(Welcome again to Elka, one of the finalists in our Editor search for the upcoming Green Therapy blog. Here's her "Green Tour". Comment away!)
Name: Ozan and Brian
Location: Charlottesville, Virginia
Size/Type: 1150 sq. ft. 2 bedroom in a rented Cape Cod-style home
Years lived in: 10 months
Brian and Ozan Williams, an architecture graduate student at UVA and a financial consultant, respectively, have found a way to successfully join their green living principles with their DIY, artsy aesthetic. A married couple living in rental housing close to campus in Charlottesville, Virginia. Brian and Ozan possess a singular style that imbues their home with the couple's collective design personality.
Ozan, who has an eagle eye for thrift shopping, is also an excellent seamstress, gardener, and renovator—skills that came in handy when the couple transformed this janky rental unit into a thrifted paradise. Brian, who is an accomplished visual artist and steel welder, is also a skilled designer and carpenter.
Best of all, Ozan and Brian made almost all of these green changes at minimal expense. They serve as an inspiration for those of us looking to green our lifestyles, but who don't have the fat pocketbook to support photovoltaic panels or a legal greywater system. Indeed, through extensive reuse, recycling, and smart purchases, they've managed to green this house on a shoestring budget. I'm excited to see what type of green, crafty ideas Ozan and Brian come up with when they build or purchase a home of their own.
Note: Ozan writes that besides their television, nearly all of their interior/exterior design elements, furniture, etc., are handed down, thrifted, or found.
Ozan's Questionnaire:
Style: Haphazard, vintage, ad hoc. The house is itself is a weird low-rent version of a Cape Cod, which is common here on the East Coast. It was definitely build by hand. I've found things in the house from 1938, but I'm sure it's older.
Inspiration: Other people, nature
Favorite Element: Water and carbon! (Kidding!) I like the quiet and shady front room and the dappled shade in the backyard. Directly outside our windows, everything is all green, which is great.
Biggest Challenge: Undoing all of the shoddy craftsmanship from the house's status as a long-time rental unit, coupled with the general grime of college rentals.
Biggest Embarrassment: The ugly bathroom off of the kitchen is so annoying I want to blow it up.
Best Green Feature: The relative passive cooling of our fans, our rain barrel, and the knowledge that we made this house the way it is by being smart, and not by spending a lot of money.
Proudest DIY: Brian built a shade pergola structure in the back, but we DIY everything so it's hard to say.
Biggest Indulgence: Besides amazing cheeses? Plants. We are crazy for plants.
Dream Source: We are not sophisticated enough for this answer. Brian said "the McMaster-Carr catalog" ( http://www.mcmaster.com), which is full of tools and hardware and machinery and it's about five inches thick. I have no good answer….the great secret thrift store of my dreams?
-Elka
Yea for rainwater harvesting!!!
I am so pro rain barrel its wrong. In the simple form we are talking $25 for used food grade barrels from a feed store or resturant supply and just slap them under your gutters.
http://cals.arizona.edu/AZWATER/publications/WaterHarvestGuide.pdf
I do it at my house in the south west, but it is important in wetter climes as well.
One of the issues that most people don't think about is that urban run off from rain is a major source of water pollution.
Storm runoff picks up pollutants from rooftops and pavement. This pollution is carried into storm drains and then into streams or in to aquifers. Rainwater harvesting is effective in reducing stormwater runoff pollution even if you don't use the water and just dump it later in you yard.
And hey all you cold weather people, if you have to run the shower a while to get hot water slap a 5 gal bucket in the bathroom and save that virgin water you are currently sacrificing to the shower gods.
JP
view nikturner's profile
This is one of the coolest tours I've seen on AT. What a great place. Your home looks so comfortable and inviting. Thanks for sharing Brian and Ozan!
view Scout's profile
I enjoyed your green solutions, very inspirational for those of us on tight budgets. nikturner, thanks for the rain barrel guide!
view LaDonnaNichole's profile
The horse! The horse!
view Mlle Kate's profile
Man I'm jealous! I lived in C-ville for 11 years and it is hands-down, the best place to live in this country, unless you are 30 and single. Another thing the design press world (besides Cottage Living) has not caught onto is that C-ville is chock full of creatives with fabulous homes. It looks like you two are milking the experience for all it's worth, and appreciating it while you have it there! Thanks for sharing!
Becky
view becky's profile
What a great sense of style this couple has!
view MsCookbook's profile
i'm inspired by brian & ozan's great ability for reuse... i wanna go build me some scrap lumber birdhouses right now! i am also very jealous of the boys-in-suits portraits... the thrift stores & yard sales of virginia must be magic.
view jessica c's profile
this house is amazing! like the kind of place you would want to spend your whole weekend being all comfy and cozy and admiring all the details. and making cupcakes.
view cupcakefantastic's profile
I love this place!! It looks cozy, comfy, but with real style and sense of architectural space--and I'll bet the rental house doesn't have that on its own. Plus the photos are winners--mysterious and dreamy, yet reassuring and homey. Wow. good pick.
view lindaarms's profile
A delightfully eclectic and whimisical approach to greening up an apartment! [Note to Apartment Therapy: I wish there was a way for me to bookmark my favorite articles from AT so that it shows up as part of my profile.]
view mosspink's profile
wow! I want a place like this!
view femmeferal's profile
Love the place -- the colors and the tchotchkes as well as the thinking behind them. Especially like the color on the cabinets -- very cool.
view santaprudencia's profile
Good work. It's this kind of thinking that will truly help this country grow. Keep it up, in the shade of the pergola.
view coldH2Owi's profile
Fascinating.
Virginia obviously doesn't have any poisonous spiders or Ozan wouldn't leave her gloves outside (ditto shoes or boots).
Also, if people check Wikipedia for Cold Power you'll find Colgate Palmolive tried selling this in the USA 45 years ago. The only place in the world it took off: Australia & NZ, where any laundry detergent that hopes to sell, had better work in cold water.
Maybe you should petition Colgate Palmolive to bring it back.
view Deb of Oz's profile
This apartment is amazing! It is great to see what can be done on a budget. I am moving into a new place and got lots of great ideas from seeing this apartment. I love the 'Hunkey Dorey' can in the kitchen window!
view hopkat's profile
Great tour of a stylish abode! I looove that shot of the green shelf with color-coded book arrangments and well-displayed treasures. It makes me want to fly to Virginia to scour some thrift stores and yard sales, myself. Thanks for sharing, as it is very inspiring and thrift-fabulous.
view freshpink's profile
Such beautiful photos of an inspiring home. Brian and Ozan have proven that even if it's a rental, you can still make a home your own and make it green. Love it, just love it!
view alwaysfreed's profile