Oceanside glass tile, Trend USA tile, and Fireclay tile are three eco-friendly materials that you should consider when preparing to incorporate tile into your home. Source: Houzz

Tile is a great material to use throughout your home, whether it’s flooring or walls in the bathroom or the backsplash in your kitchen. The durability and resistance of tile makes it perfect for these two spaces, and the flexibility in design makes it easy to incorporate into any style. The following are a few eco-friendly materials that can be used for your home’s tile:

• Oceanside Glass Tile (Tessera) – This hand-crafted glass tile is produced from a combination of recycled glass and silica sand, which is an abundant natural resource.
• Trend USA Tile (Feel) – For a glass mosaic tile that has a gorgeous sot, smooth and velvety surface, take a look at the Trend USA tile, which is produced using 78 percent internal and post-consumer recycled glass.
• Fireclay Tile (Debris Series) – Made out of recycled ceramic tile, fireclay tile is produced using 60 percent resourced recycled materials, not to mention that the manufacturing process itself is sustainable too.
• Metal Tile (Eco-Friendly Flooring Inc.) – This metal tile, which looks great on kitchen backsplashes, is made out of 100 percent recycled aluminum.

Consider these eco-friendly materials and be sure to contact us at Trilogy Builds for more sustainable home design ideas.

The position of the windows of your home can help you save energy during the winter and summer months. Source: Houzz

Here at Trilogy, we focus on designing eco-friendly buildings. If you are interested in designing an environmentally-friendly custom home design, then we suggest checking out some of the following green building ideas for inspiration:

• Sustainable flooring – The use of cork or bamboo are both sustainable options that provide the same kind of durability and beauty that more traditional hardwood flooring provides.
• Radiant ground floor heating – Radiant heating can be much more efficient than traditional furnaces and duct systems due to the fact that heat is created below the floors. Since heat rises, heating your home this way will help spread heat more evenly around the home.
• Face the home the right way – The position of the windows of your home can help you save energy during the winter and summer months.
• Insulate the home – Keep energy from leaking in or escaping out by using thicker walls, more energy efficient windows and higher quality spray-foam insulation.
• Use low-VOC products – Low-VOC products are not only better for the environment, their less damaging to your health as well.

Consider some of these ideas and be sure to contact us at Trilogy Builds for more information about custom green home designs today.

Here are some of the home green projects you’ll want to consider for your next home renovation project. Source: Houzz

If you’re trying to make your home more environmentally friendly, then there are plenty of smaller home green projects that you can do. You don’t necessarily have to build a LEED-certified home to go greener, after all. The following are some of the green home projects you might want to consider:

• Install another window – Even just adding one more window to your home can help you to add more natural light to a space, thereby reducing your dependence on artificial light in that room.
• Upgrade your kitchen appliances – Newer appliances provide more and better function. They also look better and use less energy than older appliances, which not only helps your kitchen become more environmentally friendly but will also help you save a substantial amount of money over the long run in energy costs.
• Use repurposed wood – When installing new flooring or building new furniture, use repurposed wood. Using new wood contributes to deforestation as well as pollution resulting from manufacturing and transportation.
• Go with white – A room designed in white better reflects light, helping reduce your use of artificial light.

Consider these home greening projects and contact us at Trilogy Builds for more information about environmentally friendly home design.

Making sure that you face a view, use unpainted wood, and having reconfigurable furniture are all elements that can have a positive effect on your home office. Source: Houzz

When it comes to setting up a home office, many people will just throw up a desk wherever they have space and call it a day. However, the design of a home office is important, especially if you use it frequently. A poor design makes it difficult to work, after all. The following are a few home office tips to make your home office work better for you:

• Face a view – If it’s possible, face the desk so that you can see outside. Being able to look out at nature is important because it helps to relax you, thereby reducing your stress as well as restocking your mental energy.
• Use unpainted wood – The use of unpainted wood in your home office, even if it’s just a wood desk, helps provide a calming feel.
• Reconfigurable furnishing – Furniture that you can easily move around, such as light desk components or a rolling chair, makes it easier to rearrange your office. Studies have shown that the ability to do this can help to improve professional performance.

These are just some of the home office tips that we recommend you keep in mind. For more interior design advice, contact us at Trilogy Partners today.

An area rug, a place to sit, and mirrors are all elements you’ll want to consider for your bedroom. Source: Houzz

The bedroom is an area that you should put a lot of thought into when designing it. It needs to be a space that’s relaxing and inviting since it’s where you get your rest. The following are a few tips to help you create a better bedroom:

• An area rug – The last thing you want to do when you get out of bed in the morning is to step down on a cold floor. Get an area rug that will provide cover for both sides of the bed. When putting it down, don’t bother to pull it all the way to the wall by the end of the bed. You can stop it by your end tables.
• Somewhere to sit – A comfortable chair where you can read is a nice feature to have in your bedroom. If you have little space to work with, consider a swivel chair, which can easily be moved when needed, or a bench at the end of your bed.
• Mirrors – Most people don’t want to see themselves while in bed, so we suggest positioning them to the sides of the bed.

Use these bedroom design tips and contact Trilogy Partners Design for additional interior design advice.

Passive solar power works when the house captures sunlight, then converts it to energy to be used after the sun goes down. Source: Houzz

When designing a new home, solar power is something you should really consider. Passive solar power is something many new homes are implementing. What is passive solar power? It’s basically a system in which the house is designed to capture the maximum amount of sunlight, which it traps inside and then releases when the sun goes down. The benefits of a passive solar powered home are huge – you’ll save a substantial amount of energy, which leads to much lower energy bills. So let’s go over how new homes are designed to be solar powered.

One of the most important factors of a home that is effective at being passively solar powered is its orientation. A house in the northern hemisphere should be oriented to the south and vice versa. One such house planted deciduous trees on the same side so that during the summer months, the sun’s heat would be filtered through the trees, while during the winter months the threes would be bare, making it easy for sunlight to enter the home. This house also used minimal openings on its north side in order to contain internal temperatures.

Our Project Management Modeling Process allows us to energy model every home we design and build, insuring our homes are optimized to their environments and to the client.

For more information on solar power designs, contact Trilogy Partners today.

There’s no standard formula for calculating how much you can expect to spend on decorating, but there are steps that you can take to figure it out. Source: Houzz

Once you’ve moved into a new home, you’re probably going to want to decorate it. Calculating your decorating cost can be a tricky task. You may have a certain amount of money to work with, but how should you spread it around?

You don’t want to end up blowing your entire budget on one room and having to buy low quality furniture and decor to fill out the rest of your house. However, there are a few pieces that you should expect to pay a high cost for – the mattress and the couch. These items should last for a very long time – a good sofa will last upwards of 40 years. A high quality dining room table is a good investment as well since it can be used for any settings.

Window treatments are something you should spend a bit on as well. High quality window treatments will have a huge impact on your overall interior design – cheap window treatments, like plastic blinds, will drag your design down. You can get away with spending less on wall finishes, lighting, rugs and accessories.

Use these tips to calculate your decorating cost and contact Trilogy Partners for more design tips.

While this is never an easy question to answer, people tend to strive to create “relaxing,” “peaceful,” and “welcoming” homes. Source: Houzz

When people begin planning their home design, they often focus on the features and things that they want and need. However, an important factor in planning a home that is often overlooked is how you want your home to feel. This can be a little tough to answer, so let’s go over some examples:

• Relaxing – If you want your home to feel relaxing, then don’t focus on trying to create a perfect home design – a relaxing atmosphere often results in a well-loved home that might get a little dinged up.
• Creative – If you’re an artist and you need a creative atmosphere, then you might want to implement a craftsman-like design into your home with lots of space to display your arts and crafts or materials.
• Peaceful – If you need your home to be a sanctuary from your busy work life, make sure you have plenty of natural light that can be controlled and that you use interesting textures to help revive your senses.
• Welcoming – Consider using more natural materials that have a casual and easy-going feel to them instead of focusing on luxury.

Determine how you want your home to feel and contact Trilogy Partners for more home design tips.

Your interior designer should ask questions like “what do you love/hate about this room” and “what are some of your inspirations for this design.”

Odds are you’ve got a pretty good idea of some of the questions that you should ask an interior designer both before you work with him or her as well as during the project. But what about questions interior designers should ask you? The questions they ask you are an important way to judge whether you’ll work well together. The following are questions they should ask:

• What do you love about this room? – This shows you that they care about what you want and that they are looking to use your ideas and tastes as guidelines.
• What do you hate about this room? – This questions helps designers figure out what your taste is and what needs to be changed in a given room.
• What colors do you love and hate? – These questions pertain to your taste and will help them develop an appropriate color scheme.
• Do you have any inspirations? – This concerns style or look and gives them a much better idea of what you’re going for.
• How do you want to use this room? – This shows that they aren’t just concerned about the aesthetics.

Look for designers that ask these questions and contact Trilogy Partners for more advice today.

A LEED certified home means that your home’s design is recognized as being eco-friendly and has met LEED’s high green standards. Source: Houzz

Getting your home LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified means that your home’s design is recognized as being eco-friendly and has met LEED’s high green standards. The following are a few things that a LEED interior designer will want you to know:

• Style is not sacrificed – Just because a LEED interior designer focuses on creating a green interior design does not mean that they will ignore the aesthetics of the design.
• They’ll use real green products and materials – It’s pretty easy to be fooled by products that claim they are eco-friendly when they really aren’t that eco-friendly at all. A LEED interior designer will ensure that you use the most sustainable products and materials available.
• A green home is a healthy home – In addition to being eco-friendly, a green home is also healthier for kids to grow up in since green homes have much higher air quality than non-green homes.
• Not all projects are good candidates – Some existing homes cannot be completely LEED certified, but that doesn’t mean a LEED interior designer can’t help make your home as green as possible.

Keep these things in mind and contact us at Trilogy Partners for more information about LEED certification.