We recently visited Garden Parke subdivision-"The Keystone", just outside of Marietta, GA and less than a mile north of The Retreat. Homes start in the $600's and go upwards of $1,000,000+. The home we looked at, The Keystone, was priced at $767,900 and built by LIG Homes. Located at the intersection of Barrett Parkway and Burnt Hickory Rd., the home we visited at Garden Parke was loaded with extras. Until recently, the subdivision was a private piece of land with one or two homes on it. The subdivision is elevated above Barrett Pkwy. with good views of the surrounding area and lots of big, old trees, although soon there won't be quite so many. Since our visit occurred in January, the leaves were absent leaving the homes in view from the road below but I'm sure that when spring rolls around, the homes will be fairly hidden from view.

The components and systems in your home have a definitive life expectancy. As you may have thought, sooner or later you will need to replace minor/major components and systems as the years go by. No one ever said owning a home was inexpensive. No one that had any intention of keeping his/her home in good running order anyway. I'd like to offer a few high quality links and our own personal experience with our home, which we've owned since 1988.

Rondel glass is the subject of this entry after my most recent visit to the English cottage-style home at The Retreat at Kennesaw Mountain. Each time I visit this English cottage-style home something interesting or unusual catches my eye. This trip was no different. There are several windows installed throughout the home that have several characteristics in common with stained glass. After doing some research on the web I've discovered that what they have installed are rondel glass windows.

I want to initially focus on the Isokern fireplaces and chimney systems of this English Cottage style home because that is what really caught my attention and was one of the features that immediately signaled that this was no "run of the mill" home. Isokern fireplaces and chimney systems are made of volcanic pumice mined near the Arctic Circle from the Hekla Volcano in Iceland. Isokern fireplaces are NOT kits like I'm used to seeing in almost every home we visit. I was intrigued by the feel of the material and the masonry methods involved in the installation process. The insulating properties are superior to practically anything available. Click on the links below to find out more about Isokern, where the raw materials come from and how they mine it. The herringbone firebrick design on these fireplaces really set them apart from the majority of firebrick that is seen in kits.

Read more about Isokern

Read more about Hekla Volcano

Read more about processing the volcanic stone

 

 

If you've ever wanted to get a front row seat to see the quality of craftsmanship that goes into building a truly unique English cottage-style home, then here's a great opportunity. This will be an ongoing blog series until completion of the home itself. I came across this home after the initial bare-bones construction phase but there's still a lot left to do. I'll start off the series by giving a little background on how I came about this extraordinary home.

Foyers are designed to impress potential homebuyers and their guests. How you decide to decorate your foyer shows off your personality to guests. You know the old saying, "a first impression is a lasting one". That may be why builders seem to go out of their way to impress prospective homebuyers. There's some logic involved, in many respects, when it comes to designing a foyer. When we go on our home building excursions we inevitably run across foyers in some homes that are obviously going for that "WOW factor". It's a good way to sell homes, right? What builder and/or realtor doesn't want a potential homeowner to walk through the front entryway of their home, walk into the foyer and say...you guessed it, "WOW"!

So....you want to go green, do ya? Excellent!

Green homebuilding has come a long way and there are lots of resources out there to help you do the right thing along the way. Your timing couldn't have been any better because of today's access to a multitude of resources to green home building methods and standards via the internet, widespread material availability and builders with the know-how to get the job done according to the green code in your area. If you have the inclination to build an energy efficient, ecologically-friendly home in your area, then you will need to be aware of the standards and codes to go green. With no further ado, please take the time to explore some of the links provided here to increase your knowledge of all things green. We will be adding to the list of links as we come across them in the coming weeks and months.