Design On A Nickel

Your stimulus check not withstanding, you're gonna have to fix up that house with less.

by Jason Tomassini

	print	email	reply

Published: Feb 20, 2008

If you've watched The Wire recently (and really, who hasn't at this point?), you are familiar with the directive, "Do more with less." Those of us in the newspaper industry know this phrase all too well. But chances are, with the recent subprime swoon our country is experiencing, many middle- and lower-class homeowners are finding out that frugal concept hits close to home. Literally.

p>Without going into an apocalyptic rant on the current state of homeownership, we can simply acknowledge that, these days, refinancing is hard to come by; interest rates are plummeting; and in order to keep your home from falling apart or, even worse, careening toward stylistic irrelevancy, you're simply going to have to "do more with less." So here, for your penny-pinching pleasure, are some ways to do just that.

Save the World, Save Some Green

Part of the reason you can't afford the shit you want in your house is that you pay far too much for the shit you need in your house. With oil, gas and electricity prices reaching astronomic levels, it's obvious you need to do something to reach a higher level of energy efficiency. It's just not always obvious what that something actually is. Here are some tips that will not only take you one step closer to that elusive Nobel Peace Prize, but also save some cash.

Going green in your home doesn't necessarily mean installing solar panels, wearing space suits and eating cardboard (but hey, feel free). Most green architects will tell you that the first step to becoming more energy-efficient is simply changing your approach, focusing on simple stuff in your home. And a common way to perpetuate astronomical heating or cooling bills is to ignore all those drafts in your rickety old row home. (If, god bless you, you need some catching up on what this whole green thing is, see last year's Home and Design guide at citypaper.net.)

Start with the windows and doors to determine how drafty your home is. There are a variety of ways to figure out how much heat you are losing, but the most comprehensive method is to get a home energy audit. Hap Haven of US Green Home, a company focused on raising awareness for residential energy conservation, is a local architect dedicated solely to green building and construction. On his Web sites (usgreenhome.com and phillygreenhome.com) you'll find a detailed outline of what a home energy audit provides. An auditor will come to your home, hook up a crazy fan contraption to your doors, and an electronic pressure reader will measure how much heat you are losing to air leakages.

Haven will also use an infrared camera (which is freaking cool) to find which spots on your wall have the least insulation. These spots are generally the result of mistakes and/or laziness by the original insulators and allow much of the heat and cooling coming into your house to escape into the attic. The audits can be pricey (they start at about $395), but the long-term savings on heating/cooling bills can far outweigh the cost. Haven says his personal home is a nearly optimum model of energy conservation: He pays just 27 cents per square foot on heating while most people, he says, are paying upward of $1.75 per square foot.

"Anybody that can write their checks at the end of the month and not worry about [the cost] — they aren't my customers," Haven says, while giving a demonstration of the construction at one of his energy-efficient row homes for sale in Germantown. "[Others] want to go green but don't want to put out any effort. It takes effort do this — not a lot, but some. It's more of a mind-set [change] than anything."

If an energy audit isn't in the budget, Travis Douglas of Re:Vision Architecture in Manayunk (133 Grape St., 215-482-1133, revisionarch.com) advises the incense test. On a cool day, homeowners simply light a stick of incense, turn off their furnace, shut all windows and doors, turn on all exhaust fans that blow air outside (such as bathroom fans or stove vents), and pass the incense around the edges of common leak sites (window frames, electrical and gas service entrances, etc). Wherever the smoke is sucked out of or blown into the room, there's a draft. (Seriously, that's it.) And once those problematic crevices are identified, a trip to the local hardware store for some insulation or insulating foam — which will usually run you about $7 per can with one can generally providing enough protection for one door or window — a quick lesson from an employee or Web site on weather stripping and a free afternoon is all you need to take large steps in saving energy. [This item is corrected and is different from the version that appeared in print.]

Michael T. Regan Home products at Greenable includes counter material (right) made of recycled, out-of-print money. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

"Every decision that you make about your house, you can choose a more environmentally friendly solution," says Heather Shayne Blakeslee, educational programs coordinator at Delaware Valley Green Building Council, an organization dedicated to advancing and promoting green construction in the Philadelphia area. More important than pumping money into green projects or renovations, Blakeslee says, taking a green point of view for all aspects of daily living is the most effective way to save money. Here are some minor additions that can reap major savings.

For water conservation, Douglas of Re:Vision recommends buying low-flow [*correction appended] shower heads, which generally dispense water at rates between 0.5 and 1.75 gallons per minute, compared to the conventional 2.5 and higher. Douglas also notes the saving power of a dual-flush toilet, which has two levers, one for each, uh, type of business that enters the toilet. While a regular toilet uses 2.9 gallons for a single flush, the dual flush uses either 0.8 or 1.6 gallons, depending the, um, project you were working on. These units generally run about $300 but can save a lot in the long run. Frank Russo, associate at spg3 Architects, advocates a rain barrel that collects runoff water to be recycled for gardening or any other activities around the house that don't require pristine water.

White elastomeric or acrylic roof coating [*correction appended]which does a great job of reflecting sunlight in the summer, can be applied to your roof, Douglas says, and costs just $20 per gallon with a gallon covering about 80 square feet. And things as simple as unplugging cell phone and laptop chargers, turning off cable boxes and unplugging printers and fax machines can make a difference. All of those appliances siphon energy even when they aren't in use, and if you're too lazy to unplug them, for $30 you can buy a Smart Power Strip that shuts down these items for you.

And while Home Depot and other chain stores may have some green products readily available, Greenable in Old City (126 Market St., 215-922-6066, greenable.net) takes the concept a large step further, offering only the "greenest" of household items and materials. Greenable and the similarly minded Environmental Home Store in Mount Airy (550 Carpenter Lane, 215-844-4733, environmentalhomestore.com) are one-stop shops for residents, contractors and architects looking to use recycled, long-lasting, low-toxicity products in their home design. Greenable, for instance, carries everything from countertops made of recycled, out-of-circulation money to flooring panels made from bamboo (all of the tiles and flooring materials in the store are made from either recycled material or a rapidly renewable resource). For the aforementioned air sealing project, Greenable sells insulation made of recycled denim that costs 92 cents per square foot and lasts longer than regular insulation, says Greenable's Shawn Torbert. Lynne Templeton, the store's co-owner, also recommends a tankless water heater, which runs $500 but can save up to 50 percent on your water heating bill. A regular water heater continually heats a tank full of water; the tankless model heats water only when you turn on the faucet. Greenable is also one of the few stores to sell zero-VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) paint ($42/gallon), which is far healthier than the toxin-filled, lead-based paint job in most older row homes.

Being A Big Deal Without Leather-Bound Books

robert hakalski Mio's wall tiles offer stylish texture; some improve a room's acoustics. No special glasses required. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

If, as some forecasters are predicting, you're going to be broke as a result of an economic force beyond your control, you should at least be fashionable in doing so. And if interior designers and IKEA sprees exist only in some fantasy world, getting your home to look like, well, a home takes some creativity and opportunistic shopping. Here's how you get started.

Many interior decorators agree the best way to improve the aesthetic value of a room is by decorating the walls because they're the only true blank slates. And instead of just paying someone to paint your walls or hanging expensive-looking shit up there (you're not fooling anyone), there are many cost-efficient methods to designing in a creative, personal way.

One of the more progressive designers in the city is Mio, a home design company in Center City (340 N. 12th St., 215-925-9359, mioculture.com) that combines hipness with greenness. Mio sells 3D wallpaper called PaperForms, an innovative type of wall decoration that comes in vibrant colors, unique patterns and can be arranged in your own custom design. They're sold in packs of 12 1- by 1-foot tiles ($32) that can be installed with tape or wallpaper paste. PaperForms are made solely with recyclable paper or cardboard and come in three styles, one of which — Acoustic Weave — also improves the acoustics and sound control of a room.

Another of Mio's innovations is Nomad, a portable, 3D wall of interlocking paper panels ideal as room dividers for lofts or large, airy rooms. Nomad, which comes in nine colors and is also made solely from recyclable paper, is sold in sets of 24 modules that are 14 by 21 inches and cost $56 per set.

"We don't have a culture of green in this country and you can't buy your way into greenness, either," says Jaime Salm, creative director at Mio. "So with our designs, we are trying to establish a relationship between the product and the consumer where there's a different outlook on how to use and value these green materials."

If you don't have the adventurousness (read: balls) to go with Mio's unique and vivacious styles, there are more understated methods you can use to accent your walls. Jennifer Schick, assistant manager at Artist and Craftsman in Old City (307 Market St., 267-861-6008, artistcraftsman.com), says she often sells large sheets of decorative paper to young people and college students looking for a cheap way to establish a common design in a room. The sheets generally run between $2 and $4 and only a few are needed for an entire wall. They are also useful for matching lamp shades and window drapes, with only one or two needed for an entire window. If you live in a loft or dorm room, Schick says the large, blank foamcore dividers her store sells can be decorated, hung from the ceiling and turned into stylish space dividers. The dividers are 4 by 8 feet and run between $17 and $31.

Hidden away in store space that's about one square foot away from being unable to contain its merchandise, Uhuru Furniture and Collectibles (1220 Spruce St., 215-546-9616, apedf.org) is one of the city's most distinctive furnishing options. First off, it's a nonprofit with proceeds going to the African People's Education and Defense Fund, which provides support for black communities in North America and Africa. And second, it is filled to the ceiling with used furniture, paintings, silverware and basically any junk (and I use that term affectionately; there's some weird stuff in there) that people want to donate. There is only enough floor space to accommodate the many customers who bustle in and out daily, all of whom seem to happily risk the falling chair or mattress that seems just bound to tumble down upon them at any second (but, improbably, never does).

Potential concussions aside, the customers keep coming because Uhuru offers incredible prices on used antique and hand-crafted furniture. There are huge oak cabinets from the 1930s for under $200, vintage couches from the '70s for as little as $75, giant mirrors for just $35. You could probably furnish an entire living room with used, good-quality items for under $500.

"You can support justice in African communities instead of supporting the richest man in the world by going to IKEA," says Ruby Gittelsohn, manager of Uhuru, which has rapidly changing inventory because of frequent donations. "I think people want to do something constructive with their money and also do something unique with it."

If you don't necessarily want the retro look but still want a cheap way to furnish your home, you can always channel your inner Bob Vila and use inexpensive, easily obtainable items to complete a larger project.

For example, Russo of spg3 Architects recently wanted to transform an office is his family's Rittenhouse row home into a bedroom for his child. With space tight and an area only 5 feet wide for his daughter's bed, Russo used an old dresser, some wood paneling from a neighbor's deck, a couple of bookshelves and some linens to utilize every inch of the available space to the fullest. He cut the legs off the dresser, had a mattress store cut down a mattress to fit the space, mounted a boxspring on the top of the dresser and put the bed inside. His wife then cut some linens into drapes that could enclose the bed while his daughter was sleeping and mounted some bookshelves on the wall above the bed. It all cost him about $350. Russo admits the average person probably isn't capable of such a project, but that the key to cost-efficient design is adopting a creative mind-set and "networking ideas" with both friends and professionals who might have useful tips or, more importantly, cheap materials and furniture for sale.

John McIntyre, owner of Washington Square Paint and Hardware in Center City (243 S. 10th St., 215-922-2027), passes along an inexpensive, albeit unorthodox method for acquiring a work desk for under $50. Take a door with a smooth side, two filing cabinets and a couple of two-by-fours. Fix the door on the cabinets with the two-by-fours, use wood finish on the "desktop" and you've got yourself a desk. That's it. No, it's not a glass-top or roll-top, but it certainly gets the job done.

If you are like many Philly residents and live in a row home or apartment, the options with your open floor space probably consist of: a) standing on it or b) putting carpet down and then standing on it. But there are other ways to accent a floor space without having to hire costly professionals.

McIntyre says the painting technique "faux-finish" has become popular recently for wooden and concrete floors; residents can achieve the contemporary look without hiring a professional. Either put down a base color first or use the existing color as the base and then take a few cans of differently colored paint, splattering the floor with each color using a large brush. (Think Julianne Moore in The Big Lebowski, minus the zipline. Unless you've got a zipline.) Occasionally combine two of the colors (i.e. white and black to make gray) to add accent. The result is a whole new floor for less than $100.

Mio has designed a flooring product called ModuTile, which consists of black and brown cork panels that can be interlocked to create your own floor design. A 12-tile box, which costs $19.99, can cover 12 square feet and is soft enough to use as a rug or runner and could be used to cover an entire floor space. ModuTile is made from 100 percent pre-consumer waste, in this case the excess cork collected from wine-stopper production lines.

The traditional way to design flooring is with tiles, but it can be pricey to tile an entire floor with a unique design. So for smaller living spaces, Paul Carroll of Charles Tiles in Manayunk (4401 Main St., 215-482-8440, charles-tiles.com) recommends taking some basic sheet tiles and creating a personalized entryway for the front door area or foyer. Carroll says a 4- by 4-foot space that will provide a nice first impression for visitors can be created at his store for about $150, including the adhesive needed. Any leftover tile can be used for a number of things, including the edges around a countertop or as an inexpensive frame for a bathroom mirror.

There are, of course, a million more creative, inexpensive home-improvement ideas out there. We invite you to send us your own at editorial@citypaper.net or post them at citypaper.net.

* This article originally recommended that homeowners perform a candle test. The proper procedure is an incense stick test. It also referred to a low-pressure shower head. The proper term is low-flow. It also suggested using white paint on a roof. It should have read "white elastomeric or acrylic roof covering."

DIY Insulation
GIY (Green It Yourself)