Outdoor Living Decor Can Transform Your Backyard

Over the last several years designers have been eager to push the concept of outdoor furnishings. There is a whole new look; structure and style that has taken place in the trend of spending time outdoors.

We have seen some evolution in the form-following function concept and the movement of indoor style taking on shape in our outdoor settings. There are familiar shapes, classics that were once for our living rooms that have been recreated in concrete, stone and teak, allowing them to exist outdoors without the fear of mother nature taking its toll on them.

Take, for example, designer Maya Lin, who has designed gorgeous painted “stones” for Knoll and the 60th anniversary celebration. These stones can be used both indoors and out and are a wonderful conversation piece! There are low elliptical table with a slightly convex top and elliptical stools in two sizes, each with a slightly concave seat. Stones are available in a range of colors and materials, including cast stone and molded polyethylene, with 100% recycled versions. Quoted from Maya Lin about her design:

“At the heart of this furniture collection for Knoll is my love for the land, which can be traced back to my childhood in the rolling hills of southeastern Ohio. It goes back to a childhood fascination we all have—that moment when you discover that the earth is round…and you walk around trying to see that curve.”

There has been a great attempt to experiment with new manufactured goods, like an ultra hardy fiber or mesh mixed with steel brass and woven metals. Design Within Reach has crossed the bridge in what they offer to consumers in innovated and creative designs, like the bubble sofa designed by Phillip Stark.

The chunky yet lightweight forms of the Bubble Club Sofa and Armchair remind us of classic Chesterfield styling in colorful, weatherproof, UV-resistant, roto-molded polypropylene. Rotational molding allows the polypropylene to have consistent wall thickness, stress-free corners and a lightweight, durable build.

On a much more cost competitive scale, these designs have been replicated and can be found at a variety of other stores. It is becoming that time of year again, and I recommend exploring your options for outdoor furniture. Consider the “funk” to be timeless. The origin of the designs are all based on the former knowledge of our indoor use now improved for outdoor living. Enjoy!

Key Points of Life Cycle Analysis

You are probably asking yourself what life cycle analysis has to do with interior design. The answer is: everything! Life cycle analysis, otherwise known as LCA, is the awareness of where a product comes from, what it takes to produce, how it gets broken apart and what happens as the end of its life. If you are concerned with sustainability or eco-conscience design in any way you should take the time to answer the question LCA with every purchase you make.

Let’s take a common household interior purchase, a sofa, and break down its LCA for better understanding of why this is such an important topic (at least I think so!).

When you purchase a sofa at your local furniture provider it has already lived a full life before it is delivered to you. First, all the individual components of the sofa have to come from somewhere. The frame, fabric, cushioning and fasteners all have an original harvest and production location – all before they are shipped separately to the final assembly location. So the more parts and pieces a furniture selection has, the more embodied energy it contains (see our blog “Embodied Energy – What Is It and What Does It Represent In My Home?” for more info about this term). So after considering the harvest location (where the material is found in its virgin form), the production location (where man-made materials are produced or where natural materials are turned into usable form) and the assembly location (where all the parts of the assembly are put together), next is the distribution location.

After the pieces of furniture is put to use – so our sofa has officially been crushed, re-fluffed, washed, drooled on and has a proper about of popcorn stuck in the cushions – you then have to ask the almighty question of what to do with it.

First, in regards to furniture, there is always the option to donate. This takes the sofa and puts it right back into use for the same purpose. There is limited energy for this use, just the trip in a pickup or a moving van.

The second option is to recycle what you can. This will require breaking apart all parts of the assembly. While recycling is a great choice, it is important to keep in mind that this does use energy to fulfill. All the individual parts have to be shipped to different location for processing and then shipped to become their next product.

The last option, I hate to even mention, is throwing the piece of furniture away. It’s sinful even to say.

In the end, the key to LCA is to consciously think about each purchase with an exit strategy. So, out of the stuff in your home right now, how much of it do you have an exit strategy for??

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something… Green? What is the Greenest Method – New Construction VS. Existing Facilities?

Green buildings are all the rage. New technologies and innovate thinking are turning the new construction projects of today into the most efficient and effective ever. But is this new and innovative thinking for new facilities looking over existing structures that their preexisting embodied energy?

Some of the most obvious positive features of new green construction and interiors are:

• Enhanced energy efficiency
• Responsive and conservational HVAC application
• Smart recycled content, rapidly renewable and recyclable material application
• Positive site selection, most available municipalities, planning for smart commuting, location planned for closeness of modern conveniences to reduce carbon footprint of space inhabitants
• Enhancements in water usage, application of rainwater collection, use of grey water reuse from sinks for irrigation and water closet flushing
• Possible implementation of site remediation, for the reuse of a site otherwise destroyed by contamination.

So with all of these positives in mind it is easy to forget that at the end of the day these are still construction projects, which means large equipment, lots of shipping, long construction schedules and virgin material use. Not to mention there are also the elements of site disturbance, depends on urban or rural planning, but either way it is either a site clean up or clearing out which can cause impact.

In comparison to the above, here are a few of the eco-conscience benefits of using existing structures for facility remodeling:

• Use of less virgin material
• Use of existing internal and external structure
• Existing infrastructure, parking lots, community lines and building footprint, etc…
• Reduced site disturbance
• Preservation of historical relevance

When using existing structures there will be the obvious use of existing space and materials versus new. However, it is possible to update mechanical, electrical, plumbing fixtures and irrigation – but by updating, are we truly making a facility just as efficient as if we were planning new from square one? Probably not. I think that there will always be a continual argument of something old versus something new, but I think there are a few key thought provoking questions to get a conversation going for a project:

• Is there an existing structure available that meets our user needs for space, location and commuting?
• If so, how old is the facility? How much of the existing structure can we use? Is it stable? Are we able to update the building systems?
• Does this existing structure meet most of our expectations?
• Does the facility hold any historical ties to the surrounding community? Is there an opportunity to beautify and celebrate the past?

If you answer yes to most of the above then maybe there is a way for you to reduce the embodied energy of your project – maybe there is a way to remodel a house versus build a new one? I think I am a bit biased, but I really do think using what we have already built is very important. Sometimes you can’t avoid building new, but I believe when you can you should.

What do you think is the more green solution – something old, something new? Because in the end we really are just borrowing this planet from the generation to come. How can we plan smarter?

What Was I Thinking?! My Bathroom Building Experience

We have the basement bathroom toilet installed. We could have just done a pedestal sink, but oh no. I wanted to have a cabinet so there could be storage for soap and toilet paper, some hand towels, you know the drill. And it couldn’t be just any cabinet; it had to be the one we used as our dry sink in the dining room before the new furniture because I am all about recycling and reusing everything I have. So we moved that bad boy to the basement and began the reworking.

There is the drilling of the hole in the top so the sink can discharge. Then there was the plumbing from the “Saniplus” system at a slight incline so we could determine where the plumbing would come up inside the cabinet. Then there was the connection between the bottom of the sink to the outflow pipe. Sounds easy right, well that part was, but because I wanted a glass sink to sit on the dry sink and a faucet that came out of the wall…things got a little tricky.

First, basement walls are typically poured concrete, so we built a fake wall. Now the wall couldn’t be a typical wall thickness because that would have made the room too narrow, so we built a 2” fake wall (just thick enough to hold the water lines). Because I wanted a faucet that came out of the wall, we had to figure out how to attach the faucet to a finished wall while having part of the wall unfinished to do the plumbing.

We dry walled only the top half of the wall. We attached the faucet to this part and dropped the flexible water lines down the wall. Have I told you how much I love flexible water lines? We would be still working on this job if we had to use rigid lines.

We then hooked up the water lines in the not yet dry walled area of our wall and proceeded to dry wall the lower part of our wall. That only took us a couple of weeks to figure out all of the parts and pieces to make it work.

The plumbing goes through one of the drawers in the dry sink, so we took the face off the drawer and permanently attached it to the dry sink.

Now I have 1 drawer and ½ of the dry sink for storage. It looks great and we have had a lot of complements on it. Have you ever thought up a project that ended up  taking a lot more effort and time than you originally thought it would? Tell me one of your “What was I thinking?!” projects.

Why is Carpet More Sustainable Than We Think?

There is a common misconception that carpeting is not green and is very bad for the environment. That is not necessarily true – the carpet industry has made great strides to become more environmentally friendly. In my opinion, they are one of the leaders in the interior design industry when it comes to sustainability! Here is some important information that would be great to think about and research before purchasing your next carpeting.

Pre-consumer content and post-consumer content can be found in carpeting. Pre-consumer content is often in the fiber, yarn, backing, and sometimes even in the padding and/or cushioning

Post-consumer content can be found in the fiber, majority from PET beverage bottles, backing systems, which is often glass, and padding/cushions.

Much waste is generated during the manufacturing process but they have come up with ways to help reduce it. Backing waste may be used to make carpet cores used during shipments along with the PET bottle caps that are left over when the bottles become the carpet fiber. Yarn waste may find it’s next life in the carpet padding, filler used in building materials or lawn furniture. The high-end carpet pads that include polyurthane foam may have gotten scraps recovered from new mattresses or furniture.

Don’t forget that carpet tiles are becoming more common than broadloom in commerical environments and allows for less waste generated during installation. Replacement when stains occur is easy because you will only need to replace a couple tiles verses the entire carpet in the room. Now that’s sustainable and saves you money!

Some companies have even gone as far as looking at the waste of adhesives used during installation for carpet tiles. This new trend is called Spray-Lock adhesive. It allows for installation that will be instant and troweling is not necessary. A simple spray can contains the adhesive to be sprayed on the floor for an instant bond. It does not allow for shifting of the carpet tile but you are still able to peel off the tiles for replacement. When the adhesive can is empty, it is even recyclable!

Finally, it’s time to think about the carpeting after we are finished with it. The majority of carpet companies have a reclamation program. For a small fee, your carpeting can be hauled away for you and recycled. Most companies will take back the carpeting regardless of who it was originally manufactured by. This helps the carpet companies from having to produce raw materials during production and protects us from filling up landfill space and possibly causing other negative consequences to the environment.

So what do you think?  Do these facts make you re-think what you formally thought about carpeting?

Tile Flooring – New trends in Vinyl

Ceramic tile and Vinyl flooring have been considered a thing of the past, often considered dated materials for today’s home. On the contrary, I have found some new trends, particularly in vinyl floor products, that may surprise you.

Vinyl is a great flooring option for the eco-friendly consumer. There is a product that may sound all too similar to the old fashioined linoleum called “marmolium,” which is made up of polypropoline and plastic composites. It is extremely durable and you can find some great colors in the recycled line.

Quite honestly, you can find an ever growing range of colors, patterns sizes and textures. Vinyls have made huge strides in style with custom designs that are available. Check out the Chilewich line for example. This happens to be my favorite source for vinyl! They have created a product that is a woven mesh top backed with rubber and can be installed wall to wall like carpet! It is called their W2W line and may have been hard to find on their website if you didn’t go into the commercial line. I highly recommend using a local source that carries the Chilewich line to provide a recommended installer. As with carpet, seams can be challenging to line up with this product. It will never look seamless, but it will look GREAT! I have used this in powder rooms, mudrooms and play areas. It stands up well to moisture and is extremely cleanable.

Tile is an expected choice for a kitchen or a bath, and it also makes sense in a high traffic entry or family room. It can create a streamlined effect that can visually expand a space and make it appear larger.

Classic Kitchens and the trend in “retro style kitchens” create the perfect backdrop for marmolium. Checkerboard patterns are timeless, and can now expand beyond the black and white combination. Get creative! Try a soft blue and a creamy purple vinyl checkerboard to balance a gray toned countertop with white cabinets. The great thing about vinyl is that if you get tired of it in even as little as 3-4 years, it wasn’t an huge expense and can be replaced!

Recycled Content: Pre-Consumer versus Post-Consumer

Nowadays it is impossible to turn on your television and not see some sort of advertisement that involves green products. But it is important to be a wise consumer and have a little background knowledge about what makes a product truly green versus “greenwashed.” One of the first basic steps to becoming a well versed green product consumer is to have some knowledge about recycled content, the different types of recycled content (did you know there was more than one?) and what recyclability is in contrast to something having recycled content.

The first type of recycled content is pre-consumer recycled content. This a product that contains the “leftovers” or the waste from a manufacturing process. A good example of this is Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF). MDF contains wood particles and sawdust that are then compressed with adhesives and binders to create a very dense material that is used for building. The sawdust and wood particles that make up MDF can be collected from wood mills and slicing plants. Depending on the amount of sawdust that is collected versus created for the MDF determines its recycled content. Pre consumer recycled content is not considered as “golden” as the nest type of recycled content; post-consumer.

Post-consumer recycled materials is any object or material that avoid a landfill after its original purpose of use. Great examples of this type of recycled content are soda cans and milk jugs. Everything you place in your recycle bin at home, such as newspapers, are picked up and delivered to the recycling plant on the first step to become post-consumer recycled content. This type of recycled content is considered “better” because it embodies items that were recycled in lieu of going to the landfill directly.

There are limits to the number of times a product can be recycled and reused. There gets to be a point where a material cannot be used again because it begins to lack in structural integrity. Also, it is really important to keep in mind that just because something contains recycled content does not mean it can be recycled…and just because something can be recycled does not mean it contains recycled content. In an ideal world we would get both – high recycled content and recyclability!

Reused Materials – A Bad Use or Reuse, or Smart Thinking?

We are not talking products that are recyclable here, nor are we discussing materials and products that contain recycled content (there is a difference!). Instead, I am talking about the world of down and dirty reuse. Reuse can be defined as taking a product, as is, and giving it another purpose. One of the best examples of this is “found art” – meaning taking a found object (aka garbage or waste) and mounting it and calling it art. I think that there is a chance to see the beauty in anything, but where do we draw the line?

I recently saw a video of green building initiatives in the city of Chicago. A few years back, the city funded a competition for creative sustainable housing. The video highlighted the most innovative house that was built and won the competition.

The house incorporated a mural wall of all clear glass bottles. These were used bottles that were identical, clean and (unexpectedly) filled with water. Due to the placement and orientation of the house, the wall was south facing and received the most natural light. The water is heated by the sun and then doubles as a passive heating system. Pretty cool.

So, in this instance, we have a reused product (bottle) that created a triple purpose of beauty (if you think so, I do), heating and reuse. After looking at the wall, it almost becomes a questions of why aren’t we doing this more? The second question that comes to mind is…who cleans the water? That could get pretty nasty.

A less classy example of reuse I recently saw was old road signs that were transformed into end tables. Once again, could this become an attractive show piece, or does it make the space take on a “dorm room” feel? I think the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For how long have we all been purchasing jeans that already have holes manufactured into them? Why not buy old pants that get holes naturally?

So the next time you see brand new throw pillows for sale at Pottery Barn (or a store like it) at $50 a pop that are made from recycled potato sacks, think about this: are those pretty? Or are they a bad use of reuse?

Finding the right Compact Fluorescent for You

One of the big trends right now is saving energy. Everywhere you look, shop, and open the newspaper, it’s all about being “green!” So the most important question on everyone’s mind is, “How can I save the earth and save money at the same time?” Let’s face reality – most people will not change their habits unless it benefits them in some way. So, one of the easiest things you can do is change out all your incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescents.

Many of you have probably encountered the fact that the bulb you bought may have had a different coloring of light output than you are used to, possibly a bluish color. And your first reaction was probably not a good one and so you swore off compact fluorescent bulbs forever.

The key to purchasing the right compact fluorescent bulb for you is to look at the Kelvin degrees. In layman’s terms, this means the coloring. It’s simple: the lower the number, and the warmer the light…. The higher the number, the cooler the light. If you tend to have warmer colors in your home, such as gold’s, burgundy’s, warm greens, coffee beiges, etc, then you definitely want a bulb with warmer light output. If you have more cool colors in your home, such as blues, violets, light greens, and grays, you may be able to get away with the cooler colored light. But when it comes down to it, most of us are used to lighting our homes with the warm comforting yellow incandescent bulbs. So in order to do this, buy a bulb that is 2700 degrees Kelvin (or some company’s call this “soft white”). Now, switching to these compact fluorescent bulbs may cost you more up front, but they are proven to use 75% less energy and will last for much longer. This will cost you less in the long run because you won’t have to run out to the store as much and your electric bill will be lower! It’s a win- win situation for all. The stores have come a long way and you are now able to purchase these bulbs in your local Lowe’s or Home Depot.

It’s very important to remember that at the end of the compact fluorescent bulbs’ life, you need to recycle it! The bulb does contain a very small amount of mercury. It has been compared to be less than the size of the tip of your ball point pen. Now that’s small! Many stores offer recycle disposals for these bulbs. You can also contact your local waste department or recycling center to find out how to properly dispose of them in your area.

Together we can make a difference by the very small changes we make in our day to day lives.

Information on recycling Compact Floursecent Lightbulbs’s at Home Depot

Lowe’s Soft White Compact Floursecent Lightbulbs