Here are some holiday lighting tips to help you make your holiday decor resplendent! Source: Houzz
  • Make sure your pathway is well lit. Even a cement pathway lined with shrubs or flowers can use decorative white lights to improve visibility and give your walkway a little bit more holiday spirit.
  • Light wreaths and other decorative items that you put on your front door or on the porch. Canister lights designed for outside work well, as do rows of decorative bulbs on strings, as long as they’re bright enough.
  • Hang your LED lights in strategic rows to give an abstract design while keeping your home festive. If you’re feeling really creative, you can even use lights to spell out holiday-related greetings on your roof, front porch or even your garage door. Just take your time and don’t rush!
The following are a few tips to help brighten up your winter landscaping.
  • Install a firepit – Warm up that cold yard by building a small firepit. This is a great way to make the outdoor area attractive to friends and family no matter what the temperature is.
  • Add color – Winters tend to be a little drab in the color department, so why not add color to the landscape? Paint your fence and front gate a bold blue to help give your landscape some life.
  • Add lighting – What better way to brighten up your yard than by adding some outdoor lighting? Use up lights at the base of some of your trees and bushes to highlight them at night.
Green roofs, which are basically vegetated roofs, can have a huge benefit on the energy efficiency of your home, but there are a lot of myths about it that causes skepticism in some homeowners. Source: Houzz
  • Green roofs are experimental – Green roofs are a result of a sustainability trend that may not end up having much effect. This is simply not true – green roofs have been around for centuries!
  • Green roofs are only for green buildings – You don’t have to have a zero energy home to be able to install a green roof. Some homes have green roofs just for aesthetic purposes and to increase their garden space.
  • Green roofs cause structural issues – Green roofs are not more susceptible to leaks than normal roofs. In fact, a green roof may last longer due to the protection against ultraviolet sunlight that the greenery provides.
Achieving a net-zero-energy home means that you’ll be paying zero dollars on your energy bills, while also having quite a positive effect on the environment. Source: Houzz
  • Increase insulation – Make sure that you have insulated your walls, floors, ceilings, basement, attic and even your duct work and piping. This helps reduce the amount of energy that your home loses.
  • Seal all holes and cracks – By using caulk and weatherstripping, you should have all the holes and cracks around your home sealed to prevent outdoor air from leaking in and indoor air from escaping out.
  • Replace old windows – Upgrading your windows is an easy way to help make your home more energy efficient since older windows often leak energy through the glass or their frames.
  • Replace light bulbs – Use CFLs of LEDs instead of old incandescent bulbs. These use less energy, produce less heat and last longer.
Eco-friendly countertops and sinks in your bathroom spaces often utilize recycled glass, rubber, and other like materials that combine to form a sleek, modern look for your bathroom's interior design.  Source: Houzz
  • CountertopsCountertops made out of recycled glass combined with cement and additives as well as other recycled materials are not only a eco-friendly, but also a great way to introduce a beautiful and unique aesthetic to your bathroom design. In fact, there’s a lot of visual options when it comes to creating a recycled glass countertop, which means it’s a very flexible choice for whatever bathroom design you are planning.
  • Sinks – There are many eco-friendly sink options to choose from. A rubber sink is a great way to add a sleek, modern look. For something a little more rustic and homey, use  a salvaged sink or a recycled copper or bronze sink. You can use a lot of salvaged materials for your sink, like wood or even porcelain.
Consider green building methods for every part of your home design, including your driveway, which can reduce storm water run-off. Source: Houzz
  • One of the issues with typical driveways is that storm water tends to run down driveways and into a storm drain, where much of the storm water runoff will end up in nearby lakes and rivers. If you’re trying to help out the environment, then you’ll want to figure out a way to redirect storm water into the ground. This will help to prevent erosion caused by runoff. So how do you do this?
  • By using a permeable surface instead of asphalt or concrete. For example, using open-cell pavers, which are concrete pavers with holes that are filled with pervious material, such as vegetation.
  • Or use pervious pavers, which contain joints filled with aggregate that lets water seep between the pavers.
Concrete, terrazzo, and linoleum are all eco-friendly options for bathroom floor designs.  Source: Houzz
  • Concrete floor – Concrete is both durable, water-resistant and cost effective. To give your concrete floor some personality, choose a concrete aggregate that contains recycled materials such as porcelain or glass.
  • Terrazzo floor – Terrazzo is incredibly durable and provides a unique, beautiful look. The material is basically made from chips of granite or marble that’s set in concrete and then polished. For a more eco-friendly version, choose terrazzo that uses low-VOC sealers and low-impact aggregates.
  • Linoleum floor – Linoleum is fire and water resistant and antimicrobial, perfect for the bathroom. Look for adhesives labeled as no-VOC.
There are different types of insulation, and when you pick insulation for your homes, you need to look at the R-value, or the thermal resistance of the insulation.
  • Clean lines and open spaces – Homes are being designed in more contemporary styles, which includes the use of cleaner lines and open spaces, which is accomplished by eliminating smaller rooms and using less hallways. Porcelain tiles are also a great option for achieving a wood look.
  • Natural look – Engineered woods that boast lighter, more natural finishes are currently growing in popularity, as are grey, white and washed-wood finishes. Engineered woods allow you to achieve a more exotic aesthetic.
  • Green buildingGreen building will continue to grow as more homeowners look to reduce their environmental footprint and take advantage of the savings involved, including tax credits and lower utility bills. Examples include the use of triple-glazed windows, home automation and LED lighting.  
  • Virtual Design and Modeling – The technology now exists to enable a home to be modeled in 3D CAD where homes are perfected and “test driven” before construction. Trilogy Partners is pioneering this strategy with it’s Project Management Modeling. 
  • The Home – Consider designing a zero energy home. A zero energy home is a home that produces as much energy as it consumes. This means creating a thermal envelope using thick walls, high-quality insulation and energy efficient windows and doors that will keep heat and cool air trapped inside and prevent outdoor air from leaking in. If you’re looking to renovate an existing home, have the energy efficiency of the house tested with blower door tests and infrared camera scans.
  • The Office – There are a lot of green classifications out there for office buildings, but one we recommend is the Living Building Challenge. Its requirements include that the building can’t contribute waste to the environment, that it generates all its own energy, that all materials be locally sourced, and more.