Ah, I just came across this: Home Sizes Shrink with Growing Concerns over the Economy and Energy Costs. There is also a press release released by American Institute of Architects.

From the Press Release:

“The recent weakness in the housing market forces households to be more sensitive to housing affordability concerns. Coupled with rising home energy costs, this encourages many to rethink their overall space needs,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA. “While smaller homes may be a short-term response to economic conditions, there are signs that we may be at the beginning of a longer cycle where house sizes stabilize or even decline.”

Baker continued, “With weak billings, inquiries for new projects and project backlogs, evidence suggests that the conditions in the residential market are not poised to improve anytime soon.”

Inman news disagrees. “But the latest government data on housing characteristics does not support the survey findings, as the average square footage of homes remains (more…)

Popularity: 5% [?]

(photo by ShutterSparks)

I recent took on a client who wants me to redesign her existing home right now but at the same time preparing it for sale 2-3 years down the line. When I suggested green finishes, she was very open to it.

This is why:

a) Green finishes are healthier to live in the home, especially if you have young children and pets. They roll around in those finishes every day on the floor, touching the wall, you want to make sure the finishes are quality green materials that is safe to live in. It’s also better for your installer, they don’t need to breathe in those terrible chemical smells. Moreover, you are not exposed to off-gasing from non-green materials or chemical glue. In typical carpet installation, the chemical glue emits toxic off-gasing for 8 years after it is installed. 8 years!!! Do you want your children or grandchildren to breathe that toxic in for 8 years?!

b) Quality green finishes and materials perform just as well as non-green finishes, if not better. Take the new green fabrics for example, they breath well therefore reduce the chance for skin allergy. They are not processed in chemicals so they are healthier to wear or to sleep in. You are not rubbing those chemicals off your skin that can cause irritations and rashes, you sleep better. You sleep better, you perform better during the day. Not a bad bargain at all.

c) Green finishes increase RESALE value. It’s true. By being more environmentally conscious and by installing green finishes and green appliances, you are reducing the costs to maintain your home, utilities and helping the planet out. With an rapid increase awareness of being green and eco-friendly, using green finishes and materials make the (more…)

Popularity: 6% [?]

One of the groups that I am involved in is pow.wow: networking the power of fabulous women. Next Tuesday, we are having an event on this new and increasingly popular concept of doing business: GREEN.

(photo by Tomatoskin)

But what does it mean to be Green? Do you actually save money? Or it just makes you look good? Another way of marketing?

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Today is Earth Day so I will share what I personally do in my business to be more eco-friendly!

(from google: what would you do for earth day ‘08?)

Staging can be a wasteful industry, because we purchase, use and transport a lot of furnishing day in and day out. Here are a few things that I do to be more eco-friendly:

*Reduce garbage, reduce overhead– I plastic wrap most of my hard furnishing to protect them during transport, consequently we used to go through plastics like crazy. Moreover, we have a lot of cardboard boxes that came with the furnishing that we ordered. When I buy accessories, they also come with a lot of wrapping papers and plastic bags. I now reuse plastic wraps, re-purpose the cardboard boxes and reuse the plastic bags & tissue papers.

The Results worked toward my favor: less plastic wraps to buy, MUCH less garbage to throw away, much easier on the overhead. When the plastic wraps are super tired out, we use those as wrapping materials instead. I also cut apart cardboard boxes to put between the artwork to protect them. Moreover, I don’t buy trash bags at all, I just reuse the ones we got from the store. Oh, as a former yoga teacher, I also accumulated a lot of lost and found yoga mats from teaching. Those became the bottom layers of my artwork shelves to protect the frames from being scratched on raw wood.

*Build things consciously– I hired people to build custom shelves in my warehouse and we use screws instead of nails for putting the shelves together. Because screws can easily (more…)

Popularity: 8% [?]

I recently came across this and thought this was an INGENIOUS way to involve your kids (or your inner child), recycle, reuse some colorful waste and to make something fun for your home that can serve as a conversational piece at dinner parties.

Some junk mail facts for you:

Do you know that

# Each year, 100 million trees are used to produce junk mail;

# 250,000 homes could be heated with one day’s supply of junk mail; and

# Americans receive almost 4 million tons of junk mail every year.

Here are a few sites that you can help reduct junk mail:
Do-it-yourself: Stop junk mail, email and phone calls
Bay Area Junk Mail Reduction Campaign
MSNBC Article: Consumer expert Sid Kirchheimer’s tips for ending unwanted mail

Are there any other way you can recycle, reuse or stop junk mails that you would like to share? If so, please do at the comment area below!

Popularity: 9% [?]

Apparently turning lights out in San Francisco for even 1 hour could save as much as 15% of the energy consumed on an average Saturday night (!!). LightsOutSF has asked all the residents in San Francisco to turn off lights for 1 hour 8-9pm this Saturday night to help raise awareness of the issue and encourage everyone to use CFL (compact fluorescent light bulbs). I also love their energy saving tips, they are very easy to do and can create an impact on diminishing our energy use.

Popularity: 6% [?]

**This blog is posted in conjunction of Blog Action Day

Even though stagers may not has a dramatic impact as an architect & a real estate developer who can influence the making of a house directly, there are still a few ways that we can contribute to make it a greener & better world by advising the clients to do some of these things in a selling process:

1. Paint the home with eco-friendly paint:
   I am a big fan of Benjamin Moore’s Aura line. Great colors, long-lasting, coats dry within the hour (saves time & labor costs), and eco-friendly. Not to mention very minimal odor which is great for both the people who apply the paint, and people who live in the environment. Price is also great, even beats the always cheap Kelly Moore (which I don’t personal like since the paint feels watered down).
2. 
   Decrease the volume of trash in landfill:
   one man’s (or woman’s) trash is another’s treasure. Freecycle is solely based on this idea and to decrease the size of our landfills. You can post what you need or what you no longer need on FreeCycle message boards and within a hour (or a day at most) you will get your wish fulfilled!
3. (more…)
   

   Popularity: 8% [?]