CalFinder Writing Department

With a passion for remodeling, architecture and green building, the CalFinder Writing Team goes above and beyond to bring you the best of innovative home design. We welcome your comments, questions and friendly hellos!

Writers

Kayla Albert
A freelance writer by trade and an artist at heart, Kayla is a spastic go-getter who likes to believe she is on the cutting edge of new trends in any arena. When she isn’t playing with words, she is most likely enthralled by some horrific reality show or reading a new self-help book. Before joining the fantastic CalFinder team, Kayla worked towards her bachelor’s degree in English Writing from the University of Colorado at Denver. She is committed to bringing a quirky edge to remodeling ideas and home design. You can also read Kayla’s work at Confessions of a Perfectionist.

Margaret Everton
Margaret ran a design boutique in Beverly Hills before designing and consulting about children’s spaces privately. She also consults and writes often about efficient living and green design. In this web-wide world of design, Margaret offers virtual consulting and design packages, and love to help create successful spaces.

She believes that a deliberate environment increases the happiness of families and individuals—deliberate in style and aesthetics as well as functionality. The oldest of six children, and a parent of two, Margaret has also personally seen how good design matters. In the hustle of daily life, sometimes the greatest parental tool is a calm atmosphere in which to unwind and engage with each other.

You can see Margaret’s work on bonbon living and houzz.

Dan Harding
Dan Harding is a well-versed veteran of solar critique, commentary and reporting. He has published well over 1,000 articles on a wide variety of solar industry topics, ranging from cutting-edge technology and gadgetry to political satire and powerful editorials. Dan is both the resident solar and construction expert at CalFinder. He holds a B.A. in English from Michigan State University, and enjoys cooking, writing and home remodeling.

Jeanne Roberts
After leaving the corporate world (first as a California reporter and then as a communications specialist at a large public utility), Jeanne Roberts returned to freelance writing, where she has worked for the past five years as an editor for a small-cap stock site, and as an environmental/political/social justice blogger for The Panelist, Celsias, Cooler Planet, DeSmogBlog, Energy Boom, SolveClimate.com and, most recently, CalFinder.

She also works now and then as a stringer for the regional Shoreview Press (Minnesota), and, in 2009, completed a book called Green your Home, which offers alternative energy, sustainable home building, and environmental best practices tips to homeowners.

Editorial Management

Brittany Mauriss
Brittany Mauriss is the Creative Content Editor for CalFinder. When she isn’t busy scouring the web for insanely cool content to bring you, she can usually be found biking around Berkeley or fantasizing about the day she’ll own a solar-powered houseboat with a live-in organic foods chef. She is most proud of her diverse and talented freelance writers, all of whom bring a unique voice to the world of architecture and home remodeling. Brittany received her B.A. from UCLA in English & Creative Writing. Before CalFinder, she worked as a grant writer and director of grassroots marketing for the academic community. She likes long walks and sci-fi movies.

Taylen Peterson
Living and writing the green cause, Taylen works behind the scenes at CalFinder’s Home Solar website. He’s trying to make solar information as transparent and accessible as possible to anyone interested in learning more. Exploring San Francisco, fighting for a clean energy future, keeping up on daily sports and making music are just a few of his favorite pastimes, but he is always looking for new ones. Taylen received his degree in Marketing from the University of Minnesota before moving west and joining the CalFinder team.

Dean Dowd
Dean has been the Chief Technical Officer of CalFinder since 2007. He commonly blogs about remodeling trends and green home improvement.