“If you are going to renovate your home or update some areas of it, why don’t you consider some environmental friendly options. Today, green homes are much of a trend as it does just allow you to conserve the environment, it also helps the family in reducing energy cost and things associated with it.”
By industry definition, Jeff King is a contractor specializing in sustainable building, but he’ll be the first to warn you against the G-word. “Green has become so overused a lot of people don’t take it seriously,” says King, who became a certified green builder in 2004. So he reframed the conversation, telling his clients about the health benefits of cleaner air from zero-VOC paints, the dollars saved by radiant-heat flooring, and the durability of Caesarstone countertops—all choices that happen to be environmentally friendly.
Of course, green design was a given when he and his wife, Margot Beall, started remodeling the San Francisco Edwardian they share with their kids. It needed a kitchen update, a family room, and a more open layout. “I wanted to be able to cook in the kitchen while watching the kids in the backyard and family room,” says Beall. “I envisioned them doing homework at the breakfast table.”
But first, they had to make room for it. An 11½-foot addition to the back of the house let them lengthen the galley kitchen. They also gained a modest family room that opens directly to the backyard, and a master suite with a deck and rooftop garden on the top level. Behind the scenes, King reworked the home’s infrastructure for maximum energy efficiency.
Even better than the extra square footage is the sense of openness. Airtight and long-lasting aluminum-clad windows now span the back façade, providing …
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