| Printed
with permission-Real Money -FEATURE ARTICLE - JAN/FEB 2007
Green
Interior Design Tips Find
sustainable ways to redo your space with low- or no-VOC paints, green flooring,
recovered furniture, Fair Trade housewares, and more. Your
home is where you socialize, relax, cook, raise your children, and sometimes work—so
you want it to be inviting and nurturing. If it isn’t the way you want it
to be, you don’t have to be a professional designer, or a millionaire, or
use a ton of resources to make your rooms look like a million bucks. We talked
to some experts specializing in green interior design to learn their favorite
tricks for making an old space feel new without breaking the bank. Follow these
tips to create a space that rejuvenates your spirit and is healthy for your family.
Remake Your Space
With Color
Perhaps
the easiest way to make a big change in a room is to bring in some color by painting
one or more of the walls. Think about the purpose of a room when choosing a color,
says Norma Lehmeier Hartie, owner of design firm Harmonious Environment and author
of Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify & Energize Your Life, Your Home
& Your Planet (Lingham Press, 2007). Warm colors, like reds and yellows, are
stimulating and therefore good for social rooms. Cooler colors, like blues and
greens, are best for calming spaces, like the bedroom. Most
traditional paints are heavy in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), a class of
chemicals that may cause health problems ranging from dizziness to nerve damage.
In addition, they may contain toxic fungicides (to prevent mildew) and biocides,
as well as chemical pigments for color. Fortunately,
there are several brands of less-toxic paint that our green designers recommend
to their clients. They suggest looking for nontoxic, natural paints, which are
often made from milk protein (called “casein”) or clay, and come in
a wide array of colors. Our
designers love AFM Safecoat paint, which is zero-VOC, for its diversity—you’ll
have to have a local store add pigments to achieve your desired color. For a completely
natural paint with pigments included, try those from Auro USA . Rethinking
Your Flooring Many
of the designers we spoke to said they recommend ripping out wall-to-wall carpets
as an important step toward making a healthy and beautiful home. While the wall-to-wall
carpets in many homes look soft and inviting, they’re notorious for harboring
allergens and trapping toxins like pesticides that get tracked in from outside,
according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI).
Most synthetic carpets also contain VOCs. If
you can’t afford to replace your carpeting, you can spray on a product like
AFM’s carpet sealer (which does not contain dangerous chemicals) to seal
in offgassing toxins that are a particular problem with newer carpets. Vacuum
weekly with a HEPA vacuum to pick up allergens. But
if you’re able, consider replacing your wall-to-wall carpet with a sustainable
hard floor made of responsibly harvested wood, reclaimed wood, renewable bamboo,
or cork. Or, you can choose a low toxicity, 100 percent wool wall-to-wall carpet
from a green company like Pure Home Center , which recommends its carpet for chemically
sensitive customers. For
added softness and warmth, you can cover your floors with all-natural area rugs
made from wool, hemp, or organic cotton, as rugs are easier to clean than wall-to-wall
carpeting. “Area
rugs are fantastic because they define a particular space, but make sure they
match the colors and textures in the rest of your room,” says Hartie. For
an array of eco-friendly flooring and rug options, see the “Flooring”
and “Carpets/Rugs” categories of our National Green Pages™.
Work
With What You've Got
Audrey
Hoodkiss, owner of Ecology by Design , often amazes her clients without having
to buy a thing. “Creating
a new room can be so easy,” she says. “It can be just about rearranging
or revamping what you’ve got and seeing it from a new perspective.”
• Simply rearranging
existing furniture can have a profound effect on a room. Designers recommend that
you consider how light and energy flow in a given space when rearranging, thinking
about balance and functionality. If a room has an “off-kilter” feel
to it, seek balance by mixing different sizes of furniture and making sure that
most furniture isn’t all in one end of the room. “An
imbalanced room would have large pieces of furniture grouped together on one end
and lightweight furniture and bare walls at the other,” says Hartie. “The
effect would be like being on a tilting boat in a storm.” Also,
Hoodkiss recommends gathering furniture into “conversation groups” to
make it easy for people to talk to one another. Green living expert and author
Annie Bond adds that round tables are particularly welcoming for guests, because
“everyone feels like they belong.” Finally,
consider whether there’s space for people to walk through comfortably. Look
at common paths through the room, and make sure not to obstruct them. “Don’t
sacrifice a comfortable walking pattern for that large-scale, curly armed sofa,”
advises Alison Pollack of Earth Friendly Interior Design . •
If you’re tired of the colors or patterns on your furniture, consider refurbishing
or covering them, rather than buying new items. For upholstered pieces, this could
be more expensive than buying something new, but you’ll enjoy the satisfaction
of saving resources by reusing what you have. Use
low- or no-VOC finishes and paints for wood furniture, and make slipcovers and
pillow covers from organic cotton or wool, hemp or hemp blends, or other upholstery-quality
eco-fabrics, sold by companies like Aurora Silk, Natural Slipcovers, and GreenSage.
If sewing isn’t your thing, look in your local Yellow Pages for businesses
that can custom-make slipcovers for you. •
Use photos and paintings or prints to bring life into your room. If you don’t
have many windows in your room, Hoodkiss recommends framing pictures of nature
scenes or loved ones to help bring you peace and balance. Be your own artist and
showcase some of your photos or artwork, or frame a section of your favorite fabric
and hang it on the wall. When
hanging your artwork, Pollack recommends paying attention to both filled and negative
space. “Group your
pictures in such a way as to contain the collection to one section of one wall,
with one or two inches between the pieces,” she says. “With open space
surrounding the grouping, the eye travels directly to what you want folks to see
and allows your eye to rest at the same time, so you won’t be overwhelmed
by ‘stuff.’” Scour
your local thrift shop for used frames, or look for frames made from reclaimed
materials, like those from Pallet Art , which turns old shipping pallets into
frames and furniture.
Bring
in Some Green
A great
way to liven up your space and clean your indoor air is to decorate with plants.
In addition to beautifying your room, plants actually clean your indoor air, according
to a study by NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America. Some of
the plants the study cited as most effective in removing toxic formaldehyde, benzene,
and carbon monoxide from the air were: bamboo palm, Chinese evergreen, English
ivy, gerbera daisy, chrysanthemum, and peace lily. However,
“people with allergies and chemical sensitivities should keep potted plants
out of the bedroom, because the soil often contains mold and allergens,”
warns Hartie. Being creative
in potting your plants can add some color to your room. Reuse jars and containers
to avoid buying pots and to give your room some added personality. When placing
plants, think first of their lighting needs. Then, consider the same balance you
sought through your furniture placement. Large plants work particularly well at
filling up empty corners. Also consider putting together plant groupings. Pollack
recommends clustering plants in a corner rather than scattering them throughout
a room. Plants are a wonderful
way to bring a bit of nature in your home, but you don’t have to stop there.
All of our designers agree that having natural elements in your home is key to
creating a beautiful, healthy space. Collect some stones from one of your favorite
trails and place them on a tabletop, or bring in some color with bouquets of flowers
or clippings from your yard. If you love having fresh (ideally organic) flowers
in your house, Hartie recommends fashioning vases from things you already have
in your house, like pretty bottles or cans covered in fabric.
Shop
Sustainably
When you
find that it’s time to bring a new piece into your home, remember to go green.
First, look for secondhand, new-to-you items that you can keep out of the waste-stream
via local thrift shops, the newspaper, or online forums like Craigslist or Freecycle.org.
If you can’t find something used, consult the “Furniture” category
of our National Green Pages™ to find pieces made from sustainably harvested
wood and eco-friendly upholstery that isn’t treated with toxic chemicals,
such as flame retardants and stain-resistant sealants. You
can also find beautiful decorations for your home by purchasing items from members
of the Fair Trade Federation. You can find Fair Trade baskets, statues, housewares,
and more, and you’ll help guarantee a fair wage for artisans around the world.
Check the “Fair Trade” category of our National Green Pages™. But
don’t get so excited by things that you clutter your home. “Keep the
decorative items to a minimum. Too many pretty little things tend to go unappreciated,”
advises Pollack. Pick a few special items and place them in small groupings in
your room, giving the same thought to negative space as when placing items on
a wall, she says. Interior
design can be intimidating, but don’t get overwhelmed by trying to turn your
room into a showroom for the latest fashions. “Design
is really very intuitive,” says Hartie. “When most people just go with
their instincts, they’ll make a room that is beautiful for them.”
Sarah
Tarver-Wahlquist
Associate Editor
Co-op America
sarahtw@coopamerica.org
(202)
872-5327
www.coopamerica.org 
Resources All
of the businesses in this article, and many more, can be found by browsing our
National Green Pages™.
For lots of additional resources visit the National
Green Pages and learn more about Co-op America
www.coopamerica.org
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