The hustle and bustle of building the Sustainable House was made a bit more complicated this summer by our move to a new office.
Our first office was rather small and dungeon-like, as so many office suites in the suburbs are. Our new place (just around the block from the old place) is bright and comfortable, and surely one of the greenest in the west Minneapolis suburbs.
We bought an unfurnished office on Wayzata Boulevard, a place that needed a serious amount of fixing up. This gave us plenty of opportunity to go green all over the place. The floors are furnished with recycled carpet. The new desks and cabinetry are FSC-certified. We bought windows from the ReUse Center for use in the lobby. The paint on the walls is Harmony from Sherwin Williams, a low-VOC paint. Our kitchen uses EnergyStar appliances, and the conference room has tables made of Richlite, built for us by Damschen Wood, the company that is also doing the cabinets and millwork for the House. The office has three different climate zones, which saves money on heating and cooling and uses less resources. In the ceiling and in the lamps are fluorescents and CFLs.
Today we're nice and settled in our new digs, and happy that the place where we work reflects our values.