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Our Favorite Reclaimed Wood Projects – Now on Pinterest
What’s better than wood with a story evolving into something beautiful? View our favorite reclaimed wood projects now on 
Photo via Recyclart
New projects added every week.
How to Reclaim, Reuse, and Utilize the Sun in Your Home
Earth Day was April 22nd, but we believe it should be everyday. We will be posting creative ways to implement many new green practices today and everyday. Here are some ideas to get you started!
Utilize Reclaimed Wood in Your New Home Build or Remodel: The wood in our own home is from an old building in Boston that we thought would never work. When we first saw the wood it appeared unusable. Once we sanded it and re-polished it, it was just as beautiful as any new flooring we would have purchased, but ours came with a story.
Recycle Water to Keep Your Landscaping Green: Here is a beautiful baseball field that we built for one of our clients that utilizes reclaimed water to stay green. The Greywater Irrigation System captures, filters, and reuses shower, tub, bathroom sink, laundry, and other sources of good water (greywater or graywater), 50% of all water used inside a residence. From an average 3.2-person home, this annual flow is 46,000 gallons of water, year after year.
Learn more about Greywater Irrigation and Rainwater Harvesting Systems.
Utilize the Sun’s unlimited supply of solar energy to erase your carbon footprint. Installing a solar electric generating system that allows you to reduce your electric bills to zero. You can also heat your swimming pool: Cover your pool with a solar cover for inexpensive and efficient heating.
Read How to Get Started With Solar Energy Here.
We not only BUILD green, but we LIVE green as well.
Our team is very passionate about the homes we build for our clients, the communities we build in, and the planet. We believe that conscious green living, sustainability and luxury can go hand in hand, and support our clients to have it all when building their dream homes.
It doesn’t stop there for us. We implement these same ideals into our lives and our business. We ride our bikes whenever possible (Jeff usually rides to and from work everyday), many of us have solar panels on our homes, we shop at our local farmers markets/local stores and consciously conserve energy in our office. We are excited about this month’s green initiative to share some tips on green living throughout the month on our blog and social media. We encourage you to contact us if you have any inquires about how to implement these and other practices into your next project.
Thank you for taking the time to learn and share these green practices throughout this month and beyond!
Incorporate Green Living Into Your Home & Life – Coming in May
We will be bringing you tips throughout the month of May on Facebook and on our blog on how to incorporate green living into your home and life!
Subscribe now >> http://eepurl.com/vEki5
Celebrate Earth Day with the Original Green Design: Feng Shui
- Five Elements photo from Shutterstock
Feng Shui is the original “green design,” and it is about creating harmony with Mother Earth by unifying our inner and outer environments. Earth is one of the elements in the Chinese Five Element theory along with metal, water, wood and fire. The Five Elements are the foundation of many Asian modalities such as acupuncture, martial arts, and of course Feng Shui. The Five Elements, or “phases”, illustrates the cycles of life and nature. For example: earth produces metal because metal ores come from the minerals of the earth. Metal produces water because condensation forms on metal. Water produces wood because water nourishes plant growth. Wood produces fire because fire needs wood as fuel, and fire produces earth as the ashes from a fire become earth. The goal is to maintain balance with all five elements, so they can work together.
Interior Design: Traditional Crafts Merge with Contemporary Design
Photo: inhabitat
Located in Milan’s beautiful Parco Sempione, the Triennale Design Museum is a peaceful place of respite from the hustle and bustle of the main grounds of the Salone del Mobile. This year, the museum invited several countries to exhibit their craft and designs, including creatives from China, Korea, Denmark and Belgium. See some highlights from the Treinnale after the break.
Design Inspiration: A Look at 20 Modern Living Rooms
Photo: Dwell
Space, light, and twists on color use define this collection of some of Dwell‘s favorite modern living rooms from issues past. Which one is your favorite?
An Inside Look at Celebrity Dining Rooms
Photo: Architectural Digest
Step inside 30 celebrity dining rooms to see how Diane Keaton, Brooke Shields, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, and other stars entertain in style via Architectural Digest.
Architecture + The Affects on Education
Most architects know that school environments affect students’ performance. In this interesting Podcast from World Architecture News, we listen exclusively to co-author of the HEAD Project report, Professor Peter Barrett of Salford University on the results of their recent findings on ways to design for a better education. Shared via www.worldarchitecturenews.com.
Designing Your Dream Home: Why Architecture is the Foundation of Any Project
ar·chi·tec·ture (noun): The art or practice of designing and constructing buildings. The style of a building with regard to a specific period, place or culture.
There are many processes and people involved in creating a dream home; our architects, designers, our construction team and of course, most importantly, our clients and their personal style.
If you had the opportunity to design your dream home tomorrow, would you be ready to answer one of the most important questions that allows your team to get started… “what type of architecture are you drawn to?”
Your answer to this question will be the foundation and influence every part of the project. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to learn more about your personal architectural style, and get you one step closer to visualizing and building your dream home.
Do you appreciate the natural rugged beauty and simplicity in design? Rustic Ranch may be your style.
Contemporary with a touch of the islands? Try Island Contemporary.
Do you like grand entrances, cathedral ceilings and possess and innate affinity for castles from the 14th Century? Medieval Architecture may be a good direction for you.
Classical Greek, Roman and Italian chic? Neoclassical influences from the mid-18th may inspire you.
Are you inspired by California Missions, tiled roofs, quaint porches and balconies? Choose Spanish Revival.
Which photo is more your style? Click the box to find out which type of architectural design you chose.
Check back this month for more important questions to ask yourself before you start your next design project, thoughtfully shared by the experts at Smith Brothers Construction.
