When it comes to buying green, many of us get lost in an idealist quagmire of striving for perfection. Terrified of being party to "greenwashing" scams, we poke at claims of environmentalism with skepticism. It's not enough to be greener, we surmise, when we should be looking for the greenest. The major problem with this philosophy is that it leaves little room for celebrating the small steps that add up to great change. As Voltaire said, "the perfect is the enemy of the good" - words we should take to heart when we're beating ourselves up for not buying local, organic celery when simply local celery was $2 cheaper.

Building green, like much of the ever-widening green movement, falls very much under this curse of perfectionism. In a utopian world, everything we purchased, ate or lived in would be environmentally sound. We're not there yet though, so every step we take toward that ultimate goal is a positive step. Everything from swapping the lights in our homes for compact fluorescent bulbs to planting drought-resistant landscaping makes a difference. The cumulative effect of our actions today-both positive and negative-will determine the health of the planet far into the future.

With this in mind, there are many ways to build green, but one great way is to build small. By building or buying a small home, you can reduce your carbon footprint and lower your construction and energy-usage costs all in one fell swoop, even without making any other changes.

One local homeowner decided to build small and called on Ballard builder/remodeler, Axiom Design/Build, to create an airy, open-feeling home for him in Whatcom County. The owner had picked up a steep lot in a gated community outside Bellingham, but wanted to stray far from the typical gated community-style home. As the owner of his own construction company that focuses on land development and native habitat restoration, the owner wanted the home to blend seamlessly with the elements and open to the outdoors. He asked Axiom to create a funky, budget-conscious, small-scale home that took advantage of the natural landscape with the caveat that there must be room for entertaining small and large groups, and adequate space to house visiting friends from Seattle.