Diary of a Vermont Eco Builder

With the cabinet making/desk surfacing now complete, it’s time to install.

Old desk out, new desk in. Center support in place.

Side supports

Wire hide and foot kick

Surface in place

Built-in cabinet placement

Rewiring of network jacks and electrical sockets

Working cubby and drawers

Installed top surface

Everything back to normal

Green building blog Jetson Green featured our house on the front page today! Check out the whole story here: 

“Vermont Green Home Features Contemporary Style”

Thanks for the love, guys! It’s always good to get the word out that affordable, sustainable and stylish green building CAN be done.

Our house’s previous web cameos:

Apartment Therapy Re-Nest | Green Tour: Our Readers Build in Vermont

Dwell/AIA “How Green Are You?” Contest | In-Town Building

BoingBoing | Patchwork kitchen floor made from Marmoleum ends

materialicious | linoleum remnant kitchen floor

Even though Rae and I both work from home, the office area was one of the least finished parts of the house, with a temporary Ikea-based desk (an adjustable leg system + MDF top) and coffee table as countertop stand-in.

Yuk! That MDF needs some sanding.

So, after 6+ months of working literally 2 feet from each other we decided to hit the workshop for some much needed desk building.

Measuring up

Plywood base

Marmoleum top (no surprises there)

Edge banding on all sides this time

Cutting materials for the built-in behind the desk

Drilling machine for adjustable shelving (so cool)

Cabinet assembly
 

Iron on edge banding this time

Finished carcass with reused drawers from a previous shop project

With some nice weather this weekend, it was a good time to put in those peonies promised in the previous post! We purchased 3 varieties: ‘Nippon Beauty,’ ‘Doreen’ and ‘Peter Brand’ -  two dark pink, and one light. Our head gardener also brought over some of her own hardy geraniums that will hopefully fill in and create a nice ground cover.

We spread a layer of compost over the top to enrich the soil and keep it from cracking.

We also topped off the step gardens with some mulch made of cocoa shells, a recycled by-product of the chocolate-making process. It helps conserve water by keeping the moisture in the soil from evaporating too quickly, and gives the garden a nice finished appearance. And makes it smell like chocolate.

We’ve got tomato sign! The first little fruits showed up on our Sungold tomatoes this week. But don’t break out the basil and mozzarella just yet - they’re only the size of a marble.

Before we built our house, our dog Archie slept in our room in his plastic travel crate - not the classiest feature for a modern home! We wanted a place for him to sleep that would be comfortable and out of the way, and also blend in with the decor.

Our solution was the “dog cubby” - a built-in closet in the bedroom that recedes right into the wall, occupying the same space as the kitchen pantry on the other side. 

It was made as a single unit at the shop, and pushed into a cutout in the wall: 

We had originally planned to build a door, but found that Arch likes his bed so much that he won’t wander out at night.

Demonstrating the wrong way to use the dog cubby: