Green washing

There is something I found in FL called scratch and dent and I was able to get this LG wm2487 Tromm for half the price around 500 bucks. It will exist in a small room so I do not care about a scratch or a dent and it left me more cash to over spend elsewhere probably recklessly. Anyway, although Mr. Gottfried's job is a little less corporate these days he still needs shirts without wrinkles. We've been doing the ironing ourselves because dry cleaners are toxic not to mention expensive in FL campared to Brooklyn's a dollar a shirt deal. Anyway, this washer has "SteamFresh
-LG's innovative SteamFresh cycle makes it possible for you to refresh and reduce wrinkles in up to 5 garments at one time
-Running late for work with no time to iron? Load a cotton blend shirt into the SteamWasher and select the SteamFresh cycle. You'll be ready to go in just 20 minutes." I guess we'll see if this feature gives us any new freedoms from ironing. True green washing would be using rainwater in a bucket with a scrub board.

Picking appliances

I am the type of person who really needs to be thorough when comparing prices with pros and cons when purchasing big items like appliances. I become obssessed not wanting to pay more for less. This is the second time we've done new appliances and so I did have a handle on brands I knew I liked already- Bosch and LG. I started with Bosch knowing I would do a repeat of a dishwasher and oven that we had purchased for our first house. Although now after visiting energystar.gov I was given an overview and if that failed I just looked for the energy star label. I used a site like homeclick.com that allowed me to narrow down my search based on things I knew such as size and color. Then when I found a few models I was able to look into the information and first of all see what had the most efficient energy label. My final step was to have about 3 to choose from and then just pick based on features I knew made sense for our use. With Energy Star appliances, you can recoup some extra cost for higher-end models over the first few years, especially water savers like dishwashers and washing machines. For my LG fridge and my LG washing machine, I actually went to a scratch and dent sale that offered a regular warranty but there were a few dings etc. I wrote down the model numbers went back home and researched those specifically and they worked out to be models I would have purchased anyway. I think I saved about $800 which allowed me to upgrade to an induction cooktop. I plan on posting each energy star label and the cost and comparing water and electric bills to past use etc to see if it really makes a difference. Also, we didn't even bother buying a dryer because we don't use one. If push comes to shove we can always make that purchase in the future.

A frustrating blog

Thanks to Damon, a fellow Floridian building green- visit their blog here for always checking in AND sharing a love hate relationship with another FL couple's building of a home near us in Englewood on Anna Marie Island in Sarasota. It's the New York Times' Dream Home Diaries and it can drive a sane person mad. Both of us have been following I believe since it started. i am personally jealous that I do not have The Times sponsoring this blog just for all the feedback I would receive. The reason the blog is annoying is because they aren't building anything special, certainly not green or a unique design, they have a budget of 700k, and they don't respond to the readers comments except once monthly and only to just a few. Basically it is a waste of the readership although I still find myself reading it usually just for the comments and to confirm that although my house is my house at least I tried to think things through a little bit. If I'd have had the 700k budget I could have had the dream home we originally set out to have with all the high-end green this and green that, not to mention a true passive solar design. Anyway, I am not one to judge, I guess it is just jealousy of their opportunity with all that cash and exposure to do something really interesting and instead be completely absent-minded about almost every detail. The Times has many interesting reports on current trends in building and design, I always wonder if they ever read the paper they work for... as writers, aren't they curious about what's new out there?

Rethink the pink

The only input little Miss Gottfried, who is 4, had on the project was that she have a pink room. I took this literally with no questions asked and somehow ended up with Barbie pink. She loves it of course because it is pink afterall but when you look down the hall or down the lanai there is a pink glow emanating from the room distracting from the otherwise natural vibe of the green surroundings. If I have time I am going to repaint before the floors are finished in that room this weekend. Maybe I can come up with a compromise where I can keep a little pink on the walls but turn it down overall.

Eco this and Eco that

It seems looking back that if it was a brand I already knew and they threw the word "Eco" into the product description, I went for it. Here, next to the oven, the dishwasher is the Bosch Integra 500 Series 4 Cycle Dishwasher w/ EcoSense. No doubt it is a good one but many of their other models are as efficient as well. As with the toilet, I could only do so many comparisons before I just bought something. We did look at the Fisher & Paykel double drawer but the more I read comsumer reviews the more I heard about this mechanical quirk it had. I'd already had a Bosch and loved it and so in the end the decision was easy.

White on white

The idea in the kitchen overall was to have everything have the same white gloss finish. This was achieved with the ikea high gloss cabinets and the standard white finishes of the appliances. The fridge will also have this same finish. The hood and a small part of the cooktop represent any lingering need I have for stainless. When the floors are down we hope all this white remains anchored between counter and floor. Plus there is an island to be added. More on that later.

Radiant Heat vs Induction Cooktop

We went with a Kenmore Induction Cooktop for a few reasons. An induction cooktop uses electromagnetic energy allowing faster heating times while using less energy conventional cooktops. Basically it cooks the food and not the pot then the food. Since electric is required here in FL we also liked that there were no knobs to get dirty and awkwardly stick up on the cooking surface. The black surface works well with the dark paperstone counter.

Lovin the oven

For our Brooklyn remodel we did stainless appliances, expensive marble and pietra cardoza countertops and although it wasn't custom, higher end wood cabinetry. It was really beautiful and was a big factor in our sale price. But that was Brooklyn, a different sensibility in an old townhouse and before I discovered green. I decided that when we did the kitchen here in FL things would different. Florida lends itself to a more streamlined, modern, clean feel which is why I am baffled that most of the new homes are over the top with McMansion lust. We moved to Florida to be outside more and enjoy our surroundings. The last thing we wanted was a house that felt heavy with bells and whistles. Clean lines and a simple look was the goal which brings me to my white Bosch oven. I love the look of this oven with its white knobs popping out of all the rectangles of the cabinets etc.

A little vanity

Our bathroom is complete with our Toto Eco UltraMax® and this small vanity from Ikea. I measured incorrectly and the vanity could have been one size larger. In the end it works fine and leaves the room open with a little more elbow room. This is the only bathroom in the house currently but we've left a room to add a master bath in the future. Anything I find I can't live with in this bathroom I can make changes in the next one.

Faucets and flow rates

I really struggled to find kitchen and bath faucets that were less than the 2.5 (gallons per minute) standard and then I found Hansgrohe. They had the sytle I was looking for at 2.2 gpm. They offered this flow rate in both the kitchen and the bath faucets.

We have Tankless Water

I've been slow to post as things are happening quickly. I am going to try to post more updates this week. It looks like we will be in the house by the end of Feb. Our water heater is installed but there is no electric to the house yet so it hasn't been used. It sits under the house below the current bathroom and our future master bath. Even though it is on demand water heating, the distance the water travels to the fixtures matter because when the fixture shuts off whatever water left sitting in the pipe between the fixture and box will of course cool down. The farthest journey for water to travel is into the kitchen about 40ft away. We don't tend to let the kitchen sink water run hot before we used it for something so I don't think this distance makes much difference for us overall. As for the bathrooms where hot water is used more often the distance is about 4 ft. Although there are more involved systems used to make water hot i.e. solar water heating, the tankless is a great middle of the road solution for new builds and definitely remodels. At the Link is an earlier post explaining more about on demand water.