Biophilic Design: The Greenhouse Office (Brick Floor Update)

Shortly after we constructed our 114 sqft greenhouse-office, I was inside tending to a potted plant by my laptop when a small garden snake slid from the leaves to my hands before dropping down to my boots and sliding beneath the deck floor.

While I’m happiest when blending the indoors with outdoors in our design, I’ll admit that interacting with snakes while going about my daily office work wasn’t exactly my intention. 

For the sake of the snakes and our family’s safety, I realized that we’d have to add either a screen to the underside of the greenhouse deck, or install decorative flooring within the structure.

As I wanted the interior to feel more like a traditional greenhouse settled into the ground (versus the raised format in which it’s constructed due to flood code), I opted for brick flooring. I’ve always loved the organic feel of brick, which is a material that’s long been used heavily throughout our region.

Rather than source traditional thick bricks, which would eat up valuable inches of height within the compact space and add extra weight, we picked a glazed thin brick from Fireclay. 

We selected a hue named “Wind River,” which we chose for the way in which it perfectly echoed the mix of green, brown and grey of the Spanish moss in the grand live oaks overhead.

So while we kept nature out in one way (sorry, snakes - it’s in everyone’s best interest!), we like to think we brought it in via another avenue.

The low sheen on the otherwise muted surface gently reflects the sky, along with the movement of the clouds and foliage in the wind.

And the pattern is the same we used in the bedrooms of the cottage with reclaimed, remnant pieces of wood. These domestically-sourced bricks are rustic in appearance, yet elevated thanks to their lead-free, hand-applied glaze.

So the main question is, of course: why is there no grout? 

The tile arrived in May 2021, but no contractor has ever arrived as promised to lay the subfloor and install the bricks properly since then. Rather than enter into month ten of waiting, our family (including our eager and loving 6 year old) decided to place the floor down ourselves. We figured that the loose installation felt reminiscent of informal brick floors of traditional old greenhouse anyway. Initially the bricks shifted and sang a bit, but they’ve now seemed to have settled. Soil and leaves sweep easily off the surface without much catching, but any little bits of earth that remain behind only add to the organic feel we welcome happily within this special space. 

Perhaps, in another season of life, Adam and I will tackle the formal installation. Or maybe a professional will even show up to help as as once planned! We’re not holding our breath. We’re grateful for what we’ve got: a nature-rich —  yet snake-free and mosquito-free — home office that gently brings the wild beauty of the outdoors in.

Note: Thank you to Fireclay Tile for generously supplying the bricks we used for this project!

Slowly Crafting a One-of-a-Kind Space with Plants & Vintage Goods

When we moved into our cottage, the first place I biked in order to find items for our new home was our neighborhood vintage shop. My favorite discovery from those days was a compact wicker chair — unlike any other I’ve ever seen— that sits on our front stoop, serving as the perfect lil’ perch for removing shoes and dropping mail and leashes.

Our world is awash with consumer goods that are designed and manufactured with unsustainable resources to swiftly become outdated and discarded, then heavily and wastefully packaged and transported thousands of miles. Rerouting our dollars away from such practices and directing them towards buying local and vintage instead can almost feel like a tiny, quiet act of rebellion. 

The same goes for prohibiting ourselves from being tricked into believing that our personalities can be formed, solidified and/or validated through our purchases, and that the more we buy, the happier and fuller we’ll feel. Instead of decorating (and redecorating routinely) with the same products as everyone else, vintage invites us to slow down and patiently find exactly what we love and need, rather then being told what we love and need. 

And when we walk away from a second-hand shop with our unpackaged items that we salvaged from within our own town, we’re also walking away with pre-loved, story-rich treasures that form a collection that’s entirely unique.

It’s for these reasons (and several more,) that I appreciate Venice Vintage Paradise, our family’s closest source for vintage goods. Recently, this long-standing business within our quirky beachside community converted their back patio into a small, beautiful plant studio, which they’ve named Venice Roots. 

The plant pots they sell are mix of handmade and second-hand, and the space is outfitted with vintage furnishings and accessories. (They even used reclaimed materials in order to construct their show-stopping back wall.) If you’re in the area, it’s absolutely worth a visit.

A note from the shop:

Venice Vintage Paradise has been a local Venice favorite on Abbot Kinney providing one of a kind vintage goods to our community for over 16 years. With the new addition of our plant studio,Venice Roots, we now offer a plethora of outdoor and indoor plants. We are providing creative and informative workshops and sourcing vintage and locally handmade ceramic planters to beautify your space. 

Sustainability is on everyone’s mind these days, and how to better reduce, reuse and recycle. It’s always been part of our mission to inform and educate our community that when we incorporate vintage into our lives, we are being more environmentally friendly.

- Venice Roots at Venice Vintage Paradise