Mark Johnson Custom Homes Blog

Brunswick County, NC Green home builder Mark Johnson Custom Homes would like to share with our readers an article from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Green Home Guide and ThisOldHouse.com. The tips listed below are aimed to be quick and easy; to read them each in complete detail, click here!

• Lower the Thermostat
• Install a Programmable Thermostat
• It’s Closed-Flue Season: Minimize Those Romantic Fires
• The Spin on Ceiling Fans
• Move Furniture Away From Vents, Registers, and Radiators
• Stop the Draft; Close the Door
• Quick-Seal Windows
• Install a Door Sweep
• Work the Drapes
• Change Your Furnace Filter
• Adjust Your Water Heater
• Defeat Rapid Cycling

“Free Energy-Saving Info: Need more guidance on saving energy? An online publication called “Energy Savers” is available free from the U.S. Department of Energy. It features more than 100 easy and practical energy-saving tips.”

Landfall new home builder Mark Johnson Custom Homes is a proud member of the National Association of Home Builders and encourages our readers to sign up for their quarterly e-newsletter, HouseKeys. HouseKeys is designed specifically for consumers and gives their readers “consumer news from America’s home builders”. Below is a list of articles from their latest issue and sign up to receive it straight to your Inbox by clicking here!

• Is There Still Time to Qualify for the $8,000 Tax Credit?
• Connecting the Green Dots
• Prepare Your Home and Yard for Winter This Fall
• Making Home Improvements? Check Out These Tax Credits
• “The View” Names North Carolina Home Builder the Ultimate Volunteer
• Understanding Your Home Remodeling Contract
• What’s in Your Toolbox?

Last week Wilmington, NC home builder Mark Johnson Custom Homes introduced their readers to the Phoenix Employment Ministry and now encourage those in the area to attend their latest fundraiser, the “I Survived 2009 Party”. This is an event to celebrate surviving with fellow business professionals in one of the toughest years on record! Tickets are $35 and include food, fun, wine, beer and dancing. Purchase your tickets securely online at www.ISurvived2009Guide.com. The party is this Thursday, January 14, 2010 from 6-9pm at the Coastline Conference & Event Center.

If you are feeling overwhelmed when it comes to picking and blending colors for you home, we have found a quick and easy solution! Pender County, NC home builder Mark Johnson Custom Homes would like to share an article from the Founder of Rental Decorating Digest, Tammy Jo Schoppet, on how to quickly create a color scheme for your home. For more of Schoppet’s interior decorating ideas, visit www.RentalDecorating.com!

“PICK a Pattern: Starting with a pattern is the easiest way to create a color palette for your decor. Choose a pattern from any object you already have and love such as a pillow, picture or piece of furniture. This will be your color palette!

SEE Three Colors: Select a light, medium and dark color from your pattern to be used as your foundation. You may want to go to a hardware store and select color chips from the paint department that match your pattern to carry with you in case you come across a great find and need to know if it matches.

LMD: Light, Medium and Dark – How you use these colors can affect the overall appearance of your room. 

• Light- Is the Background- this is usually easy to achieve since most rentals are equipped with light to off-white walls.
• Medium- Large furniture and windows - Since the color of these objects will blend with the above lighter selection, the medium furniture will ground the room and give it a foundation.
• Darker- Accessories. Since your eye is drawn to a darker more intense color you will be able to arrange you accessories in a manner to guide the eye flowing through your room.

PICK – SEE – LMD   Use it whenever you are trying to pull together a color coordinated room!”

The Wilmington Concert Association will be hosting the Band of the Irish Guards and the Drum, Pipes and Dancers of the Royal Regiment of Scotland this month! This is the first year they will tour the United States and New Hanover County, NC custom home builder Mark Johnson Custom Homes encourages those in the Cape Fear area to attend the concert at the Kenan Auditorium at UNC-Wilmington. Visit the Wilmington Concert Association’s website for more information on the Band, watch a video, and order tickets!

The Earth Advantage Institute has released their list of the Top Ten Green Building Trends for 2010 and St. James Plantation, NC new home builder Mark Johnson Custom Homes would like to share them with our readers! Below is the list and to read each in more detail, click here!

• The smart grid and connected home.
• Energy labeling for homes and office buildings.
• Building information modeling (BIM) software.
• Buy-in to green building by the financial community.
• “Rightsizing” of homes.
• Eco-districts.
• Water conservation.
• Carbon Calculation.
• Net Zero Buildings.
• Sustainable building education.

Brunswick County, NC remodeler encourages those in the Cape Fear area to attend the 30^th North Carolina Jazz Festival in Wilmington, North Carolina. From February 4^th- 6th, 2010, the North Carolina Jazz Festival will showcase more than a dozen traditional jazz artists who perform in a cabaret-style setting at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside’s newly renovated ballroom in downtown Wilmington, NC. Fans will get a chance to see their favorite traditional jazz musicians perform live and have the opportunity to meet the artists. The Cape Fear Business News published a detailed article on the Jazz Festival today, below is an excerpt and to read more, click here! Visit www.ncjazzfestival.com to purchase tickets.

“To celebrate 30 years, this year’s North Carolina Jazz Festival kicks off on Thursday night with a “Styles of Jazz” concert vocalist Stephanie Nakasian & the Hod O’Brien Trio; New Orleans style jazz by the Duke Heitger Sextet; and local favorites Grenaldo Frazier (piano, vocals) and Kevin Kolb Quartet,. On Saturday morning festival patrons will enjoy a musical birthday cruise along the Cape Fear River with New Orleans style jazz and North Carolina barbecue.

On Friday and Saturday nights the festival features 14 world-renowned musicians, including guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli (www.benedettoguitars.com/players_bucky.php), Butch Miles on drums (www.butchmiles.com), pianist Hod O’Brien (www.hodobrien.com), and Duke Heitger on trumpet (www.dukeheitger.com). Other all-star jazz musicians include: Mark Shane (piano; www.shanepianojazz.com); Frank Tate (bass; www.atlantajazzparty.com/Tate.html); Tom Fischer (reeds; www.tomfischermusic.com); and John Allred (trombone; www.myspace.com/johnallredmusic). Back by popular demand are festival favorites Anat Cohen  (reeds; www.anatcohen.com); Ed Polcer (trumpet/cornet; www.edpolcer.com); Joe Ascione (drums; www.joeascione.com);; John Cocuzzi (vibes and piano; http://www.johncocuzzimusic.com/music.html);  Herman Burney (bass; www.hermanburney.com); and Stephanie Nakasian (vocalist; www.stephanienakasian.com).”

Landfall Green home builder Mark Johnson Custom Homes is excited to share a new website from Team Strickland at Coldwell Banker Seacoast Realty for our LEED Platinum Green Home in Landfall. This ICF home in Wilmington, NC is Energy Star certified and the LEED Platinum rating is the highest attainable rating for a home from the U.S. Green Building Council. This is the first LEED Platinum home in Wilmington, NC so out of all of the current Wilmington, NC homes for sale, this is the “Greenest” by USGBC standards! Visit www.2002Kenilworth.com for detailed information on the home, its Green features, photos and more!