Kitchens- Let’s go green!

There are plenty of points of view on kitchen design.  You can see a lot of beautiful kitchens on our sites (www.hunterrobertshomes.com and www.wellingtonchasehomes.com) and great sites such as www.pinterest.com and www.houzz.com. 

My father used to tell me how luxurious of a kitchen I had growing up in the 60s. His reference point was a farmhouse which originally used a wood stove to cook.  Now as I look at the kitchens we are designing, they are a huge departure from that wonderful 60s kitchens. How can you take the look and feel of a 60s kitchen yet modernize it for today?

The kitchen used to fulfill the utility function of being a place to prepare and eat meals.  Today it has become one of the primary gathering and living spaces in a home. When we design a kitchen we look at all of these functions.  The kitchen is also a high energy consuming area, with multiple types of lights, appliances, and often computers and televisions which impacts the electrical plans for a kitchen. Many people wonder how they can make their kitchen a green kitchen but they do not know where to start. ‘Going green’ is a catch phrase that is often used today on home renovation television shows. The question is… where do I begin?

There are many materials and appliances that can replace existing high energy utilities. Another obstacle people run into is the look of green materials. Some green materials are not very attractive, in fact, many of them tend to be ugly, but there are a lot more choices now than ever before on how to beautify your kitchen with green choices. You do not have to sacrifice the look of your kitchen for the condition of the earth.

With our help your kitchen will save water, energy, and most important to you… money. You can keep your kitchen cleaner while reducing the number of chemicals used on a daily basis. Many popular green resources are things like bamboo, recycled products, and regional materials and appliances that conserve water and energy.

For the people who are looking to ‘green up’ their homes without starting from scratch, there are a lot of great ideas for each aspect of the kitchen. Whether you are thinking about changing a few aspects or the whole kitchen, the following are great ideas for those people who want to be a little more earth-friendly while still providing the functionality, durability, and beauty of a professional kitchen.

CABINETRY                                                                                                                                  

When deciding on a green cabinet there is no need to sacrifice quality or functionality. There are long lasting cabinets made from recycled materials and don’t look unattractive. They also do not contain chemicals that could pollute the air in your kitchen, they are LEED certified, and you will not be disappointed once they are installed.          
APPLIANCES  &  FIXTURES                                                                                                       

For green lighting there is always the decision of getting fluorescent light bulbs which last much longer than normal incandescent light bulbs and use less energy adding another green aspect to your kitchen. As a home owner, you can always choose to get smaller appliances that will fit your lifestyle for the energy savings.

FLOORING 

Rather than just having a hardwood floor, try bamboo, cork, porcelain, stone, glass, or concrete flooring- all of which are great flooring choices when considering environmental impact.

COUNTERTOPS                                                                                                                                        

Countertops have been made out of recycled material and aren’t always bland colors. You can get a wide variety of vibrant, bright colors, and still be green. Materials that you could use are things like bamboo, concrete, recycled glass, or quartz.

LIGHTING                                                                                                                          

To save even more energy on lighting, you could put in a large number of windows to receive the most possible natural light. Also, the placement of lighting is pertinent in effectively saving money. Based on the floor plan of your kitchen, use lighting that serves multiple purposes. Also, the type of bulb you decide to use might cost more in the beginning but will save you money in the long run.

BACKSPLASH                                                                                                                                           

Porcelain, stone, glass, concrete, and metal are all green materials used in making backsplashes. You can also find tiles made from recycled materials such as metal and stone to accent the backsplash and make it a focal point of the kitchen.

Hunter Roberts Homes and Wellington Chase Homes design home plans, renovation plan.  We build traditional, modern and contemporary new homes; do renovations, remodeling and home additions.  We do the architecture including interior design details as well as new home plans.  We manage all phases of the new home construction and renovation work.  We build throughout Oakland County including Birmingham, Berkley, Bloomfield Village, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Franklin, Sylvan Lake, Beverly Hills, Orchard Lake, Bingham Farms, Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, Berkley, Ferndale and Troy. Our work can be found in neighborhoods such Quarton Lake, Poppleton Park, Midvale, Holy Name, central Birmingham and other fine areas.  

Lets start blogging!

We are building an online reference library for our clients and will discuss new homes, renovating homes, building homes, and design options. This will be a searchable database of information. I am Lauren Moore and am part of the team at Hunter Roberts Homes/Wellington Chase Homes and will be blogging quite frequently to inform you about topics that are of interest to home owners and potential home buyers.

Feel free to contact me with any questions: www.laurenm@hunterrobertshomes.com. or Laurenm@wellingtonchasehomes.com. If you have a topic that you would like to know more about, please contact me and I will find time to fit it into the blogging schedule.

Hunter Roberts Homes and Wellington Chase Homes design home plans, renovation plan.  We build traditional, modern and contemporary new homes; do renovations, remodeling and home additions.  We do the architecture including interior design details as well as new home plans.  We manage all phases of the new home construction and renovation work.  We build throughout Oakland County including Birmingham, Berkley, Bloomfield Village, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Franklin, Sylvan Lake, Beverly Hills, Orchard Lake, Bingham Farms, Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, Berkley, Ferndale and Troy. Our work can be found in neighborhoods such Quarton Lake, Poppleton Park, Midvale, Holy Name, central Birmingham and other fine areas.  

Planning Your Morning Room

What is a Morning Room?

A morning room is an English term we picked up and started using to describe a casual family dining room which we including in most every home we design and build.  A typical size would 12 feet by 12 feet.  It is connected to the kitchen and sometimes also to the family or gathering room.  The best rooms have plenty of windows, usually on three sizes and they project from the side of the house.  The morning room becomes a comfortable place for a family to have meals without the formality of the dining room.  It also becomes a place to gather for any number of family activities

How to Design a Morning

We take the design of a morning room very seriously so we get the desired result; a comfortable casual room for the family to eat with plenty of light throughout the day.  Here are the things we think about when we design a morning room.  By the way this applies to the design whether it is a new home we are design or a renovation.  In either case the room should feel like part of the original plan and not a second thought!

Where it should be?

The position of the morning room is very important. The ideal location is the south end of a home with eastern and western exposures.  This gives you the most constant natural light throughout the day.  The first light of the day will shine through the east facing windows in the morning. Throughout the day southern light will brighten the room and finally western light will float through your west facing window until sunset.

How it large it should be?

Morning rooms should be large enough to hold your family comfortably at a table for meals and not much larger.  We try to get them to be cozy rather than imposing.  As we mentioned earlier a common size is 12×12 ft but we have made them as small as 8ft x 8 ft and as large as 14ft x 18ft. 

How many windows?

  The answer to this question is there are never too many windows in a morning room for our liking.  One thought is to bring the outdoors into this room; to make you feel like you are surrounded by the outdoors.  Having wall space inhibits that.  So we try to design large picture type and operating windows into the design.  If the room is adjacent to a patio then a set of French doors is also a great addition.

How should it relate to the other rooms of the house?

Morning rooms are most frequently located immediately adjacent or as an extension of the kitchen.  We also locate them in a position which provides access to both the kitchen and family room as the floor plans here show.

How to finish the morning room.

Finishing the room from an architectural point of view is truly a matter of preference.  Since it has a large number of windows the window casing, window sills and other trim are important.  A crown detail is important.  We have done morning room ceilings, for example, in bead board, with beams and even coffered.  The idea is likely to move toward casual and comfortable.

Hunter Roberts Homes and Wellington Chase have found that a morning room is a wonderful inclusion in a home.  Our clients’ love them and never regret making them part of their home. 

Hunter Roberts Homes and Wellington Chase Homes are related design/build businesses doing new residential design build and renovation design build in Michigan.  We operate primarily in the Oakland County cities, townships and villages of Birmingham, Bloomfield Village, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, West Bloomfield, Franklin, Sylvan Lake, Beverly Hills, Orchard Lake, Bingham Farms, Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, Berkley, Ferndale and Troy 

What’s Behind The Walls!

One of the most annoying things for any homeowner is to hear the floor squeaking underfoot. To prevent this, we do several things: First, we use TJI Floor joists which don’t bend, warp, or twist which causes the sub floor to move up and down. Second, we use glue and nails to initially secure the sub floor and then we screw down the sub floors in every square foot of the house. In this particular house, we used over 10,000 screws! This Oakland County custom home (near Birmingham and Bloomfied) should be complete in May. The careful planning and daily attention to the construction schedule will assure it is completed on time. Watch our progress here every few days.

Ken Peterson – Wellington Chase Homes – Bloomfield Hills, MI

Hunter Roberts Homes and Wellington Chase Homes are related design/build businesses doing new residential design build and renovation design build in Michigan.  We operate primarily in the Oakland County cities, townships and villages of Birmingham, Bloomfield Village, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Franklin, Sylvan Lake, Beverly Hills, Orchard Lake, Bingham Farms, Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, Berkley, Ferndale and Troy 

What’s Behind The Walls!

Before the cellulose insulation gets blown in the walls, the electricians review the wiring plan and check each wire in the wall to make sure that they are shielded from possible nail or screw when the drywall gets hung. This Oakland County custom home (near Birmingham and Bloomfied) should be complete in May. The careful planning and daily attention to the construction schedule will assure it is completed on time. Watch our progress here every few days.

Ken Peterson – Wellington Chase Homes – Bloomfield Hills, MI

Hunter Roberts Homes and Wellington Chase Homes are related design/build businesses doing new residential design build and renovation design build in Michigan.  We operate primarily in the Oakland County cities, townships and villages of Birmingham, Bloomfield Village, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Franklin, Sylvan Lake, Beverly Hills, Orchard Lake, Bingham Farms, Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, Berkley, Ferndale and Troy

What’s Behind The Walls!

Before the cellulose insulation gets blown in the walls, we take extra care to seal up any possible penetration to the outside where cold air could get between the walls. We foam, caulk, and cover all possible sources of heat leakage. This Oakland County custom home (near Birmingham and Bloomfied) should be complete in May. The careful planning and daily attention to the construction schedule will assure it is completed on time. Watch our progress here every few days.

Ken Peterson – Wellington Chase Homes – Bloomfield Hills, MI

Hunter Roberts Homes and Wellington Chase Homes are related design/build businesses doing new residential design build and renovation design build in Michigan.  We operate primarily in the Oakland County cities, townships and villages of Birmingham, Bloomfield Village, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Franklin, Sylvan Lake, Beverly Hills, Orchard Lake, Bingham Farms, Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, Berkley, Ferndale and Troy

What’s Behind The Walls!

As we continue to show you the progresses on this custom home we designed and are building in Bloomfield Village, we are at the drywall stage with about 4 months to complete the interior.  This Oakland County custom home (near Birmingham and Bloomfied) will be ready for the new homeowners during May, as promised, we will meet our 8 month build promise for the nearly 5,000 square foot house.  It has plenty of custom finishes.  The careful planning and daily attention to the construction schedule will assure it is completed on time.  Watch our progress here every few days.

Ken Peterson – Wellington Chase Homes – Bloomfield Hills, MI

Hunter Roberts Homes and Wellington Chase Homes are related design/build businesses doing new residential design build and renovation design build in Michigan.  We operate primarily in the Oakland County cities, townships and villages of Birmingham, Bloomfield Village, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Franklin, Sylvan Lake, Beverly Hills, Orchard Lake, Bingham Farms, Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, Berkley, Ferndale and Troy

The Way Things Used To Be

I just came across a copy of the January 1941 issue of THE AMERICAN HOME magazine.  As I was looking through it I noticed several advertisements that pertained to home building.

One of them was for Pella Windows.  They served a lot of custom home builders.  Architects used them because they had the famous “roller screens” built into them.  If you bought Pella Windows….in 1941 you were very modern because you didn’t have to use “old fashioned screens”.

Another advertisement from Red Cedar Shingles indicated that architects also preferred double coursed wood shingles over any other type of shingles.  Actually we love to use wood shingles when the homes we design are appropriate for them.

We tend to relate glass blocks with Modern style homes.  The magazine had an advertisement for a glass block company.  Back in 1941 the glass block company explained that using glass blocks was a very modern way to custom build a home.  Apparently modern is timeless.

When you hear the name Kimberly-Clark don’t you think of paper products, wax paper, paper towels and so on?  Me too.  Take a look at the insulation advertisement showing Kimsul Insulation.  50 years ago insulation, as today was an important issue….imagine that.  Well apparently it was back then and probably will be for  a long time into the future.

These Are Modern Windows For The Modern House

At One Time Wood Roofers We The Norm

Insulation Was Important Then, Still Is!

This is a very affordable home!

Finally, we pride ourselves as being very good at designing new homes and renovations, as well being very affordable and effective builders.  Well, the advertisement from The Philip Carey Company redefines building economically and affordably.

By Rick Wiand who is a principal with a company located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan which designs and builds new residential design build and renovation design build in Michigan.  We operate primarily in the Oakland County cities, townships and villages of Birmingham, Bloomfield Village, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Franklin, Sylvan Lake, Beverly Hills, Orchard Lake, Bingham Farms, Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, Berkley, Ferndale and Troy

The Morning Room – Maybe The Best Room In The House

In England they call it a morning room.  Some people call it a breakfast room.  It is really the informal family dining room.  Some of the clients for whom we have designed homes in the Bloomfield Birmingham area communities of Oakland County think it’s one of the most practical and pleasant rooms in a house.

Most of the homes we design and build and renovations as well include a Morning Room.  Whenever possible we make sure the Morning Room is positioned on the south side of the house.  Since they are typically three sided rooms projecting from the house, they receive great sunlight.  In the morning it is easterly and southerly.  In the midday it is southerly and late in the day southerly and westerly.  So throughout the day it is a bright, airy feeling room projecting out into the yard of a house.

An ideal size is 12 ft by 12 ft.  A bit smaller is functional. A bit larger is great.  I use my morning room not just for family meals.  It is a create place to work at home, play card or simply have a cup of coffee and read the paper.  Since a basement is typically under a morning room this lower level space is ideal for many uses – a wine cellar, an office or even a lower level bedroom.

A Morning Room – Very Elegant, Very Functional

A Morning Room – Very Elegant, Very Functional

A Beautiful South Facing Morning Room

If you are designing a new home or considering a renovation, if you have the opportunity to create a morning room, you will be glad you did it.

Rick Wiand – Hunter Roberts Homes and Wellington Chase Homes are related design/build businesses doing new residential design build and renovation design build in Michigan.  We operate primarily in the Oakland County cities, townships and villages of Birmingham, Bloomfield Village, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Franklin, Sylvan Lake, Beverly Hills, Orchard Lake, Bingham Farms, Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, Berkley, Ferndale and Troy

What’s Behind The Walls!

As we continue to show you the progresses on this custom home we designed and are building in Oakand County of Sylvan Lake (near Birmingham and Bloomfied) we are showing you the start of the rough heating and plumbing which gets us closer to insulation and drywall.  As you watch these videos of this cottage style home we have designed you will get a sense for the building practices we use to make sure this home is built in a quality manner

Todd Bergsman, Hunter Roberts Homes, Bloomfield Hills, MI

Hunter Roberts Homes and Wellington Chase Homes are related design/build businesses doing new residential design build and renovation design build in Michigan.  We operate primarily in the Oakland County cities, townships and villages of Birmingham, Bloomfield Village, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Franklin, Sylvan Lake, Beverly Hills, Orchard Lake, Bingham Farms, Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, Berkley, Ferndale and Troy