Our house, in the middle of our street.

We got our green. They said it couldn’t be done. They said, “You don’t want your street to be known as the green street, do you?” We shrugged. So that’s bad? Living on the street with four green houses? Besides seeming contagious, is it really bad? Really? Will it give us hives or make our hair fall out? We were perplexed. Why not? Mr. Husband and I looked at each other when presented with this apparently really-really bad scenario, and we both said, “We think that’d be kind of cool.” The design center girl sighed, squirmed, and put her hand to her chin. “Maybe there’s a different color you’d like?” From there, we proceeded to point at every shade of green on the Sherwin Williams paint strip until we wore her down. We got our green. Oh, yes we did. And green it is.

Welcome to Green Street. Home of at least four proud green home owners.

The whole world is going green, why not the outside of our house? Maybe it’s truly a reflection of our souls. Maybe it’s a step in the right direction. The woman this evening at Target asked, “Are you some of those environmentalists?” when we presented her with our own shopping bags (green, of course). Again, it seems that we’ve done something that may result in plague-like repercussions. I believe she started to itch as she handed Mr. Husband the bread that she was certain he was going to pack beneath the milk. Sure the greenness of the outside of our house is really not what Al Gore has in mind when he tells us to mind the melting polar ice caps, but maybe the outside of our house being green will help us to make an effort to keep the inside of our house green. Not talking wall color, here, but we do have a lovely sage growing on the living room walls. Go green!

The second victory that we experienced in the last week is the victory of the holy column. While not truly green or actually holy, this column is one of the most important design changes we made to the inside of our new home. We wanted free-flow, open living space. We wanted to be able to see each other at all times. We don’t want to turn into my dad who panics if he cannot see my mother in the next room. Perhaps we’re planning for retirement, or maybe it’s simpler than that and we’re planning for living together rather than living apart. We’re planning for children that we’ll have to keep an eye on at all times. We’re planning for Thanksgiving when my dad will have to keep an eye on all of us to make sure we’re doing it right (whatever we’re doing).

When we did our frame review last week, we walked through the house with the sales associate, the builder, and the project planner. We looked at really lame stuff like electric sockets and light switch placement. We confirmed that all the extra stuff that kept adding up at the plan review was actually available in the frame review. Can we see a fireplace switch materialize? Give me flush lighting rather than flourescent lighting! Do you see where they’ve arranged for the jetted shower? Check, check, check … but where is my column? Open the plans. Go to the plans. Let’s review. The five of us poured over the giant paper plan review where our sales associate had circled the doorway in the sunroom and written “COLUMN.” To assist the builder, I went ahead and helpfully pointed to the word in all-caps, “There it is!” Give me my column! I need my column!

And a column they shall have. The change is dramatic. The change is open and inviting. The change makes me want to recycle more and re-use as much as I can. Maybe it doesn’t go that far, but it is like a wave of fresh air as you look up to see the openness and imagine the smiling faces that will be visible not behind the doorframe but around the column. My column. And my column will be green: Sage Green.

We are overjoyed and overwhelmed—the sales associates, the builder, and the project planner have been a complete dream to work with. They’ve carefully reviewed at various stages to let us confirm correctness. We’re all working together with clear communication and a clear objective in mind. Welcome to Green Street: where happiness comes with review and columns spring up over night.

The path to our front door has been poured. The path to our green house. The path to our future.