michelle kaufmann designs

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When friends who are visiting San Francisco ask for a recommended hotel, I usually have different categories with different criteria and it becomes a matrix of qualities that the particular friend might be most interested in. However, now it is simple. What hotel do I recommend? The Good hotel by Joie de Vivre.

The Good Hotel is designed with a conscience. “Our philanthropic and positive approach is designed to inspire the good in us all” they state on their website. And it works. I recently had brunch with Lee Schneider of DocuCinema (www.docucinema.com) who is staying there and he was talking about the “social engineering” and power of good design to inspire positive change.

Not only does the hotel incorporate sustainable materials such as reclaimed and recycled woods, blankets made from recycled soda bottles, empty Voss water bottles used as a chandelier, and water conserving solutions that tell a story (like the sink above the toilet that takes the used water from the sink to use for the toilet rather than wasting drinking water for the toilet), but there are also making it easier for people to act in a manner that is sensitive to the environment, but still with beauty. They offer bikes for use for free during one’s stay, and evoke a strong sense of community through interesting touches like the photo booth in the lobby where you can post your photos on the wall and computers for the One Laptop per Child program throughout. The concierge can help hook you up with volunteering programs throughout the city if you wish.

Rooms range from $89 to $149. Super affordable by SF standards.
Smart design, eco-friendly, with a conscience? That is way better than good; it is great.

www.jdvhotels.com
photos by Christian Horan

It is that time of year for Kevin and I to decide on what type of tree we want to have for the holidays. We buy planted trees rather than cut trees, so that way we can then plant the tree in our yard afterwards. (I just have such a hard time buying a cut tree). It can be a bit of a trick, though, finding trees that will not only work with our landscaping, our climate, but also are good for decorating. The year of the cactus, for example, really required some creativity.

This year I am so excited about a program that the Friends of the Urban Forest and SF Environment are doing. They are offering residents of San Francisco a chance to order a living, potted tree that is between 6′ and 8′ tall and has been handpicked to thrive in the San Francisco climate.  You pick out your exact tree.

Then, after the holidays, your tree will be planted on the streets of San Francisco, providing beauty, water pollution reduction, shade and oxygen for years to come.  Giving to the future.

For more information: www.sfenvironment.org

I love fire. I hate to admit it, but I do. When Kevin and I were designing and building  our Glidehouse, it was the one decision we really struggled with. While we knew that having a wood-burning fire place was not good for the environment by emitting ashes, soot and carbon toxins, we didn’t want to give up on being able to have the warmth and glow of an evening fire in the winter. So, we included a wood burning fireplace in our house. In the years since we have been living here, we have enjoyed it many times, however, always with guilt. So we have decided to switch to guilt-free fire. We moved to gas fire with a glass rock base.

I am amazed how easy it was. We (well, ok, to be honest “we” really means Kevin, which probably explains how “easy” it all was for me) went to the FireCrystals website www.firecrystals.com and looked through all the different glass rock options. We decided upon the “Black Nugget” type.  We also ordered a few accessories including a U-burner and since we have propane gas, we also ordered a pan.

First Kevin cleaned out the firebox and  painted the backdrop of the fireplace to all be black to make the actual flames more dramatic, and have the box be visually less messy than the existing gray backdrop. He used high-temperature paint and we let it dry overnight (and also kept our windows open, because we were not able to find no-VOC high temperature paint, so there was off-gassing happening).

As soon as the materials arrived, “we” got to work. (I guess mainly it was Kevin and I stayed in “advisor” role in the background, providing “entertainment” and counseling).  Surprisingly not that many tools were needed. Just a pipe wrench, a crescent wrench, gas tape and a barbeque lighter.  The directions say to install a damper clamp (if you don’t already have one) to insure the minimum venting.

Kevin laid the FireCrystal pan in the bottom of our fireplace with the U-burner. He cleaned off the threads to the inlet pipe and applied gas tape to the threads in a clockwise rotation. He applied gas tape to the threads of the male end of the supplied elbow fitting, then screw elbow into the inlet pipe. He then took the supplied flex line and screwed it into the male end of the elbow and tightened.

He was then ready to connect to the burner. He placed the female end of the flex line fitting onto the front end of the U-burner pipe and applied gas tape and secured it tightly.  He positioned the pan and U-burner towards the front of our fireplace.

After testing to make sure it was working, we laid on the FireCrystals over the pan, U-burner and filled the bottom of our fireplace.

Since the type of FireCrystals we chose was more expensive than some, we actually ordered a less expensive type for the bottom layer, and then used the Black Nugget type crystals for the top layer.

After we filled the entire base with the crystals, we were ready for the fire. By simply turning on the gas, and using the lighter, we had instant glow, warmth and romantic ambience. All guilt-free.

So whether you are doing a new home, or just want to update your exising fireplace, this is easy to do (well, easy if you are or you have someone saavy like Kevin). It can be indoors or outdoors. Next up, a fire pit for outside….

www.firecrystals.com

I am so happy to see that my dear friend Nicholas De Monchaux and a group of his students at Berkeley were finalists in the WPA 2.0 competition with their proposed design titled “Local Code: Healing the Interstitial Landscape”. Their design is to create parks using San Francisco’s “unaccepted streets” (those no longer maintained by the city and hence neglected and often impassable) as locations.

They use mapping, statistics, coding and computer modeling to configure each specific design based on local site conditions (microclimate, soil type, hydrology and elevation) to create beautiful, healthy and abundant gardens in the cities over 1600 locations. The parks include play, visual and edible community gardens.

Making joy,beauty and food out of trash and danger.

The idea is so smart. So simple and elegant.
And so needed.

A week or two ago Kevin and I started noticing mosquitos in our courtyard. This is not typical, so we tried to figure out the cause (and hoping it was not the beginning of our own apocalyptic mosquito movie). We realized that in our reflecting pool, as our water plants were thriving and growing, their growth was slowing down the movement of the water from the fountain. Mosquitos don’t like moving water for their larvae, so if there is enough movement on the top surface of the water, there typically won’t be mosquito larvae.

I love the water plants, and was hoping we could keep them. Instead of thinning or getting rid of the pool plants, Kevin instead moved the fountains so they reached more of the pool, and he also called “Marin/Sonoma Mosquito + Vector Control District” (MSMVCD). They are amazing. They sent out a really nice guy who came to our house, studied our reflecting pool, and then added mosquito fish to the pool. All for free. I was amazed.

He told me that the mosquito fish will live in our pool and eat any mosquito larvae, and require no maintenance. He also put us on a list, so they will come and visit once a year to inspect and adjust as needed.   I wish there were solutions this natural and easy for all the pests in my life.

www.msmosquito.com

In case anyone hasn’t heard of it before, the Green Festival is a fabulous event that celebrates all things eco-friendly and that’s held annually in five cities across the U.S., each at different times of the year. It’s organized jointly by Global Exchange and Green America and showcases more than 350 diverse local and national green businesses, over 100 speakers, and offers visitors great how-to workshops, information on green careers, a Fair Trade pavilion, Youth Unity Pavilion, kids’ activities, delicious organic beer, wine and cuisine, and live music. This Saturday I will have the great pleasure of speaking at the Chicago Green Fest about the Smart Home: Green + Wired exhibit we helped create at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.  My talk will be at 2pm, followed by a signing of my new book, Prefab Green.  Hope to see you there!

Warm weather and daybeds are simply a match made in heaven, so as the days grow longer and hotter, visions of luxuriously comfortable daybeds are dancing through our heads.  Perfect example: the Beam Daybed from Shimna.  This daybed is a gorgeous minimalist piece made from natural materials.  Every piece in the Shimna collection is bench-made in the USA using locally produced components wherever possible to keep the carbon footprint low.  They offer 100% natural fabrics in vibrant colors produced by environmentally improved manufacturing processes without the need for heavy metal dyes.  Most of the wood is locally sourced from family-owned lumberyards using traditional and sustainable harvesting techniques.  That wood is then constructed and fabricated using only water-based adhesives and finishes.  The Beam Daybed is available in Full, Queen and King and in your choice of oak, cherry and walnut.

Mother’s Day is this Sunday and as we all know (and as our moms will remind us) it’s the perfect opportunity to show how grateful we are to the mothers in our lives, whether she’s your birth mother, the woman or women who raised you, or your wife and the mother of your own children.  But this Mother’s Day, why stop there?  Why not help celebrate mother’s everywhere, including the ever lovely, all important Mother Earth.  For example, instead of buying those run-of-the-mill, conventionally grown flowers (i.e. grown with tons of artificial fertilizer and pesticides), get Mom a gorgeous bouquet of organic flowers.  Or if she’s a chocolate lover, sign her up for Endangered Species Chocolate’s Chocolate of the Month Club and 10% of the profits from your gift giving will go to help support “species, habitat and humanity.”

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