It’s a topic discussed in most major lifestyle magazines and on your favorite home decorating shows — feng shui. I was first introduced to this ancient Chinese philosophy in the early 1980s as it applied to architecture, landscape features, and martial arts.

Meaning “wind” (feng) and “water” (shui), its principles can be applied to almost any decorating style to create a harmonious home environment. In addition, we’ve used feng shui techniques to attract potential buyers to help sell houses that have been stagnant in the market.

Here are our top 10 tips on how to harness the energy and vitality of feng shui within your own home.

1. Reflecting disharmony. Remove or cover large mirrors in the bedroom if you don’t sleep well.
2. Room with a view. Place your bed to give you the widest view of the room. Your bed should not be in direct line with the door. Paint the bedroom walls in a color scheme that is both pleasant and inviting.
3. Calming sounds. Hang wind chimes outside your front door to create a soothing environment for occupants and guests.
4. Writing on the wall. Try to avoid having completely bare walls. Group together non-personal pictures or hang up interesting art pieces in a diagonal or staggered pattern.
5. Go with the flow. Place a blue or black doormat at your front door to encourage good things to flow in like water.
6. The color of love.Include the romance colors - white, pink and red - in your room. Don’t overdose with a red wall because too much red can trigger anger.
7. Plants for energy. Rooms filled with plants will give its inhabitants a feeling of tranquility and lead to improved well-being. Healthy plants generate positive energy. Avoid dried flowers because they have no energy left.
8. Look overhead. Move beds, couches, and desks from any overhead beams to keep energy flowing.
9. Less is more. When arranging furniture, less is more. Too much clutter can restrict the potential of a great room.
10. Create positive impressions. Keep counters clean, closets organized, and clutter concealed. This projects an organized and stress-free environment for you and your guests.

Even if you don’t subscribe to the feng shui philosophy, the basic concept is clear and common-sense. If you home is clean, comfortable, and well-organized, you will find it a more relaxing place to live.

Thanks to Buffini & Company for this top ten list.

Contributed by Martha Amram 

Ah, Eichler homes — a truly California mix of indoor and outdoor living. But sometimes this comes at the price of dis-comfort. Many Eichler owners complain of being too hot in the summer as the sun bears down on their patio or atrium. And too cold in the winter as all that glass conducts the warm air out.

Typical home improvement suggestions to increase comfort are to add insulation in the walls and replace your single-pane windows with double-pane. Both will save energy, but lack an element of “fun” we crave. And the expense! Here are a few different ideas:

Close off the atrium or patio.

Some Eichlers wrap around their open courtyard. It’s a simple matter to add the final wall and some kind of roof covering. The roof area can be covered with an innovative skylight option. I’m a big fan of putting skylights over the atrium, because it makes the area useful during the rainy winter months, so we get more use out of the whole house. We installed a Rollamatic Roof. Our energy efficiency tests show that it doesn’t leak warm air at all. This means the glass windows facing the patio or atrium no longer conducts warm air to the outside, saving energy and money.

Oh, and the courtyard floor has now moved indoors. It can be heated with a simple add-on such as Warmfloor™. 

Add awnings for shade.

A recent study showed that shading windows on the south and west can substantially reduce air conditioning costs. While our air conditioning days are minimal, homeowners can increase comfort by shading windows and patio areas in the summer. East-facing patios, for example, can heat up in the morning and release that heat all day long, raising the house temperature in the afternoon when the sun is blazing down from the west.

Sale shades provide wonderful trapezoidal shapes for shade, a style that fits with the contemporary Eichler look. Sunset Magazine even recently featured an Eichler with a sail shade.

Add blinds to your single pane windows.

Cheaper than replacing all those famous Eichler windows with double-pane, blinds can help reduce heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter. Their effectiveness will depend on your lifestyle. Here are reasons that blinds may or may not work for you.

First, blinds reduce heat gain and heat loss when they are closed. But, as Eichler owners, we like our open indoor/outdoor feeling. So, blinds depend on the good habit of actually pulling them down. Will you really do it?

Second, blinds are an imperfect seal. They let hot air in, and cold air out. They will reduce heat transfer, but not as effectively as a double-paned window. Will you mind? If blinds are a solution for some of your windows, look for those that have R values (insulation factors) of 2 or more.

Match your choice of blind to your purpose. Some styles are optimized to save heat in the winter. Other styles are optimized to provide shade in the summer. There are even shading blinds that you can look through, keeping the best of both worlds — Eichler’s feel of outdoor living while cooling the house in the summer.

I love living in my Eichler, but I want to save energy too. Let’s keep looking for fun ways increase comfort.

Martha Amram is the CEO of GreenNow USA, a Palo Alto-based firm that helps homeowners save energy and water. During the home visit, GreenNow collects data and performs tests that help homeowners identify where their water and energy spending is going, how much is wasted, and the next steps to energy and water efficiency – from good habits to new appliances to home improvements.

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It’s always interesting to see what green features are highlighted in a Build It Green certified home or development. In Nevada’s Incline Creek Estates, a gated community of 58 single family homes, the emphasis is on smart home technology, Coza™ insulation and Trex™ decking.

Of course, the golf courses and ski resorts featured, as are the tennis facility, fitness/recreation center, indoor pool, nearby private beaches, hiking, mountain biking, and nature trails. Is this because folks wanting a green dwelling value personal health and the great outdoors? Not necessarily, but it does reflect the lifestyle interest of Tahoe’s North Shore buyer. (If it sounds like your lifestyle, contact Terry Moore.)

Smart home technology makes sense for a second home. Heating and ventilation can be managed remotely through a AMX control system and pre-programmed settings to control energy costs. Touch panels control multiple zones of distributed audio, video, and lighting.

Featuring Coza™ insulation is no surprise. It’s snow country after all, and energy costs have been on the rise. This stuff’s made from recycled paper fiber and chemically treated for permanent fire and mold resistance. Coza insulation is safe to hold in your hands. It provides solid blanket of energy efficiency and protection for walls and attics. Added insulation of the interior walls and between the floors provide a quiet and acoustically pleasant environment.

Trex™ decking was a surprise at first. After all, wood finishes are a feature of Tahoe architecture. Even the home models’ names are trees: Pinon Pine, Rosewood, and Manzanita.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve recommended Trex products because they doesn’t rot, splinter or warp, and resist mold. Trex’s made from recycled materials, a mixture of shredded plastic bags and sawdust to produce a durable wood-like product. The process was invented by organic chemist, Roger Wittenberg.

And there’s the connection. Wittenberg is the majority investor in Incline Creek Estates. He says, “The shift in energy cost and the need to reduce the burning of fossil fuel is real, and we intend to build projects that are energy efficient and at the same time do not interfere with a normal life style”.

Thanks Roger. We need more people like you.

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It’s good to see more developers recognizing that greener properties provide healthier living environments, and tend to enjoy a larger increase in value. The Chateau at Heavenly Village is aiming for LEED silver status. This may be difficult, given the already stringent guidelines for South Lake Tahoe development.

The luxury vacation homes are in the form of a six-story condo-hotel, close to the beach, mountain, and casinos. It’s at the California / Nevada border.

So what are some of the environmental upgrades? The developers say that the project

• Uses Best Management Practices (BMP) for water quality with on-site storm water treatment
• Reduces land coverage by more than 63,000 sq. ft.
• Encourages pedestrian traffic and reduces automobile dependency
• Energy conservation through LEEDs technology
• Improved air quality

If you contact the sales people with an interest in learning more about The Chateau at Heavenly Village, please indicate that you found them through our “alternative website,” ValueAndComfort.com, so that they will know that you support this type of development. 

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As in any area of the real estate industry, for “green” to be viable, it needs to be as competitive as the alternatives. In order to be relevant, while standing out and being true to our purpose, our blog has a broad definition of “green.” Our definition originates from the blog’s url: value and comfort.

In value, we want to show that  being green not a burden — it adds to quality of life.

Being green at home provides value to the earth, the housing industry, the inhabitants, and the homeowner. It ties into the concerns over global warming, sustainability, and saving money. It also ties into making investments in both time and materials that will add value above and beyond the immediate cost.

As we tell by all the venture capital money going into new, clean technologies, being green can also be profitable. We want our green homes to be worth more than the alternatives.

The value of energy efficiency can be measured empirically. People’s stories with also reflect value (hopefully increased, although we can gain by we learning from others’ mistakes). Esthetics, outdoor living spaces, and familiarity all create value and comfort.

Comfort can be physical and mental. Principles of ergonomics and universal design are specific to the physical comfort of individuals. “Green” meets health concerns, be it with proper mold remediation, reducing draftiness, or improving indoor air quality. Some cultural concepts, like feng shui and vedic sciences, are based on living in harmony with our environment. These also add comfort in conscious and subconscious ways.

We’re not interested, necessarily, in a feel-good blog. Our writings reflect the conflicts and trade-offs that we deal with every day — the thoughtfullness that goes into trying to be green. As the industry changes, we will define ourselves again and again. The blog is also an organic process.

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There are some new eco-ordinances in them thar Los Altos Hills! Some buyers will be delighted, others may go elsewhere. Before you buy or remodel, here are five new ordinances you should know about.

1. Development area credit for solar power
2. Development area credit for permeable surfaces
3. Open space
4. Estate home setbacks, and
5. Eucalyptus tree abatement.

1. Solar
Ah, solar. It’s the right thing to do here in Northern Cal. It’s especially attractive with the current state tax credit and development credit from Los Altos Hills. It works like this: A hoimeowner who installs 500 square feet of solar panels on the roof receives 500 sf of development credit on the lot. That’s enough for an additional tennis court or extra decking around a pool.

While 45 projects applied for solar panel permits over the last 12 months, only two asked for the LAH credit. I have to wonder how long the town will continue to offer this credit since homeowners are going solar without town incentives.

You can check out LAH Town Hall’s Solar activity online.

2. Permeable Surfaces
Synthetic grass is not the astroturf of yesteryear. This stuff is surprisingly close in look and feel to the organic matter. Plus it’s practically maintenance-free and saves in your water bill. Los Altos Hills offers a development area credit for using permeable surfaces like pavers and synthetic grass.

Homes on a hill lose significant development area to the paving requirements for a firetruck turn-around area. Permeable surfaces help with erosion control and have a more asthetically pleasing and rural feel than asphalt. Homeowners get a higher percent of development area credit for using materials of greater permeability.

Sorry, your artificial lawn can’t be used as a front yard. The neighbors get jealous of the green look all year ’round and have a tendency to use much more water and fertilizer to keep up with the Jones’. The town doesn’t endorse any particular brand, but some names you may encounter are Waterless Grass, NewGrass, and ForeverLawn. Check with your landscaper to find out what they recommend. (if you need a landscaper, let me know.)

3. Open Space Easements and Pathways (Don’t Fence Me In)
LAH maintains an open, rural feel. There are minimum one-acre lots, protected creeks, no sidewalks, and oak tree protection. Open space and pathway easements may be granted to the town to preserve woodland habitat for wildlife and trails for walking and horseback riding. Openings in perimeter fences allow larger wildlife (cougars, bobcats, and deer) to pass through developed lots that would otherwise have been obstacles to seasonal water sources.

Granting open space or pathway easements allows a homeowner to participate in maintaining LAH’s greenbelt without incurring a loss in property value.

4. Estate Home Setbacks
If you could find a 1.5 acre flat lot in the hills, the permitted house could be about 10,000 sf. On occasion, a buyer can put together four to five acres and construct a substantial estate. It’s hard to imagine it having a rural feel. LAH is considering increasing the setback provision for estate homes over 10,000 sf. It’s not an approved ordinance yet.

5. Eucalyptus Tree Abatement

Those 50′ towering trees with shredded bark and limbs heavy with pungent blue-green leaves. You love them or hate them. They’re quick growing, provide shade, and mark property lines. The oils that give the tree its distinctive smell also make it highly flammable. A shallow root system means that the entire two tons are more prone to fall when the ground is saturated.

The shallow root aspect was tragically brought to light when a branch of an uprooted Eucalyptus fell onto a passing cyclist in 2006, instantly killing him.

There are more than 600 varieties of Eucalyptus, none of them native. Los Altos Hills has identified five varieties that the commission considers a danger, the most common being blue-gum. If any of the trees on their list is within 150′ of a project, it will have to be removed. Check with an arborist to see if the property you’re interested in (or own) has these trees.

Thanks to Los Altos Hills Planning Commissioner Ray Collins for the update. For more information, call Los Altos Hills at (650) 941-7222.

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We already knew this, but it’s always satisfying to be acknowledged. Green building and design has been identified as one of the five hottest market growth areas in real estate development. The report cites increased pressure on communities and businesses to incorporate environmentally sound designs as a reason for the trend.

Retail development may include green roofs, rain gardens, or gutter water retention/irrigation systems. LEED-certified environmental experts will become essential team members, and of course, your EcoBroker^® will be the go-to Realtor^®.

Assisted-living centers, hospital expansions and education campus additions, mixed-use developments, and urban revitalization were mentioned as the other four trends. Green building and design can be incorporated into any of these developments. The trends are based on a report by Detroit civil engineering firm Giffels-Webster Engineers.

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San Jose Magazine sure likes “best of” lists. According to the teaser on the Aug 07 cover, they’ve picked the top “cities and neighborhoods to consider moving to when buying a home and selecting a good school district for our kids.” That’s it. No overall criteria explained inside, as far as I could see.

However, there is a well-written individual description for each of these Best Places to Live selections. I added SJ mag’s sub-header to the names on the list to keep it interesting and entice you to look at the description, so here goes.

Atherton: Elegant gardens and native trees dominate this quiet small community.

Lovely homes on tree-lined streets have made Burlingame the “City of Trees.” (Trees and nature are mentioned throughout the descriptions of these Best Places.)

Campbell is a quaint community where tradition and progress go hand-in-hand.

Founded as an artists’ colony, Carmel is as inspiring and beautiful as it was more than a century ago. (The only coastal city on the list and the only one in Santa Cruz County.)

Diversity and high-tech innovation abound in Cupertino. (Schools are a regular highlight in these cities’ descriptions.)

With plenty of shopping, employment and recreational opportunities, Fremont captures metropolitan living at its best. (The only East Bay city listed.)

One of the fastest-growing cities in Silicon Valley, Gilroy is open for business.

Hillsborough: A great small town in which to lead a lavish life.

Tree-lined streets and a small-village atmosphere liven up Los Altos. (“Small town” feel is another feature prized by the group creating this list.)

Los Gatos: A small-town feel and rich history can be found in this bedroom community.

Milpitas: This forward-looking city is a vital part of the Valley’s economy.

The city might be tiny, but Monte Sereno is awash with beauty and rural charm.

Thoughtful planning has made Morgan Hill one of the Valley’s most desirable communities. (Valuing the past while planning for the future seems to be another key to getting on this list.)

Mountain View offers homes and amenities suited for every lifestyle.

Palo Alto: The “Birthplace of Silicon Valley” is a blend of old and new.

There are countless reasons why business and citizens choose to locate to Santa Clara.

Community pride and a rural feel separate Saratoga from Silicon Valley.

Woodside: A place to find small-town life at its finest.

San Jose neighborhoods:
Residents retreat from nearby Silicon Valley to the relaxing Almaden Valley.
Families build their future in the developing Evergreen Valley.
Rose Garden: San Jose’s historic neighborhood cultivates its turn-of-the-century beauty.
Hidden in the foothills, Silver Creek is sheltered from the chaos of Silicon Valley.
Willow Glen: A neighborhood that retains its unique identity in spirit and architecture.

There are no surprises on the list. This really is a great place to live.

With all the interest in green homes, it’s not often one comes on the market. That changed yesterday, with a beautiful, century-old Craftsman now for sale at 120 Waverley Street in Palo Alto. This home blends the character of an old home with modern comfort and conveniences.

A Palo Alto firm Topos Architects remodeled this home following LEED Residential standards. They claim that, had the rating been available when the home was completed, it would have qualified for a LEED Gold rating.

How does this home qualify as being so green? Much of the existing building material was re-used within the remodel. Recycling efforts for the unusable material far exceeded Palo Alto’s requirements to minimize landfill.

Energy efficient design exceeds the California Energy Commission standards (Title 24) by 3%, reducing the owner’s energy consumption and utility costs. This is enhanced by passive solar design and tracked through an innovative Agilewaves resource monitor, making it a smart house as well.

Building components that create the energy efficient envelope include highly rated windows, exterior doors, and insulation. Interior energy savers include the furnace, air conditioner, ventilation fan, water heater, toilets, and lighting with a lighting control system. Energy Star rated appliances (refrigerator, clothes washer, and dishwasher) add the finishing touches.

If you’re ready to move into a green home, the $3.15 million price tag is a good value for the neighborhood. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, there’s a tear-down in a nearby neighborhood for almost $2 mil. You can still have your green dream home – it will just take longer to move in.

It’s almost the end of class and towers of cardboard cover the tables and floor. Students have been learning the importance of a wide base to have a waist-high structure.

That may not seem like a tall order for most of us, but these students are five to seven years old. The class is Architectural Design for Kinders offered by Palo Alto’s Community Services Department as part of the summer program.

German native Anja Blum is an incredibly patient and encouraging instructor. She gets a little help from the few parents who stick around and help their child. An architectural designer herself, this is Anja’s first year teaching Kinders. Architectural Design for Kids (7-12 years old) is in its third year.

Through drawing and model making, Kinders learn concepts such as floor plan, elevation, stability, and interior design. The Kids class adds concepts such as scale, three-dimensional design, and designing furniture.

The most important goal is that they have fun working with the materials as they manipulate small boxes, construction paper, pipe cleaners, yogurt containers, toilet paper rolls, craft sticks, wire, strawberry baskets, scissors, tape, and glue.

It’s not be the Magic School Bus, but with these hands-on experiments, they certainly get to “take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!”