A Green Apartment Remodel: Accidental Environmentalists

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“For us, it’s all about color,” Amy adds. Bergman, who played with orange for the first time on this project, says bringing in color when using eco-materials was a challenge to overcome. “A lot of the colors are just rather bland,” he says.

Bumps in the road

As with any project, this one was not without its bad moments. “In the end, it came out beautifully,” says contractor Robert Politzer, president of Greenstreet Construction, “but it’s a classic story of the sometimes bloody process involved in the learning curve with green materials. This field is transforming so rapidly that with every project there’s a new material we’ve never worked with.”

Greenstreet ran into troubles when installing the cork floor; as with any resilient surface, it transmits all the bumps in the subfloor below. The original, recycled-glass tiles used on the kitchen backsplash also showed every imperfection and mottling; they had to be replaced with another brand that had a thin opaque backing.

Both Oscar and Politzer describe the original concrete countertop as simply “a nightmare.” Extremely porous, the concrete showed every scratch, every dent. Amy and Oscar tried to live with it for a few months, but they eventually decided to tear it out and replace it with IceStone. The Schachters love the new material’s sparkling green color and durability, and Oscar likes that it’s manufactured in his native Brooklyn.

Politzer is proud of the result, despite his firm’s struggles. “Construction is always a challenge, and this is construction in New York City, for God’s sake,” he says. “I’d advise other builders not to be allergic to green materials—but just to be aware of the learning curve.”

The Schachters are also thrilled. “We’re pleased we could do all this and stay within budget,” Amy says. “David was just great at finding all the right stuff.”

A Conversation with the Homeowners

What do you love most about the remodeled apartment?
Oscar Schachter: It’s a wonderful space for cooking, and at the same time, I can be with our guests and be a part of what’s going on.
Amy Schachter: For me, it’s the way the entire space works. And the color, I just love the color. It makes me happy every day when I get out of bed in the morning. It makes me smile.

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