BluebirdGroup

Bluebird Group Healthy Homes

Our updated farmhouses are built in the Finnish healthy house tradition right here in the Hudson Valley. Their courtyard designs are inspired by hard working Hudson Valley Farms. This new approach to rural living homes offers the real value of good planning and design.

Every facet of our homes and outbuildings, their sighting and setting in nature, their construction and special features are part of a integrated system designed to offer the best country living experience at a fair price.

Terve Tälo homes are healthy in 3 basic ways:

• Homeowners Combine non toxic construction, sunny interiors and healthy air with easy country living low maintenance designs
• For the local habitat there is less construction waste in the landfill and they tremendously reduce impact on the flora and fauna surrounding the construction site;
• For the planet their world-class energy-saving design reduces emissions from a non-toxic structure engineered to last for generations.

Our manufacturing system uses pre-engineered panels:

The panels are delivered to the home-site and crane assembled for a strong and energy efficient main structure.  Terve Tälo homes are built from the "outside in" and the exterior is finished with roof, siding and trim is added within a matter of days. The panels and pre-built components are crafted in our partner facility located in the New York.  Our partners have produced fine homes for decades, with over a thousand built throughout the Northeast. Terve Tälo has teamed up with this facility to create the best house we can. 

Some milestones in the production of Terve Tälo homes and outbuildings:

The exterior is completed 10 days after the panels are delivered. Siding is applied and finished with the first color coat. The roof is complete and trim is laid on and painted. Gutters and down spouts are finished. The siding is installed with pre-applied primer and weather-exposed color. In clement seasons, the second coat is applied in week 3. The landscape and ground work begin in week 3, as well.


With the exterior complete, we begin the interior fit out. This includes the efficient installation of mechanical systems cabinets and built-ins, hardwood floors and stairs, trim, finish, and finally appliances. This simple approach reduces material waste by over 80% compared to old-school homebuilding methods.
Insulation is a set of carefully designed applications with the right materials for each type of use. Main exterior walls use a blown in cavity fill insulation (BIB) that provides 50-75% better performance than normal roll fiberglass. To compensate for the colder ambient temperatures, north walls get an additional 1 1/2 inches. The rim joist around the foundation level is sprayed with a non-toxic foam application. Roof insulation  is twice as efficient as building codes require.
For heating and cooling we only use the best. The boiler is made in Germany by Veismann.  The size of a large suitcase, it is the most efficient and lowest polluting boiler made for residential use. For the ultimate in comfort the first floor is radiant heat, and the second floor is high velocity warm and cold air. Terve Tälo homes are designed for maximum efficiency.

A Terve Tälo is the "Swiss Army Knife" of homes

These houses are updated farmhouses geared to a 21st century lifestyle.  They showcase stae-of-the-art insulation, a sunny and breezy disposition and inventive practical innovations that add maximum convenience.

A few examples:

The exterior firewood loading hatch: once loaded, the firewood wagon is rolled from the hatch to its "garage" next to the hearth. 

The fire sprinkler system:  when you take a shower or turn on the tap, you're utilizing the entire integrated house fire suppression system;  every home collects rain water from the roof in an underground cistern... you can water the garden, the lawn or wash the car guilt free.

Lighting design: all lighting is inspired by the work of architect Oliver Lundquist, a pioneer in smart residential lighting; task lighting is installed over kitchen counters, gallery lighting and picture rails can be used in the living room; on the exterior, high in the gable ends, valanced fixtures light the entry and landscape around the home, eliminating spill-over light that could diminish night sky quality.


In Scanadinavia, every home has a "mud room" entry. drop the boots and rain gear here, where generous closets, pegs and hangers hold the family's clothes; in the winter months, the mud room acts as an airlock to keep out the winter wind.


Generous screened-in porches: we use hardwood screens that incorporate snap in glazing panels for the bonus of a three season sun-room; inside the home, interior air is constantly being refreshed by clean, fresh, natural air; thus the air inside isn't just nicer to breathe, it's healthier.

Prior to move in, every home goes through a rigorous test for energy efficiency, air quality, fit and finish, and finally receives a stem-to-stern, non toxic scrub down and cleaning. 
You receive a Terve Tälo Country Living Manual with 'x-ray' pictures of all wiring, plumbing and any other hidden components, the paper work for every appliance and fixture and the house warranty. Every detail, labor process, and material choice in your Terve Tälo home is a refined component within an integrated supply chain and construction program.  The goal is to build a healthy home as efficiently as possible.


The Terve Tälo Private Courtyard and Garden

We offer a full panoply of 19th century inspired outbuildings, from carriage houses, guest cottages, greenhouses and "creative cabins" to New England barns, and greenhouses.  Instead of a track home pattern of a lonely house sitting in the middle of a sea of green chemical lawn, Terve Tälo compounds offer an unmatched sense of security and calm. By carefully siting the structures, our compounds breathe a life of their own.

The Bottom Line:

Terve Tälo homes might not follow the latest trend, or exude the latest architectural pretension....


We will offer you a home that conflates comfort with a healthy design that works effortlessly in a country setting.  Our farmhouse courtyard design has been tested by generations of farmers and rural dwellers.  The Houses have a modern sensibility and a sophisticated personality, but the roots of the Terve Tälo home connect to the honesty and straight forward design language of a simple, heroic past.  Built-to-last for generations, they will carry on the tradition of honest quality from whence they came.


• Healthy materials and design to live in, healthy for the land it's on, and minimum waste and maintenance.
• Swedish based Terve Tälo manufacturing allows a craft approach to interior and finish..
• Exterior is completed with 1 color coat 10 days from foundation.  This allows grade and landscape start on day 11.
• Defined 10 foot wide delivery path for the interior trades to load in materials and appliances. This area is the final landscape task when the house is finished in 12 weeks.
• Exterior load hatch and firewood wood Trolley system.
• Vermont Castings cast iron fireplace, Jotul stove or soapstone and masonry hearth
• Airlock Mud-room and Entry.
• Roof cistern stores run off for Garden.
• 3.0 Insulation
• Dual water and fire suppression
• Terve-House  integrated cabinetry systems for den, library,window seats, wardrobes, coat closets and pantry's, etc.
• Generous screened porch living rooms
• Hudson Valley eastern white cedar porch floors.
• Pergolas and arbors
• Exterior lighting with Healthy Homes valance system to protect the night sky.
• Harvested within 200 mile radius Eastern oak, maple, ash or cherry 1st floor and stairs, Swedish hardwood second floor.
• Every kitchen with a inventory pantry
• Task lighting valanced and use specific and Gallery Lighting
• E Component Group Switches for energy savings
• Electronic charge station for portable devices.
• Healthy Whole House Cleaning Systems
• Whole house ventilation
• Great garden patio/deck, climbing plant and garden growing system;  Every House a Garden™

(This is an ever growing and evolving list. We're open to suggestions.)




We're not really into just building you a home. We create country living "compounds" for the ultimate healthy rural lifestyle. We make a whole batch of accessory "outbuildings", including a sauna.  Maybe by building one of them first, you can experience your land in a special way that will help to reveal the choice of the main house
After all, in Scandinavia, when folks get stumped by a particularly gnarly conundrum, they all take a sauna to sweat the answer out.
sauna • creative cabin • piano house • guest cottage • dance studio • standby power shed• carriage barn • automobile shelter • endless pool™ fitness and sauna house • pottery shed • greenhouse • screen sleeping house • horse stable • potting shed • artist studio • tool shed • storage barn • home office • woodworkers craft shop • more to come . . .