Mold eradication was just the beginning for this Austin family's home ...

Personal health is sometimes directly affected by the health of your home. Potential hazards lurk in paint, fibers, electronics ? you name it. No one knows this more than environmental health professor Jules Elkins, who ? along with her political science professor husband, Zach, and their three boys ? set out to create the cleanest, most toxin-free sanctuary in Austin, Texas, possible. They did this by avoiding products with stain-resistant chemicals, flame retardants or any other potential health threat ? an approach that turned their house into a one-of-a-kind breath of fresh air.

After a lot of chopping away and bulldozing ? the previous home was moldy, dilapidated and overgrown with bamboo ? the two-story, three-bedroom house that Furman & Keil Architects designed began to take shape. The catch was a multipage ?healthy house contract,? according to Elkins, that laid out material restrictions for Pilgrim Building Company to adhere to, right down to what kind of wiring could be used. This was to ensure that everything that entered the house didn't turn out to be a Trojan horse of leaching chemical compounds.

As for the design itself, the outdoors-loving homeowners wanted the layout to spill into the big, leafy lot ? they kept a lot of the bamboo. And what better way to celebrate the outdoors than with a screened-in sleeping porch with a queen-size bed? ?There?s always an argument of who gets to sleep out there,? Elkins says. ?Kids, grown-ups, sometimes the whole family. It?s really great.?

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Jules and Zach Elkins, and their 3 boys
Location: Austin, Texas
Size: 3,600 square feet; 3 bedrooms
That's interesting: The kitchen cabinetmaker's mother, a United Nations chief officer of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, assisted the homeowners in finding a sustainable, nontoxic finish.

Source: http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/6495778/list/Houzz-Tour--A-Texas-Home-Gets-a-Healthy--Fresh-Start/

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