Sustainable Home

I had so much fun working with Kirsten. She made the process 10x better for me! She provided other sources for materials I was considering, especially flooring. She also has a great eye for color. I look forward to working with Sustainable Home for my next project - a kitchen "facelift."

Really happy working with Sustainable Home! I live in Texas, and Kirsten / Sustainable Home is based in California, so we have worked together quite successfully via phone, video conferencing, email, and by sharing idea books on Houzz. In early 2019, we engaged Kirsten and her team to come up with (and narrow down!) tile layouts for the remodel of our hall bathroom, on a very short timeline before construction started. Thankfully, my lack of planning did not constitute an emergency for Kirsten. We returned to Sustainable Home this year for a more complete design for our master bathroom -- where the physical work is still pending due to COVID, but we are buying up the materials and hoping to start construction soon. In addition to tile choices and layout, Kirsten designed bespoke cabinetry and vanity for this room. She has a good eye (of course), listens well, and was able to suggest / help us source green materials that we would not have considered otherwise. And I love that she asked to see my master bedroom and 'dream house' idea books to use as further inspiration above and beyond what I had saved for the master bath.

Kirsten was wonderful to work with. She understood my vision for our guest house right away and had the best ideas to further define and implement it. She was flexible and not overly opinionated, always making sure she understood what I wanted, but steering me away from bad decisions! Her execution was impeccable - when the project needed something to be done, whether it was picking fixtures or choosing tile, Kirsten was on it. We love everything Kirsten picked out for us, and are enjoying them every day. She is also just the nicest person. It's wonderful that our community has talent and a resource like Kirsten.

When I realized midway through our remodel that I needed more help with our interior, I contacted Kirsten. She jumped right in and helped us with whatever came up- cabinet design, bathroom fixtures, tile, etc. She is very kind and patient, and did a great job of helping us think through function as well as aesthetics. We were so pleased with how everything turned out!

We used Kirsten for our kitchen remodel and found her help in narrowing down options invaluable. We appreciated how she listened to our wants and incorporated our style into her design. We still love our kitchen and would use her again in a second.

When we moved into a new home in 2015, we decided to do a complete overhaul of our interior. It was time to say goodbye to the old grad school furniture and get something more modern that's a better fit for the space. Partnering with Kirsten was fantastic. She worked to understand our likes and dislikes: color palettes, design aesthetic, material preferences, price range. She brought over material samples and helped assemble the perfect combination of furniture from across a variety of vendors. In some cases, she was even able to negotiate a discount for us. Kirsten was able to walk the fine line between providing her own experienced view of what will look great while also learning and respecting our preferences. Five years later, we couldn't be happier with the spaces that she designed for us.

Sustainable Home helped us choose exterior and interior paint colors for our remodeled home. It was a unique and fun process to arrive at our colors and we love the results! We get compliments all the time on our paint colors and we appreciate the choices Kirsten helped us find every time we look at our walls. We highly recommend Sustainable Home not only for paint color selection but also for advice on lighting, traffic flow, plumbing fixtures, flooring choices that help save our environment, and more. Kirsten is well-versed in the latest 'green' products and is a pleasure to work with.

If you want help making the interior of your home healthier want furnishings that match your environmental values, and care about the life cycle of the products you choose, then Kirsten Flynn's firm, Sustainable Home, is for you. She also offers great home design, creating a space where the style, finishes and colors just work. Earlier in her career, she designed textiles for Levi Strauss, Esprit, and others, so that will tell you how color-savvy she is. What impresses us most about Kirsten is that she's a lifelong learner. She's continually adding to her repertoire of skills and is up to speed on IAQ (indoor air quality) and the latest in LED lighting, which is most appreciated by contractors and clients alike. Finally, she is a great partner for homeowners in assisting them with design and furnishings decisions.

Kirsten had EcoBalanza handcraft two special pieces of non-toxic, eco-conscious, heritage quality upholstered furniture for a client expressing strong concerns about material safety and quality. She was a pleasure to work with on a professional and personal level, with confident ideas and clear communication. She brought strong, research-based knowledge and understanding to the issues at the crossroads where upholstered furniture meets human health and sustainability. If you are seeking design support with concerns about your well being, the value you get for your investment, and your impact on the world, we highly recommend that you consult with Kirsten Flynn & Sustainable Home. All of us at EcoBalanza look forward to our next opportunity to partner with her.

I used Kirsten as an interior designer for my new house project. Kirsten helped me review and select many aspects of the design including flooring materials, tile, plumbing fixtures, wall colors and also facilitated getting a lot of the interior materials ordered. She had some great suggestions during the design of the house layout, and was integral to my kitchen cabinet design. She was a great resource and very quickly understood the design style I was going for. I really enjoyed working with her, and also felt she worked well with my architect and general contractor.

Sustainable Home is the perfect combination of design vision and practicality. Kir helped us envision what we wanted and her design process was easy to follow. She also had a good idea what it would take to get it done and introduced us to contractors who could translate her vision into reality.

Kirsten is professional, knowledgeable, detail-oriented and a pleasure to work with. She is reasonable, practical and understands healthy home products. I don't like to make comparisons, but her knowledge made the process streamlined and easy.

Our first job with Kirsten Flynn was a full remodel of a 1980s guest bathroom in our Santa Clara home. We weren't sure what we wanted, so she encouraged us to explore a little and share our admittedly hesitant likes / dislikes. Wow, that was all it took: When she returned, she had several great options for tile, lighting, vanity, etc. We were impressed that she was able to come up with ideas we liked based on so little information from us. Even as she brings great creative ideas and her informed opinions to the discussion, it feels like she is helping us find and develop our style, not just imposing some other style. Our second job with Kirsten did not involve a remodel. Here we were looking for her help to update the common areas of our house: living room, piano room, and guest bedroom. Our furniture was something of a jumble of hand me downs. Kirsten helped us figure out what was valuable to us, then crafted designs that incorporated those pieces, while also choosing colors, lighting, and supplemental furniture so the rooms feel designed, not random. We had never used a designer before, and we were not sure what to expect. Kirsten put us at ease, with a positive and encouraging attitude that makes her a pleasure to work with. She is knowledgeable about vendors in our area. And she is organized, tracking our decisions and providing us with plans and purchase lists. We have been very happy working with Kirsten!

I really enjoy working with Kirsten. She is a green materials expert. I met her about 10 years ago and she was already on the cutting edge of the green building movement. She also brings an excellent design sense to each project. She manages to balance form and function with sophistication and elegance. I would not hesitate to recommend her to a friend. I am looking forward to the next project we create together.

Kirsten has a great taste. Very easy to work with. She has creative, fun ideas. She is a positive, uplifting person. Highly recommended.

Sustainable Home, Kirsten Flynn has worked on 2 projects in my home which includes Bathrooms, Master Bedroom, and Living Room. My tastes are all over the place! I like pretty, glam, sophisticated, and soft. I've seen other photos of her work. She evidently listens to the client because the other photos I saw were those of a minimalist...which I am not! On my projects we even hand made some art. The latest project is my master. When it is fully complete I will forward some pics to her so she can post them and you can see for yourself. My next project will be a small update in the kitchen and family room. By the way, she is very good at picking out the right paint color.

We first met Kirsten nearly two years ago. Recently, she helped us to select an outdoor countertop, and she continues to be an important part of a team working toward green certification for our remodel. We wanted the healthiest materials possible, and appreciate her beautiful, thoughtful design decisions. Sustainable Home is a perfect name for her business. It’s clear that Kirsten loves her work. She is passionate about the power and impact of design, and she has a genuine commitment to helping clients make sustainable choices. Throughout our project, Kirsten has managed many tasks (choosing tile, countertops, and much more), and I am confident she can handle projects of any size. One of my favorite selections is our kitchen countertop. It’s a healthy, durable material that I can’t ever imagine replacing, plus it is a beautiful color that makes me happy every day. While end results matter, the process of getting there matters a lot, too. Kirsten is easy to work with and flexible. At times, I was able to completely delegate product selection and shopping to Kirsten. She e-mailed photos from her shopping expeditions and kept me in the loop. It saved me a lot of time and energy. It was a huge relief to be able to trust someone to manage our design preferences, budget, and deadlines. I wanted to be more involved in the process at other times. Picking paint colors was so much fun. Kirsten has a simple process that lets you narrow down your choices. Later, we looked at swatches on the walls and made sure it was just right. I love our paint colors. Kirsten is a very talented professional who makes design accessible, fun, and less intimidating for her clients. She works well with other professionals, and has a warm and friendly personality. We are so lucky to have her help, and happily recommend her!

I asked Kirsten to help me with some design ideas on our Eichler in Palo Alto because she has a very well-developed color sense, and was able to note and explain nuances between colors that all looked pretty similar to me. She also helped me to decide which existing furniture to use and what to add - as well as tirelessly looking for just the right rug (she found three- one for each of three very different rooms). Aside from her pleasant and patient demeanor and terrific design sense, Kirsten brings to the table the extremely rare quality of being able to envision the design aspirations of many different clients. Thus, although she has a design sense you can comfortably put your faith in if you want to simply put yourself in her hands, she uses it to help her clients come up with a space that fits their own style instead of imposing her own as so many other designers do. To illustrate this, Kirsten helped me to furnish and paint our Palo Alto Eichler in very MCM and modern feel, while a friend I recommended her to arrived at a much more traditional/contemporary look for her Los Altos home. I also referred a client to her, and she came up with a graceful design for that client's home office, that fit all her organizational needs and still looked terrific. I recommend her entirely and look forward to working with her again in my next home.

This designer is a delight to work with. Kirsten brings a lot to the party: creativity; problem solving, a fantastic eye for color, texture and form; a great sense of humor and warm personality. When you invite someone into your home to work on a project, you are taking a leap of faith on many levels. Kirsten feels like family from the moment you meet her. She will drive around town with you to find the right tile, the right rug, the right sofa or drapes, etc., staying sensitive to budget and time, and doing behind-the-scenes research to zero in on the right solution. She has helped me with several projects in two homes now, and I wouldn't hesitate to work with her again and again.

We are a Design Build company building and remodel throughout the Peninsula. We have used Kirsten @Sustainable homes for her impeccable ideas and experience in sustainable design. She has helped make our clients happy with their remodels. Kirsten has been a great help and knows how to take away all the stress in remodeling a home. She has come up with some very creative ( out of the box) solutions for some difficult design issues. John Hammerschmidt Hammerschmidt Construction Inc.

I found Kirsten and Sustainable Home through Houzz based on the design aesthetic for which I was looking. There were two goals -- first to choose a paint color(s) for the new house and second to figure out whether to reuse or sell existing furniture. paintings and antiques. She was terrific on both goals in the short time frame that we had to make decisions.

My husband and I hired Kirsten/Sustainable Home to help us with our home remodel last fall at the recommendation of our contractor. We liked that she was knowledgeable about environmental issues related to furnishing and designing a home, and we liked what we saw on her website. What we found in working with her was that, in addition to her "green" knowledge, Kirsten brought a lovely and professional personality to the process. She was friendly, flexible, full of good ideas, a good listener, honest, and good at discerning what my husband and I would like for our decor (in other words, she worked with our vision for the house rather than pushing her own agenda). We were working on a tight timeline, and she was able to pull the project together in time, with just a few non-essential odds and ends remaining that have since been completed. We were incredibly pleased with the results in our home. Choosing to work with her gave us a home we love being in, saved us untold hours of searching for different products on our own, and probably saved us a good bit of money, too, since she was able to focus and direct us. I have recommended her to other friends with pleasure.