Cast Your Vote!
Thanks to everyone who entered the Green Home Giveaway presented by Alabama Power. Our judges went through each entry, and have narrowed it down to our top three homes – now it’s up to you to decide! Check out our finalists below and place your vote for the home you want to see win a green home makeover.
How To Vote:
You can cast your vote two ways – on Facebook and Twitter. Visit our Facebook page and answer the Question, “Which home should win the Green Home Giveaway?” You can vote for one of the homes you see below. (The “Question” tab can be found on the left side of our page, in the menu under our logo.)
Take to Twitter to cast your vote as well by mentioning our handle @mygreenbham and the hash tag for the home you want to vote for. So your tweet might look like this:
@mygreenbham I vote for #home1
Only one vote per Facebook and Twitter account is allowed. The home with the most combined Twitter and Facebook votes will win the Green Home Giveaway! Voting will take place Wednesday, December 7, 2011 through Friday December 9, 2011. The winner will be announced Monday, December 12, 2011.
Meet Our Finalists!
Home 1 (Twitter hash tag: #home1)
We are the Dears. I am Stuart Dear, an Auburn history graduate, originally from the outskirts of Jacksonville, Alabama. I work for a marketing agency downtown, Intermark Interactive, as Quality Assurance for web applications. I geek out. My wife is Nicole Dear, a UAB history graduate and teaches history at Wenonah High School. She is from Homewood and has always referred to herself as a “city girl”, which I can attest to. We have three fun loving cats, Roxy, Sherlock (the investigative cat), and Kari. We are visible, active neighbors within our community and frequent neighborhood establishments.
Our home is a small, 1929 bungalow. It was built with craftsmanship, but it needs a makeover. We want to transform the beauty and history of our small abode into a 21st century green home. As visionaries, we imagine retrofitting our home… solar panels, wind turbines, and water reservoirs. We dream of having the ability to collect free, renewable resources with a smaller negative ecological impact. We make efforts to live an eco-friendly lifestyle, but our next steps down this path require professional assistance.
We want to win a makeover from My Green Birmingham to prove that people can live environmentally sound in the middle of a city. We want to retrofit an old house instead of moving out to the suburbs to build a brand new home. We represent a new style a living: involved, hardworking, fun-loving, youthful and tech savvy. We are lovers of Birmingham, and we want to help turn the “smoke city” green. A green home in Crestwood would be an inspiring contrast to the steel mill beside our neighborhood. It would represent the green future of Birmingham amidst the gray smoke plumes that symbolize Birmingham’s industrial legacy. This old house needs lots of work. People love the look of an old house but need to know what it takes to retrofit it. We want to symbolize a new generation making that which is old, new.
Home 2 (Twitter hash tag: #home2)
Three words: Comfort.Cost.Compatibility.We love our home that sits on the edge of Birmingham’s river (railroad). We’ve worked hard, with our bare hands, to bring her back to life after years of neglect. We want to tell her story and, at the same time, we want to create our own story here. We want it to comfortable like home should be. We want to conserve cost, just like every other American family. We want to live and teach and grow with respect to the earth our children will inherit.
We love our home. Just like Birmingham, she’s a little rough around the edges…she’d look great in a new green “outfit”! – Laura Kate Whitney
Home 3 (Twitter hash tag: #home3)
I grew up working on DIY projects, and in searching for my first home I looked for a house in need of love and attention. It was important to me that I help revitalize an older neighborhood, and live in an existing home, rather than new construction. After months of searching, I fell in love with an adorable 1914 craftsman-style bungalow sitting high on a hill in Crestwood North Neighborhood. With its hardwood floors, high ceilings, and tall windows, it provided so many items on my checklist – including a great need for renovation.
As a former rental property, the house had been long neglected for regular maintenance and repairs. Outdated color schemes, chipped floor tiles, cracked plaster walls and broken fixtures filled the house. I quickly learned that my nearly 100-year-old home also had a long way to go as far as energy efficiency. Moving in in February of 2008, I ran my outdated heat pump constantly to stay warm, and then received my first $380 bill! Since then, I’ve installed a programmable thermostat, weather stripped doors and windows and learned to live in a cool 67 degrees in the winter.
I’ve worked to maintain a “green” focus including the installation of drought-tolerant and native plant landscaping, energy-efficient appliances and compact fluorescent light bulbs. I’ve added a vegetable garden and compost pile, and last summer I purchased a manual lawnmower that has actually made lawn maintenance much easier than my gas-powered version.
Through my renovation process, I’ve worked to repurpose many materials. I’ve reused the gravel from a backyard driveway to create a large patio for entertaining and converted piles of old bricks into lining for flowerbeds. Not only are these efforts incredibly cost-efficient, they also allow me to reduce waste.
Since purchasing my house, I’ve spent many weekends and much of my pay working to couple its 100-year-old charm with modern conveniences and energy efficiency. By winning the My Green Home Contest, I’ll be well on my way to converting a home lacking many sustainable features into a more energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly home that also maintains its historic appeal.
- Erin Melaney
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