Learning About Heat Recovery from My Wife’s Greenhouse Project
Last week, I found myself reading about something called regenerative air preheaters after running into a problem with the greenhouse I built for my wife three years ago. The heating…
How London’s Getting Creative with Nature (And What I’m Stealing for My Own Neighborhood)
I’ve been obsessing over London’s approach to bringing nature into urban spaces ever since I stumbled across an article about their “nature deficit disorder” initiatives. As someone who’s spent the…
From My Tiny Apartment to Community Spaces: What I’ve Learned About Actually Making Green Design Work
So I’ve been following this regenerative design stuff on Instagram for a while now – you know how the algorithm works, you start with houseplant content and somehow end up…
Why I’m Obsessed with These Industrial Air Cleaners That Could Change Everything (And What Parents Should Know)
I never thought I’d spend my evening reading industrial engineering papers about air pollution control systems, but here we are. It all started when I was researching air quality impacts…
What I Learned About Restoration Living in a Pre-War Building (And Why Your Grandmother’s Furniture Is Probably Better Than IKEA)
Living in a pre-war building has taught me a lot about what lasts and what doesn’t. My studio might be tiny and dark, but the bones of this 1920s building…
What I Learned About Working With Nature Instead of Fighting It (Plus Why My Friend’s Kitchen Changed Everything)
I was standing in my friend Maya’s kitchen last Tuesday having one of those “oh shit, that’s brilliant” moments. She’d been complaining about this space for months – the previous…
Creating Outdoor Spaces That Actually Help You Age Better
The morning sun was hitting the raised garden bed I built for my wife at just the right angle when I noticed something that made me stop and really pay…
Restore design company: A Complete Guide
# Finding a Restore Design Company: What I Learned From My Search NEW_TITLE: Finding a Restore Design Company: What I Learned From My Search My neighbor Sarah knocked on my…
Creating Calming Spaces at Home: What I Learned from Spa Design (That Actually Works for Families)
I never thought I’d become obsessed with spa design principles until I started connecting them to what I was learning about creating calming spaces for my kids. It started when…
Learning About Nature Design the Hard Way – What Actually Works After Years of Trial and Error
Last week, my eight-year-old granddaughter came with me to the medical complex where my wife has her physical therapy appointments. Standing in that lobby – all shiny surfaces and harsh…
Making Your House Feel Like Home Again: What I Learned About Healing Spaces After 38 Years
When I was a kid, my grandmother always said some houses just felt “friendly” while others felt cold, no matter how nice they looked. I didn’t understand what she meant…
Why I Stopped Optimizing for “Net Zero” and Started Designing for Ecosystem Recovery
I’m sitting in my home office this morning, looking at the small air quality monitor on my desk that’s showing steadily improving numbers since I installed those plants two years…
What I Learned About Biophilic Design After Turning My Kids’ Dark 1960s House Into a Nature-Connected Home
I never expected to get emotionally affected by architecture, but there I was last month in the Amazon Spheres in Seattle, watching office workers naturally drift toward the curved glass…
Learning to Live with Darkness Again: Why We Need to Stop Lighting Up Everything Outside
When my wife and I first moved into this house back in ’87, the previous owners had installed one of those big security floodlights on the garage. The thing could…
Making Peace with Desert Living: How I Learned to Create Green Spaces Without Drowning My Water Bill
So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this whole obsession we have with trying to recreate jungle vibes everywhere we live, regardless of whether it makes any sense. It…