My husband and I have a dream that we will one day design and build our own custom home. In fact, I have a red folder where I keep magazine clippings of things that I’d like to have in the home: the size and layout of the rooms, the structural features, etc.
For example, I’d love to have a detached garage, a work studio, a playroom, and a covered porch with a wood deck. Of course, I’d want to use low-VOC paints, low-e windows, skylights, and solar heating. It doesn’t have to be a huge house…just comfortable, aesthetic, safe, green (environmentally friendly, not green in color), and imaginative – with plenty of room to play outdoors.
I’ve had extra opportunities to dream lately because I’ve been reading “Good Green Homes: Creating Better Homes for a Healthier Planet” by Jennifer Roberts (Gibbs Smith, 2003). It looks like a coffee-table book with slick and glossy magazine-style pages, professional photographs, and an artistic layout. It’s the kind of book that is fun to flip through, but it is also engrossing at the content level. When I first picked it up, I thought it would be more of a “look-through-and-skim” book, but then I started reading and was surprised to find that I couldn’t put it down! The well-written narrative was practical without being overly technical or scientific – and the ideas applied to a variety of audiences. Roberts offers suggestions for people who are looking to renovate, rent an apartment, buy an older home, or build a custom home. The recommendations help the reader dream about a new home and/or change their current home to make it “healthier to live in, easier on the environment, more valuable over the long-term, and more delightful to come home to.”
Good Green Homes is a really good book. I look forward to reading more/other books by Jennifer Roberts in the future.
WIN IT! One winner will receive a copy of “Good Green Homes” by Jennifer Roberts. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post prior to Monday, April 28 at midnight (don’t forget to follow the rules). The winner will be announced and contacted on Tuesday, April 29. * Winner must provide a U.S. mailing address.
*UPDATE* The winner is #22 stampedwithgrace. Congratulations!
Oh I love this giveaway. I get all in a tizzy about green homes. I actually have to steer my husband away from the brink (he brings up underground houses and pre-fab clip together house-in-box).
Pick me. I’d love this.
sounds like a good book
would love to read this book
Would love this book.
My husband has actually been talking about wanting to update our house to be more eco-friendly, so this would be a nice resource to have.
I’d love to read this. :)
Please enter me thanks
We have some land that we will be building a house on in a few years. I hope that we can make it Green. We have a lot of research to do before that time comes.
Sounds like an interesting book. My husband and I talk about our green dream home too. I haven’t started a folder of ideas yet, I should start one. We still have a looooong time to dream.
this book sounds great!! thanks!
this book is just what we need, pick me!!
Let’s make our planet greener! yeah!
I want it. Hope I win.
I really need to start going green at home. I’m sure this book would help me.
What a wonderful book…would love to win. THANKS :)
This is exactly the type of thing my husband and I would love to do in the next ten years. It’s always been our dream to build our own home, and of course we would want to do it as sustainably as possible. My husband has a bookshelf full of house-planning books and magazines, but nothing like that. How wonderful!
Wow!!
Would love this book !!
would love to have this one
you can’t turn on the TV or computer without hearing the word GREEN! I have been thinking about it so much lately and have been trying to be much better at it! I would love to win this book and find out more ways to get my family to think GREEN :)
I would really love this!
Thanks for the chance to win.
Enter me, please.
enter me!
Great contest!!
This is a great offer! Thanks! Count me in!
This would be great to read.
please enter me
nice book
Count me in!
I bet this book has great tips in it.
happy earth day
let’s keep our kids healthy!
Everyday is Earth Day!!!!!
Thanks for the giveaway!
As wife to and architect and a one time aspiring architect myself (ok so I was twelve but I was/am really into architecture) this book is totally up our alley. We too are dreaming about the home we would like to build one day. Who knows if that day will ever come but in the mean time it’s fun to dream.
Happy Earth Day! I enjoy books with decorating and home styles! This book you are reading sounds very good. Someday, when both of our sons are fully grown, we plan on building a home. Please enter me in your drawing. Thanks,Cindi
I would like to learn more about green.
i want to win
I am awful in the sense that I always love to change the home front – this would definately give me some new and inspiring ideas.
Great giveaway in honor of Earth Day! As a biologist, I think it is very important that books like this are published to steer people towards taking steps to go GREEN. We can’t really afford to have our home built or anything, but we would love to make the space we have more eco-friendly. As a bookworm, this would be a great addition to my book collection. Thank you.
THIS WOULD HELP ME MAKE SOME GREENER DECISIONS!
We’re looking to buy/build a home in the near future & would love to glean ideas from this book!
this would be great to win!
I need to learn green
I’m planning on building in a few years and would like to make it as green as possible. This book looks great!
im a firm believer in living green, would like this
I would love to read this!!! Please enter my name, THANKS!!!
What a great book, I’d love to give some new ideas a try
Thank you for the great giveaway, I’d love to win this.
spea
There is so much to continue learning about when learning to live as green as possible. Thanks for the opportunity to win what looks like an incredible book!
I too, have a dream home folder. This book would make a great addition to my “dream file.”
Thanks!
I would really love to read this – I’m trying to become more “green”
i would like to read this.
We all have opportunities to better the earth with choices we make. This book looks like it has a lot of ideas.
I would love to win this to share with all of my family, friends and co-workers.
I’m always up for learning more about living green
thanks for the contest
I’m a new homeowner and am always trying to get more green – this would be a great read!
My dad has been talking about building a green home for a couple of years. I would love to have this for him. Thanks!
Would love to win…. always love new building ideas
I would love this so much!
We already do the basics like recycling, not turning the heat up high, and not leaving water running. It would be great to get more ideas on how to conserve / be green.
I’ve been working on making my house more green since I bought it 4 years ago… it’s nice that this idea is finally becoming trendy.
A great Book, enter me please.
enter me
I want to do my part
but where o where do I start
going green like Kermit the frog
and learning not to be such an energy hog
these things I could learn from this book
so winning it would be off the hook
Great post. Hopefully I win the contest. haha. It’s a great book, my sister just bought it the other day. Teaches you a lot. Haha. As far as the magazine clippings go, I do the same, although my folder is blue. Have you considered bioheat. I just switched over to it. All existing oil heat users can switch without having to buy new equipment. All it is, it’s a biodegradable blend of oil. Mixed with biodiesel, made up from soybean oil, corn, etc. Pretty good. Burns cleaner, I won’t contribute to greenhouse gases with it, and it costs about the same as I used to pay for regular heating oil.
Here’s a the link I found while working with NORA and researching heating alternatives.
http://oilheatamerica.com/index.mv?screen=bioheat
i’ve been trying to make my home more green for a while, this would be a big help!
With family being my #1 passion–#2 is doing all that I can to leave the earth a better place for my children and their children and so on. With a limited budget my husband and I do all we can that does not cost a lot of money.
-recycle, eco-friendly light bulbs, compost…
I would love to see the suggestions this book has to offer!
Thank you for the chance to win!! :)
I’ve always been on board for Green Living. It’s so nice that it is becoming the thing to do and so essential. Thanks for the contest!
Yes please. These are changes I am trying to make in my life & I could use all the help I could get.
I’d love to read this book as we’re debating whether to renovate or build within the next two years to create a green home.
The ideas would be really helpful and I love that it’s packaged in such a beautifully designed book.
Great contest, must have great ideas in it!
I’ve been wanting to go Green to help save the environment and save money!
I’ve jumped on the green bandwagon as well and enjoy discovering new ways to optimize my lifestyle while remaining earth friendly too. This is a great giveaway!
Count me in!
This would be a great read. Thanks.
need all the help I can get to kickstart me green
Love the idea
I need another source for green friendly ideas
I’m totally into “greenness”, and always on the lookout for more ideas.
this is a book i could really use.
Looks great! Thanks for the giveaway!
Thanks for this contest!
this is such an important topic and something I would like more education on how I can do things at home to make a difference
This would be a really good useful book to read!
Good idea–whether you plan to build a new or upgrade your existing home, this book is essential. Going green saves alot of money for you, and saves the earth too! I call that a win-win situation. Let’s make it a win win win one with me winning the book ;-)!!
this would be great to read.
This would be a good read.
i want to win
thanks
ty 4 the great contest!
I have been remodeling an old 1950′s family home this year.I have been very green in doing so, even though the cost of green is a bit higher! I would love to win this so I could get some other ideas!
I think this is our biggest challenge as parents. What type of world will we leave our children?
thanks, love this looks great
I’d love to find more ways to make my home green. We take far too much for granted and don’t always search for a better solution.
please enter me :)
I would love to have this as a reference for the green home i am building in my mind :)
I would love this prize!
nice book
i would so love to win this book
We are trying to decide whether to redo and renovate or build a new home. This book would be a great help making our decision. Thanks for such a useful giveaway!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Roberts offers suggestions for people who are looking to renovate, rent an apartment, buy an older home, or build a custom home. The recommendations help the reader dream about a new home and/or change their current home to make it “healthier to live in, easier on the environment, more valuable over the long-term, and more delightful to come home to.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I’ve had extra opportunities to dream lately because I’ve been reading “Good Green Homes: Creating Better Homes for a Healthier Planet” by Jennifer Roberts (Gibbs Smith, 2003).
When I first picked it up, I thought it would be more of a “look-through-and-skim” book, but then I started reading and was surprised to find that I couldn’t put it down! The well-written narrative was practical without being overly technical or scientific – and the ideas applied to a variety of audiences.
I am an architect and I would like to see more green homes.
This looks interesting…
Sounds like a good book.
I would like to know what else I can do to make a green home.