Cunningham Design Blog

I am doing a photo shoot of the hair salon we just completed in Palo Alto, California.

With moss, succulents, and flowers I created an unusual flower arrangement that is a good lead in for the “green building” practices used for the hair salon.

Get ready to vote for your favorite kitchen in the Architectural Digest ” readers choice” best kitchen.

Voting begins October 6th.

I love talking about interior design, however, I also love talking about nature and the wilderness.

This summer I went camping in Eastern Yosemite.  Lets save places like this forever!

Speaking of green. Lets keep places like this healthy forever!

I found this antique tile fragment on a beach in Collioure, France. What a great surprise to run upon this while strolling the Medierranean. It makes a great coaster and friends wonder where I got this ancient thing.

I found this antique scooter at a yard sale in Oakland California.  This has been used by many children for hours of happy play.  The wood is worn smooth, the wheels are wobbly and red directional has seen thousands of lefts and rights.  I love this in a room.  It gives a room that hmmmm factor.

2 rocks and a porcelain doll head. Make an unexpected sculpture from the natural and the man made. There really is not meaning behind the stack.

This Chaise was built for the 2007 Marin Designer Showcase House to rave reviews.

My goal was to build an upholstered piece of furniture that is “green”, stylish and luxious.  Too often “green” furniture looks utilitarian, rough or crude.

The body of the chaise is built from reclaimed plywood and 2×4’s purchased at the local salvage yard.  Before delivering the wood to my upholsterer,  I pulled out all of  the nails and screws.  OK,  I missed one and he hit it with his saw blade, so be careful! (Dennis was not happy!)

The spring system is made of rubber webbing.

The Foam-  is domestically fabricated latex foam from a foam shop.  I liked the domestic brand much better than the chinese product.  It felt more resilient.   This is a non petroleum foam and does not contain fire retardants, which have been shown to cause reproductive harm to mice and is showing up at alarming rates in human tissue .    I used the 6″ foam for the seat, and 2″ foam which was  rolled for the large bolster.

The foam is then wrapped in dacron.   In this case it was not a  green product, but with some web searching, I bet you can find some made from recycled plastic bottles.

The  beautiful fabric is from “Creation Bauman” a Swiss company and is 100% polyester.  This company has a green certification for its green manufacturing practices.   No pollution  is discharged into the environment.

Add some buttons and a pleated skirt and you have a beautiful, tailored “eco” chaise.

Green means using less natural resources, locally produced, and non toxic.

Decorative painting and murals fit perfectly into the guidelines.

Using low VOC paints, we have completed many dramatic interiors.

Faux marble instead of real marble for walls and trim.  (marble is no longer considered a green resouce)

Faux boise (painted wood) instead of using real wood.  To name a few.

Murals create a whole environment with only paint.

Enjoy,  Scott Cunningham

See a few examples of our painted murals below.

Bathing woman mural

Mural in powder room

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.