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Manhattan Remodel and Cape Cod Affordable > Episode 17: Kitchens, Feng Shui, and Energy Star Homes

Feng Shui for the Home

Project: Manhattan Remodel and Cape Cod Affordable, Episode 17, Part 4

At the Mashpee, Massachusetts homes, general contractor Wes Lohr is adding finishing details like the Permex shutters from J&L Shutters. Developer Joe Valle reviews Massachusetts' Act 40B affordable housing law and John Livermore looks at how homes become Energy Star-certified. He also shows Bob energy-saving products for any home. Homeowners Kelli and Scott Jacobson tell how a first-time homebuyers seminar at the local housing assistance corporation helped them discover programs designed to help working families purchase their first homes. Bob talks with them about the open floor plan of their Cape Cod-style home, the Vermont Castings electric fireplace that will tie their design together, and the Kenmore stainless-steel appliances Kelli selected for the kitchen. Bob also meets homeowner Kim Brown, who selected Maple beadboard cupboards and black finishes for her Kenmore kitchen appliances. Kim's ranch-style home, open layout, and Whirlpool high-efficiency, large-capacity laundry system are perfect for a young family. Emma and Jacob Josselyn welcome Bob to their Cape Cod-style home with a look at their new Vermont Castings cast-iron electric stove. Designer Katherine Kaess joins them to review the design principles of feng shui and make suggestions for encouraging the flow of life-force energy or chi throughout the home.

Part 1: Installing Permex Shutters, Viewing the Open Floor Plan, and Meeting the Affordable Home Buyers
Part 2: Reviewing the Kitchen and Layout of the Ranch-Style Home
Part 3: Installing Wall-to-Wall Carpet, Building an Energy Star Certified Home, and Saving Electricity and Protecting Electronics in the Home
Part 4: Feng Shui for the Home: Bob visits Emma and Jacob Josselyn in their Cape Cod-style home to see the new Vermont Castings Addison cast-iron electric stove that will warm the corner of their dining room. They also discuss ideas for design with feng shui expert Katherine Kaess of Soulspaces International. Kaess explains that feng shui is the ancient study of working with space to enhance how we live and feel in our homes. She explains that the goal of feng shui is to welcome the chi, or life force energy, and allow it to flow freely throughout the home. Soft edges, open space, smooth and rounded surfaces all encourage the flow of chi. Kaess also shows Bob the bagua or layout of the nine domains of the home that pertain to the nine areas of our lives, such as prosperity, children, career, and travel. Placing objects that relate to each of these areas in their designated zones increases well-being and encourages success in each life aspect. Kaess visits the kitchen and comments on how well balanced it is. Elements like fire and water, the stove, sink, and refrigerator, are separated. There is a nice balance between wood, metal, light, and water, and the layout is open and light-filled. Kaess also tells Bob the trick of placing a mirror behind the stove to visually double the space and increase prosperity within the home.

This project deals with two very different notions of home. Bob begins on New York City's Upper West Side, where an 1890s Brownstone is revitalized through high-quality craftsmanship and sensitive design. New York's past meets its present, as the entire floor is recaptured and refurbished to create a spacious urban apartment on the doorstep of Central Park.

At the same time, Bob works with a Cape Cod developer to apply Massachusetts land use statute 40B to create affordable housing, and a neighborhood of homes in Mashpee, MA. These Energy Star certified homes show how quality building practices and reasonable asking prices can work together to provide livable, affordable homes and neighborhoods to those who work in our communities.

Also from Manhattan Remodel and Cape Cod Affordable

Episode 1 - A New Lift for a Manhattan Brownstone
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Description:
Bob is on Manhattan's Upper West Side to renew a 2,000-square-foot Brownstone apartment. First, he looks at what made Brownstones significant, including their details and façades.<br> <br> Inside the building, Bob shows how the space was cut up in the 1940s to make a warren of rooms. These walls and finishes will be removed as the space is gutted to prepare for new studs, walls, plumbing, and finishes.<br> <br> Pieces will be salvaged for architectural resale, including the pink sink from the bathroom and the retro cabinets in the kitchen, but everything else will go. Bob also visits Central Park, its caretakers, trees, and monuments.
Episode 2 - Demolition in the Manhattan Brownstone
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Description:
The big story is the cornice molding found in tact when the drop ceiling came down. The molding will set a tone for the main living space, where the bricks have been removed to install a flue liner and drafting fireplace. All of the 40s wall, surface, and ceiling treatments are gone, along with the lath and plaster, leaving the bare brick and exposed joists from the original construction. Remodels have cut into the joist work or damaged it, so some reworking will be necessary to build up for the floors and ceilings. The floor joists are sistered to make a level, solid footing for the Georgia-Pacific Plytanium subflooring that goes under the wood floor. Laser levels allow the carpenters to set level lines throughout the apartment horizontally for the floor and vertically for the new steel studs they are installing. Finally, a flexible flue liner is run through the wall, and up the chimney for the new fireplace.
Episode 3 - Building Affordable Homes on Cape Cod
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Description:
Affordable housing is the story in this project as Bob heads to Mashpee, Massachusetts on Cape Cod, where a state law is helping put higher density, affordable housing in place for four families who live and work in the community. Bob meets Pat Fiero of the Housing Assistance Corporation who explains the hurdles faced by families needing to live near their workplaces in a town where the average home price is $450,000. Bob visits Mashpee Commons and looks at mixed-use development that is providing a town center, housing, commercial property, recreational space, and a new church as a start to this new town development. Bob also meets the developer, Joe Valle, who explains the challenges in developing affordable housing and how this project was made possible by invoking Massachusetts? 40B land use and development law. On site, Bob Bevilaqua moves the earth to prepare the sites, shows the tie-offs for electrical and phone lines, and explains the drainage plan.
Episode 4 - Falmouth's Model for Quality Affordable Housing
Episode 8 - Installing Drop Ceilings, Custom Windows, and Mechanicals
Episode 9 - Paneling the Kitchen, Installing Hot Water, and Hanging Doors
Episode 10 - Cladding, Insulating, and Zoning for an Affordable Home
Episode 13 - Installing Pre-Hung Doors, Hardwood Floors, and Gutters
Episode 14 - Affordable HVAC, Painting, Kitchen Cabinets and Counters
Episode 15 - Installing Glazed Wall Tile and a Pedestal Sink
Episode 16 - Refurbishing Wrought Iron, Custom Kitchen Cabinets, Profile Molding
Episode 18 - Finishing Details in the Manhattan Brownstone

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