A different kind of home birth
I haven't written a post about our Natural Urban Home in over a year. Which corresponds to the approximate amount of time it has taken me to get it to the point where I feel as if our home is almost, practically, kind of, mostly 'done'. One of the DIY projects that I have been asked about the most is our home's living wall. Having a wall of plants, a "green" wall in our green home was something that my husband REALLY wanted from day one of planning our dream home. I was leery of this given the fact that I have two thumbs that are about 4 shades darker than the colour of a moonless night and little to no gardening experience to brag about. Yet, the benefits of having a lot of plants are well known for improving indoor air quality and having a beautiful green wall to look at during our long winter months here in Alberta was in and of itself VERY appealing to me and so the project got underway.
It started with a frame for the wall. We wanted it to look like a piece of living art and so I had our amazing contractor/cabinet maker build and install a 6 foot by 4 foot wooden panel of rift-cut oak for the wall behind our sofa. The wood matches the rest of our custom cabinetry in the house.
We then attached our "containers" to the wood panel. B did all the research and figured that the easiest way for us to get the desired look we wanted and the simplest system to install and care for would be Woolly Pockets. I'll let the following video do all the explaining of how brilliant they are and how exactly they work.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/61138204[/vimeo]
Then it was time to shop for plants. I went to The Enjoy Centre for some inspiration (they have a gorgeous 20 foot tall living wall) and some advice from the experts. I then went home with a car full of lush beautiful plants. I will admit that there was some learning to be done with regards to how much soil to use (more than you think) and how big your plants should be when you first plant them. I thought 4 inch plants would be fine and figured they would eventually grow and fill up the space just fine. I was wrong. Bigger is better, and if you want your living wall to look nice and lush from the get go, as I did, then I suggest going with 6-8 inch or bigger plants.
There was some more trial and error as I experimented with placement of the plants and decided whether or not to make one of the pockets my herb garden, something I ended up kiboshing at the last minute. It took me a good two to three weeks to get it all just right and I had to make at least two more trips to the greenhouse for more soil, more plants and more advice!
I am still working on the wall and as with anything that is living and breathing, I am sure it will continue to grow and change as it matures, as some plants do better than others in our environment and as I get better at knowing which plants works best together and endeavour to green up my thumbs some more.
For now though, here is my baby! (And yes, I say MY baby, because for all his desire to have this feature in our house, my husband did diddly-squat to help install and maintain it. He has now been assigned the weekly task of 'feeding' the baby!)
Yes, that's right, I {home} birthed a Living Wall in our Natural Urban Home.
What did you do today?
Natasha~
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This post is part of the #SummerBlogChallenge. Please check out some of the other daily contributions from the following writers: Liam, Zita, Magz, Peter, Christine, April, Cliff, Hethr, and Karen. And for goodness sake, give them some comment-y and sharing love, it takes a lot to write for 30 days straight!
Let there be shelves
Natural Urban Dad may not always be the handiest guy around, but when he sets his mind to do something, he finds a way. He chose this weekend to furnish our storage room with shelving and I am thrilled with all of his hard work. Including the multiple trips to Home Depot because he miscalculated and needed to get a few more pieces of plywood or more screws or a new drill!
So with lots of help from his dad and the kids too, what started out as this.
Soon became this.
Which then got moved into here.
...and now it is my job to organize it all!
Wait...
Whose bright idea was this again??
Good night all.
I guess we all know what I am doing tomorrow!
Natasha~
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HA! Post #19 DONE!
Okay....
Carry on.
Summer Blog Challenge.... yadda, yadda, yadda
Zita at The Dulock Diaries.
Meaghan at MagzD Life
April at This Mom’s Got Something to Say
Aramelle at One Wheeler’s World
Jessica at 2plus2X2
and Liam at In the Now
Tired and dirty
I am so tired. Ridiculous, can't keep my eyes open, can't think straight tired.
And I am not the only one.
Little C woke up at 7:30 AM, went back to bed, woke up an hour later and is now back in bed sleeping again.
Looks like some kind of bug may be hitting our house or maybe our long days in the sun are catching up to us.
Either way, today is turning out to be a stay at home, watch movies and maybe bake something kind of day.
It is also the day that landscaping starts at the Natural Urban Home and I have been jokingly refering to my street at #hysterialane on Twitter because of all the cutie patootie young men who are topless and working up a nice sweat in my yard and will be doing so for the next few weeks!
If anyone wants to bring over a thermos of sangria and help me 'supervise' from the deck, just let me know.
Cheers,
Natasha~
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This is technically yesterday's post. Day 16 of the Summer Blog Challenge. I was just too damn tired to post it last night.
Please visit the healthier and less dirty old lady posts from the other challenge participants!
Zita at The Dulock Diaries.
Meaghan at MagzD Life
April at This Mom’s Got Something to Say
Aramelle at One Wheeler’s World
Jessica at 2plus2X2
and Liam at In the Now
We are home.
Two full weeks in and it is official.
We made cookies.
Click here for the awesome recipe we used and yes, I have Appletini colored countertops!
We organized the new Play Room!
STUVA system from IKEA.
We christened the new appliances! (Not like THAT! Minds out of the gutters Mamas!)
Little C has taken it upon himself to be my official laundry sorter. (I win!!) AND I may be slightly in love with both my new washer/dryer and also having my laundry room on the main floor!
We walk the dog HERE every day!
This is literally steps from our front door. Ravine living FTW!!
And we flipped the switch and had our first evening by the very modern fireplace.
THIS is our home!
Our beautiful, dream come true, Natural Urban Home!
Natasha~
Breaking up is hard to do.
I think I am in denial. About moving that is.
We are two weeks away from our designated move-in date to the Natural Urban Home and I have packed a grand total of 16 boxes.
Every day I look around and I think to myself, "GET GOING WOMAN! What are you waiting for? All of this 'stuff' is not going to pack itself!" (No matter how much I wish and pray and dream for this to be true!)
As I peel back the layers of US from this house, I realize that I am having a hard time "breaking up" with our home.
This is the only real home that the four of us have known together and the one that has seen us grow together as a family.
This is the only home my children have experienced Christmas in. The house they took their first steps in and the one they first shared a room in. Every scratch in the hardwood in front of the built-in book-case is a reminder of hours and hours of baby and toddler play time on the floor.
This is the house that Natural Urban Dad and I built to heal us from our first home building experience and the results were so much more than we ever expected. A big part of that was our contractor, who thankfully is our current one as well, but living in this house has made us happy. Walking in the door every day to the warmth and coziness of our home, made us happy.
This is the home that welcomed massive playdates, family dinners (including the unforgettable Turkey Debacle of Christmas '07) and many nights of 'fire and wine' and me talking way too loud in the backyard. This is the home that had an open door policy for a certain little next door neighbour... and his daddy too (and this proximity will be missed by all of us)!
This was the home of the Natural Urban Mamas Store. The place where I met so many of my customers and clients and their beautiful little babies and taught a lot of mamas the art of babywearing. Where I stayed up late doing the books and often times even later searching for and finding all of the wonderful babywearing and natural parenting products for the store.
This is the home of milestone birthdays. My children's firsts and my fortieth.
A lot has happened in this house to shape me and my family... and so, I am procrastinating.
Next week we will start to slowly move our 'stuff' over to the Natural Urban Home. And I know it won't take long for this new house to become home for us. It too was built from love (and not just a little bit of personal blood, sweat and tears) and will open up a new chapter in the book of Us. One that will be equally if not even more fantastic.
But for now... I am leaving the pictures up on the walls a little while longer, I am not really touching the kids rooms at all yet and I am savouring our last real week in our first family home.
P.S. And I really need to book a mover ASAP!! Any recommendations?
exhaustion
Yesterday was not the best of days. We ran into a snafu with the Natural Urban Home and I spent at least 4 hours with my contractor and one of the sub-contractors working on and coming up with a solution to the problem. I don't want to bore you with all the details, but it was a BIG one. And because of it, I felt like I was on the verge of throwing up all day yesterday. It is all straightened out today (thank GAWD!!) and the guys are back at work at the house fixing the problem and working very hard to give us exactly what we want. So that is a good thing.
What totally sucks though is that I feel like a Mac Truck rolled over me. I am so mentally and physically exhausted today that I am surprised I can even walk and talk properly. The bags under my eyes are so GINORMOUS that no amount of concealer would do the trick this morning and I was incredibly thankful that today was Pajama Day at music class. I just rolled the kids (and myself) out of bed and out the door. And yes, I am wearing sweats today... in public.
The good news is that the kids are finally down for a nap, I am about to go have one too and today ended up being a lovely fluffy mail day. My new Toad in a Tree top was waiting for me when we got home! Now, I am comfy and warm and about to hit my bed.
Sweet napping dreams y'all!
Natasha~
Progress, pictures and a bit of a panic!
Ok, so in July of 2011 I had this big plan to document and blog about the whole process of us building our Natural Urban Home. And now it is the end of February and we are about five weeks away from getting possession of said home.
Um...
Oops!
I am so sorry for leaving you all out of the loop, but if you have been following along for the past 6 months you'll know how crazy and busy it has been around here (and in my mind).
But I have been taking pictures...
Lots and lots of pictures!
So when we left off, the full height ICF (insulated concrete forms) had just been poured. I get a lot of questions about why we built the house like this, so here it is, the top 5 reasons why we choose to use ICF (information from the ICForming website).
- ICF is highly energy efficient. The foam in LOGIX brand ICF walls provides a thermal resistance rating of R-24. This exceptionally high R-value, along with high thermal mass and reduced air infiltration, allow ICF walls to deliver significantly higher performance levels. I swear I can feel this already! Even before the electrical and heating was hooked up, it was significantly warmer inside the house. I can't wait to see what this does to our energy bills!
- The sound insulation is superior. ICF walls offer you a quieter, more tranquil interior environment. An ICF wall can easily achieve a sound transmission classification of STC 50, which is twice as high as a typical wood-framed wall. Loud noises outside an ICF building will be reduced to a whisper inside the building. This is a big deal for me. While I do love our neighbours dearly at our current house, I can seriously hear a whole conversation through our bedroom wall when they are in their back yard!
- It's highly moisture resistant. ICF Walls don't need an extra vapor barrier. For below-grade applications, LOGIX ICF provides a waterproofing system that ensures a comfortably dry basement. Improved air quality is another benefit as ICF eliminates the studs and cavities that can hold moisture and foster mold and mildew growth. I am all for no mold! I hate that smell and the health concerns that come with it!
- It's stronger and safer. ICF buildings are up to 8.5 times stronger than conventionally framed buildings. As a result, ICF walls are much better able to withstand severe weather such as hurricanes and tornadoes. ICF walls have a 3-hour fire rating as opposed to 15 minutes for a comparable wood framed wall. Just in case! Fire is my number one fear as a homeowner and this gives me a bit more peace of mind!
- It's environmentally friendly. Buildings constructed with ICF are designed to last for centuries, not decades. LOGIX ICF walls conserve precious natural forest resources and their energy efficiency reduces fuel consumption. The use of LOGIX promotes sustainable, green building practices, and is an investment in the future. And really, that is what our goal was when we envisioned the Natural Urban Home. So there you have it folks, a house that will last forever and will also be our forever home!
With the walls and the roof trusses up, you can really start to see the shape of the house coming together! And I am SO loving the floor to ceiling windows in every room! I am looking forward to so much natural light infusing our daily lives.
A little 'inspection' by the boys!
A few of the other main 'green' building choices that we incorporated in the house include an upgraded window package, with HP triple paned Argon-filled windows. This further improves the energy performance of our home and also reduces noise from the outside. The heating system throughout the home is a radiant in-floor heating system. I found a great explanation of the differences between radiant heating and forced-air heating on the BuildingGreen.com site. Essentially, with radiant floor heating you are heating the PERSON from the floor (feet) up via radiation of the heat, versus heating the AIR around the person via forced-air. We have NO major ductwork in our house, except for the small amount we needed for the air circulation/venting. The heat is now on in the house and I have had a little taste of the in-floor heating and I have to say that walking on the floors is going to be such a joy for this constantly cold-footed chikita!
And speaking of floors. We decided to go with concrete floors throughout the house. Yes, that's right, no hardwood, no tile and no carpet anywhere on the main floor. We chose to do this for a couple of reasons. First, we are making use of the material already present - the concrete. Second, it is a durable, easy to clean flooring option that also reduces allergens, and finally, because of its solar thermal mass properties, a concrete floor has the potential to provide the house with passive energy gains. This past week the concrete floor guys were in doing the polishing/grinding on the floors to give it a more 'salt and pepper' look with some areas of full exposure. I gave them the example of the look of the floor at our local IKEA store and I have to tell you that they came through and then some! I am so in love with how our floors look already and this is before they apply the (eco-friendly) epoxy and urethane coatings.
The hallway floors.
The interior finishings are so much more than I expected and I have to give HUGE props to our contractor and his foremen (Derrick and Steve) for doing an amazing job in custom building ALL of it for us!! We chose a rift-cut white oak for the cabinetry and built-ins in the house and it is absolutely beautiful! And yes, the island in my kitchen is almost 14 feet long!! Can you say "kitchen party" anyone? The apron-wrap 'blizzard' white quartz countertops and the stainless steel appliances should be arriving in about 2 weeks and I am very excited to see how it all comes together!
The kitchen.
The house had a slightly sloped ceiling (1/12 pitch) and on the vaulted area in the kitchen/dining/living space we warmed it up by installing wood on the ceiling! This is a look we first fell in love with on one of our trips to Mexico and I am so happy with how the natural pine boards complement the other woods in the cabinets, window casings and doors!
The Living Room.
Last week, the guys started working on the exterior siding. We had originally planned on using an acrylic stucco for the colored portions of the exterior, but on the advice from our builder, we switched to using a James Hardie fibre-cement siding. The HardiePanel™ product being used is sustainable, durable, uses raw natural materials (sand, water, wood pulp, cement), creates a better building envelope and has been used on multiple LEED® certified buildings in North America. And to be honest, I really like the look of it and also like that we are not like all other modern homes being built in the city using the flat acrylic stucco.
The house has sections of cedar siding as well as some metal panels and the whole exterior look of the place is really starting to come together. And according to the crew, our little Natural Urban Home is starting to be quite the talk of the neighbourhood, with people stopping and asking all about the house and the materials being used.
The back of the house.
Alright.
Well, now that you are all up to date on the goings on at the Natural Urban Home. I have to get back to packing....
Five weeks are going to go by VERY quickly!
In a bit of a packing panic,
Natasha~
P.S. We have also successfully just sold our current house! WOOHOO for one less thing to be stressed about!
I am thankful that we can build a dream!
The Thanksgiving weekend means a lot to my family. It is the weekend that Natural Urban Dad and I got married eight years ago. Is is our favourite time of year and 3 years ago it was my last weekend of being pregnant with Princess L. I have so much to be thankful for in my life and not the least of these is that we are building our dream home.
Here are the latest updates on the progress of the Natural Urban Home. {And can I just say again that I LOVE, love, love our builder!!}
The second level of ICF (insulated concrete forms) went up very fast and we actually missed the concrete pouring day. You can really get a sense of the shape of the house now and the kids are getting so much more excited about it. They ask if we can walk or bike or drive by the new house almost every day.
The best day so far, at least for Little C, was when we stopped by the house one day and caught them using a truck crane to hoist our main support beam into place. He was in 4 year old boy heaven and all I could think was, "Please DO NOT wreck my trees!!" Well, you can hear my pleas in the background of the video!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sv1Ri_YlSo[/youtube] And with the beams in place the roof trusses went up in record time. And I am so impressed with our site foreman, Steven. Not only is he one of those construction dudes that is not hard on the eyes (ahem....no...that is not why I drive by every day), he did most of the truss work BY HIMSELF and with sheer muscle and man power!!
The roof line of our house is not quite flat (it has a 1/12 pitch for all you home building geeks) and as such the roofing is somewhat different. We are going with a metal roof and the prep work for that involves laying 2 X 4 for a 2 inch gap and then plywood over these and then membranes and then the roofing materials. They are almost done the prep work and the membrane is down on at least half of the house.
And this means that once the roof is all closed and prepped for the metal, the guys can start framing the interior of the house. When I spoke with Steven last week and told him that I would like to be in the house for March 2012, he said, "Well, that's good, because we are aiming to be finished in January."
Needless to say, everything is on track with our dream home and I am so very thankful for all the people involved in making this a reality for our family. Big thank yous to our architect, Mike Scezny from Fuse Architecture + Design, our interior designer, Dawn from Dawn Stiles Design and Grant and his team from Serenity Contracting and Design.
And I will leave you with this....
My new incredible view from the kitchen into our backyard! (Ok, so it doesn't look like much just yet, just use your imagination!)
Thankful and blessed,
Natasha~