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| your first home: go green! |
Go Green! Deborah Marks |
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There is good news! Contemporary Light with its emphasis on “light” is inherently green. The idea is to streamline your home with fewer but higher-quality, thus longer-lasting items. You are making your life easier and simpler, and contributing to maintaining the environment at the same time. What could be better? What exactly does Green Design mean? Basically, it means incorporating more products into our homes which are natural and from easily renewable resources. They should be environmentally friendly in production and in usage. It also means buying products made of recyclable materials, or even incorporating materials from salvage yards into your home design. Products containing chemicals harmful to humans and to the environment should be eliminated or purchased sparingly. PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds, such as formaldehyde, zylene and toluene) are the most common ones and should be avoided. Fortunately, there are many organizations that have sprung up to control and report on the level of toxicity in day-to-day consumer products. Be aware when you are purchasing items. Check out labels and always question the sales personnel. Saving energy is another way to “go green.” Appliances and lighting fixtures are on the market that do just that! Let’s explore how we can “go green” by incorporating the elements of Green Design into a contemporary environment.
Be careful of the quality when purchasing bamboo for flooring. If it’s not mature enough, it will be too soft and leave imprints in the floor. If the price the bamboo seems too good to be true, it probably is. Be willing to pay more for better quality. If you prefer hardwood flooring, check to see if it is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood. This means that the lumber comes from well-managed Other natural and renewable alternatives are linoleum and cork. Linoleum has come a long way since the ‘50s when it was frequently used in kitchens and baths. Don’t confuse it with vinyl linoleum, which is a man-made, petroleum-based product. Linoleum is made from sawdust and linseed oil and is therefore biodegradable. There are also no harmful VOC emissions as there are in vinyl linoleum. Today, linoleum comes in many colors and patterns. Just be sure to use a water-based, low or zero VOC adhesive when installing the linoleum. It’s worth a try.
If you want tile, see if you can’t get it with recycled content or even reclaimed tiles. If you would like something even softer underfoot, try all-wool carpets, which are available at the Green Fusion Design Center in San Anselmo, CA. Linda Delair, of Green Fusion, suggests Nature’s Carpet, with a jute backing, or Earthweave, with a combination hemp/cotton or jute backing, and natural latex as an adhesive. According to Linda, “Both carpets are ideal for those with allergies, with chemical sensitivities, with younger children, or for those with a strong interest in environmentally-sound carpet.”
Paint is a “must” for designing a home in the Contemporary Light style. Paint colors set the mood for the room and throughout the entire house. I have recommended paint as a finish in the majority of rooms to underscore the basic principle of keeping it simple. The smell of a freshly painted room is very familiar. You may even like it. But did you know that the odor is very toxic and unhealthy? VOCs are the reason for the smell and are present to varying degrees in almost all paints. In recent years, paint manufacturers have been working to reduce the percentage of VOCs in paint. The state of California has the strictest VOC regulations in the country. Each well-known paint company now has a line of environmentally- friendly paints. For example, Sherwin Williams offers “Harmony”; Benjamin Moore, “Eco Spec Products”; and Kelly Moore, “Enviro-Cote” interior acrylic paints. They are more costly than regular paints, but well worth the price.
Perhaps you’d like an accent wall done in wallpaper. The typical, easy-to-clean wallpapers are made with PVC. Remember the dangerous, disagreeable odor of fresh paint? They are present in wallpaper in the form of polyvinyl chloride, which has been rated by the Environmental Protection Agency to be a human carcinogen. In a San Francisco Chronicle article dated June 28, 2006, author Beth Greer suggests some natural alternatives to regular wall coverings. Among them are WallTek of Hollingsworth & Vose, with a non-woven wall covering without PVC and formaldehyde; MDC Wallcoverings, which uses natural materials, and Wolf-Gordon with its new EarthSafe collection of “natural, renewable or recyclable materials and cellulose harvested from managed forests. The wall coverings at Wolf-Gordon can even be returned after their normal life-cycle for credit. So you have lots of choices to start making your home environmentally sound. The alarm has been sounded, and, fortunately companies are responding with newer, safer products. And many “green” showrooms have sprung up in the last ten years in our neighborhoods, offering the consumer an alternative to the regular shelf products. In the next article I will be discussing furniture and fabrics, which are environmentally friendly, and lighting possibilities, designed to be more energy-efficient. |
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Green Design in the home is taking off! Not a day goes by without hearing or reading about green living and its impact on the environment.
Bamboo has been the buzzword for the last few years. It’s renewable; that is, it can replace itself in about 5 to 9 years. In comparison, a tree takes approximately 30 years or more to reach maturity. Although bamboo is a plant it can be manufactured as flooring or can be used in cabinetry. In a Contemporary Light environment, it would be most welcome.
forests, not forests that are being plundered and left bare. Or why not try the salvage yards for reclaimed hardwood floors? You might even find an exotic wood that you wouldn’t (shouldn’t) be able to get elsewhere. Addresses for recycled and salvaged products, as well as many other items are listed at the end of the article.
Cork is also a natural product, which comes from the outer bark of a cork oak tree. The bark is harvested about every 9 years, and the tree is left intact. A contemporary architect of his time, Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the first in the US to use cork, in 1937, as a flooring material in his Falling Waters house in Pennsylvania. It’s soft and warm underfoot, and comes in many different colors to match varying decors. 
Another of Linda’s choices is Flor carpet tiles from Interface. They are quite colorful and can be used to create many interesting patterns. “Interface,” says Linda, “is known for their outstanding social and environmentally responsible efforts.”
Eco Design Resources in San Carlos, California, offers four paint lines that have low or VOCs. And if you prefer not to paint, Paige Loczi, a consultant at EcoDesign Resources, says that the “hottest product” at the moment is their plaster; “It’s getting a lot of feedback.” Plaster workshops are also available at their showroom.