House of the Week: A California Mansion as Abstract Art

Taking quirky to the next level, this is a California mansion with the soul of an abstract artist.

The breakfast nook is like a fanciful Dali dream, enclosed in black subway tile with absurdist plates hanging on the wall and graffitied chairs situated around a vibrantly colorful table. Nearby are a jungle of a dining room — wallpapered with leaves — and a great room graced by the neon-colored busts of seven deer “heads” hanging above the fireplace.

Pad across the Escheresque master bathroom floor to the soaking tub with ocean views or to a giant gold and polka-dotted hand acting as a makeup chair. The master bedroom is less surreal, a soothing rainforest of a room with weeping willow wallpaper, moss hanging from a chandelier and a fireplace for a spot of warmth.

The home and most of its furniture are the work of its owner, interior designer Elvira Kud of Style Life Decor. She took the 7,500-square-foot mansion down to its studs, then re-created it as an eclectic work of art with high ceilings, wide-plank reclaimed oak floors and multi-colored deer heads hanging above the fireplace. It’s on the market for $7.395 million.

Kud’s favorite room is the kitchen, which she designed first before envisioning everything around it. “It used to be three separate rooms, and now it’s any chef’s dream kitchen, where we can cook, eat, party and fully enjoy our home,” she said.

That’s right down to the Fornasetti plates in the nook, where you can have your meal while “someone is watching you and looking down at you from the walls.”

The listing agent is Jason C. Bradshaw of First Team Estates.

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Dig Into Community Gardening

Whether you live in a concrete jungle or your landlord won't let you start a garden in the backyard, don't let your green thumb goals or fresh, local produce dreams die. A shared neighborhood garden may be just the answer you're looking for as an urban dweller or renter.

A community garden is a plot of land collectively taken care of by a group of community members. From eating healthier to learning new skills to building new friendships with neighbors, there are plenty of reasons for participating in your local community garden.

Felecia Maxfield-Barrett, volunteer and outreach director with Wasatch Community Gardens in Salt Lake City, UT, says that because a community garden encourages neighbors working together, the value of these projects extends far beyond just growing fresh fruits and veggies.

"You learn about your neighborhood, make new friends, connect with nature, learn new gardening skills, gain leadership experience, participate in garden events, and are an active part of preserving green space in your community,” she says.

How to find a community garden near you

There are around 18,000 community gardens in United States and Canada, according to the American Community Gardening Association (ACGA). The ACGA offers a community garden locator, but if you don't see what you're looking for, don't give up hope.

If a web search isn't drawing the results you expected, look to social media and your town officials. "Search Facebook for community garden groups, or call your town clerk to ask," advises community gardener Caroline Blanzaco. “Most towns have websites, and they should list gardens that are open to the public.”

The ACGA also suggests checking with your local or county park agency, as well as the land grant college cooperative extension program in your state.

Additional ideas for tracking down a local shared garden space include:

• Contact your neighborhood council. In addition to your county or city council, you likely have a neighborhood council. Neighborhood councils may even have a small community garden of their own that they likely don't advertise to the rest of the city.
• Ask your librarian. Visit your local library and ask a librarian if they've heard of any community gardens in the area. Chances are, if one exists, they'll know about it - as community groups often advertise on library community bulletin boards.
• Check with your neighboring city. If you're still not finding any community gardens in your area, inquire within your surrounding towns. It may be worth the commute out of your city for a home sweet garden of your own.

Starting a community garden of your own

If there's no community garden near you, or the waiting list for an open garden plot seems never-ending, consider starting a community garden of your own.

"Every community garden is different, and is a reflection of the community surrounding it,” Susan Harper of the Fairmount Community Garden in Fort Worth, TX.  “It works best when there are experienced gardeners and leaders to answer questions or find solutions and flexible rules to allow the garden to grow.”

The ACGA recommends first gathering a group of interested potential gardeners, then forming a planning committee as well as identifying a list of resources that already exist within your neighborhood community.

The ACGA’s start-up resources offer everything from a step-by-step community garden start-up guide, a community garden toolkit, and a list of beginner-friendly recommended books.

Sharon DiLorenzo, program manager for Capitol Roots in New York, suggests keeping it simple the first year or so. “Novice gardeners can easily get overwhelmed by the weeding and maintenance,” she says. She recommends looking into free gardening classes to help keep your garden plot healthy and productive.

Courtesy of Capital Roots.

Community garden benefits for renters

Even if your rental home boasts plenty of potential garden space, not all landlords are willing to let a tenant alter their landscaping. A common worry is having to upkeep the garden after the tenant moves away - leaving an empty garden plot with no one to care for it.

While living in a 600-square-foot apartment in Richmond, VA, Blanzaco longed for space to grow herbs and veggies. Without an outdoor space of her own, she sought out Uptown Community Garden.

"It was right down the road and gave me a sunny, free plot where I could grow things and chat with other gardeners,” Blanzaco says. “I was able to eat healthier, exercise, spend more time outdoors, keep it local, and meet new people."

In addition to the health and community involvement benefits, DiLorenzo says that community gardens can even help make inner city neighborhoods safer.

If a community garden sounds intriguing to you, Blanzaco's advice is to go for it. "If you have a community garden in your area, reach out to the person in charge,” she says. “In my experience, gardeners are very friendly people and want others to get involved. Don’t hold yourself back or make excuses. Just show up to the site and see if anyone is there to talk to."

For more information on community gardening, check out Let's Move Community Garden Checklist and the ACGA's latest resources.

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Jillian Michaels' Malibu Beach House Is in Great Listing Shape

Turns out one Malibu home is enough for fitness guru Jillian Michaels and her family. Two years after buying acreage with horses and an orchard, the personal trainer and television darling best known for “The Biggest Loser” has listed her nearby beach house for $9.75 million.

Walls of windows in the modern home on Las Flores Beach look out onto the Pacific Ocean, and the open floor plan provides tranquil views and sunsets even from the white oak stairs and the cozy television nook.

Glass walls open from the spacious living and dining rooms onto a wide deck with fire pits and a staircase to the sand. Michaels recently renovated the 3-bedroom, 4-bath home, according to the listing by Bruce Mibach and Tara Switzer of Coldwell Banker.

Spacious bedrooms and an office offer views, balconies and plenty of floor space for crunching out situps, and the sleek kitchen is ideal for cranking out smoothies.

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Green Trends in Home Building

No matter your level of sustainable home knowledge (or lack thereof), with the right resources, anyone can work toward building an eco-friendly home.

Seattle-based Dwell Development is known for its high-performance, sustainable homes. According to Dwell founder Anthony Maschmedt, what once may have been simply viewed as green-living trends are actually sustainable practices here to stay - whether you're ready or not.

Read on to learn what you may want to consider as you start thinking about building an environmentally friendly, energy-efficient home.

Plan ahead

"Every one of our homes is net-zero ready," Maschmedt says of Dwell Development’s homes. A net-zero ready home means you're setting your home up to be capable of producing as much energy as it consumes. Even if you're not yet able to commit to a net-zero home, you can plan for it when you're ready to later.

Whether you intend to install solar panels while building your home or add them in the future, you can set up your home now to "go solar" when you're ready.

In order to capture the sun throughout the year, Maschmedt advises people at the start of their home design phase to orient their home to the south.

Plan ahead and get a solar conduit and meter on your house, and you can add solar panels anytime. "It's going to become the new normal," Maschmedt says.

Solar panels may soon be the norm. Courtesy of Tucker English.

Martin Holladay, senior editor of Green Building Advisor, also recommends hiring an energy consultant or certified home energy rater to help develop your plans and specifications.

Maschmedt also recommends that your building plan include installing a car charger in the garage for electric cars. It will cost only about $250, and you’ll avoid the hassle of installation post-build.

"Setting yourself up to be net-zero ready is crucial if you don't want to take all of the steps now," the Dwell Development founder adds.

Seal your home

"Builders are increasingly focusing on envelope air-tightness," Holladay notes.

On home exteriors, the Dwell team uses Enviro-Dri, manufactured by Tremco. Instead of using a house wrap and putting siding over it (as is traditional practice), Maschmedt recommends this particular spray-on applied fluid membrane.

"You roll it on, and it looks like black rubber paint that becomes part of the house,” he explains. “It seals every nook and cranny from the outside, making the house basically airtight.”

This weather-resistant barrier system is permeable, so moisture can go in and out of it-but since it's breathable, it doesn't let any moisture in. This allows the home to be both airtight and comfortable.

Another perk for this eco-friendly home-building practice? It goes on in just one day, and then your home is completely waterproof.

Use locally sourced materials

Another practice becoming more common in eco-friendly homes is building with locally sourced materials.

Try to gather as many materials as you can sourced near where you live. From steel to wood to rock, look in your surrounding cities and home state for materials.

In addition to supporting your local community, using locally sourced materials avoids adding unnecessary pollutants to the air by eliminating excess transporting of materials.

Building materials sourced locally will not only look great, but also reduce pollution by minimizing transport. Courtesy of Tucker English.

Consider it farm-to-table construction. Maschmedt offers one tip: Inquire about old trees needing removal. You could score some great raw materials at little or no cost.

Finding available resources around you often just takes a few emails or calls. And if you're still uncertain about how to acquire enough local materials, your home builder should be able to assist you in both locating and selecting the locally sourced materials for your home.

Choose eco-friendly paint

Use a high-quality, environmentally friendly paint for both the exterior and interior of your home.

Look for paint with low or zero levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). When these chemicals evaporate during drying, they can actually contribute to air pollution, producing smog as they react to sunlight.

And when you breath in these hazardous carbon-based substances, they can also be harmful to your health. So keep low- or no-VOC paint on your home-building materials shopping list.

Incorporate technology

What's next for sustainable home building? Within the sustainable home market, Maschmedt says technology that can help people manage their homes will soon take off more than it already has.

While home automation can help make homes "smarter," it seems it can also help maximize your sustainable home efforts.

Home automation systems make it easy to control your home environment, no matter where you are. Courtesy of Kirio.

Maschmedt especially appreciates Kirio technology, which helps control the sustainable home system, ensuring that not only is it working properly at all times, but that it also runs as efficiently as possible.

Incorporating Kirio into your sustainable home plan will allow your home to be 20 to 30 percent more efficient. It allows the ventilation, heating, and cooling systems to communicate with each other, learn from your behavior, and adjust to the space's needs, Maschmedt explains.

Get into action

If you're ready to get started, but venturing into sustainable home building still feels overwhelming, consider your rationale behind "going green."

Holladay notes that there tend to be two types of homeowners who are interested in green construction: "Those concerned with global climate change, and those who believe that green construction methods will improve their family's health." Whatever your reasons, start there - and start small.

Maschmedt offers this advice to beginners: "It's all about how tight you build a home. You don't want air leaking in and out. Build a shell, add high-performance triple-pane windows with thick walls of pack cellulose insulation, and then add a heat recovery ventilator (HRV), which constantly brings in cold, fresh air and gets rid of stale, warm air.

"It's the system we're building right now that we hope will translate to all builders out there,” he says.

Design your home with green benefits in mind, and get ready to reap the rewards.

Related:

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• Eco-Friendly Home Updates That Save You Green

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Junk Yard to Front Yard: Unique Homes by Dan Phillips

"Our primary goal is to keep things out of the landfill," says Dan Phillips, owner of building company The Phoenix Commotion in Huntsville, TX. "It doesn't take any more time to go to the junk yard than it does the lumberyard."

Among the items he keeps out of the landfill are corks, framing samples, CDs, broken mirrors, damaged musical instruments, and even bones from ranchers' boneyards. Using these unique materials, Phillips and his crew build homes for under-served populations. They focus on constructing creative living spaces for those who would otherwise be unable to afford a home.

Builder Dan Phillips finds ingenious uses for donated and recycled items, such as the framing samples on this room’s ceiling.

Phillips talks with ease and conviction. He's lead an intriguing life, notably doing intelligence work during the Cold War, creating cryptic puzzles for a newspaper syndicate, and earning multiple degrees in dance. But a commitment to environmental advocacy has always been present in his life, as was a desire to build houses.

The Phoenix Commotion has built more than two dozen structures over the past 17 years. They haven't all been homes; the projects have included studios, a tree house, a public restroom, a church, an education center, an office building, a park, and a town gazebo. All the structures were built in run-down neighborhoods, because that’s where the need was.

"Building in deteriorated neighborhoods is both a choice and a necessity,” says Phillips. “There are no deed restrictions, the lots are cheaper, and there’s a need for affordable housing. I've rescued three neighborhoods this way."

He targets three under-served populations: single parents, low-income families and artists.

All about the materials

Those who sign on to receive a structure from The Phoenix Commotion must be bold. They have no say in the design, and Phillips works with what he has - be it granite leftovers or chicken eggs. But many people are willing to put themselves in his hands, as this is the only way they can afford a house.

Phillips stockpiles materials until he finds a way to use them. Sometimes he makes requests for specific items.

"Get the word out and people send you stuff,” he says. “I received packages of corks from all over the country when I needed them, and a local liquor distributor gave me an 18-wheeler load of them."

Donated corks serve as an unexpected flooring material.

TJ Burdett & Sons Recycling, for whom he built an office, lets him warehouse his materials on their property.

When asked what makes his houses interesting, Phillips is quick to pass the credit to the materials themselves instead of his own invention and resourcefulness. "They are interesting simply because of the nature of recycled materials."

If you have enough of anything, Phillips points out, you can make a pattern. And even if you can't, the serendipity that happens when whimsy, creativity and unique materials combine is always worthwhile. "I feature blemish,” he says. “That's the most interesting, anyway."

Builder with a cause

Although he is an artist, Phillips also calls himself an "annoyance" and admits he has an agenda. "I'm trying to generate a groundswell through demonstration and advocacy," he says.

To that end, he employs exclusively unskilled laborers. Not only does this keep his costs low, so he can pass the savings on to the homeowners, it also gives people in the area usable skills. Phillips is proud of the fact that once he trains them, he pushes them out the door so they can get them higher-paying jobs. Every part of his business is about sustainability in our world.

While all of his projects serve as a stance against consumerism, they are also an expression of his own creativity. "I just think one should make room for adventure in life, enjoy it and take risks," he says.

Giving dull design the boot

A current project is a lifelong dream for Phillips, and definitely an adventure: He’s building a shoe-shaped house.

Technically it's a cowboy boot, but this is Texas, after all. "There isn’t a child anywhere who, having heard the nursery rhyme, hasn’t wondered what it would be like to live in a shoe. I just have the chance to build one," he says.

With such a unique portfolio, Phillips can't say which aspect of his work is most rewarding. "It’s all fulfilling - rescuing materials, the human resources aspects, and creating affordable housing."

Phillips’ structures embody his creativity and passion.

It's clear the man is full of passion for this greater purpose, and he encourages everyone to do the same in their own backyard.

Phillips hopes to write and speak on the subject when he's had enough of building houses. He was a journalist in a prior career, so he’s well-equipped for the challenge, when the time comes.

He’s not quite ready to throw in the towel yet, though.

"I'm very proud to be a homemaker,” he says. “I’m not an architect. That's an academic designation. I think of myself as a builder taking advantage of leftovers."

And creating works of art, and changing lives. It’s all in a day's work for Phillips.

Related:

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9 One-Bedroom Rentals With Eco-Friendly Features

You don’t have to be a homeowner to take the safekeeping of the environment into your own hands. Whether you’re a city dweller or are hoping to stay closer to the suburbs, there are plenty of multifamily complexes that offer a wide range of eco-friendly homes.

If you’re an avid gardener or simply want to reduce your carbon footprint by living in a walkable neighborhood, the units in these Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) buildings will help you do your part to protect the environment. LEED communities can strive to obtain one of four ratings: certified, silver, gold or platinum. No matter the grade, all LEED communities use less water and energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Irvine, CA

2555 Main St, Irvine, CA
For rent: $1,870/mo

This modern one-bedroom exceeds green-friendly expectations with a strong commitment to the environment - evident in its water-reducing faucets, an Energy Star dishwasher, organic paint, and an energy-efficient water heater.

Find your next Irvine rental.

Newport, KY

300 Riverboat Row, Newport, KY
For rent: $1,400/mo

In this waterfront community, you can enjoy great views from your one-bedroom, along with energy-efficient stainless steel appliances. Take in some fresh air on the private balcony, and bask in ample natural light coming through the unit’s large windows.

See more Newport rental listings.

Seattle, WA

500 Belmont Ave E, Seattle, WA
For rent: $2,225/mo

This one-bedroom located in a trendy pedestrian neighborhood boasts LEED Gold certification and a net-zero carbon footprint. Full-sized balconies and walkout patios provide access to outdoor living.

See more Seattle rentals.

Silver Springs, MD

1401 Blair Mill Rd, Silver Spring, MD
For rent: $1,495/mo

This spacious one-bedroom in a LEED Platinum certified building harnesses wind technology as a power source. Access to Zipcar vans and cars is one of the many environmentally friendly perks of living in this walk-friendly community.

See more homes for rent in Silver Springs.

The Woodlands, TX

1 Waterway Ave, Spring, TX
For rent: $1,280/mo

Stroll into green living in the suburbs of Texas with this one-bedroom close to Houston. Powered by solar energy and built with green construction, the unit includes water-efficient stainless steel appliances.

Find your next rental in The Woodlands.

Portland, OR

1550 SE 20th Ave, Portland, OR
For rent: $1,397/mo

This stylish unit’s LEED Gold certification, large high-performance windows and energy-efficient appliances help residents keep utility bills low. Deluxe touches like hardwood floors, granite countertops and custom cabinetry amp up the design appeal.

See more Portland rentals.

Chicago, IL

222 W Erie St, Chicago, IL
For rent: $2,081/mo

This pet-friendly, modern building’s rooftop garden reduces storm water impact, and even reuses the water to cool the building’s radiant heat load.

Find your next Chicago rental.

Denver, CO

300 S Lafayette St, Denver, CO
For rent: $1,695/mo

It can be difficult to pinpoint the eco-friendly benefits of your home, but in this stylish abode, you’ll feel the impact of living in an apartment that delivers all its energy through wind power.

See more Denver homes for rent.

Oakland, CA

500 William St, Oakland, CA
For rent: $2,281/mo

Built with recycled materials and environmentally friendly systems and fixtures, this sleek one-bedroom offers access to the building’s Japanese-style garden, outdoor seating area with fireplace, and art gallery.

Find more rentals in Oakland.

Have questions about rentals? Check out our Renters Guide!

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Art Furniture Christmas Merchandise Sales Event - Date: April 23 2016 9:00 AM

Location: Fort Myers - Framed Art and Canvases on Sale! You can also enjoy: 50% Off Select Furniture 50% Off Christmas Merchandise Prices and Discounts will be Marked See Hope Chest Staff for Assistance 13821 N Cleveland Ave - North Fort Myers, FL 33903 28520 Bonita Crossings Blvd - Bonita Springs, FL 34135 Proceeds benefit Hope Hospice.

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