It’s an exciting day in the world of Freebie Fridays. We’re giving you the chance to win an original work of art from artist Carrie McGee, whose piece 5 Strands is featured in the 2010 HGTV Green Home in Plymouth, Mass. Carrie has created the new piece, Oscillations, just for Design Happens readers. Oscillations was made by using rust, metal leaf and oil paint on acrylic blocks to create a truly unique work of art. For a chance to win this beautiful piece, answer this week’s question before 12/11c, Monday, June 28. To find out more about Carrie’s piece, check out Gail, the HGTV Green Home Super Fan’s video. Be sure to provide a valid email address so we can contact you if you win. Mark your calenders for June 28 at 8 e/p for an in-depth tour of the home with Sabrina Soto. At the end of the show, watch as Jamie Durie hands over the keys and $100,000 to one lucky winner. It’s an event you won’t want to miss!
This week we want to know, what are you doing to make your home more eco-friendly? Cutting down on energy usage by properly insulating your walls? Minimizing the need for irrigation by planting hardy, native plants? You have until 12/11c Monday to answer. Click for official rules. The 2010 HGTV Green Home is only the second home in Massachusetts to achieve Gold certification by the National Association of Home Builders — see why here.
Thanks for another opportunity. Win or lose, you make this a fun and exciting event!!!
i love this art!
My husband and I lived on a small island for 3 years. We were saddened to see their landfill continually growing. As a result, we really became sensitive to maintaining our beautiful environment. We always recycle. We reuse plastic grocery bags to pick up our pet's waste. We watch our thermostat and use the blinds to keep the house cool. We use energy saving light bulbs. We bought an energy efficient house and energy star appliances. Thanks for the chance to win the cool art work.
Very cool Gail!!! This is an amazing home….and some amazing pieces inside the home. It's cool that a piece of the home could be someone's even if they don't win the actual home. Well….maybe I will win the home or this nice little surprise.
Beautiful artwork! They remind me of floating gemstones.
It's beautiful! I can think of a couple place it would look great in my home :-0
I would LOVE to win this – when viewing the home, it was one of the first things to catch my eye.
My husband and I choose to live in a smaller condo, vs. a large house, to start things off on the wrong foot. We're becoming recycling/CFL/unplugging appliance fanatics, and have recently fallen in love with all natural cleaning products.
Love this sculptured art work being given away. As far as how we recycle. We faithfully use our recycle bins. My daughters and I donate all clothes, shoes to local charities. We recycle soda cans into art pieces and plastic picnic forks into art pieces as well ie…avatar is one of my art pieces. Thanks for a chance to win HGTV!!!
I live in the country so I can hang my clothes on the line!
Now that's what I'm talking about. There is nothing better than line dried clothing. You go girl.
I have loved Carrie McGee's work for years! Was thrilled to see her installation in the "Green House" One of the simple things I have started doing to be more eco friendly is to stop buying new things when I can find something that can be upcycled. I have been amazed at the "finds" i have discovered when I stopped going to the malls and big box stores to meet my needs. I often trade things I don't want with friends who have something I want or need. I live in a college town, and i often advertise "free" items for students to pick up. Like wise, I watch what students throw out at the end of the semester, and often find people looking for that exact item. From leather sofas to an oak kitchen table, I've been able to find homes for discarded items. I feel good when I realize these perfectly good items will not go to the landfill. reneelawhun@cox.net
i like what you are doing keep it up
I can't wait to see who the winner is of this beautiful home. I have been on the edge since the drawing. Hope you guys aren't as anxious as I am…it will drive you nuts! Oh well, see you guys soon……………….
We recycle any way we can every day we can. I would love to win this beautiful art piece.
To be conservative, I usually make it a habit to turn off lights and tvs that I'm not using inside of my home. Also, I'm much more conservative with water usage. To keep my power usage down, I usually open all of my blinds in the day time to let sunlight in. I also use ceiling fans in the daytime to conserve energy and set my temp at a normal degree so that it won't work in overload due to the extreme hot weather conditions.
We are teaching our 2 year old how to recycle (ie…the blue bin is for paper). It's a lovely art piece! It would be so nice to be able to put it up in our home!
I love this piece of artwork. To be more green, i use as little utilities as needed. Recycle as much as I can.
We have become converts to the reusable aluminum water bottles! When I think of the volume of plastic disposable bottles that used to pass through our house …. I shudder. Our two sons — ages 10 and 13 — are now on board for school and sports.
We love recycle. We have separate trush can for things that we recycle. Sometimes when we have plenty of rain we collect it and water plants.
We use a very eco-friendly shower. It's the only one at the house and its OUTDOORS. It's a little creepy at night and that causes for quick and efficient coverage of the necessary territory to be able to say a shower was actually taken. It's saves water and the energy to heat the water too ! And, yes, that's year round! My kids have threatened to call child welfare services, but, as of yet, haven't. It' makes 'em strong.
We light candles on the porch at night and we also have little LED party lights around the porch. No one is inside so all lights out inside.
We have a mini track light in the dining area near a window and I would love to hang this where both day and night light surrounds it. Thanks HGTV.
Gail is so unbelievably awesome for doing this for us! She is the best Super Fan ever!!!
thank you mary
sharon
I would love this piece of art!
Oh, where to begin? Normally I would not bring up all the things we do to be green. I think some efforts are to be expected, but since the awarding of the beautiful artwork is on the line, Here I go…!
Luckily, being green and trying to cut down our expenses went hand-in-hand. We try to: recycle (the details deserving a blog unto itself), watch our water consumption, remodel green, and be organic. Let us not forget the hybrid ‘2000 Honda Insight which we drive. It averages over 50 mpg!
We are in the lifetime process of remodeling an old home. Since the beginning of this remodel, we’ve tried to keep in mind that even-though the short-term choices may have seemed expensive, long-term the choices saved us money.
We switched the showers & toilets to low-flow. The clothes washer is now a front load and the dishwasher is only run when full. Our dryer and stove/oven are gas. Our improvements on the outside of the house include re-terraining the lawn to allow better control of water runoff. Controlling the runoff has stopped the water erosion we inherited with the home, and now takes care of watering the new landscaping-eliminating the need for the hose. While terraining the property, we created berms & planted native vegetation that serve a dual purpose, privacy & natural sound barrier.
For the Winters / (We live in an area with a harsh winter climate.) During remodeling, we added another 2×4 stud depth to the existing 2nd floor walls & the additions of dormers were done with true 2X6‘s. This allowed use of thicker insulation with a higher R rating. We also removed the original electric baseboard heat & replaced it with hot water baseboard heat. We replaced the electric hot water heater with a storage unit tied into our new efficient boiler. We have separate heating zones, with the thermostat on the 2nd floor set low and the 1st floor thermostat programable. We’ve replaced every window with an energy efficient window (our last and recent batch was 17 replacements).
For the summers / In lieu of air-conditioning, we installed a whole-house fan (to take advantage of the cool evenings we experience up north in the mountains). The fan has a timer so that we won’t fall asleep and leave it running. We raised the ceiling heights on the 2nd fl. & installed ceiling fans in most rooms. On our most recent new construction, we choose an extremely pale metal roof, it helps keep the building cool, naturally.
Our most recent endeavor has been to join the local community garden. I seem to think as a family it is one of our best moves. My children are learning about the benefits of composting, mulching to save on watering, the benefits of worms & friendly insects to aid in the heath of the garden, and in turn-the heath of those enjoying the bounty.
We are on a budget-we did not do this all at once. We’ve tried to make at least one major upgrade a year. In the end, it’s been our decided goal to lower our future expenses in a way that contributes to the future of our children & their natural resources. We know we can be greener, so we strive for improvement. Each year we make our carbon footprint just a little smaller than the year before.
Hi, Ways that my family and I are Eco-friendly includes taking a shower in less than 10 minutes, air drying clothes even in the winter, using a low voltage lamp, washing dishes when the load is full, using blind shades. Using old furniture or passing along furniture instead of discarding, growing fruits and vegetables in the garden such as tomatoes, onion, cucumber etc., unplugging electronics when not in use.
taniamohammed87@hotmail.com
Hi Gail/Mary!
This is my first post…I have been a fan of the HGTV bloggers…Hi Wanita!
GAIL/MARY…WHAT A FABULOUS IDEA!!! TO GIVE AWAY A ONE OF A KIND KEEPSAKE FROM THE HGTV 2010 GREEN HOME…which, I have now read is one of only two GOLD winning GREEN HOMES IN MA according to the Builders Association! ANOTHER FABULOSITY!!!
Truth be told, we compost here…don't use central air or heat..solar heated pool….recycle recyclables, turn off lights…do what we can…
So, if HGTV doesn't come and knock on my door today or tomorrow…perhaps I'll get lucky and win this!
I'll be watching Monday night to see the winner!
GOOD LUCK TO ALL!
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER!
HELP you seem to know what youre doing. Im logged in but I can't blog. Its my first time
I just started typing what I wanted to say…when I finished, I put my name where it says Name down below and my email…Subscribe to None and submit comment….I tried logging in but intense debate won't let me so my name doesn't show up in blue like yours….someone said your name had to be blue to win…hope that helps! GOOD LUCK!!!
Hi again- I'll just reply to myself like I usually do. I'm am trying to live more green by just being aware of the effect that EVERYTHING I do has on the environment and resolve to do something smarter.
I am still of course not giving up the dream that I'm so geographically close they don't have to tell me until tomorrow that I've won the 2010 Green Home BUT I would also love to win Carrie's artwork. It was on of the first pieces of art that caught my eye touring the house on line-it reminded me so much of sea glass and being so excited to find it on the beach as a child and made me want to be there more.
Good luck everyone-it was so much fun to imagine driving into my new driveway every night before sleep. Oh and sitting in the tower was another good fantasy.
Sam
It's pretty. I would be happy to win this piece. Thank you
Gail, you are an awesome Super Fan! Special thanks to you, HGTV and Carrie Mc Gee for making this wonderful piece of art available ! I would love to win it!!
I grew up in a household that recycled. ( I wore my share of hand me downs!) My father was an avid gardener who composted everything. He also had a rain barrel…I remember watching him hand water his plants. As a young person I didn't realize he was gardening in an organic, green, eco friendly way…..he always had the biggest worms for fishing!!! It's amazing how, many years later I still follow many of his examples for living in a green eco friendly way.
We are blessed to live in a home that has may green attributes, programmable thermostat, recirculating hot water heater, whole house fan system, updated doors, windows, etc. We use CFL light bulbs and try to keep the thermostat down. It seems we have always recycled, but over time have become more conscious of what we put into the garbage can. We live in town, so our composting is done in an enclosed bin that just needs a turn or two with each addition. We garden in raised beds. This year we would like to add drip irrigation to each bed to help conserve more water. The green home this year has me out looking at rain barrels….it's on my wish list! We no longer recycle our pop (soda) cans, our local food bank collects them and turns them in for cash. There are many more ways we try to live green..it's becoming a way of life…and sets a good example for the younger members of our family.
Cool! I hope I win!:D
Being more eco-friendly is all about consciousness-the more we become aware of our ordinary everyday actions, the more we can choose to modify them to look after this good world. For instance, most of us leave the tap running while we brush our teeth until we've finished the final swill. Can you believe by breaking this habit you can save up to 5 liters a minute in water? How simple is that to do each day? And on that note..On my 4th and finally entry I just wanted to say to Gail and my fellow Green Home Bloggers..Thanks for all your Smiles this past year, it meant more to me then you will ever know! A Smile: The thing that goes the farthest towards making life worthwhile. That costs the least yet does the most is just a Pleasant Smile. It's full of worth and goodness too, with congenial kindness blent, "It's worth a million dollars and doesn't cost a cent!" Y'all are the BEST!! Take Care everyone *smile*
It's 2:31 a.m., no sign of a truck, a host from HGTV, and no balloons. I'll give you guys a few more hours and then I'll have to go to bed….oh and, if you're lost you could call me, I can get you to my street for the ambush, no problem.
My small contribution to Energy saving was by purchasing a toilet that uses only half of what the old one used.
Fingers crossed!
Here are some of the things I do to help our planet and community. I re-use all of my scrap computer paper as note pads. We mow high and use mulching blades. We mulch our leaves and fallen branches with a mulcher for garden use and filling in holes in our yard. I donate all my used clothing, coats and household goods. I make most of my birthday, new baby and wedding gifts.We work from home, so it is easier to control our working environment., so our heat is kept at 65 – 67 and we just dress warmer. In the summer we start work around 5 am and knock off by 3pm when the heat gets unbearable and only use room airconditioning when it is absolutely neccessary. I recycle EVERYTHING, including toilet paper rolls. I make a list on errand day to minimize back-tracking and try to get most things in the same place. I so wanted this house in Plymouth, but am excited to see who the lucky winner is! God Bless Them!
I have a big dream of to be the winner of The Green Home 2010 with so much environmental-ecological friendly things! Also, I want to win the Carrie McGee, because she is a very known artist, with so many expositions in galleries, and many other places! See the HGTV photos to enjoy more the most wonderful home "GHTV Green Home 2010", and the GMC Terrain Truck! On the living, photo No.19 is the McGee art. Good lock to everyone, and thanks HGTV!
I cant believe you did this for us Gail !!! LOL. I said from the very beginning when we started being able to see bits & pieces of the green home pics I spotted that piece of work and wrote in saying how special & beautiful that piece of art is.Its wonderful how you chose to give some of it away !! It adds sparkle and shine to the wall . I LOVE IT !!!!
How about protecting your clothing with an apron or a bib. We waste water and resources at the dry cleaners every day. Years ago, women all wore aprons of some kind and I still think it's important. Try talking a walk outside instead of turning on your treadmill and wasting energy. Turn your computer to the off mode when not in use. I think every idea that's been posted about recycling and conserving energy is so valuable. I just hope that the bloggers aren't the only people implementing them. Best of luck to the Green Home winner. It's been a pleasure sharing on this blog.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if every school system in the country required the kids to have a reusable water bottle with them at all times. Can you even imagine how much plastic would not end up in the landfill. They can fill them at home with whatever they want to drink during school hours.
We updated our lightbulbs, installed an energy efficient air conditioner, turn off lights when not needed, unplug appliances when not in use, recycle, etc.
This is my last entry on this blog to win Carrie's art piece but I will continue to blog on with you all . Thanks HGTV TEAM you are all awesome! Just had to put new gutters and downspouts on after the winter snow & ice took them out after 96 winters. Used long extensions to reach farther out into the yard to carry the water to the shrubs and lawn away from the building. Water can be our friend and our enemy.
PhoneDevil Magic Screen protector: Matte Clear (anti-glare) edition – For Apple iPhone 3G & iPhone 3GS…
I found your entry interesting thus I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog
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One of my favorite pieces from the whole house! I would love to have her work in my home.
I housesit so cannot change the house but I keep lights off if possible, run the dishwasher as little as possible, keep blinds down in high heat, don't leave fridge doors open longer then required , don't leave water running when brushing teeth and keep air conditioning at 83 degrees
Carrie's OSCILLATIONS is beautiful. Thank you Gail for all of your 'Super Fan' hard work! I am looking forward to watching the light reflect through Carrie's single strand one of a kind piece of art work from my deck as I conserve energy by TURNING OFF ALL THE LIGHTS in the house and simply go outside to enjoy this beautiful day. A LITTTLE THING YOU MIGHT SAY.. Well, add in a stop at the RECYCLE BINS on my way to the park where I walk Fido as well as the extra baggy in my pocket used to PICK UP THE RUBBISH along the trail and SEE? ALL THE LITTLE THINGS YOU DO IN ONE DAY WILL ADD UP!
Yes, indeed, little things will enable us to continue reaching for our goals of a GREEN LIFE, GREEN HOME AND GREEN WORLD! Good luck to all of the Design Happens bloggers!
We try to do our part to for energy conservation and green living. We replaced our windows with triple panes & had new siding with extra insulation underneath installed. We replaced the 12 y.o. dishwasher with an energy efficient one and use the maximum efficiency setting for all of our washing. We replaced the 12 y.o. refrigerator with an energy efficient model as well as the 12 y.o. washer with a water saving front loader (the only water used is on the laundry itself, it does not "fill up" with water). We cover our gas fireplace with a large piece of Lexan when not in use to prevent heat loss in the Winter and cooling loss in the Summer. We recycle religiously. We combine errands to conserve on fuel. We have replaced the outside lights with LEDs, solar operated walkway LEDs and use compact fluorescent bulbs through out the house.
I hope we have a chance. Carrie's artwork is gorgeous (love the installation in the 2010 HGTV Green Home)!
We began using the curtains that reflect the heat to save on energy and I only use lights when its dark outside.
I just move to Plymouth in 2005 and do not have my own place this would be a nice home for me
Congratulations to the winner, who ever you may be.
What a great place to live or vacation.
Oh wow the One-Strand is sogeorgeous
Thank you Carrie McGee and Gail our Super Fan for being so generous; giving all of us devoted Green Home bloggers something new and fun to dream about.
This has been a great ride. Gail I love your sincerity and enthusiasm.
May everyone's days ahead be filled with previously unimaginable beauty! XOXOX Green Team!
Heart, Kristi