This house in Chicago designed by its owners; Frances Whitehead and her husband James Elniskis, uses many aspects of “green technology”.
The outside is covered in corrigated steel and zinc siding to retain heat.
The interior uses a variety of different energy efficient features.
The floor in this living room is “radiant heated“. I think that this is a great winter solution for the cold marble floors here in Israel.
*I love the simplicity of the design in this loft like space.
The kitchen is a wide open space with vibrant color on the walls. The color choice here reflects light and connects nature elements from the outside with the inside space.
Chartruse green is a good choice for the kitchen, this is one room that can handle a lively color like this. I see that they also have accent pillows that work to “tie in” the green color thourghout the space.
More green upstairs… This couple likes green even more than I do! Used as an accent on the one wall it works. I really love the way they mixed old furniture with ethnic art.
And finally, the roof! This garden is not the eating kind, it is here to divert rainwater from running off into the street. Wow, they thought of everything!
I have to tell you, about a year ago we moved into a flat in Tel Aviv with radiant heat under marble. It is absolutely heaven! We didn’t turn on our regular air conditioner even once this winter. Imagine how nice it is to have warm floors instead of that bone-chilling marble. You also don’t end up overheating your house because your feet are still cold. And the floors hold the warmth all day if you just turn them on at night.
This is a very nice layout design. I do think that I would have opted for the eating variety of plants on to the house though. At least a few anyway. There isn’t anything better than fresh herbs and veggies. They truly did think of everything though. Nice house.
Hi Buddy,
I love the idea of herbs everywhere. I have some right outside my windows here in tel Aviv. I use them regularly to enhance many a dish. The “eco friendly” home featured here is really comitted to making a difference in the environment and thier choice of rain water diverting plants work well here. But… as you say, there is always room for food and beauty!
Patti