Finishing Touches

I realize that I’ve been away from my “green house journal” for a while. I’ll blame it on wanting to unpack fully. As well, I had the first of many houseguests who are staying with me over the summer. I wanted to make sure the place “showed” well.

I do have many observations that come with living in the space and I’ll try to capture them here for my new few blogs.

Today’s topic: water-based stain and lacquer.

I remember early on in the project, I had a wood finisher who gave me an estimate on some furniture repair. She was very interested in my green project and asked for a tour. As we went though the plans and ideas, she asked about cabinet finishes. What followed was a very interesting discussion between her and my contractor, whose first love is cabinetry. As it turns out, they both agreed that this was the one area that the products are disappointing. While it is true that some of the most harmful and toxic elements that one encounters in a home is what they use to seal wood, there’s a reason for the products. Wood floors, cabinets have to stand up to wear and as such, the process for doing so seems to require caustic products. Any alternative, to date, as been outrageously labor intensive and therefore cost prohibitive.

Well, I was determined to find a solution and I trusted that Cemil’s cabinetry perfectionism wouldn’t let me trade off too much in aesthetics or performance. We settled on Unaxol, distributed in the U.S. by www.mobydicksupplies.com. And while the aesthetics are initially acceptable….. even, dare I say natural, there are some cautionary notes.

First, I noticed that during installation there was evidence of more dings than there should have been. Cemil was very careful, but this eco-friendly product requires more care than non-eco finishes. While it’s only been a month since I’ve been living in my new environment, I can already tell that the wood cabinets won’t hold up as well to scrubbing as the toxic alternatives. It means, that I will have to take a bit more care when cleaning up the cabinets. I will also keep a can of the stain handy in order to touch up any worn spots.

Spreading the Green Word

I've been bogged down with moving back into the house. I also took a week off to help my mother in South Carolina get her house updated and sorted out. I want to report on a couple of events that lead me to believe that green is no longer just for the initiated.

I had a new piece of furniture delivered to the house in Sonoma and it just so happens that the day it happened on the day that the painters were finishing up and we had a house full of workers who were putting finishing touches everywhere. I was caught off guard when one of the delivery men pointed out that he normally can smell the effects of new construction when he walks in the door. He said that it normally caused him to wheeze a bit. But this house was different, he pointed out. It is always nice to get unsolicited confirmation that your work is recognized.

Then there's the South. I grew up in the South, so I lovingly embrace its traditions. But often times, it means that there is healthy skepticism for anything new. And I feared that this was the case. Of course, my elderly mother seems game for being part of any new movement that makes her life easier and more productive. She still teaches university and is a whiz on the web, which she uses for her literary research. I've been very heartened by her interest in all things environmental and green. She regularly sends me articles that she's clipped on alternative fuel cars (she's subscribes to Car and Driver magazine) and features from the Wall Street Journal.

She enlisted the aid of Roy Grubbs for his painting services and insisted that he use the low-VOC paint from Sherwin Williams www.sherwin-williams.com (Duration). She rescues greyhounds so she needs a durable and washable paint. So far, the results live up to expectation. It was fairly odor-free. It went on well, according to Roy. And the gentle test scrubbing that I did before I left seem to hold up.

I spent the week adding the "expert" commentary on green design to anyone that my mother would engage in conversation on the topic. While I understand the look of polite tolerance that one often encounters in the South, I do think that we "converted" several skeptics in our travels around the Charleston area.

It's all about spreading the word and living by example. Isn't everything?

When Green Becomes Beige

Sometimes I think that too much is being made out of “green” as a lifestyle choice. Of course, I think we all need to take stock of what we do and how it affects longtime viability of the environment. But a part of me longs for the day when green practices will be so ubiquitous as to make calling it out as separately will be unnecessary. However, we are in a period of building awareness and as such, one has to be diligent in thinking about your activities in terms of whether they are good for the environment or not. That's new for most people.

I recently watched an interesting program on the Sundance Channel (www.sundanchannel.com/thegreen) in the series “Big Ideas for a Small Planet.” This particular segment focused on sustainable design practices. The program featured the activities at various furnishing companies and how they are producing products in a more sustainable way.

What came through in the discussion from the DFE team (design for the environment team) at Hermann Miller www.hermannmiller.com in Holland, MI. Their goal is to be a zero landfill company that creates zero hazardous waste and generate zero emissions by the year 2020. The company which gave us the Eames and Aeron chairs now has launched the Mirra chair that is made of 42% recycled products and is 95% recyclable at the end of the chair’s life.

While the goals of the company are impressive, I was really intrigued by the discussion that the resident designers had on just what it means to create “sustainable” furniture. They seemed dedicated to a philosophy that manufacturing quality products that are ecologically sustainable should be standard operating procedure and the fact that the products are green should be transparent to the customer. I agree and applaud that attitude. As example, take a look at the Mirra chair as it doesn’t look “green” to me! It just looks like a fabulous product.

PS: I also really like what the Salm brothers are creating at www.mioculture.com. Especially this creative wall covering, made from 100% post and pre-consumer waste paper.

Child's Play

I have a very creative friend in Southern California. When she told me about what she was doing to create an additional play area for her two children, I asked her to send photos.

Being "green" is all about using the space you already have, more efficiently. My friend certainly did that with an "extra" balcony in her home. As you can tell from this photo, she created a "baby" house out of a little-used balcony off her bedroom. It's every child's dream play house and takes the concept of a tree house to new levels.

I applaud my friend's ingenuity. Oh, and her husband did an amazing carpentry job, for an amateur!

First, the Inspiration

As I near the end of this wonderful project, I realize just what a journey this has been. Since I was trained in publishing and marketing, I can’t help but do a mental de-brief. So the next few postings will be in sharing those methodologies and systems that provided the necessary organization helped to ensure the success of this project. I apologize if some of my recommendations and observations are obvious and elementary, but I’ve come to appreciate that it is rare that a project of this magnitude gets delivered on schedule. Ok, we are 2 weeks late, but that’s because we made quite a few alterations along the way that expanded and enhanced the final outcome.

I have to first commend my partner in all this, Cemil Hope. He’s the dream contractor who also fills in as architect, design partner, project foreman and teacher. This was really a journey for the two of us.

Because I had done many renovations before, I decided to forego the help of a professional team (architect, designers, specialists). As a result Cemil and I had to communicate often and well. We created many systems of tracking and communing that kept us together and informed.

First, we had to establish the look and feel of the end product. I collected, edited through, and generated lots of tear sheets to demonstrate my desires for each room. These were culled to the winners and became the basis for what were trying to achieve. They got posted on black art boards and became basis for my inspirations boards. I added samples of the materials I chose as I went along.

Also called mood boards, concept boards, storyboards, the concept is the same: they are the visuals that helps keep the materials integrated with the original concept.

Now that it is 6 months later, these boards are a little worse for wear, but they helped to keep everyone on track and allowed me to show vendors what materials would work with the overall room design. Often times, these boards are provided for you by your design team, but I think doing them yourself at the outset of a project is very empowering and ensures that your aesthetic is being met.

Trashy Story

I was catching up on some reading the other day and came across a very interesting visual from www.plentymag.com. They used a picture of a trash can to highlight the statistics on the amount of trash we produce every year. That stats:


• 236 million tons of trash a year. 1,640 pounds of waste per person, per year

• 35% of trash is paper

• 12% plastics

• 3.6% furniture and furnishings

• 3.1% clothing and footwear

• 1.2% consumer electronics

**Sources: Jan.2007 issue of Plenty Magazine and EPA http://www.epa.gov/msw/facts.htm

It got me thinking about a documentary short called Recycled Life (www.recycledlifedoc.com) I had recently seen at the Sonoma film festival about the thousands of families living in Central America’s largest garbage dump in Guatemala City. The movie is heart wrenching because of the generations who have made their home and living sorting through the trash that people throw away.

As Americans, we seem to think that we have the land mass and thus the right to dump whatever we want into it. Well, there are plenty of examples as to why that thinking is shortsighted and downright idiotic. Were we a smaller country we might have the same issues that were highlighted in Recycled Life. Frankly, if we continue to produce the amount of waste that the EPA reports, we too will have a similar crisis as many other countries are dealing with today.

Conservation, recycling and economical use of materials is the answer. It’s not hard to figure out. Every single person plays a role. A friend of mine who is a senior executive at Georgia Pacific told me of a group of some of the larger retailers who have formed a group to institute changes in the amount of packaging that is produced. I applaud their efforts and look forward to what they come up with.

I was aghast at some packaging offenders by green companies. I’ve already talked about DriTac (see A Cautionary Tale on April 10) in an earlier post; the adhesive came packages as if it were Faberge eggs. I’m disappointed by various CFL bulbs that are secured in plastic so that it takes a good 3-4 minutes to get them open. There’s got to be a better way!

On the plus side, I just received a “green” PC from the folks at Zonbu (www.zonbu.com) and the first thing I noted was the sensible packaging. It arrived in perfect condition and the packaging was cardboard as you can see from the photo. More later on this interesting approach to reducing the amount of waste and energy use from consumer electronics.

Green Furniture that's Long on Style

It’s not a home until you fill the rooms. What fun to be able to choose from some of these wonderful designs that are green and sustainable. In the past, green furniture meant pieces made from burl wood and bamboo. But as some of these designs show, you can satisfy any style, any aesthetic.

El-Furniture is created by Jill Salisbury in Illinois. Barbara Barry (www.barbarabarryco.com) has nothing on the pieces that Jill produces as evidenced by this photo here. www.el-furniture.com

Arper is an Italian company and their innovation and design captures the Italian essence that we have come to appreciate in clothes and leather goods. www.arper.com

Acronym Designs is headquartered in Kansas City and there’s no lack of sophistication in the sustainable furniture that comes from this company. See for yourself at www.acronymdesigns.com.

Anthony Brozna is a Virginia-based eco designer with a great eye. His pieces are very appropriate for all styles and aesthetics. See the sample piece here. www.bronzawoodworking.com

Mebel is based in San Francisco but most of the production for these beautiful pieces is done in Connecticut. A fabulous modern aesthetic with great originality. I love their Mondrian inspired screen.www.mebelfurniture.com

Gore Design is a green design studio in Tempe Arizona and they do beautiful work. You get a sense of their style and voice from their website. You get a sense of their sophistication and the work they turn out is lovely, as you can see from this example. www.goredesignco.com