor areas and community house.

Obviously, these areas are not all within the physical bounds defined by our walls. One of the great things about this project is that we get to be involved in the community design process from the beginning. We will not have as much control over the common areas as over our own building, but we will be able to realize advantages that come from sharing amenities.

Over a few posts, we will describe our goals and nascent ideas for each region.

Inspiration: Modern Design

This is the first in a series of posts on various sources of inspiration for our design.  We're going to link to plenty of pictures we have collected over time, and try to explain why they are interesting and what exactly has influenced us about them.  We're going to start out with an overview of modern design, as that is one of the most general and broad influences, while everything else is more refinements of this.

The homes in Taltree will have a modern design aesthetic. Modern design aims for simplicity of form, with very little ornamentation. Modern design is generally recognized to have originated in the early 20th century, gaining prominence in the mid-20th century. Some of the most well known modern architects were Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Modern design is characterized by clean, straight lines and straightforward designs. Modern homes often have flat or shallow roofs in climates where that is appropriate.  The beauty of the design comes from emphasizing the form or structure of the building.  Materials are chosen to be both useful and beautiful at the same time.

Modern buildings often use large expanses of glass and industrial materials such as steel and concrete. The general availability of these materials coincided with the rise of modernism and greatly influenced the designers. Large panes of glass are used to provide large, uninterrupted windows. Steel (and now aluminum and other metals) can be used for simple window frames, stair and balcony railings, countertops, and other elements. Concrete can be used for floors or whole buildings.

The original modern architecture is considered austere by many. Especially in a home, the use of industrial materials and the lack of ornamentation can make a building feel cold and unwelcoming. Some of this reputation is undeserved. Architects like Wright used wood and other natural materials to introduce warmth into their homes. However, it cannot be denied that modernism also led to some atrocious concrete and steel monstrosities.

In the Pacific Northwest, contemporary modern architecture has embraced the use of natural materials, especially those, such as cedar, that can be found locally. Treated but unpainted woods have good resistance to moisture and sun and can be used for exterior siding. Light-to-medium red-colored woods are often used in the interior — for flooring, siding, railings, etc. Pacific Northwest modern design often uses butterfly roofs (a slight slope inward, so the 'peak' of the roof is really the lowest point) and single slope roofs. Both of these designs work well in the northwest where we need to accommodate drainage for the frequent rain but do not need to be able to handle a large dynamic load due to snow.

A well designed modern home is elegant and restrained without being austere. Despite the lack of ornamentation, a well built modern home requires precision and craftsmanship. Modern homes will generally look unique, but not out-of-place. While the aesthetic will not appeal to everyone, we look forward to having a beautiful, unique modern home.

Pictures from:

• Queens Park Residence
• Concrete House
• Dyes Inlet Residence
• City View Residence

Location & Site

Location

The location of the Taltree development is right on the border between Redmond and Kirkland.


View Larger Map

This land belongs to a small area that was only incorporated into Redmond a few years ago. The land lies right on the border between Redmond and Kirkland (in fact, the street and possibly the sidewalk are part of Kirkland), so it feels more connected to Kirkland than Redmond.

It is just north of Bridle Trails, which is a large park area that feels fairly undeveloped -- there are a lot of old trees lining the roads, and many of the houses are fairly secluded. It is also located just north of NE 70th Pl/Old Redmond Road. This makes the location well connected -- one direction will take you to I-405 and then into Kirkland; the other way will take you into Redmond.

Right at 132nd Ave and 70th Pl is a small shopping mall -- it has a few small restaurants, Ace Hardware, Red Apple Market, Bartell's Drugs, Tech City Bowl, and other shops and restaurants. It should provide some good basic services within walking distance.

Site

The site itself is two half-acre lots that currently each have a small house on them. The rest is fairly wild. There are a lot of tall trees (hence the name), especially pines, and at least one mature oak tree. We also found some clumps of black bamboo, which is apparently somewhat rare. Overall, there is a nice diversity of plants, and a good selection will be retained once the site has been fully developed. Part of this will be a screen of trees and plants at the road to add some privacy to the site.

The site is moderately level, but slopes up from the street for a total rise of about 10 feet at the back. Since our house will be located at the far end, it will be raised up a good amount from the street, which should help to make it feel a bit more secluded.

The current plans for the site include saving a nice group of pine trees just to the north of our house, while the south will be a bit more open. However, on the next lot over to the south, there is currently a group of tall pines; hopefully these will provide us with a nice view, while still having enough open space to get some good southern light into the house.

About YS Development

YS Development is a small development company building modern, green houses in the Eastside area outside of Seattle (Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond). Their website includes a nice page on green building. They handle the entire project from beginning to end — land acquisition, design, permitting and building. Not everything is done directly by them; they work with architects for the design, and of course the building phase uses various contractors. But they work to provide a custom-built house at a fixed price point, which is very appealing to us. We love the idea of a custom-built home; but everyone we know who has worked on a custom building has run into problems, cost overruns, financing issues, etc. YS Development should be able to help us with a lot of these issues; for example, they're dealing with all the permitting and details to get the property workable for the Taltree development.

Kirkland Duo

One of the showcase developments from YS Development is Kirkland Duo, which is two high-end homes near downtown Kirkland. These are both built for speculation (meaning there was no customer at development time — this is what most new homes are built as), but the finishes, layout, and overall design are good examples of the work YS Development does. They are fairly large (around 3600-3800 sq. ft.) and are well out of our price range; but we were impressed with the amount of care and detail put into these compared to most new homes we saw. Even before we met Yuval, the head of YS Development, and went on a house tour with him, we realized that he had really studied and implemented design at a level most spec houses don't have. For example, windows seemed to be designed to frame views appropriately. Windows were placed to avoid staring directly at neighboring houses. Windows were also used as a design element; instead of just sticking them around haphazardly, they were placed so as to benefit both the internal and external architecture. The homes have a lot of green features, such as a garage separated by a short walk-way to separate it from the house; a green roof in some areas; natural wool carpet; low-VOC paint; etc. One of the houses has sold already, but the other is doing regular open houses (check the YS Development home page for the schedule). If you are in the area, we recommend checking it out.

Current Projects

Currently, there are a couple community projects YS Development is working on. One of them is ours, Taltree ecoVillage, which is still early in the process. The other project is in Bellevue, and is further along. They are doing five single-family homes, each with their own garage and lot, which gives them a bit more flexibility in design, but may not provide the same kind of community areas as Taltree will have. The houses are also a bit larger and more expensive in comparison. For this project, they were working on submitting plans to the city for two of the houses about a month ago, so they are at least several months ahead of us.

YS Development also does one-off custom homes for individual customers, which includes finding the right site, custom design, and building. They work with the customer to provide this within the desired budget. This is a good alternative for those who aren't interested in one of the community projects, or have a different locaton and/or price they would like.

About Green Building: Costs and Benefits

Green building provides a lot of benefits for the homeowner. A green home will often be higher quality and more livable because of the intentional design. It should have cheaper (sometimes much cheaper) utility bills over the lifetime of the house. Residents should have a quality of life when they are not surrounded by materials that are leaking chemicals. For those who care about such things, living in a green home leaves you with the knowledge that your home construction resulted in less waste and likely used recyclable or renewable materials.

Some of this may come at a cost — wool carpet is more expensive. Low-VOC paint may cost more because it is less common. However, other choices, such as choosing bamboo flooring over exotic hardwoods or choosing local manufactured stone, may save money. Labor costs may be higher for new construction techniques, but money is saved when less material is wasted. High performance windows may cost more, but your energy costs are much lower over the lifetime of the home (plus, you will be less impacted if energy prices rise significantly).

Green building does not have to cost more; but in practice it is rare enough that we are still paying a premium due to the limited sources of green products and the limited number of workers trained in the proper building techniques. If nothing else, most green buildings probably have more time and effort put into design than a standard home, and that will increase costs. However, we think the cost will definitely be worth it for a better home in the end.

About Green Building: Design and Energy Use

A green home is designed to use much less energy than a standard home. Some of this is related to construction techniques -- a tighter seal and better insulation all around prevents heat loss (or heat gain in the summer). With a heat-recovery exchange system you can still get healthy ventilation without losing all the heat from your house. Similarly, using very insulated windows with heat glazing can help keep out the sun when it is hot and keep in or out the heat from leaking through.

But a lot of the energy efficiency comes down managing solar energy as well as possible. In the winter, you want to capture as much sun as possible to heat your home naturally. This means taking advantage of the fact that the sun is higher in the sky in the summer than in the winter. In many locations, a green home will be built with south-facing exposure to capture the sun the winter sun. To prevent the higher summer sun from entering, a green home can have eaves over the windows at the appropriate angle and extent to block most of the sun in the summer. Clerestory windows and light shelves help bring light deeper into rooms to avoid using electric lights (and without transferring all the heat in the summer, too).

Bedrooms can be put on the east side of the building to take advantage of the morning sun (although around here, that needs to be balanced with getting sun too early in the summer). Rooms that you use at the end of the day, for example, the dining room or office, can be put on the western end of the house.

Proper orientation with respect to sunlight is probably one of the biggest advantages for the homeowner -- having the right light in the right room at the right times of day can make a home feel very livable, inviting, and comfortable. Getting the layout right requires more thought than a cookie-cutter plan from a book, but the resulting home will likely have a better layout and be more usable.

Of course, you can also analyze the suitability of your site for wind power and photo-voltaic array. A green home can be pre-wired for solar at a minimal cost (hundreds of dollars added to the total cost of the home). Even if solar power isn't economical now, it may be in 5 or 10 years as prices on PV cells come down; being able to install them and connect them to existing wires will be much cheaper than trying to retrofit the wiring.

About Green Building: Materials

Green materials are usually natural, made from renewable resources, or use low-energy manufacturing techniques. Some people consider materials sourced and processed locally to be more green than those that are not. Some materials combine these properties, but not all of them do. For example, bamboo cloth is made from a natural and renewable resource (bamboo grows very quickly), but it requires a lot of nasty processing to make it into suitable cloth.

For wood, this usually means avoiding exotic woods that are from endangered species, or have to be shipped from far away. There is plenty of nice renewable hardwoods available from the US. A green home can use salvaged wood (e.g., from old buildings) that has some interesting character to it. Salvaged woods do not need to be harvested, and salvaging saves them from the dump. However, some sources of salvaged wood may have toxins, so it should be obtained from a reliable source.

Marble or quartz is not very renewable, but many manufactured stones are made from recycled materials. Paperstone is made of recycled paper bound together with resins. NovuStone creates counter tops from recycled glass; the glass is sourced and processed in the Pacific Northwest.

A green home would avoid most synthetic carpets. These carpets are made from petroleum producs and use nasty treatment chemicals to make them flame retardant. Natural wool carpets provide a green alternative, and they are naturally flame retardant.

Green homes avoid using paints with lots of VOCs and use low-VOC or zero-VOC paints made from plant oils or natural minerals instead.

These materials often provide benefits for the home owner as well as the environment. Low-VOC and zero-VOC paints improve air quality -- the air is cleaner from the beginning, and you don't have to worry about any possible health effects (VOC concentrations can be up to 10 times higher indoors than out). Wool carpets also reduce the amount of VOCs in the air. They can also be more durable, more stain resistant, and are less prone to collecting dust mites. Plus, they often feel a lot nicer. Of course, this comes with a cost. Wool carpets are significantly more expensive than their synthetic counterparts.

Synthetic and manufactured stones often come in a wider variety of styles an colors than natural stone. Some can be made to custom-order. Some types of manufactured stone counter top can be created as a single slab (which makes cleaning easier).

About Green Building: Construction Techniques

What does 'green building' really mean? There are certifications that describe this in more detail: LEED is a common one, though early on it was more targeted towards commercial buildings; BuiltGreen is a standard aimed at residences in Western Washington. But what does green building entail, and what does it mean for the home owner?

Green building aims to reduce the impact of a house on the planet through construction techniques, material choices, and building design (particularly related to energy usage).

Not everything described here is applicable to every development; in particular, not everything listed will be used for the Taltree development. This is more a general overview of the types of things available for green building.

Each area will be considered over the next several posts.

Construction Techniques

Green construction techniques try to cause the least possible disruption of the site and avoid wasted materials. For example, for the Taltree site, the builder wants to save as many of the existing trees as possible, especially the important trees and tree groups. In today's standard development practice, the land is cleared entirely, then completely replanted with grass and a few new trees. The Taltree site has a lot of really nice, older trees. When possible, these trees will be left in place. If there are mature, healthy trees in planned building areas, the trees will be carefully moved to a new location to keep them alive. This avoids throwing away a lot of cut-down trees, avoids the need to buy a bunch of new trees that will take years to grow, keeps around trees that are comfortable in the native climate and so don't need a whole lot of work to keep them healthy, and provides much nicer surroundings from the very beginning for the residents.

There are a variety of techniques for cutting down on wasted materials during construction. One example is using pre-fabricated panels called SIPs (structural insulated panels). These are used for the wall, and are fabricated to spec in a warehouse; so they are manufactured to the correct size, and they are assembled just like a puzzle on site. This means no cutting boards down to size or anything like that, which results in very little waste.

Advanced Framing is an an alternative to SIPs. This framing technique reduces the amount of lumber used, achieves the same strength as standard framing techniques, and increases the thermal efficiency of the home.

Introduction

We are involved in a custom-designed, green-built community called TalTree ecoVillage by YS Development. It will be nine houses on a one-acre lot, with shared community house and underground parking for residents. Each house will be custom-designed and built to the specifications of the owner; and the whole community will be focused on green-built techniques and technologies. There will be efforts to preserve a good number of the existing trees, especially significant trees or important groups. Each house will be a single-family unit, ranging in size from roughly 1600 to 2400 square feet. It is located in Redmond, on the border with Kirkland. More details can be seen at the official site, linked above. We have unit number 4, which is at the bottom of the U, as seen here (PDF).

Currently we have put down a bit of earnest money and have an initial unit reserved. The general process is that once we have quorum on reserved units (at least half), we can start the official design for both individual units and shared features (general landscaping in the center, community house, and parking garage). That process will probably take several months; once it is completed, we will have a contract with a fixed price and complete design and feature list. Once we sign that, we'll be committed and work on financing the full price. Then the designs will go in for permitting and city approval, which will take several months, or more. Once those are approved, construction on our new home will start. Right now the goal is summer of 2011 to move in.

This blog will be about our process of design and building. We've already spent time talking through initial ideas and seen the site; we'll try to summarize some of those things in more detail soon. Now that we're getting close to starting the official design process, we'll be posting more detailed information on how our design is coming along, but also inspiration from other things we've seen or read, and ideas we might like to see, such as thoughts on particular parts of our house or garage, and what we're aiming for. So expect to see posts with links to pictures, more analytical thoughts on what we want for ourselves, and general status updates on how things are going. Once design is finished, this will be mostly status updates -- pictures and descriptions of how the infrastructure and community features are going, and then pictures of our house (and possibly the other units). We'll try to find as much time in our busy schedule as we can to provide a record for others, and for ourselves of this project.