I remember, when we first started down this path, being really shocked at what I perceived to be a distinct lack of practical information on healthy building practices. I’ve learned a few things along the way, and now I understand completely. I think the reasons are very similar to what I assume is the reason behind the lack reports on personal experience by parents raising chemically sensitive children: when you are in the thick of it, you barely have the time and room to breath and exist, much less document it. And once you are on the other side, you’d really rather not have to think about it ever again! There is too much living to catch up on!
That said, there is so much that we have learned through this experience that we really want to share, in the hopes of making the process just little easier on others. I am, by not means, an expert. But what I can offer is this…the details behind our own project. I can tell you all of the products we used, why we used them and how they worked out in the end. It’s one of those simple little things that I know would have been a huge help to us at the time. I can only hope that it will be a help to someone else out there.
This is a complicated subject and I intent to cover a whole lot more then just building supplies. Everything from the global and environment impact of our choices to aesthetics, trying to live in harmony with your land and accommodating a family, both during the building/remodeling process and after, and much more.
It is my hope that you will enjoy and benefit from this series as much as I enjoy sharing it with you!
Hi there,
I have been a lurker for a while now, coming out of lurkdom-
I have three children as well, similar in age to your three- ( daughter age 7, and two sons almost 5, and 20 months) and we home school using a Waldorf approach.
I am also a knitter/crafter, and have really enjoyed your blog over the past few months.
I am very interested in this new series of yours!
This is a great idea. While we don’t have the chemical sensitivities, we do try to live as naturally as possible and found natural choices very hard to come by (often impossible, or completely out of our price range) when building our renovation. I look forward to reading your thoughts and experiences.
I love your blog! So happy to have found you. I look forward to following your healing home progress. I have MCS and live in a home built circa 1920, so it’s not toxic, but we do a lot of renovations and are always looking for nontoxic materials. It’s so wonderful to have someone like yourself who has MCS to be sharing your home builder’s journey! Thanks so much. Aloha, Susie
I always enjoy anything you write about how you are living naturally. I try within my limits to provide a healthy life for my children. I often think if my grandmother didn’t have it when she was raising her children, I don’t necessarily need it.
I understand that you were pressed to make some of your choices. I would love to be living as you are but my dh is very much a corporate man seeking success. I would live in the woods and as naturally as possible if it were within my reach.
i am so excited about this. what a wonderful idea, thank you!
heather
beautythatmoves
Thank you so much for sharing all that you are learning along the way. This is a very important issue. I look forward to hearing more.
Good morning,
What a pleasant find and wonderfully encouraging way to begin the day. My husband and I are building a healing home for many of the same reasons you are. I have MCS and the short story is we have been on the road trying to out-run environmental triggers(for years). Today we are building VARDOFORTWO, a mobile hermitage designed with my sensitivities and the sensitivities of a living Earth.
I am so happy to know you’re creating life for a generation of Sensitives … a precious lot they are. I’ll visit again. Come visit us, too.
Aloha, Mokihana at http://www.VardoForTwo.blogspot.com