Ecological Design and Restoration

Working with clients to create affordable, ecological and sublime home restorations

We work together to explore affordable ways to bring more livability, character and beauty into your living and working spaces. You have many options for design help, here is what makes me unique:

A focus on how a place feels and not just how it looks, substance before style.
Paying attention to the whole of the place and how the inside relates to the outside and one room relates to another.
That a truly successful and satisfying space continues to reveal its richness and magic over time.
A home that feels good is one where you are drawn to all the places in it and that has a strong feeling of relatedness.
Deep ecology design brings together the functional needs along with design and decorating that touches on the sublime.
That the healthiest homes we can create are ones that feel really good and that integrate non-toxic materials.
Great design is driven by resource limitations and these very limitations are the catalyst for creativity and innovative solutions.
Led seven of my own whole home eco-restoration projects over the past ten years and bring all that I’ve learned to your project.

Project Examples:

Below are examples of a couple whole house ecologically minded design and restoration projects. It’s hard to capture in pictures what places feel like, but the feedback I get is that places that I’ve worked on feel warm and inviting and soulful:

Entry and Front of Nature inspired home

Entry and Front of Nature inspired home

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Open Dining to Living room with natural clay walls

Open Dining to Living room with natural clay walls

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Front of home with restored organic garden

Front of home with restored organic garden

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“Charles is unique and wonderful to work with, because he never accepts the normal, but never stops looking for new ways to put creative soul into places. Not the “magazine” way, but from the heart, low-impact, and unexpected.”

Tom Bender, award winning ecological architect and writer

"You have an ability to walk into a physical space and envision a more enlightened potential for the space. I have met few individuals who are as creative as you and who can channel that creativity to obtain very pragmatic goals. When we were thinking about purchasing a new house, we asked for your thoughts on the purchase because the house needed a good amount of work. After just briefly looking at the residence, you gave us significant insight on its potential. It allowed us to feel comfortable that the purchase was a good decision and to realize that there were possibilities beyond what we saw after our initial impressions."

Josh Warner - home owner

'I think it is a combination of things that makes your work unique. Your design combines the elements of Western practicality, an Eastern sense of Zen calmness, high quality materials with an emphasis on environmentally low impact, and a combination of beauty with a sense of how community might be encouraged to gather. '

Steve Bennett, principle broker, Portland's Alternative Realtors

"The creative dynamic you bring to the table allows people to think outside the box while acknowledging the box as a key piece of the process. Constantly seeking new creative solutions, finessing the blend of form and function. Your eye for getting the most out of a space combined with your aesthetic creates a place inviting you in and asking you to take a closer look. This balance of working with the art of nature and the nature of people fosters a process leading to an outcome you can not only see but feel. Your places feel alive and vital, healthy and cozy, livable and workable while maintaining a touch of class and individuality making each special and unique."

Todd Blossom, Blossom Earthworks