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February 2006
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Pippin Home Designs Newsletter |
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| Award-Winning Homes With A View |
February 2006 | |
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Greetings!
Welcome to News from Homes with a View!
With SPRING just around the corner and the unseasonably warm winter we’ve been experiencing here in NC, countless new homes and renovations are underway. Like many others this time of year, I am putting the final touches on my own lake home renovation plans, which incorporate the growing trend of Green Design.
As I mentioned in the last issue of News from Homes With a View, my renovation will be a special series in this online publication. By providing my project updates and experiences, I hope to assist and educate others on the renovation process with a special focus on Green Building. This is also why I wanted to dedicate my article this month to introducing and defining what Green Design & Building really are.
Although Green Building is gaining exposure, there is still some mystery about this “new” design type that is becoming a popular trend. When I recently was asked to speak to a group of local business people about housing trends and green building, I realized that even though green building is being covered in more mainstream media, it is still a bit of a mystery. What is it? What does it encompass? I hope to answer your questions, and continue to show how various design styles can be incorporated into your new home or renovation.
As Kermit points out in the new Ford Hybrid commercial, It IS Easy Being Green! So, here at Pippin Home Designs, Inc., we’ve adopted Kermit’s perspective and included a few tips that you can do right now to become more GREEN.
Also in this month's issue, we continue with our regular columns: Out the Door with Jan Enright Feamster, ASLA and Feng Shui In Our Daily Lives with Val DeLong. Learn about romantic gardens and the five transformers of Feng Shui!
Pippin Home Designs, Inc. is excited that you allow us to visit your INBOX each month. Whether you are considering a new home, thinking along the lines of a remodeling project or just looking for home and garden tips, we hope you find this information pertinent for your endeavors. Pippin strives to provide relevant and useful information to our readers. If there is an aspect of the design or building industry that you would like to see featured, please do not hesitate to contact us. Additional product information and product links can be found on our website at
www.pippinhomedesigns.com.
Jennifer B. Pippin, CPBD, AIBD
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It IS Easy Being Green - What is Green Building? |
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So maybe you are thinking about incorporating green building into your home project? Or, maybe you have been hearing about green building, but aren't quite sure what it entails.
Green building incorporates environmental considerations into every phase of the home building process, in order to minimize the environmental impact from all decisions made.
More specifically, there are seven (7) segments of the overall process to be considered. These are:
- Lot Design, Preparation and Development
- Resource Efficiency
- Energy Efficiency
- Water Efficiency
- Indoor Environmental Quality - IAQ (Indoor Air Quality)
- Operation, Maintenance and Homeowner Education
- Global Impact
How Does The Homeowner Benefit?
Compared to homeowners of conventional homes, green homeowners see:
- Lower Operating Costs
- Increased Comfort
- Improved Environmental Quality
- Enhanced Durability and Less Maintenance
See how you can start feeling Green Right Now! Click here to see 20 tips!
Also, for more information about the seven segments of Green Building, visit the Green Building Page on our website. There you will find information about these segments as well as links where more Green Building Information can be obtained.
SPECIAL SERIES: Look for future issues of News from Homes with a View where we will highlight a very special green building project. Pippin’s own lake home will be undergoing a major renovation where green design and energy-efficient products will be incorporated. Readers will also be able to go step-by-step with Pippin through the renovation process and see updated photos of the progress and a view a list of green materials being used!
For more information on green building visit:
www.greenbuilding.com
www.nahbrc.org/greenguidelines
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Out The Door |
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Romantic Gardens Any garden can be a romantic spot enhancing our senses of sight, taste, smell, and touch; providing a refuge for our hearts and souls, whether we are alone or accompanied by loved ones.
Jane Hawthorne’s Love Affair Garden was designed to celebrate her fifty-year love affair with her late husband. When gazing out her windows or strolling through the perennial collection around the gazebo built by Herbert, Jane feels his touch and memories remain fresh. Included in her garden are many long- blooming perennials that celebrate their love. They include Dianthus, a multitude of roses, re-blooming Shasta daisy “Becky”, Bleeding Heart Dicentra spectablis, yellow “Happy Returns” daylilies, blue balloon flower platycodon, Lenten Rose Helleborus orientalis, Lamium “Beacon Silver”, Japanese iris, and coral flower carpet roses. Favorite annuals of Nasturtiums, Violas, Cosmos, and coral and violet impatiens are sprinkled in.
This spring, Jane moves from her Garden in Statesville to a retirement home. She will bring her memories along with a portrait of the garden with her.
February is the perfect time to plan your own garden of love. Be sure to include a multitude of romantic plants. Some good choices for our area are:
- Love-in-a-mist Nigella damascena
- Evergreen clematis armandii
- Gardenia “Chuck Hayes”
- Campanula persicifolia “Telham Beauty”
- Jasmine vine trachelospermum jasminoides
- Phlox panniculatta “David” and “Robert Poore”
- Lilium orientalis “Stargazer”
- Lilac, Persian
- Caryopteris “Heavenly Blue”
- Wisteria frutescens “Kate’s Dwarf”
Jan Enright Feamster Landscape Design is located in Mooresville, NC. Jan has 18 years of experience designing and installing creative gardens. Her designs have been featured in Southern Living Magazine and will also be featured in Perennial Magazine in Spring 2006. Jan can be reached via email at creategardens@adelphia.net or by phone at 704-663-0500. You can also visit her website at www.creategardens.com
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Feng Shui In Our Daily Lives |
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Last month I began a discussion and provided an overview of the Five Transformers used in Feng Shui (water, wood, fire, earth and metal). This issue, I want to continue to expand on this discussion.
In your spaces the transformers form a circular or cyclic pattern for optimal flow, beginning with Water. The reason water is the beginning is because it’s such an important part of our lives. We were born out of it, our physical makeup is over half water, and we need it to survive.
In feng shui, we say that we are born out of the watery depths to begin our journey in life, so meditating near a body of water is powerful because it can take us deep into our origins.
Feng shui teaches that water is a deep or intuitive energy, like a lake or ocean. It can also move, as in a stream or river. Turbulent water indicates that something is out of balance. We see this in nature when a hurricane is created to balance weather patterns. Most people are drawn to water of some sort; spending time at the beach or on a lake, or even putting a water fountain in their home as a soothing element.
The ancient Chinese lived near water for their livestock and crops. Today we can use water near our homes in the form of a pond or water fountain. Make sure any water flows toward your home and not away from it, as that would mean opportunities could be flowing away from you.
Next month, we'll look at water in relation to color and texture.
--Valerie DeLong combines her business sense and unique creative style, seeking to enrich people's lives and businesses on a more powerful and intimate level. She is a Reiki Master in the Usui tradition and has studied Kinesiology, hellerwork, and other body-mind therapies. Valerie can be reached by email at valeriedelong@earthlink.net or by phone at 704-502- 8814. www.fengshuiconcepts.us
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Pippin In the News |
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- Jennifer B. Pippin and her lake home renovation project will be featured on Desperate Design - 3/11/2006 @ 8:00am. UPN 46, Cable Channel 8.
- Pippin's National Award-Winning Design, The Hartwell, featured in the Lake Norman Times.
- Jennifer B. Pippin presented on Green Building to Rotary Group.
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