Simran’s Eco-Friendly Home Makeover Comes to Oprah.com

Buying your first home is both nerve-wracking and exhilarating. Imagine the heightening of both of those emotions if you choose to 1) buy an older house full of character, and 2) jump right into green updates and renovations upon purchase. You’ll then have a good sense of what journalist, professor, and good friend of sustainablog Simran Sethi is going through right now… she recently purchased an 84-year-old home in her adopted home town of Lawrence, KS. Unlike the rest of us, though, Simran’s inviting the world in to watch the process of greening her new house: on Monday, she posted the first entry on a new blog at Oprah.com.

Home renovation isn’t a task for the feint of heart, and Simran readily admits that her own hands-on experience is limited:

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I have experienced much of our natural world in the once-removed fashion of the urban apartment dweller. I have never mowed a lawn, my ex weather-stripped our apartment and my landlord installed my low-flow showerhead. I held seeds for the first time two years ago at an incredible urban farm in Kansas City. And while I have told millions of people about water conservation and energy reduction, I have never owned a dual-flush toilet or had an opportunity to really consider my insulation. Now is my chance to embrace the well-worn clichés: walk my talk and put my money where my mouth is.

Among the first steps: insulating the ceiling, refinishing walls and floors, and dealing with a spider infestation in the basement. She’ll be sharing the whole process, providing tips on which changes provide the biggest benefits (in terms of eco-efficiency and cost savings), and naming names on the products she uses to accomplish those tasks. She’ll also be getting her hands dirty…

If you’re in the process of renovating, keep an eye on her blog… I have no doubt it’ll be useful. We’ll also be keeping an eye out for that first photo with paint in her hair…

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skidrd/ / CC BY 2.0 (and that’s not Simran… just a taste of what she’s in for…)

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