Over Thanksgiving break, I enjoyed reading about this small, energy-efficient home in North Carolina built using the Harbinger plan offered by the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.  Built to International Building Code requirements, the plan includes a loft, home office, kitchen, bathroom, living room, and deck — tightly placed in less than 500 square feet!  Details are hard to come by, but Tumbleweed sells this plan for $695 and estimates that it costs about $33,000 in materials to build.

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Southtown Greenbound is a new, short documentary of an award-winning prototype development — the Biering Project — that’s both affordable and sustainable in San Antonio, Texas. Biering includes two, 1,500 square-foot homes wrapped in a diaphanous aluminum screen that reduces solar heat gain, fosters privacy during the day, and illuminates during the night. The screen truly distinguishes the homes.

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This mid-century modern home in Savannah, Georgia — originally developed by John Ahern in 1955 — was recently listed as a Best Green House in Green Source Magazine.  The home went through a full restoration and renovation directed by owners Cornelia Stumpf and Celestino Piralla of CSCP Consult, who ended up receiving a Silver Award for a Whole House Renovation under $200,000 from Qualified Remodeler Magazine and the President’s Award from the Historic Savannah Foundation in summer 2011.

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This is a renovation of a ranch-style home located in the Alberta Arts District in Portland, Oregon.  The owners, builders, and designers — Michelle Ruber and Klaas de Jonge of Encircle Design Build  — renovated the old home with locally-sourced materials and contemporary design.  It’s now used as a short-term, vacation rental to “provide people a home that embodies Portland’s energies of creativity and ecologically minded ways.”

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This is a home in North Vancouver that was originally built in 1958.  The owners, architect Jim Paul and landscape architect Nancy Paul, acquired the home and invested in a significant overhaul that salvaged or retained 75-80% of the original fabric and materials.  The result is a post and beam style, Pacific Northwest modern home that’s also a nice case study for renovating an aged structure.

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