Harbinger House walk-through

Harbinger House, this year's West Coast Green showhouse, does not feel remotely like a storage unit. It feels solid, spacious, and well-appointed. The 1700 square feet are well laid-out both downstairs and up, with neither oversized rooms nor a cramped feeling in any corner of the home.

Daylighting and natural ventilation are provided by extensive and well placed windows and glass doors (all low-e and reasonably insulative, for temperature control on sunny or chilly days). The floors vary from area to area - stairs of salvaged hickory, bamboo and cork used in other indoor rooms and halls, and FSC certified lumber on the outdoor decks.

For its operations, many resource-conserving features are built in, including energy efficient appliances in the laundry and kitchen, zone controls by room, dual-flush toilets and an Agilewaves Resource Monitor to track and adjust settings.

Materials used indoors were both gorgeous and high in recycled or reclaimed content, from the Vetrazzo countertops to the almost whimsical light fixtures to the low-VOC wall paints (almost no odor, even though finishing touches were completed this morning). Ecofabulous chose most of the interior finishing and furnishing elements, including this LED overhead lamp fashioned from burnt-out incandescent bulbs:

And one last nice touch indoors - the green cleaning and body care products in the laundry and bathrooms.


Continue the tour, with the outdoor features of Harbinger House.