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Decor in shades of green.
For interior designer Scott Cunningham, an allergic reaction turned out to be a blessing in disguise. “I became passionate about healthy green design about eight years ago,” he said,”when I was becoming increasingly sensitive to the offgassing of petrochemicals- a significant ingredient of many materials used on our homes and offices.”
See the link below for the full story from the SF Chronicle.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/14/HOII17VK5M.DTL
If you had to choose one area in your home to model green, it should be your child’s room.
We all want to create the perfect baby’s room, a warm colorful safe place for our children to thrive.
However many of the common items available for us are filled with toxic chemicals.
Children, especially newborns are highly susceptable to the ill effects of toxins.
The main words to remember when designing a nursery are,
IMPROVE THE INDOOR AIR QUALITY.
Research and wise choices make all the difference when shopping for Jane or Johnny’s room.
Cute is not a good enough reason to buy.
Here are some of my recommendations.
NO WALL TO WALL CARPETING
Most carpeting contains formadehyde and a variety of other offgassing chemicals such as toluene, benzene, ethyl benzene, styrene, acetone to name a few.
Also, carpeting is very difficult to keep clean and collects outdoor polutants that sink deep into the soft fibers of the rug. This is the very place you want to lay your child down to learn to crawl.
BUY AN AREA RUG
An area rug made of organic cotton, or organic wool are the best if they are backed with jute and not binded by glue.
Never use Scotch Guard type stain repellants. They are toxic and have been shown to cause reproductive damage in mice.
REMODEL EARLY
Get your room designed and finished well before the birth of your child. This gives the room some time to offgas.
USE ONLY NON “VOC” PAINTS
This is a great way to add color with out the toxins.
Safecoat paint
Mythic paint
Ben Moore- Natura
FINISH THE FLOOR EARLY
Use only wterbased low VOC products. If you paint use, no VOC paints.
WINDOW TREATMENTS
Use organic fabrics for drapes
Use non PVC for shades. (MechoShades)or natural woven shades.
BEDDING
Use an organic mattress with no flame retardant if you can find it. Many states are required to flame retard items.
Use organic bedding. Babies spend most of their time here.
FURNITURE
New furniture is often lacquered and takes months to offgas. Some of the stuff from China is particularly irritating. An alternative to lacquer is to buy beautiful used pieces and paint them with non toxic paints.
Avoid all particle board pieces. Most particle board is manufactured with formaldehyde glues. If it has the “greenguard” certification it will not have formaldehyde.
Finally, it is impossible to avoid all chemicals but if you use some of these steps you will greatly improve the indoor air quality.
Green is still a developing trend for interior design. Many people want what they want and be damned if it’s green.
However, there are many reasons why green design makes sense and a couple of them are dwindling resources and poor indoor air quality. One is for the health of the planet and the other is for the health of our families. Eventually they become the same issue. The most significant thing we can do to be green is to stop building massive single family homes. As an interior designer I have seen some of the biggest and I would always opt for smaller and better designed. Personally I have always hated that echo sound that comes from huge vaulted rooms. So lets think small and beautiful.
Here is what smaller can offer.
A smaller footprint and a larger green space, perhaps room to throw in a beautiful vegetable garden like the Obama’s.
The respect of your neighbors No one likes the family that builds the behemoth next to your normal size home.
Smaller energy bills It takes ALOT of energy to power a large building.
Higher quality finishes Quality finishes make a big difference in the beauty of your home. It costs less to use high end products if your not covering acres of surface.
Less toxic products Spend a bit more for less toxins, such as no VOC paints, low VOC glues and non formaldehyde building materials (plywood and insulation)
Better quality furniture Less building means more money for finer furniture that can last generations.
Locally made Buy custom pieces made by local crafts people. This cuts the carbon footprint of shipping from China and you can have a “one of a kind”! Buy locally, it also helps the economy where you live.