Building a home is an experience that you will never forget, but it comes with its challenges. This is especially true if you decide to build a home on a hill. Fortunately, these tips will make this a little easier, saving you stress and time.

It’s imperative that you sketch the home out first. Study the hill, as this gives you a feel for the form and structure of it. When sketching, consider things like how natural water will flow around the building or what type of views you want to have from inside your home.

In order to build your home, temporary roads and construction sites will have to be created. So, you should plan on re-landscaping your home after the building project is completed. This ensures your home on the hill is elegant and looks natural.

Try to find a placement that will minimize excavation. Getting the property surveyed should reveal a good spot. The less you have to excavate, the more time and money you can save.

For more information on building a home, contact us today.

More and more people today, including homeowners and corporations, are starting to utilize green technologies when building. Green building is better for the environment, and it betters society as a whole. Now, schools are taking the same approach, educating students about green technologies.

Source: Shutterstock.com

Education for Sustainability implores students to make smart decisions about preserving a healthy ecosystem. In fact, there’s an actual plan that outlines a strategy for 50 states to utilize green education in their school agenda.

And, online communications and forming working groups are collaborating together to create a funding campaign. This campaign shares best case models and also materials. By the end of 2025, there is a goal for at least 35 states to have a comprehensive green policy. This ensures students are learning about ways to improve and better the environment for future generations to come.

It’s this type of education that is going to make the world a better place. K-12 students will have resources at their disposal to make better decisions that will have a positive impact on the environment.

For more information on green design and green building, contact us today.

Homeowners considering a build-out of their home are wise to consider all of their options. A second story is expensive and time-consuming, but building out also can provide more space, add a particularly functional room, and add significant value to your property. Here are a few of the simplest ways to accomplish this goal:

Enlarge a Room – One of the easiest ways to improve a kitchen, family room or other communal area is to give it a little more room. Relocating a single exterior room is quite affordable and provides significant bang for the buck in terms of money spent versus room created.

Add a Room Over the Garage – While a little more expensive, the area over a garage provides a space where almost anything is possible – a media, craft or game room.

Build an Outbuilding – Adding some extra entertainment space is as easy as adding a pool house, a pergola or a backyard work space. In every case, you will free up space in the main house.

For more information on planning a home or its expansion, please contact us at Trilogy Partners.

If you’re renovating the home, you have a lot of building material options available for use. Consider the following materials to add a beautiful, unique look to your dream home:

• Limestone can make your home’s walls stand out. By texturing the limestone, you will be able to accentuate the shadows, giving your wall a dramatic effect. This texturing will visually soften the hard material, giving your home an elegant, inviting look.

• If you are looking to style up the shelves in your home, you can use a patinated aluminum material that features a spiderweb pattern. This will give your shelves a bold look, making it enjoyable every time you go to grab your socks or clothes. To vary the spider web patterns, the horizontal pieces can be flipped.

• For a truly bold look, you can combine different materials together, such as round glass tiles, terrazzo and wood slats. The contrast can add a lot of intrigue.

For more information on these kinds of building materials, contact us today.

If you’re a nature lover, chances are that you often look for ways to imbue your interior design with flourishes of the outdoors. And that means more than snipping a bloom from your backyard and putting it in a colorful glass.

For starters, don’t overlook the influence of paint, especially green in hues of olive, lime, or emerald. Even without a full wall to spare, you can create a fetching outdoor scene by painting the back wall of a cabinet and decorating the shelves with potted flowers, shells, or garden instruments. Thematic pieces will speak volumes about your interests and personality.

But don’t stop there. Consider dotting your indoor landscape with:

• Floral prints on throw pillows that can be tossed as easily on couches and chairs as the floor.

• Tabletop displays of thick, lush leaves tucked inside cylindrical vases.

• Framed botanical prints surrounded by pieces that mimic the background of the prints. For example, if a favored bird print features white lilies in the background, arrange a vase of faux lilies next to the print for undeniable visual interest.

For assistance in integrating the soothing influence of nature in your interior design, call Trilogy Partners, Colorado’s premier custom design company.

Being eco-friendly is getting easier every day as green experts come up with new ways to be green. One important way to go green is the green driveway.

How does it work?

You may be wondering how a driveway can be green, but if you have a concrete or asphalt driveway then much of the rainfall you get will run through your driveway, picking up pollutants. This water makes its way back into rivers and other large bodies of water. A green driveway, however, will often be made of non-pollutant materials, and reduce water run-off

How do I make it happen?

The best way to incorporate green ideas into your driveway is to use a sustainable drainage system, or SuDS. Here are a couple ways to do that.

• Open-cell pavers. These are lattices of concrete. Grass is planted in the holes of the lattice. Multiple layers of clean stone go under the pavers in order to support vehicles.
• Gravel. Gravel is often a good solution as well, though it requires a plastic underlay to maximize ground absorption.

Have questions about how to incorporate green ideas into your driveway? Get in touch with us online.

Zero-carbon buildings are buildings that produce no net carbon emissions. In short, these buildings produce carbon emissions because of their occupants, but the emissions are offset using methods ranging from reforestation to carbon credits, or even investments in renewable energy.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Please consider the economic benefits of zero-carbon buildings:

• Since zero-carbon buildings are better insulated than their conventional counterparts, their occupants are better-shielded against changes in the price of energy.

• Furthermore, operation becomes less expensive for occupants because zero-carbon buildings are so much more efficient. Over time, even small savings can build up into big sums.

• Superior insulation results in even distribution of heat, which leads to a more comfortable environment.

• Zero-carbon buildings are more in demand on the real estate market, meaning that their owners can resell them at a profit. Additionally, these buildings are becoming more and more popular as regulators move on the issue, meaning that their value is continuing to rise.

• Although a skilled and experienced firm such as Trilogy can refit buildings for outstanding performance, it is more cost-efficient to build zero-carbon buildings from the ground up rather than refitting older buildings for the same results.

For more information on zero-carbon buildings, please contact us at Trilogy Partners.

Mountain home style designs often have a specific aesthetic value. Big albeit simple gable roofs imitate the shape of mountains while at the same time shedding snow and rain. Huge, tree-like timbers are normally used to hold up these roofs. All of the aforementioned rest on local stone constructed into chimneys, plinths, and foundations. Metal plates and anchors connecting those elements have a scale and heft to match the surroundings.

Source: Trilogy Partners

• Gable Roofs – Big and plain gable roofs allow homes to reflect a wide landscape of mountains and trees as well as provide shelter.

• Stones – Stone plinths, a stone base and stone chimney secure the mountain home style design to its site despite the fact that the roof is supported on all the tree-like poles.

• Metal Roofs – Choose a metal roof that looks akin to a tent, stretched taut over the simple pole structure. This gives your mountain home a more sophisticated look.

• Large Glass Doors – Large stretches of glass keep your home interior bright and light while at the same time, confining your home’s best views.

Contact us for information about hiring a professional to help you refurbish or construct your mountain home style design.

A natural looking home doesn’t have to be a log cabin or a traditional space. In fact, incorporating natural elements into your more contemporary home is relatively easy and can create a wonderful contrast to the structured look of most modern home designs. Use these tips from Trilogy Partners to help you add a bit of nature to your space:

Source: Trilogy Partners

• Use natural wood beams and supports in your home without painting or staining them. The texture of natural wood can make a stunning addition to a modern home, especially when incorporating repeating horizontal lines.

• Blend neutral colors into your design and look for décor that incorporates natural elements like untreated leather. These subtle pieces of décor can make your space feel refined and still full of nature.

• Skip the window treatments, especially if you have a lot of windows or floor to ceiling glass. If you can’t skip the window treatments altogether for privacy reasons, choose a type that won’t take up a lot of visual space when they are drawn or pulled up. Letting nature in is the best way to incorporate it into your home.

Contact Trilogy Partners for home inspiration ideas you can use in your home.

After building your Colorado dream home, odds are you have leftover building materials you may not know how to properly dispose of. Here are some tips on what to do with your remaining materials:

• Tiles – Tiles can be used as coasters or broken up to be used as decorative wall mosaics. Use them in your garden as pathways or flowerbed borders. To dispose of them, place an ad on Craigslist or donate them to a local school, non-profit organization, or salvage yard.

• Bricks – Use your leftover bricks to build a firepit or an outdoor barbeque. If you can’t use them, call local bricklayers or landscapers or donate them to Habitat for Humanity.

• Wood – Scrap wood has endless uses. Build a bookshelf, a birdhouse, or get creative with rustic furniture frames. Your leftover wood can even be recycled and used for soil enhancement.

• Paint – You can always cover your paint can and use it later, or you can use it now to touch up old furniture. Check your states’ laws to dispose of your paint properly.

Contact us to learn more about what do with your leftover building materials as well as other tips for sustainable building and custom home design.