This project was designed to emphasize the importance of living “green” and promote the unique features that can be found in the new homes at Plum Canyon Ranch. The Eco-Savings Showroom is actually a garage attached to one of the model homes. We removed the garage door and replaced it with a storefront design that greets prospective homebuyers arriving at the community and offers a preview of the savings and products to everyone who passes by.

The whole Gunn/Jerkens team worked together on The Eco-Savings Showroom. From the concept to the design, our efforts resulted in an innovative display of walls lined with lists of the eco-friendly amenities offered in these unique new homes and creative artwork of how each provides for additional savings to the homebuyer.

The displays include information on energy-saving appliances from solar energy panels to engineered heating and cooling systems, water-conserving toilets and showers and more. Each illustration articulates the specific requirements needed to receive a positive rating on the EnergySmart Home Scale^SM, a part of the Builders Challenge program for homes in California.

We owe a huge shout-out to the Shapell Homes team for this opportunity! The response to The Eco-Savings Showroom has been tremendous and we feel honored to have been a part of such a novel project.

To stay up-to-date on all the new and innovative happenings at Gunn/Jerkens check back often, follow us on Twitter (@GunnJerkens) and “Like” us on Facebook.

The Z-Glass Model

For prospective homebuyers looking to avoid the major expenses inherent to purchasing real estate, and hoping to diminish their environmental impact, the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company offers a novel solution: go small! Really small!

Tumbleweed specializes in designing teeny, tiny homes with footprints as miniscule as 65 square feet, perfect for people that are ready to dramatically simplify their living spaces in an effort to avoid the decades of mortgage payments that go hand-in-hand with buying a home. And depending on what kind of project you’re looking for, you can buy just the raw plans for the design of your choice, a building kit or a readymade home, with finished models going for as little as $38,997!

People shouldn’t have any illusions about what they’re getting for the money though. I mean, even the largest floor plan in Tumbleweed’s “Tiny House” series of trailer-based homes (the “Fencl,” $53,997 pre-fabricated) is extremely, life-alteringly, claustrophobia-inducingly small at just 130 square feet – but then again, that’s one of the main selling points. Tumbleweed’s website is filled with zen-like messages about letting go of the “high-stakes, high-risk game of keeping up with the Joneses” and not “being shackled with debt till the grave.”

The Z-Glass floor plan measures 392 square feet, and features a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living area

There are environmental benefits to consider, too. According to Tumbleweed, the average house produces seven tons of construction waste and emits 18 tons of greenhouse gases annually. By comparison, Tumbleweed claims that an unspecified small home plan was made with only “4,800 pounds of building materials” and “produced less than 900 pounds of greenhouse gases during a typical Iowa winter.”

Ultimately, Tumbleweed is probably not for everyone. But the home styles are undeniably nice looking, and the freewheeling, unencumbered, pick-up-and-leave-with-everything-yes-even-my-house-in-the-middle-of-the-night lifestyle that they describe definitely sounds appealing on some level. Click here to check out photos, floor plans and testimonials – and get ready to re-size your expectations!

Native Plant Sale
Sponsored by Partners of Parks
Saturday,  October 24th
9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

El Dorado Nature Center
7550 E. Spring St.
Long Beach, CA 90815
Nature Center website:
www.longbeach.gov

Visit the Green Earth Office Supply website for a ton of great other ways that you can convert your office space into a more eco-friendly (yet stylish) environment.