Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska

Wanda's Diary Entries

Monday, June 29, 2009

Sunday people trouped through my Sunflower House by the dozens, eager to see the house that starred in two episodes of Simple Living as it underwent a green renovation. Cameras looked on as we knocked out walls, upgraded the appliances to Energy Star-certified, as spray-foam insulation was blown into the ceiling rafters in the attic and formaldehyde-free rolled insulation was installed on the ceiling of the unfinished part of my basement. The walls were painted with low-VOC paints, and ceiling fans and crown moulding were installed. We removed carpet in the two main bedrooms and replaced it with regionally sourced oak flooring. All new windows with screens by Norandex were installed throughout the house, and Mount Airy’s signature salt-and-pepper granite, fabricated by Acme Stone, was added to do its magic to my kitchen countertops and backsplash. We removed the oil heater (and tank in the yard) and installed a high efficiency Trane XL 15 I HVAC system. Custom hemp window treatments installed by Kathleen Redmond of Magnolia Lane in California were added to complete the elegant, eco-friendly look and upgrade the air quality inside the house. A mantelpiece of reclaimed wormy chestnut sourced in nearby Grayson County, Virginia provides a grand statement in the study.

David Johnston, one of the founders of the green building movement in America, and Robyn Griggs Lawrence, editor in chief of Natural Home magazine, traveled twice from Colorado to offer advice about “greenovating” the house. Even the guru of “not-so-small” houses, Sarah Susanka, had a hand in the re-design, sketching on a napkin how to reconfigure the laundry room that I brought up to the main level from the basement. We installed dual-flush commodes, first by a newcomer in the market that didn’t work worth a hoot. Later, when I met a Caroma representative at a green building show in California, we put in two Caroma Caravelles. Without a doubt, they are the best toilets I’ve ever had. I liked them so much I ordered a Sydney Smart model for my elderly mother. We worked hard to integrate the outdoors with the indoors, through changes to our deck, through a large and productive vegetable garden, and adding an old-fashioned clothes line out back.

The house in which I’ve lived with my son Henry for almost two years now is the most beautiful, most nurturing I’ve ever inhabited. Its creation was an all-consuming project — one of the most satisfying I’ve ever undertaken.

But Henry and I are planning a sabbatical in Europe next year. It’s time, as I told my realtor, Alison Johnson of Town & Country Realty, to pass this beautiful 1956 “not-so-big” gem — I think of it as the energy-efficient Prius of houses — onto someone new, someone to nurture and treasure it. Yesterday we had an open house and enjoyed a large turnout, including a large contingent from Winston-Salem (thanks to lovely coverage by Cindy Hodnett in the Winston-Salem Journal’s Homeplace). It was gratifying on Sunday to see how great the interest in green living has become, and it is my hope that someone wonderful will soon put down roots in the Sunflower House!