Vole Control for Crown & Daffodils Imperials

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You may be last to understand, when voles create a meal of your flower bulbs. Vole damage often does not show itself before blooms that are long-awaited fail to appear. Like many animals, voles have their favorites. If you are wise, you’ll capitalize on those tastes and choose accordingly. Daffodils (Narcissus spp.) , which increase at U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 11, and crown imperials (Fritillaria imperialis), which increase in USDA zones 5 through 9, ranking low on vole-preferred menus. Harm may discourage to bulbs.

Vole-Resistant Bulbs

Gardeners have long thought that daffodils repel many garden pests, but researchers at Cornell University put the question. Researchers voles a daily diet including bulbs comparable to a tempting mix of dried, ground bulb and applesauce and your newly planted fall beauties, of flowering bulbs. Crown imperials and daffodils were one of the bulbs in both applesauce-enhanced delicacies and the fresh, to voles. Other highly vole-resistant bulbs comprised grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum), which increase in USDA zones 4 through 8. Planting these and comparable non-preferred bulbs sends voles.

Vole-Preferred Choices

In addition to using bulbs limiting vole favorites helps protect your garden from damage. While daffodils and crown imperials abandoned voles turning their noses up, Cornell researchers discovered that tulips (Tulipa spp.) , which increase in USDA zones 3 through 8 had diving into. Voles prefer the same bulbs which deer and squirrels love to feed . Tulips rated and revealed no resistance to vole damage, either new or at the blend. Other bulbs to avoid in vole-prone areas comprise crocus (Crocus spp.) , which increase in USDA zones 3 through 8 and reticulated iris (Iris reticulata), which increase in USDA zones 5 through 9.

Vole Deterrent Plans

To help bulbs create it through winter, begin with surrounding them with bulbs. The New York Botanical Garden recommends a wall of daffodils as a successful vole deterrent. Add a couple handfuls of gritty material, such as oyster shell, to the planting hole when planting bulbs that are vulnerable. This dissuades approaching voles. Use hardware cloth to form cages to protect tulips and other bulbs which voles tend to eat. Use a gauge chicken wire to your ground-level lid to deter deer and squirrels as well. These steps are not essential, although daffodils and crown imperials in in-ground cages, should you wish.

Vole Buffers

It is also possible to create the surrounding area less hospitable voles of your bulb garden. Also called meadow mice, voles spend some time above and under damaging over bulbs and making runways involving their burrow holes. By removing the grass and crops that shield their 14, reduce vole populations. Limit hiding areas in thick vegetation near. Create weed-free buffer areas . University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program recommends a minimal vole buffer. The wider the area, the less probable voles will risk crossing the divide.

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What Color Should I Paint My Kitchen With White Cabinets and Blue Countertops?

Decorating Guides / / by

Blue counters in the kitchen may be a distinctive design also — or a daunting challenge. When the cupboards are white and your principal decor initiative is wall paint, then explore a few alternatives and try color swatches on the walls to save yourself time and expense of a less-than-stellar alternative to a potentially dull layout. The white and blue mixture could inspire icy or bright walls to get a cool or a hot kitchen.

Fresh Kitchen

Cobalt counters on the kitchen island and below the white cupboards are a strong color statement. Soften the plain shades with a different hue from nature’s garden palette and then paint the walls pale mint green. The mixture works with terra cotta, wood or bamboo flooring and brushed white or stainless appliances. Touches of brushed copper or copper are elegant in this kitchen a metallic sink at the blue counter with stainless stove and refrigerator, a copper beam behind a white enamel stove.

Gray Shades

White cabinets with a bit of gray would be the color of bleached stones, and light blue marble countertops are a mixture of grays, whites and blue veining. Stay cool in this low-key kitchen with walls painted flat dove gray to enlarge a little space. The delicate shade is complex and clean against the variegated slate colour and chalky white. It seems urban and high-tech with black stone or tile flooring, or ebony-stained hardwood shiny under clear, shiny polyurethane. Canvas Roman shades to coordinate with the walls and a breakfast nook equipped with a white Saarinen tulip table keep it timeless and contemporary.

A Bowl of Oranges

Burnt sienna or rust walls, textured or color-washed next to white cupboards, contrast with countertops of vivid electric blue tile in a kitchen that takes no prisoners. The daring complements of deep blue and orange are vibrant but harmonious; place a monkey-wood bowl filled with bananas on the blue countertop and varnish the wide plank flooring. Or cover the flooring in plain white vinyl to match the shiny white cupboards and bounce more light around the room. Utilizing a faux paint technique on the strong orange walls gives them more depth and also prevents the colour from appearing too heavy and solid.

Kitchen at the Sky

The cabinets are white laminate, along with the counters are sky-blue. This kitchen may be a washout if you are not careful, so receive the walls exactly perfect. Match wall paint into the counters just and include trim and touches of butcher block as a accent which picks up the tone of the hardwood flooring. Or paint the walls white but create a deep beam behind all the counters and the stove with sky-blue glass subway tile in slight variations on the hue to boost kitchen energy. Real slate flooring or huge white ceramic tile flooring function with this raised palette.

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Can I Mix Woods in My Kitchen Cabinets and Floors?

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Your home is your castle, so in the event that you would like tigerwood flooring and cabinets made of birds-eye maple in the kitchen, then the one thing stopping you is your budget. Even if you’re a hardwood aficionado, however, a lot of shade — or even inconsistent colours or timber grains — can make the space look awkward. On the flip side, a tasteful mixture of hardwoods that harmonizes with the rest of the decor can certainly form up your kitchen.

Managing Visual Information

The materials you use to your floor and cabinets need to procrastinate, not just with each other, but with the walls and appliances. Hardwoods tend toward warm colours, and a tendency of the rest of the decor toward warmth gives you more latitude when blending them. If you are using the hardwood for a counterpoint in a kitchen with cool walls, lots of chrome or enameled appliances, then the combination of two distinct hardwoods may provide more visual information than the eye could comfortably handle. It is possible, however, to make a virtue from info overload and efficiently combine a number of hardwoods in the kitchen and throughout the house, as California designer Debbie Nassetta recommends.

Watch That Grain

Each hardwood species has a different grain pattern, and some are far more exaggerated than many others. Two hardwoods with notable grains, like hickory and pine, can readily clash when you used them in the exact same space. A few other hardwoods, like mahogany and clear walnut, are popular partly because they don’t have marked grains — those are usually safe to mix with different woods, provided the colours harmonize. Oak has a fairly notable grain and isn’t the easiest material to combine with other individuals. The hardwoods that function best with it are the ones that don’t compete for attention. Rather than tigerwood, for example, combine oak with yellow cherry or birch.

Visual Perspective

The floor and cabinets provide the majority of the shade in the kitchen, and they combine with the walls and ceiling to create a space which can be relaxing, sumptuous or conducive to function. Whatever your predilections for kitchen layout, keeping colors close to the floor darker than those higher up could be grounding, based on layout consultant Laurie March. If you are more into visual comparison, however, you might prefer to follow Nassetta’s information and make the flooring shade lighter than the cabinets. One advantage of this strategy is that light wood flooring are easier to keep clean than dark ones.

Layout Tips

Regardless of that hardwoods you pair in your kitchen, they will highlight each other, and it is a fantastic idea to store additional visual information into a minimum. If the kitchen includes unpainted wood trim, it should be the exact same material as the cabinets — not a third material. Rather than making a statement with flowery window coverings, then use a monochromatic or subtle pattern that is happy to remain in the background. The wall and ceiling colours may also fade in the background, or they could be daring, but they need to be uncomplicated. Utilizing the exact same colour for both is better than your two-tone strategy.

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How to Install Interior Log Siding

Eclectic Homes / / by

One way to jazz up an wall that is painted or wall-papered is by simply installing interior . For simplicity of setup, choose logs which fit together to produce a wall. It’s possible to place the logs over completed walls and secure them using a single nail at every stud. To create a appearance replace wall trim using a thicker material that looks like the logs.

Build wood extensions for every electrical outlet and light switch inside the room. Rip 1/4 inch in the face of 2-by-3 lumber saw. Cut the ripped 2-by-3 in half to form two bits of 1 1/4- timber. Cut two pieces 4 inches long and another two 3 3/4 inches long. Set both 4-inch pieces horizontally. Place both 3 3/4-inch bits between the 4-inch bits to produce a rectangle box. Flush the outside edges and place 2-inch brad nails through the bottom and top pieces to connect them.

Find the breaker box before removing the covers, and switch off the power. Remove the screws and pop the switches’ and outlets’ face plates off. Remove the screws which secure outlets and the switches and pull it out to expose the wires. Loosen the fasteners which secure the wiring. Pull the cables through the wood expansion you constructed, together with the resin box expansion, and reattach them to outlets and the switches. Reattach outlets and the switches to the box by slipping 2-inch screws and into the resin extension piece and the box inside the wall.

Eliminate the present wall, window or door trim and transfer the span and cuts. Cut the new working your way round the room piece by piece and install it , trim.

Twist a stud finder throughout the wall to mark the location of every stud. Place a 48-inch carpenter’s degree vertically on every mark and scribe a line up the wall for nailing. Starting at the bottom, place the course of log siding on the wall using the tongues. Place the carpenter’s flat until the centre bubble is within the lines and make adjustments.

Place 10 or eight penny nails through the bottom and top edges of the log siding at the points at which each stud is situated. Use a circular saw to cut the lengths of log siding to fit.

Install log siding in addition to the course’s next course , allowing the grooved ends to slide the tongues of the class over. Stagger at which two cut boards come collectively final, at least four feet by those in the former class, or all the butted joints. By placing nails into every stud through the top edges and secure this course of siding. Continue laying the siding until the wall is complete.

Measure the positioning of every switch and outlet as you work your way up the wall and transfer these measurements to the log siding. Equip a jigsaw with a wood-cutting blade that’s long enough to cut through the log piece so it matches around the outlets. Drill a 1/2-inch hole which you are cutting out, which can be referred to as waste material, via when the opening isn’t near a border of the log piece to slide the jigsaw blade.

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What Paperwork Do I Want to Sell My House?

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A home sale requires a large amount of paperwork. The vendor is responsible for providing and completing specific types of documentation when purchasing a home. A homeowner who fails to fill out or furnish the necessary legal paperwork may shed a purchaser or face legal actions following the sale is finished.

Function

The wide range of paperwork needed to sell your home serves different functions. The deed, or instrument used to show your legal ownership of a home, contains the home description. A real estate description would be that the measurements of your house described in words; a backup is necessary for legal documents utilized in the sale process, like a sales contract. Proof that liens and invoices because of the home are compensated or present is required for a home sale, and also documentation of outstanding liens on the home must be provided to the parties involved. A general disclosure of the house’s condition is called for in most areas.

Types

Property tax receipts function as evidence that the taxes on the home were compensated. Receipts for charges, to get garbage collection or like a fee to use the public sewer, are required for to market a home. A statement of your utility account for water service ought to be obtained from the company. A financial disclosure statement, which lists all the liens on your home, notifies the parties concerned concerning the obligations currently connected to the property. The payment history from the homeowner’s insurance policy can be required for the sale. An overall disclosure statement will record all specific restrictions, problems or obligations with your own home, such as a rental agreement with a present tenant.

Effects

Documentation of outstanding liens, like mortgage obligations, allows the actual estate lawyer or professionals required to organize a last payoff of the lien at the time of the home’s sale. Receipts for tax bills prove the liens were compensated, and also the new homeowner won’t cause the charges. The present status of water accounts and specific assessments allows you to determine what portions of the monthly bill the purchaser is liable for at the time of sale. The disclosure to the purchaser prevents you from being sued later about a problem that existed like a leaky roof, at the time of sale.

Benefits

Financial disclosures allow you to settle all owed trades on the house by the time of sale, avoiding the possibility of a lawsuit from a purchaser or lender afterwards on. Presenting tax receipts proves you paid the property tax bills in full and aren’t responsible for new charges. Evidence of homeowner’s insurance may allow your buyer to obtain a new policy more easily and stop your own deal from stalling. Special assessments and water bills can be prorated, meaning you are only accountable for the portion of the bill for the sale for the days you’re still the proprietor. Providing copies of present bills ensures you won’t pay for services you did not use.

Misconceptions

You don’t need to have your initial deed to sell the home. A backup can be obtained from the county recorder’s office where the property is located for a fee, such as $5. The certified copy may service as the official deed for your home in a sale. A file of your initial mortgage loan records can be obtained from the county recorder’s office to the financial disclosure, so in the event that you’ve misplaced the original records, a legal backup is readily available for the lawyer to see. You can obtain a certified copy of the loan records from the county recorder’s office if you are not using a lawyer.

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FHA Appraisal Process

Eclectic Homes / / by

If you have procured an FHA-insured loan, then found the home that you want to purchase and started a sales arrangement, then you’re ready for another stage of this FHA approval process, that is the assessment. While FHA appraisers place an emphasis on safety throughout their process, the objectives are two-fold–to be certain the home does not have any major safety problems and to determine the home’s actual market value for the purposes available.

Ordering the Appraisal

As of February 2010, FHA-approved creditors aren’t in control of purchasing home appraisals. The FHA now uses appraisal management companies to randomly assign home assessments to FHA-approved appraisers. It follows that creditors will have less contact with appraisers throughout the home evaluation process, which eliminates some level of bias or favoritism on the part of lenders selecting appraisers. It’s possible to determine whether the appraiser assigned to evaluate your home is in fact FHA-approved by assessing the FHA’s site, which includes a clearinghouse of approved appraisers nationwide.

Touring the Home

The appraiser’s first task is to see the property. FHA appraisers put a focus on safety when they walk through the property, but it should not be mistaken with a home inspection, that provides a deeper look at what may be wrong with the home. A FHA appraiser seeks to locate big problems that can affect value, including leaky roofs, poisonous chemicals, insufficient heating and cooling , and poor water and sewage drainage. These problems may result in the appraiser advocating they be fixed before a loan is accepted, in addition to reducing the value of the home.

Documentation

The appraiser can also be required to assemble documentation of his trip. That documentation includes photos of the exterior of the home from the front, the back and the road. The appraiser must produce a sketch of the interior floor plan along with a location map of interior appliances and other major products. The appraiser’s results must be included on FHA form 1004 and must possess the FHA number of the home. The appraisal must document the estimated life of the home.

Valuation

One of the appraiser’s key functions is discovering your home’s worth, which can be done after the walk-through. The appraiser has three choices to figure worth. The price strategy determines how it would take to build a property similar to the subject home. The sales comparison is when the appraiser compares the subject home into three similar homes in the area, all recently sold, and then corrects or deducts predicated on corresponding items and closeness to local amenities. The appraiser may additionally use the income approach, which is typically only used if you are working to finance rental property. In cases like this, the appraiser values the house’s monthly rent based on the local marketplace, and worth accordingly.

Conclusion

The appraisal process is complete when the company sets the home’s market value, based on information gathered in the walk-through, documentation and valuation stages. The sum will not automatically be the purchase price the buyer and seller are negotiating. Rather, the appraiser figure is likely what the lender will use to put financing limits to the buyer of the home and reflects an educated guess of the home’s real value.

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How Can I Reduce the Interest Rate on a Home Equity Loan?

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Home equity loans are provided to borrowers who own real property. Most lenders provide home equity loans with interest rates which are based on an applicant’s credit history and credit score. The percentage of your home’s equity which you use has an effect on your rate of interest. If you secure a loan with less than 70% of your home’s equity, then you may get an opportunity to acquire a lower rate of interest.

Improve your credit score to acquire a house equity loan at a lower rate of interest. Make payments to satisfy past-due obligations, such as collection accounts, tax liens and judgments. Additionally, pay your credit card accounts to levels which are less than 30% of the charge limitation for each account.

Refinance your house equity loan. You are able to save money on closing costs if you refinance with the lender who services your house equity loan. Inform your current lender you want a lower rate of interest on your house equity loan. The loan officer will seek your consent to pull your credit report. An acceptable credit score may help you qualify for a lower rate of interest on your house equity loan.

Shop for home equity lenders. Review offers. Ask a fantastic faith estimate and a Truth In Lending disclosure form. Compare the annual percentage rate for each lender, to determine the offer with the lowest price.

Submit a program to the home equity lender which provides a lower rate of interest than your current loan. By refinancing your home equity loan, your rate of interest can be lowered.

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Real Property Assessment Guidelines

Eclectic Homes / / by

Real property is a valid term for the property you have –not only the land itself but the soil and minerals under it and some other permanent structures constructed on top of it. Everything is categorized in the law as private property. Real property is subject to taxation by various authorities, such as county and city government and school boards, based on the assessed value.

Time

All states set a specific date for analyzing the value of property; for instance, the very first day of July in New York state and Jan. 1 in California. The assessor will set the market value for the property on that date orif the law restricts the resale worth –will set the value in line with the law. In California, for instance, many pieces of property can not be assessed for over the preceding year’s worth, plus around 2 percent inflation.

Fair Market Value

“Fair market value”–what a savvy buyer and seller would agree is the acceptable price of this house –is a common guideline for assessing property. To figure out fair market value for your house, assessors check recent sales of similar buildings or property. They might also look at the construction market to determine what it might cost to construct a duplicate of any structures on your house and factor that information in. New York’s Department of Taxation says that sale or construction prices on one building are not enough to establish market value: To value property correctly, the assessor will need numerous examples of similar sales or structures.

Use

Some owners don’t use their property in its”highest and best use,” and this may affect how it’s assessed. If you own a farm beside a shopping centre, for instance, the fair market value would be based on someone getting and creating the farmland; a few states, however, attempt to preserve agricultural land by assessing it according to”current usage,” which means a lesser value and reduced taxation. New York State assesses all property based on current usage, unless it’s vacant–neither assembled nor farmed–in which case it will be assessed for its potential usage.

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How to Calculate Prepayment Penalty

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Most loans that required prepayment penalties were high-credit-risk subprime and Alt-A loans in the 1990s and early- to mid-2000s. Lenders designed prepayment penalties to ensure they received reimbursement from the loan in case the loan was paid off early. Prepayment penalties generally lasted from a few years after the loan closed. The amount of the prepayment penalty varies depending on the lender that demanded it. Penalties can choose the form of a flat fee or a portion of the remaining loan balance.

Read your present loan note. It will let you know that the length of the prepayment penalty and the sum. Some lenders provided declining prepayment penalties. This usually means the prepayment penalty might be 3% the first year, 2% the second year and 1 percent the next year. Most loans with prepayment penalties let some of the loan to be compensated penalty-free. Your note should also contain this information as well.

Determine where you are in the prepayment penalty cycle. If your loan provided a declining prepayment penalty, the lender will often base it on the amount of payments have been made. If your loan’s prepayment penalty drops once payment No. 13 is obtained and you have already made 12, wait 1 month and make the 13th until you pay off the loan.

Obtain your loan balance in the lender. At times the loan balance will be on your monthly mortgage coupon or on the company’s website. If you can’t find it at these places, call your lender and request that the loan balance. Do not request a loan payoff amount because the lender may charge you for this. Wait to request the official loan settlement sum till you are prepared to really pay off the loan.

Subtract in the equilibrium any volume you can pay with no penalty. Multiply the difference by the prepayment penalty. If your loan’s balance is $200,000 and the amount you can prepay without penalty is 10 percent a year, subtract 10 percent in the balance of this loan. $200,000 times 10 percent equals $20,000. The balance of $200,000 minus $20,000 equals $180,000. If your prepayment penalty is 2%, then multiply 180,000 times two percent to equal $3,600 — the prepayment penalty.

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5 Things LEED Interior Designers Want You to Know

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If you are interested in going greener in your home, you’ve likely encounter the expression “LEED” or even “LEED Certified.” LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an application created by the U.S. Green Building Council that offers third party verification of green buildings. Buildings can earn LEED points in several of distinct regions; the goal is to make spaces that are more sustainable for the planet and fitter for the people living inside them. Among those groups of professionals that can help you navigate the tricky waters of the certificate process is LEED interior designers.

We talked with Philadelphia-area interior designer and LEED accredited professional (AP) Amy Cuker of Down2Earth Interior Design, and 2 specialists from San Francisco Bay Area’s Niche Interiors: interior designer and certified green building professional Jennifer Jones, along with junior designer and LEED AP Lynn Trinh. Here are five explanations about what they’re doing.

Amy Cuker, MBA, LEED AP

1. Just because LEED designers are green doesn’t mean they forfeit fashion. Recall a LEED interior designer was an interior designer initially and chose to further her or his training to become a LEED accredited professional — so you can expect the identical level of taste and professionalism as from another design expert.

“I like to point out to my clients that first and foremost, you need to make design decisions that are practical for you and your loved ones,” states Cuker. “Reuse or repurpose items that are still workable, and if purchasing new items, buy items that are top quality and timeless. If something is not practical or falls apart or goes out of fashion, I don’t care what percentage of its contents were recycled, or if it came from a certified forest. It is still heading for a landfill a good deal earlier than a one-piece bit whose design is lasting. In this manner being a fantastic LEED designer does not really differ from only being a really good, thoughtful interior designer, period.”

Niche Interiors

2. LEED designers look beyond the labels to locate truly sustainable products and materials. It is all too easy for the average user to get fooled by “greenwashing” — claims that a commodity is ecofriendlier than it truly is. A fantastic LEED designer can steer you on the real deal.

“LEED designers are educated about the sort of materials and finishes used in residential interiors — we now use this knowledge to assist our clients create homes that are healthy for their own families and the environment” says Jones. “We decrease carbon footprint by sourcing locally, define responsibly and sustainable harvested timber, and source and repurpose vintage furniture to decrease waste.”

Amy Cuker, MBA, LEED AP

Cuker adds, “Often when designing a kitchen, as an example, I will have a conversation with a client about sustainable materials. Sure, you can find solid-surface countertops with a great deal of recycled quartz mixed in, or you may use bamboo timber, which regrows super fast, so these are billed as sustainable options. However, when you have a closer look, these products almost always come from abroad. If your stuff have to journey across the world to get to youpersonally, is your carbon footprint still low enough to call these options sustainable?”

She’s “I must admit I don’t always know the answer, but I always raise the question, so that if there’s a choice that’s sustainable and local, and functional and beautiful, we can have more optimism regarding the sustainability of our design decisions.”

Niche Interiors

3. LEED designers can help you have a healthy home. Families that have or are anticipating children could be especially interested in moving greener at home for health reasons, and a LEED designer can help you accomplish that goal.

“Indoor air quality is one of our main concerns when selecting paint, furniture, cabinets and carpeting,” states Jones. “As designers we educate our clients on which goods off-gas harmful compounds, and we eliminate or decrease the usage of them as much as you can.”

Niche Interiors

Jones continues, “For example, we define zero-VOC paints, which emit no harmful chemicals and are safe to use while clients are still living in their property. We also design custom eco-friendly upholstery that contain no flame retardants, which are linked to a wide variety of medical complications, such as impaired fertility and IQ.”

Amy Cuker, MBA, LEED AP

4. LEED designers are not terrified of hand-me-downs. “If your parents or grandparents were thrifty, so they were also kind of green. If they’re willing to pass something old down to you, don’t dismiss it out of hand. Just take a close look and see if there’s any way it may be used or displayed in your modern life,” states Cuker.

“Our layout landscape may look homogenized if you source all of your inner accoutrements from chain stores,” she adds. “However, something that has been passed down will have personal history. And if it stuck around this long, it is very likely to be of better quality than many objects currently being generated. By way of example, these are my parents’ 40-year-old orange crushed-velvet couches [revealed], which have now taken up residence in my living room”

Amy Cuker, MBA, LEED AP

5. Not every job is a great candidate for LEED certification, but LEED designers may still help your home. Some variables may be outside your control when it comes to green home design, especially if you already own your home and aren’t starting from scratch. However, you can still use a LEED designer that will assist you make your home as green as you can — and that’s a fantastic thing.

“There are many reasons why homeowners may want a LEED certification,” Cuker states. “Perhaps they believe sticking to the LEED standard will guarantee a certain level of indoor air quality and health for those occupants, or maybe they believe they’ll get better resale value within their home, or maybe they simply believe that by having a home that is certified, they are setting a fantastic public example for others to follow”

She’s “But homeowners should know that it takes a large amount of administrative effort, and related professional fees, to acquire the official certification. A nonrated home could be every bit as green as long as it employs sustainable plans. Do not let the hassle of going through the certification process stand in the way of making the healthiest design decisions possible. Do what is right for your home and the entire world, whether or not you opt to take part in the LEED certification process.”

Amy Cuker, MBA, LEED AP

“As an interior designer, I’m frequently brought into a job after the site has been chosen,” Cuker elaborates. “Once chosen, the site and its characteristics — like its proximity to public transportation, how water runoff is managed, what percentage is paved etc. — are pretty far outside of an interior designer’s control, and those things depend when opting for LEED credits. If you can not do much about the site, don’t let it prevent you from employing sustainable strategies where you are able to.”

She offers this guidance: “LEED gets got the most widely recognized brand name for green building certification, as a result of the hard work of the U.S. Green Building Council. However, LEED is only 1 tool to assess the sustainability of a home. There are many others out there as well, and homeowners may want to explore alternatives and decide what is right for them.”

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Inform us Would you consider working toward LEED certification? Curious about anything else LEED interior designers do? Share your ideas and questions in the Remarks section.

More: What Is LEED All About, Anyway?

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