My House: There’s Nothing Complicated About Emma Allen’s Asheville Home

"The house meets all the requirements for being a Green Built Home," says Smith, referring to a sustainable building standard local to North Carolina. "As part of that process, we focused on making the home super energy efficient and I learned all sorts of weird insulating techniques on YouTube. The result is that you can’t hear external noises once you’re inside. Even I was pretty shocked by the dead silence."