Pretty Little Green Things

Our living room. Clean but not totally tidy yet.

As you may know, we’ve been deep into an apartment renovation.  Nothing structural, no walls were moved, just a lot of little projects that added up to one long dusty undertaking.  As we (dare I say it?) near completion, I’ve learned a few difficult lessons about managing a construction project and keeping it green.  So now that I can see the light on the other side of the tunnel, I thought I’d share the good, the bad and the ugly of eco-friendly (or really any) home construction project.  The photos that are interspersed throughout are the current (almost finished and a bit messy) state of my apartment.  Here goes…

Yes, the supplies are still out, just in case...

1.  Know thy contractor: I can’t stress how important it is to truly click with your contractor.  If they don’t share your vision, you’re going to be disappointed.  I thought I had this one down.  I mean, my contractor is an architect turned design-build guy and we used to work together at an architecture firm here in the city.  So stylistically, yes, we were totally on the same page.  I didn’t have to explain to him things like: I like symmetry or, all doors should match.  He got that.  But what we weren’t on the same page about was the green factor.  All right, all right, some of that was my fault.  I just couldn’t afford FSC certified crown molding wood that was going to get painted anyway.  I wish I could, but I’m just an overworked & underpaid designer.  But there were so many little things he could have done a bit greener.  For example, after trying so hard to select eco-friendly finishes myself, in the end my ceiling is painted with regular paint (not low-VOC) and the wallpaper was hung with regular adhesive (not non-toxic).  The best laid plans…blah blah blah.  But I’m the green girl and I failed in that respect.  Lesson one learned the hard way.  Make sure your complete vision is shared and understood by your contractor, not just some of it.

Isn't it beautiful? I think the kitchen is now my favorite room in the house.

2.  You get what you pay for: This was probably one of the hardest things for me to understand.  I’m such a perfectionist so I don’t really get it when other people aren’t the same way.  I mean, be proud of your craft and do it right!  The first contractor we interviewed was amazing.  If someone else had been footing the bill, I would have hired him in a heartbeat.  But his quote came in as almost four times the price of what we ended up paying.  Four times! So part of me thought, well this is New York City and everyone thinks you’re rich (which we are not) so they jack up the price.  And another part of me thought, “Well, hey, I’m an interior designer.  I should be able to communicate my vision and it will get done exactly as I imagined.”  So with both of those in mind, we went with the cheapest option.  Unfortunately the old adage is true, you DO get what you pay for.  Doors were installed upside down, things that should have been done right the first time had to be fixed and I’m still scraping paint spots off the floor.  Now, I’m not saying you need to spend a ton of money for good design, but if you’re looking for high quality detailed work, lesson two: beware of promises of low cost workers.

Another view of the kitchen.

3.  Stand up for what you want: Because if you don’t, your contractor (or their workers) will take the easiest way out.  This one probably goes back to lesson #2.  I’m a perfectionist and think everyone else should be too.  Well, they’re not.  So be VERY clear about what you want, how you want things finished, the overall quality level desired and the eco-friendly considerations.  Oh and I forgot to mention that my contractor was a push-over.  I’m an extremely nice person, almost to a fault.  I try to use kindness and reason to solve problems.  But if something goes wrong, you need to stand up for what you want and what you PAID for.  So lesson three learned: If you’re not going to yell at the sub-contractors to do things right, make sure you have a contractor who will.

We used to have nasty wood blinds here but I finally removed them. Now to find the perfect eco-friendly roman shade fabric...

4.  Green may be a best practice but it’s not common practice: Sustainability gets a lot of media attention nowadays.  There are some marvelous people out there creating innovative products that are less toxic, use less energy and reuse resources.  So you would think that in the construction industry, it would just be a matter of picking option B rather than the traditional route of option A.  Not true. All of the materials I selected were green in some way: eco-friendly wallpaper, recycled ceramic tiles, non-toxic countertop and low-VOC paint.  But do you know the content of the grout they used to install the tiles?  Or what the toxicity level of the wallpaper adhesive is?  I know I don’t.  I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that most contractors do not care about how green these base materials are.  They use them because they’re easier and cheaper and, well, that’s the way they’ve always done it..  So if you’re committed to doing a totally eco-friendly renovation, do your research and insist that your contractor find greener alternatives.  Because in the end, (lesson four) if you don’t specify that EVERYTHING must be eco-friendly, you’ll get the status quo.

Do you like the red shelf? It used to be a blond wood and I painted it. I'm loving the contrast.

5.  It’s never going to go the way you think…never: So guess what, I’m an interior designer (duh).  I manage construction projects.  So I should know that these things are never on time and on budget.  Well guess what, I work on really large projects with tons of people involved and don’t manage the day to day goings on of the contractors.  That’s what we have floor plans and project managers for.  In my contractor’s defense, we were totally on budget (and as I mentioned, he was the least expensive).  He even added a few small things for free and gave me credits for all the screw ups.  But what I thought would be two week long project, took more like five plus.  And it would have taken even longer if I hadn’t pushed for completion.  In fact, we spent all weekend touching up paint, cleaning and fixing a few things here and there that should have been finished long ago.  So my advice?  Lesson five – Think a certain length of time in your head and tell your contractor half to three quarters of that period.  That way you won’t go crazy when they’re not done on time.  And as for budget, have a slush fund for unexpected problems, because they’re going to happen.  I promise.

Our bedroom. I'm on the lookout for the perfect eco-friendly headboard.

The closets are a HUGE improvement to what we had before.

6.  You’re going to create a lot of trash, which is soooo not eco-friendly: Yes, you’re right, there are ways to recycle construction supplies.  But you’re going to create a lot of trash that isn’t so easy to reuse or get rid of in a responsible manner.  Dried plaster chunks, empty paint cans, old screws and pieces of drywall are not as easy to deal with as say, perfectly good pieces of wood.  Part of the problem for us was that everything happened so quickly – if I wasn’t paying attention, things would be thrown out instead of recycled without a second thought.  I feel awful about the bags and bags of things that were thrown away.  I’ve definitely increased our carbon footprint to a extremely large and sooty EEEE.  So how to avoid a massive trash heap?  Do your research and do it before the contractors get started.  If you find the places and the processes where these materials can be recycled, you’ll be in much better shape at the heat of the moment.  Just keep in mind that sorting through construction debris takes a lot of extra time, which equals more money if you want your contractor to do this.  But it’s worth it to keep Mother Earth happier.

We have tons of storage in our bathroom now and that corner behind the toilet doesn't look so weird anymore.

Another view of the hallway.

So those are my huge lessons learned from a dirty and overwhelming construction project.  I hope you take this to heart so you can go in with eyes wide open if you undertake something similar.  I’m happy that we decided to do this project in the first place and now that we’re at the tail end of things, our apartment is looking so much nicer and more like a grown up home.

Now that I’ve laid out my lessons learned, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts.  Have you had a similar experience?  What have you learned from your projects (big or small)?  Did I miss anything major?  You can comment here, or let’s get the conversation started on Twitter.  If you don’t follow me already, you can find me @PrettyLGreen.  Don’t be shy – we’ve all had projects (construction or not) that were big learning experiences.

Lights out!

Our living room. Clean but not totally tidy yet.

As you may know, we’ve been deep into an apartment renovation.  Nothing structural, no walls were moved, just a lot of little projects that added up to one long dusty undertaking.  As we (dare I say it?) near completion, I’ve learned a few difficult lessons about managing a construction project and keeping it green.  So now that I can see the light on the other side of the tunnel, I thought I’d share the good, the bad and the ugly of eco-friendly (or really any) home construction project.  The photos that are interspersed throughout are the current (almost finished and a bit messy) state of my apartment.  Here goes…

Yes, the supplies are still out, just in case...

1.  Know thy contractor: I can’t stress how important it is to truly click with your contractor.  If they don’t share your vision, you’re going to be disappointed.  I thought I had this one down.  I mean, my contractor is an architect turned design-build guy and we used to work together at an architecture firm here in the city.  So stylistically, yes, we were totally on the same page.  I didn’t have to explain to him things like: I like symmetry or, all doors should match.  He got that.  But what we weren’t on the same page about was the green factor.  All right, all right, some of that was my fault.  I just couldn’t afford FSC certified crown molding wood that was going to get painted anyway.  I wish I could, but I’m just an overworked & underpaid designer.  But there were so many little things he could have done a bit greener.  For example, after trying so hard to select eco-friendly finishes myself, in the end my ceiling is painted with regular paint (not low-VOC) and the wallpaper was hung with regular adhesive (not non-toxic).  The best laid plans…blah blah blah.  But I’m the green girl and I failed in that respect.  Lesson one learned the hard way.  Make sure your complete vision is shared and understood by your contractor, not just some of it.

Isn't it beautiful? I think the kitchen is now my favorite room in the house.

2.  You get what you pay for: This was probably one of the hardest things for me to understand.  I’m such a perfectionist so I don’t really get it when other people aren’t the same way.  I mean, be proud of your craft and do it right!  The first contractor we interviewed was amazing.  If someone else had been footing the bill, I would have hired him in a heartbeat.  But his quote came in as almost four times the price of what we ended up paying.  Four times! So part of me thought, well this is New York City and everyone thinks you’re rich (which we are not) so they jack up the price.  And another part of me thought, “Well, hey, I’m an interior designer.  I should be able to communicate my vision and it will get done exactly as I imagined.”  So with both of those in mind, we went with the cheapest option.  Unfortunately the old adage is true, you DO get what you pay for.  Doors were installed upside down, things that should have been done right the first time had to be fixed and I’m still scraping paint spots off the floor.  Now, I’m not saying you need to spend a ton of money for good design, but if you’re looking for high quality detailed work, lesson two: beware of promises of low cost workers.

Another view of the kitchen.

3.  Stand up for what you want: Because if you don’t, your contractor (or their workers) will take the easiest way out.  This one probably goes back to lesson #2.  I’m a perfectionist and think everyone else should be too.  Well, they’re not.  So be VERY clear about what you want, how you want things finished, the overall quality level desired and the eco-friendly considerations.  Oh and I forgot to mention that my contractor was a push-over.  I’m an extremely nice person, almost to a fault.  I try to use kindness and reason to solve problems.  But if something goes wrong, you need to stand up for what you want and what you PAID for.  So lesson three learned: If you’re not going to yell at the sub-contractors to do things right, make sure you have a contractor who will.

We used to have nasty wood blinds here but I finally removed them. Now to find the perfect eco-friendly roman shade fabric...

4.  Green may be a best practice but it’s not common practice: Sustainability gets a lot of media attention nowadays.  There are some marvelous people out there creating innovative products that are less toxic, use less energy and reuse resources.  So you would think that in the construction industry, it would just be a matter of picking option B rather than the traditional route of option A.  Not true. All of the materials I selected were green in some way: eco-friendly wallpaper, recycled ceramic tiles, non-toxic countertop and low-VOC paint.  But do you know the content of the grout they used to install the tiles?  Or what the toxicity level of the wallpaper adhesive is?  I know I don’t.  I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that most contractors do not care about how green these base materials are.  They use them because they’re easier and cheaper and, well, that’s the way they’ve always done it..  So if you’re committed to doing a totally eco-friendly renovation, do your research and insist that your contractor find greener alternatives.  Because in the end, (lesson four) if you don’t specify that EVERYTHING must be eco-friendly, you’ll get the status quo.

Do you like the red shelf? It used to be a blond wood and I painted it. I'm loving the contrast.

5.  It’s never going to go the way you think…never: So guess what, I’m an interior designer (duh).  I manage construction projects.  So I should know that these things are never on time and on budget.  Well guess what, I work on really large projects with tons of people involved and don’t manage the day to day goings on of the contractors.  That’s what we have floor plans and project managers for.  In my contractor’s defense, we were totally on budget (and as I mentioned, he was the least expensive).  He even added a few small things for free and gave me credits for all the screw ups.  But what I thought would be two week long project, took more like five plus.  And it would have taken even longer if I hadn’t pushed for completion.  In fact, we spent all weekend touching up paint, cleaning and fixing a few things here and there that should have been finished long ago.  So my advice?  Lesson five – Think a certain length of time in your head and tell your contractor half to three quarters of that period.  That way you won’t go crazy when they’re not done on time.  And as for budget, have a slush fund for unexpected problems, because they’re going to happen.  I promise.

Our bedroom. I'm on the lookout for the perfect eco-friendly headboard.

The closets are a HUGE improvement to what we had before.

6.  You’re going to create a lot of trash, which is soooo not eco-friendly: Yes, you’re right, there are ways to recycle construction supplies.  But you’re going to create a lot of trash that isn’t so easy to reuse or get rid of in a responsible manner.  Dried plaster chunks, empty paint cans, old screws and pieces of drywall are not as easy to deal with as say, perfectly good pieces of wood.  Part of the problem for us was that everything happened so quickly – if I wasn’t paying attention, things would be thrown out instead of recycled without a second thought.  I feel awful about the bags and bags of things that were thrown away.  I’ve definitely increased our carbon footprint to a extremely large and sooty EEEE.  So how to avoid a massive trash heap?  Do your research and do it before the contractors get started.  If you find the places and the processes where these materials can be recycled, you’ll be in much better shape at the heat of the moment.  Just keep in mind that sorting through construction debris takes a lot of extra time, which equals more money if you want your contractor to do this.  But it’s worth it to keep Mother Earth happier.

We have tons of storage in our bathroom now and that corner behind the toilet doesn't look so weird anymore.

Another view of the hallway.

So those are my huge lessons learned from a dirty and overwhelming construction project.  I hope you take this to heart so you can go in with eyes wide open if you undertake something similar.  I’m happy that we decided to do this project in the first place and now that we’re at the tail end of things, our apartment is looking so much nicer and more like a grown up home.

Now that I’ve laid out my lessons learned, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts.  Have you had a similar experience?  What have you learned from your projects (big or small)?  Did I miss anything major?  You can comment here, or let’s get the conversation started on Twitter.  If you don’t follow me already, you can find me @PrettyLGreen.  Don’t be shy – we’ve all had projects (construction or not) that were big learning experiences.

Lights out!