So, this evening I attended a discussion held by our friend, Blue Crump, of Cityspace Construction at the new Whole Foods in Short Pump. I’ve been wanting to catch one of his classes for some time now, and he did a great job teaching attendees about residential solar options to help offset energy consumption (and costs). His presentations are down-to-earth and make green construction and renovation concepts easy to understand. Blue offers free classes there and at Ellwood Thompson’s to share green ideas with homeowners throughout the Richmond area.

Feel free to visit the Cityspace website for more information on this business and their free educational classes.

 

We’re excited to share with you that Richmond now has its first green retail home-improvement store, EcoLogic!

EcoLogic is located at 1606 W. Main Street in the Uptown district of Richmond, and carries a variety of beautiful products available for making your home a better and healthier place. Among the products carried at EcoLogic are natural linoleum, salvaged hardwood flooring, cork flooring, soapstone and slate countertops, PaperStone countertops (yes, they’re made from paper), recycled glass tile, eco-friendly paints and earth plasters (our favorite, American Clay), and LED lighting.

At Dramatic Changes, we use AFM Safecoat products and American Clay, and we are thrilled that Fred and Stephanie have chosen to carry them in their store. These great products deserve all the attention they can get! For more information on EcoLogic, feel free to stop in their store for a tour, or you can visit their website here.

The Richmond Symphony Orchestra League will soon present its 13th Designer House. The beautiful home, Tara II, a distinctive white mansion, is located close to the Country Club of Virginia, and towers over its spacious front lawns and looks onto Cary Street.

There will be approximately sixteen design areas which will be transformed into individual showcases for some of Central Virginia’s most renowned and up and coming interior designers. Dramatic Changes is fortunate to have been brought in to paint several of these spaces, and we’re providing a few “before” pictures in this blog entry.

The Designer House will make its debut at an elegant Gala Opening Night Party on Friday, September 12 and open to the public September 15 through October 12.

For more information, including how to purchase tickets, visit this link.

image source

Each month, we help secure sponsors for Richmond Green Drinks, an international organization that seeks to bring together people from the green industry once a month for a casual networking event. This month’s event drew around 70 people, our largest crowd to date, and was held at Richmond’s new Built Gallery in Oregon Hill.

One of the people who helps me organize Green Drinks, Copeland Casati, contributed a post about this month’s event on Building Green TV’s website. To see the post, click here.

If you’d like to learn more about Green Drinks, or want to meet someone in Richmond’s green building industry, feel free to contact us. We’re happy to help.

I was recently introduced to an organization that brings issues related to sustainability and eco-friendly living called Back Porch Initiatives. As you’ll see on their site, Back Porch is a non-profit organization working with communities to cultivate local responses to the national and global issue of energy consumption. The Back Porch team is committed to collaborating with communities on existing resources, leveraging new ideas, and developing practical, economical and environmental solutions.

Back Porch has extended an invitation for us to present during one of their weekly community conversations on Monday, July 21st, 2008. We’ll be speaking about healthy paint options available here in Richmond, and will also likely discuss the local green-building resources. We will be at Globehopper Coffeehouse at 2100 E. Main Street in Richmond’s historic Church Hill. This event is free and open to the public.

If you aren’t free to attend this coming Monday’s conversation, please know that Back Porch holds these talks every Monday evening from 7-8 pm at Globehopper.

As we all know, Richmond is a town that loves its art. If you haven’t visited yet, consider dropping by the Glave Kocen Gallery at 1620 W. Main Street one afternoon. The owners, Jennifer and BJ, are drawn to artwork which inspires, invigorates and relaxes the viewer. Their current exhibit, entitled Color as Light, features work by local artist Laura Loe, is a vibrant, colorful collection that’s sure to leave an impression. In addition to having a strong following as a painter, Laura also teaches out of the Virginia Museum’s Studio School and is director of the Nimrod Hall Arts Colony in Bath County. This exhibit will be on display through the end of April.

Feel free to check their website for hours and updates on other great events!

Last weekend, Dramatic Changes Painting was a vendor at the MAC Events Home Show. Paired with the Maymont Flower & Garden Show, attendees received the benefit of two shows for their one entry fee! It was a wonderful event, with great vendors and some beautiful displays. There were full-scale gardens, stained glass creations, handmade furniture, one-of-a-kind bonsai trees, eco-friendly paint colors…You name it, it was there! Many vendors offered drawings for free or discounted services, and we were no exception — We gave away $300 toward painting services for homeowners seeking interior or exterior painting.

This weekend we’ll be at the Richmond Home & Garden Show, held at the Richmond Raceway Complex, representing over 350 vendors offering a variety of services. The show will be held from Friday, February 29th - Sunday, March 2nd. Parking is free, and tickets are $8 for adults, $2 for kids (children under 6 are free). For more information, visit the Richmond Home & Garden Show Website.

Perhaps we’ll see some of you there. Enjoy the show!