Interiors: Boerum Hill Townhouse in Shades of Red & Gray

[nggallery id=”24202″ template=galleryview]

Welcome to another new feature here on Brownstoner. In addition to our new Green on Brownstoner posts, we’re publishing interiors from Brooklyn architects, designers, renovation buffs and handy/artsy types. If you have a project you’d be interested in publishing, please send us a note. And now, Interiors #1:
The principals at Brooklyn-based Bouratoglou Architect, PC renovated their own three-story Boerum Hill 1860s row house and oversaw its construction. It had been owned by the same woman for 50 years and needed a massive overhaul, and a green one at that (a list of green materials used is on the jump). Jill Bouratoglou had been designing a green curriculum for New York City Technical College called Sustainability through Architecture,” and her neighbor was Lori Bongiorno, author of Green, Greener, Greenest, so she was well-prepared. She describes the aesthetic as “a mix of expensive and IKEA, eBay and found items.” Soft grays are interrupted with bursts of orange and red, solid walls are interrupted by flashes of pattern. Look for Purl Soho bedding, homemade curtains, Eames wall decals, Chiasso carpets and even a couple of things from CB2 in the photos. She even hand-embroidered Target pillow. She says, “After a two week trip to Seattle over Christmas, I came back and selected the paint colors. Maybe it was 14 days of gray weather, but I selected five shades of gray along with a matte black for the handrails. I selected wallpaper from Cole and Son with shades of grays and black, screened from England. In areas where the walls are gray, the adjoining walls sometimes appear another shade of gray depending on the daylight, and then sometime they are just super white as painted. The play of grays throughout the house, become darker in the master bathroom, become more silver on the top floor as the light penetrates through the oval skylight.”

“In the children’s rooms the walls are painted Silver Lining and Super White. Julian is four years old and love orange. We added orange and red robot wall decals above his bed. I had some rocket prints framed with orange mats, and I sewed an orange and multi-colored dot duvet cover and pillows for his bed. White Flor tiles create a play area, along with a large baby-blue abstract painting from our friend Jen Kim. We used Ikea kitchen cabinets that were designed to go over the refrigerator (14 high, 24 deep) adding 4 legs, and a countertop, created a play surface and storage. We found a George Nelson knock-off clock on EBay to complete the look.”

Max is in third grade and wanted red and black. This was easier to bring into the gray theme. We found Eames wall decals and created a random design that goes from wall to ceiling and back down. He has a bright white molded plywood desk from Chiasso with a black modern chair. The gray wool felt rug is from Chiasso. The bedding is red, black and gray stripes with a large band of red.”

Here’s a sampling of the green ingredients she used:
Water:
-High efficiency Fixtures
-Toto Aquia dual flush toilet
-Rheem 7.4 gpm tankless hot water heater for entire house
-all water lines insulated from tankless hot water heater to the point of use
-whole house water filter system Whirlpool® Standard Whole House Clear Pre-Filtration System with Shut-Off Valve

Energy and Atmosphere:
All appliances are energy star
Refrigerator: Bosch B24IR70SSS 278kWh/yr
Freezer: Bosch B18IF70SSS 332kWh/yr
Oven: Bosch HBL5420UC Ecoclean & fast preheat
DW: Bosch SHX36L12UC 54dB rating, with Flow-Through Water Heater, Sensotronic 315kWh/yr
Washer: Bosch WFMC2201UC 165kWh/yr 56dB rating, Internal Water Heater
Dryer: Bosch WTMC3521UC 64dB rating
Cooktop: Bosch PGL985UC Smartflame safety, Triple flame

Materials and Resources:
-recycled gypsum wallboard
-low VOC paint Benjamin Moore Eco Spec
-Water based epoxy floor with radiant heat in cellar and bathrooms- low VOC, seamless, non-pourous, chemical resistant, impervious to moisture
-Using Icestone for saddles in our bathrooms
-Flor carpet tiles
-local family-owned hardware store used for many of the daily purchases (1-1/2 blocks from house)
-recycled GWB

Indoor Environmental Quality:
– Central Vac w/hepa filter and muffler to reduce sound levels sized for size of home
– High Efficient and Quiet Home Cooling With Gas Heat-Carrier 48XP with electronic Hepa air cleaner, UV lamp to reduce mold an bacteria in system, humidifier to add moisture to dry air, ventilator to allow 2000cfm of fresh air into the system, uses Puron- chlorine free refrigerant. 13SEER and 81% AFUE 72dB rating (sim. to dB of vacuum).
-HVAC sized for house size.
-Programmable Thermostat
-Fans in most rooms to assist in air quality and reduce heating and cooling. Using the Artemis contemporary ceiling fan, by G Squared Art. The organic shape of the blades creates no noise they slice through the air in nearly total silence. The design is also ecologically sound: the blades form the body so there is no waste. The fan is made mostly from recyclable materials.

Energy and Atmosphere:
-Insulation: open cell spray polyurethane foam insulation in front, rear and attic of house
-interior insulation greenguard certified, used to reduce heat loss and noise throughout house
-Windows triple pane in front (due to noise reduction on bus route), double pane in rear
-new front doors- locally made, to replicate original design, heavily insulated with detail that provides extra weatherstripping. Old doors are being refurbished and reused by neighbor.
-Rear patio doors- Pella doors with Low-E insulating glass and argon filled
-large skylight over stairs to bring light throughout the center of the house
-ironwork locally made (same street)
-roof silver colored roof, rigid insulation and roof vents to reduce heat gain
-radiant heat in bathrooms and family room (walk-out cellar) with programmable thermostat to set when spaces will be used.
-Rheem RTG-74PVN tankless hot water heater 7.4 gpm for entire house

Lighting:
-Lutron dimmers used throughout the house to use only the amount of light needed reducing energy, lightbulbs last longer, less waste.
-Using three way switches throughout the house. With the house being many floors, three-way switches were placed throughout the house, so as you go from the bedrooms to the kitchen, you can turn on/off the lights as you move from one floor to the other.
-Exterior light has a photovoltaic sensor. It is a light by Rejuventation that has a GU24 twist & lock compact fluorescent socket
-compact fluorescent in secondary spaces