interior

Part 15 of our 15-part Q&A series on all aspects of green building from the publishers of HealthyHouseInstitute.com. Click here for the introductory post and furthur details.

Question: I can’t tolerate the artificial fragrances in laundry products. Are there any healthier options?

Answer: There are a number of fragrance-free products, and they’re also often available at health-food stores or co-op groceries.

If you live in or near a large city, look in the telephone directory under Chemical Suppliers. There should be companies listed that sell all kinds of nasty industrial chemicals. However, they also often sell unscented borax, or unscented washing soda (sometimes called sal soda, or sodium sesquicarbonate)—both of which can be used in the laundry. You may need to purchase 50-100# bags, but buying in bulk is considerably cheaper per pound than buying in small quantities. Sometimes, adding a cup of white vinegar to the wash water can help remove odors.

You may run into another problem with artificial fragrances if you’re shopping for a new washer or dryer. That’s because many manufacturers put scented samples of detergent or fabric softener inside new machines at the factory. If you can’t get a company to ship an appliance without free samples, your best solution is to remove the offending products from the washer or dryer immediately. Then, run the washer (without clothes) several times with unscented borax, baking soda, or white vinegar until the odor dissipates. Likewise, run the empty dryer on its highest temperature setting until all the perfume odors are gone. If your utility room has a window, keep it open during the entire “decontamination” period.

Question: How important is it to use unscented cleaning products and cosmetics, and natural-fiber clothing?

Answer: Scents and perfumes very often trigger reactions in chemically sensitive people and they bother many individuals with conventional allergies. We feel it’s very important to use unscented products throughout your home. Because fragrances are formulated to spread and cling, they can quickly saturate an entire house and be difficult to remove.

Scented cosmetics can be especially problematic for sensitive people because they’re applied directly to the skin. Your clothing is also in direct contact with your skin. We’ve found that untreated natural-fiber clothing (cotton, wool, linen, ramie, hemp, etc.) is a good option because it outgases no synthetic odors. And, we choose only those items that can be easily cleaned at home with unscented laundry products.

Question: The house we just moved into smells perfumy. What can I do to remove the odor?

Part 14 of our 15-part Q&A series on all aspects of green building from the publishers of HealthyHouseInstitute.com. Click here for the introductory post and furthur details.

Question: We’re getting ready to move into our new healthy house. Do you have any additional advice?

Answer: Congratulations! By using healthy building materials and installing a ventilation system, you now have a healthy structure. However, you must realize that what you put inside your house is just as important as how you built it. We’ve heard of cases where healthy houses were filled with unhealthy furnishings and maintained with unhealthy cleaning products. The result was poor indoor air quality. Fortunately, there are plenty of healthy products out there that can be substituted for all the unhealthy ones. Lynn Bower's book, The Healthy Household, goes into interiors in considerable depth, but the following questions and answers cover the highlights.

Question: Antique furniture was made before particleboard and other synthetic materials became popular, so it’s healthy, right?

Answer: Not necessarily, old furniture can be contaminated with musty smells, tobacco smoke, pesticides, and perfume odors—all things that affect air quality. Some pieces are actually moldy. If an antique piece has been refinished recently, it may be bothersome because of a noxious stripper that was used, or because of an oil-based stain or finish.

We have an antique oak desk that belonged to John’s great grandmother. Over the years it picked up a wide variety of odors, and it was too bothersome to bring it into our healthy house. We thought about stripping the finish off ourselves (3M has a low-tox product that’s widely available called Safest Stripper), but decided to take it to a commercial stripper. They had more powerful stripping chemicals, the correct safety equipment, and they knew where to properly dispose of the spent stripper and old finish. Once it was stripped, it didn’t have the original odors, but it did smell of stripper. So, we put it in the garage and let it air out for a couple of months. Once it was aired out, we finished it with a water-based urethane floor finish. It’s now odor free and sitting in our entry hall.

Question: I think outgassing from some of my new upholstered furniture is affecting my health. Any suggestions?

This is the fun part: Finally, I am creating the "honey do" list of... stuff my HUSBAND needs to do so that as soon as the casa ti, one of our modern kit homes, is finished we can put it all together in the interior quickly. Interior design choices are an area where people can take deliberate steps to reuse, recycle and reduce their lifestyle while creating a welcoming environment they will happily share with friends and family.

(Ooooookay, maybe I'll help him a little... : ) )

Fortunately, through years of using eagle eyes while thrift shopping and scouring local yard sales, we have squirreled away some fabulous, recycled finds. But now we need to buff 'em up, and have 'em ready and waiting for the move. Recycled / reused items include:

• A precious 1950's blonde desk/drawer for my daughter's room $15
• A long, simple yet formal Owen-Suters mahoghany dining table $150
• Dining chairs - you won't believe 'em till ya see 'em but they're so simple and mod and beautiful $15 a pop
• Knoll couch found in an antique store that specialized in "Virginia colonial" $65 Bwha-hahahaha!
• Two matching coooooooooool open ended rounded corner bookcases, veddy mod $30
• A Danish 1950s china cabinet $100
• 12 piece silverplated flatware- an entire set from the 1960s $65
• A plethora of assorted dishes / serving pieces / bowls etc. Hmmm... I have no idea the actual cost as I've been collecting that stuff for years but I assure you they were cheap, cheap, cheap!
• Various recycled lamps (I'm sure I can spare a few in here ; ) ) $10-ish bucks a pop
• Awesome coffee press of unknown origin but makes like 18, yes, 18 cups! Woo! $5
• Cool 1970s fabric art piece I bought at a yard sale for $15

And now, to look for and try to find in our local reuse stores like Habitat For Humanity's Restore and Caravati's:

• A cool tub (more on that later because there is a feature David Day, the LEED accredited architect, designed that I need to be careful of when choosing a tub plus it needs to fit with a composting toilet in that space)
• Plain sink for the kitchen island (more on that in a later post)
• Marine stove top (propane powered since the house is off grid)
• Juice glasses for thirsty-clamoring-for-water children!
• Wine glasses for, um, thirsty-clamoring-for-wine adults!

So... sweetie-my-dearest-husband... that's all we have to do! Honey... Get on it! ; )

Part 13 of our 15-part Q&A series on all aspects of green building from the publishers of HealthyHouseInstitute.com. Click here for the introductory post and furthur details.

Question: How healthy are most kitchen cabinets?

Answer: As a rule, the majority of new cabinets—kitchen, bath, etc.—are quite unhealthy. This is because manufacturers all use man-made wood products—hardboard, particle board, and plywood—which contain a potent urea-formaldehyde glue. Even expensive cabinets are made with these materials, and they outgas formaldehyde for years. Although the doors and drawer fronts may be made of solid wood, the end panels, backs, shelves, drawer bottoms, and drawer sides are made of noxious wood products. They can have an attractive thin wood veneer on the surface, but it does little to block formaldehyde. Some manufacturers claim they make their cabinets out of “solid wood,” but they’re playing games with definitions. If you ask if they use plywood, they’ll answer, "Yes, that plywood is solid wood."

When man-made wood products have a plastic or vinyl surfacing, it can block some of the emissions, but almost never enough for sensitive people to tolerate new cabinets. This is because in commercially made cabinets, the plastic or vinyl surfacing rarely covers all the edges, and it often has holes drilled in it for shelf supports.

While the cabinet materials are bad enough, the clear finishes used are often worse. Most manufactures use a urea-formaldehyde clear finish that is one of the strongest formaldehyde emitters found in houses. The good news is that it’s so powerful, it’s usually done outgassing after 4-6 months. After that, you’ve still got the formaldehyde in the plywood, particle board, and hardboard to contend with.

Question: Can’t I just coat problem cabinets with a sealant to make them safe?

Part 12 of our 15-part Q&A series on all aspects of green building from the publishers of HealthyHouseInstitute.com. Click here for the introductory post and furthur details.

Question: Why don’t you like certain types of carpeting?

Answer: Some carpets are high emitters of VOCs. Choose low-VOC types.

Question: What’s the best kind of carpet to buy?

Answer: Look for those rated by the Carpet and Rug Institute's Green Label Program. Otherwise, the best advice we can give is to look for a product with as little odor as possible. It’ll help to take someone along with you who has a good sense of smell when you go shopping for carpet and padding. This is imperfect advice because some of the chemicals outgassed don’t have an odor. If you can’t find a low-odor carpet, you can roll it out in an uncontaminated garage and let it air out there before you bring it indoors for installation. Furthermore, you should install the carpet with tack strips rather than an adhesive.

Many people believe natural-fiber carpets are inherently healthier. Sometimes they are, but that’s not always the case. Natural fibers are often chemically dyed or treated and wool carpet is routinely treated with mothproofing chemicals. Actually, some 100%-nylon carpets are less bothersome than some natural carpets. Whatever kind of carpet you choose, we highly recommend using a central vacuum cleaner to maintain it.

Area rugs may offer advantages over carpet. First of all, you can often find them locally made of cotton or other natural fibers at reasonable prices. Some may even been dyed using natural plant dyes. If they have any odor when new, they can usually be laundered in a washing machine or hung outdoors until odor-free. As a result, they're much easier to keep clean than wall-to-wall carpet. If a larger area rug won’t fit in your washing machine, you can take it outdoors and beat it over a line—but be sure and wear a good dust mask.

Question: Wood floors are always a healthy flooring choice, right?

Part 11 of our 15-part Q&A series on all aspects of green building from the publishers of HealthyHouseInstitute.com. Click here for the introductory post and furthur details.

Question: I’ve heard that plaster is a healthy material. What are its advantages and disadvantages?

Answer: You buy plaster as a powder, mix it with water, then apply it to a surface where it hardens. Once completely cured, the plaster is very inert and rock-like. Although most people can’t detect any odor after a few days, a few sensitive people have said that they’re bothered by a slight odor for a month or so.

In the past, 2-3 coats of plaster were commonly applied on top of thin strips of wood lath. In some commercial applications it’s still applied in a similar manner, but it’s usually put over to metal lath instead of wood. However, the most common way to use plaster today involves skimming one or two thin coats over a gypsum-board material. The gypsum board has a blue paper face, so it’s usually called blueboard.

Most of the time, plaster walls are painted. For sensitive people who are bothered by paint, plaster has the advantage of being hard, durable, and scrubbable enough that you can actually leave it unpainted. While most plaster is white, it can sometimes be tinted (before its applied) with the same kinds of mineral pigments that bricklayers use in mortar.

As far as drawbacks, plaster is more brittle than drywall and, if it ever cracks, it’ll no longer be airtight. Plaster costs more than drywall, primarily because of the skilled labor required. In some parts of the country, plaster is widely used. But, in other areas, it’s been totally replaced with drywall.

Question: What makes drywall different from plaster?

Italian food has firmly staked its claim as one of the world's most popular cuisines. A treat for the eyes, nose, and taste buds, it's easy to see why the kings and queens of pasta live such happy and healthy lives.

The sights and smells of the Italian countryside serve as inspiration for California based Nomine's line of soy candles. Pronounced "noh-mi-neh", Nomine "simply means 'name' in Latin and was chosen to celebrate the power of the meaning behind names."

Started by Nancy Covello as part of her dedication to alternative health therapies and a vegetarian lifestyle, all of Nomine's burning beauties are made from only soybean wax and essential oils - 100% free of petroleum ingredients found in "traditional" paraffin candles.

Our wax burns longer, cooler, and clearer than paraffin candle waxes, with little to NO carbon build-up. Soy wax does not produce black soot, which can leave residue on furnishings and walls. The wax is made predominantly from domestically grown crops supporting U.S. farmers and the economy.

Available in both jars and as tea lights, there are four scents in the Nomine collection, each representing one of the four seasons. You can buy each candle individually from the Nomine website, or as set of all four seasons (shown above, includes a box of matches). Each of the candles in the "Botanical Jar Collection" feature a beautifully applied image on their glass jars, adding both pleasant smells and sights to your own eco-abode.

Efficient, attractive design is at the heart of modern culture. The basis of all Swedish creations is that it has to be both beautiful to look at and useful in a straightforward way. Embracing the advantages of intelligent design is helping to move the green lifestyle even more mainstream than it was in the 1960s.

But where do we go to buy all of these products with smart design and sustainable features combined? One of my personal favorites is the Branch online store, based right here in San Francisco.

As a social activity, shopping gets us out into the various neighborhoods in our city, allowing us to connect with other people along the way. As a cultural excursion, it gives us a chance to discover what’s new and interesting in the world. At the same time, there’s an element to shopping that we find quite troubling. We buy things that appeal to us—we love a product’s styling, for example—though we may have little idea of where a product comes from. Instead of asking people to stop shopping (which is, of course, pretty darn impractical), what if we changed the paradigm of shopping itself?

Everything from larger items; like furniture and lighting; to home and lifestyle accessories; such as pillows, plates, and dog toys; are available in this easy-to-navigate web store. Well-known eco-brands like Amenity, Bambu, Ting and K Studio are featured. Looking for something special? Check out the smaller, local collections such as Perch!, Esque and Dwelling. Ready to outfit your sustainable abode? Then Branch is your one-stop-shop for modern interiors.

The common idea is that anything sustainable or eco-conscious has to be sparse or spiritless. A whole host of companies have been started in just the past decade, bent on changing this outdated concept.

Nestled in the bohemianly urban city of Providence, Rhode Island, Balanced Design began as a simple idea while founder Melissa Cox walked the streets of Paris. Working as a logo designer gave her the power to find beauty in simple and abstract shapes.

Embracing the beauty of design; color, shape, and form; Balanced Design's home accessories (currently a striking collection of pillows made from hemp, linen, wool felt, and organic cotton flannel) prove that being green is an essential part of modern style.

Started by Marin County, California's Kimberly Rider, Atmosphera is a full-service, broad-range interior design firm. In particular, they specialize in working with homeowners, real estate professionals, and developers to create personal, custom designs.

"People are becoming aware that design is all around them, ...not only in retail environments, but on the web, on television and in the growth of home improvement”, says Kimberly. “They understand they have the power to change their environments. I built this company to provide the guidance and resources necessary to help clients realize their own sense of style."

A featured guest expert on HGTV's "Curb Appeal", Kimberly has also authored two green living books for Chronicle Books of San Francisco. The first, published in 2006, is titled "The Healthy Home Workbook" - which leads the way to creating a space that is friendly to the environment, reflects the owner's personal style, and won't break the bank. Released in February of this year is her second non-fiction book, titled "Organic Baby" - offering parents dozens of solutions that fit their priorities and their lifestyle—and their budget.

The range of services Atmosphera offers includes (but is not limited to): detailed landscaping; color consultation; space planning; light remodeling; and custom furniture, window coverings, bedding, and textiles. As a Co-op America Approved Green Business and a Registered Bay Area Green Business, Atmosphera is truly dedicated to making sustainable living beautiful and beneficial.