2009 Swimme and Son Open House... Green Design (Overview)

This year's Open House was a great success! There was quite a large turnout all around and we definitely had a great group attend our seminar on "Green Design"! The only downside was that Leslie Watson-Leake (Decorating By Leslie), who was scheduled as a special guest presenter, was not able to attend.

And if you were not able to make it, here is a brief overview of what the presentation consisted of...

"Going Green" was for years considered a trend or a fad that only a few were paying any attention to. Those that were, were commonly called hippies or tree-huggers. As time has passed and our own knowledge has grown as to our impact on the planet, we have all started realizing that this was something we needed to start thinking about. Even in small ways, we have made changes in our lifestyles... recycling, turning off lights when we aren't using them, cutting our 10 minute showers to 5 minutes, etc.

There are some others areas that we could give attention, even when it comes to renovating and decorating our homes.

We hear more and more terms being used like "energy efficiency", "R-value", "sustainable products", "low or zero VOC" paint. It is important that we know what these things are and how we can implement them into our home projects.

We'll start with Energy Efficiency... Our homes are full of "Energy Holes"! Our windows! Double-pane windows, even when closed, offer very little resistance to the flow of heat... In the winter, YOUR heat is escaping outside. In the summer, heat is finding it's way in. And that is where that R-Value comes in. R-Value is basically the measure of any product's resistance to heat flow. A home, say 20 years old or less, your walls on average have an R-value of 19. But in comparison, standard double-pane window only have an R-value of about 2! So, despite the fact that windows make up only about 10% of an average home, up to 50% of the heating and cooling energy pours through them!

So what do you do? We love our windows, we love our Swimme and Son sunroom... it lets the outside in by providing natural light and they give us a view!

We have another alternative: choosing the appropriate window treatment. We already need them for the most part for privacy and light control... so why not take it a step further and explore how they can be used as extra insulation for our windows.

In the May 2009 issue of DWELL magazine, it mentioned twice the importance of energy efficient window treatments and suggested consulting a window treatment specialist. A trained specialist can take a look at your needs and your allowance or budget for such a project, and match those two basic factors with the product that is BEST for you!

Now, there are many products on the market today to choose from with many fabrics, materials, colors and options... and what's great is that many companies have implemented their own "green" programs to make sure their products and manufacturing techniques are not adversely affecting the environment. The Graber, "Green By Nature" program is one example of that...

In choosing quality window treatments, you are covering all the bases. You are addressing your privacy and light control needs... you are adding to your home's beauty and thus value... AND you are contributing significantly to your window's R-value! Bottom line, in the long run it is saving you money on your heating and cooling costs. For that initial investment, you receive a great return! And when we use the word "investment", don't immediately jump to the conclusion that means you have to go out and spend a lot of money putting treatments up at your windows. That's not the case at all, especially if you consult with a window treatment specialist because we can help you do it as affordable as possible.

We wanted to show you products today that can help you design a little greener... What we have here (draw attention to bare side of presentation board facing audience) is what your window looks like when you first get your sunroom, replacement windows, move into your new home. It's bare... a blank canvas! So we want to go from this to something like THIS! (flipped presentation board around to window that had been "dressed" with solar shade, padded cornice with trim, coordinating fabrics & trim and paint colors).

I picked a casual relaxed look here that could be used especially in a sunroom setting... but could really translate into any room in your home. If you use the room as a retreat where you sit and drink your morning coffee and read the paper or unwind in the evening with a glass of wine and watch the news or read a good book, this would be perfect! The solar shade is from Dalphis, who is a fabricator of Graber products. They offer a great collection of solar shades that come in different patterns, fabrics, colors and opacities. This particular shade is from one of my favorite collections... Pfeifer SheerWeave and features 1)natural, organic looking fabric, made of polyester, vinyl and olefin; 2)has a 5% openness factor (how close the weave is and how much it blocks glare and UV rays); 3)blocks 95% of UV rays; 4)very economical for such a great looking shade and can be made into a flat roman.

Panel Tracks (showed panel track sample) are a great alternative to the vertical blind that everyone seems to use at their patio sliders and windows. It works on the same concept, but as you can see here (show sample) it is much more attractive because of the larger fabric vanes and the simple but practical operation. With most of the collections we carry, you can mix and match products using the same fabric (such as a solar shade and panel track in one room) or you can use different fabrics such as these in the Sheer Weave collection (again from Dalphis) that coordinate very well because of their neutral, natural look.

This roman shade (showed roman shade sample) from Graber in a neutral damask fabric would also look great with what we have here on our presentation board and would serve to dress up the room a little if it were used as an extra seating and entertaining area. It would work with a cornice like this or just by itself, as this particular shade has it's own valance.

So, when combined with paint colors, other fabrics and treatments, you can see how easy it is to add a little style AND increase comfort and livability by blocking glare and heat gain. The best thing is, it keeps money in your pocket because your are not having to run your air conditioning constantly to keep the room cool. And in the winter, you can raise or open these shade to allow the sun to naturally warm the room and then lower to control glare those times of the day when it's necessary. The UV protection will also keep your carpets, flooring, furniture and artwork from fading and damage.

The fabrics are from Lafayette Interior Fashions and they also have a green program and provide eco-friendly lines of fabric. (Showed coordinating fabrics and demonstrated how the one particular fabric looked as good on the backside as front and so could be used in room as well as accent).

The paint used is from Sherwin Williams and it is their harmony line of zero VOC, low odor paint in Ivoire (wall color) and Dover White (trim).

Any questions or comments, so far?

One audience member asked if the solar shade we demonstrated would be appropriate for other rooms in the house... It was explained that since we were presenting here at Swimme and Son, we wanted to do something that would have a sunroom look, but the solar shades work great in other parts of the house. It just depends on privacy needs and the openness factor of the shade chosen.

Another audience member asked if I could raise the shade to show the operation (which I had overlooked doing previously!). I gladly complied and joked about the nice "fake" window that was revealed!

I was then asked by one gentlemen just how much the 'look" demonstrated would cost. Good question! After giving the very reasonable cost of the shade itself, it was explained that the cornice would depend on style, fabric, embellishment, etc. and that the one shown was made "in-house" and for demonstrative purposes only!

I then quizzed the audience to see how well they were paying attention! In return for their correct answers, they received coupons for "Buy 4, Get 1 Free Solar or Roller Shades"! It was then revealed that there were similar coupons taped to the bottom of two audience member's seats. (There were several minutes of mayhem as everyone jumped up or bent forward checking the underneath of their chair!)

It was then time to draw a name from the slips that we collected at the beginning of the presentation for a great prize... a set of beautiful art-deco prints by artist Mary Calkins of the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building! The name drawn by Chad Swimme was Claire Moore, who loved the prints!

After Julie from Swimme and Sons awarded their Daily Advance prize to Alan Moore (Claire's husband!), the seminar came to a close! I then got to enjoy some really good barbeque (provided by Swimme), as I met and talked to some of the seminar attendees and employees of Swimme.

I would like to say thanks to everyone that helped out... my great wife, Amy and our three sons Noah, Jacob and Lucas for their hard work setting up and their support... Leslie Watson-Leake, for her talent, experience and for being a great friend with endless encouragement... Robert Thomas, my Dalphis representative for coming through in a pinch and for giving moral support, even on very little sleep(!)... my mom and dad-in-law, Roy and Dolores Pallette, for always wholeheartedly supporting everything I do... and finally Mark, Theresa, Julie, Chad and the rest of the Swimme team for inviting me back for another great time!