natural interiors Tag

Elissa’s friends had some questions when she showed them the inspiration photo she had chosen for her dining room makeover. They included: “You’re doing wallpaper, seriously?” And, “You do realize that those chairs don’t go with that table, right?” Clearly, she recalls, her friends didn’t realize that wallpaper is back! And who says the chairs have to match the table? No designer we’ve ever heard of. Her vision for the room was clear and there were some unchangeable requirements.

Patience, planning and a precision flooring product make the new kitchen difference Because the pattern choices are almost endless, weeks passed before Ron Hicks found the perfect look in a rigid core, waterproof luxury vinyl tile floor for his kitchen. It had to complement his new cabinets, countertops and existing Teak floor in the adjacent family room. It also had to be thick and strong enough to float over existing floors – vinyl in the kitchen and hardwood with beveled edges in the front hallway and foyer – without concern of telegraphing. The winning choice was Mannington Adura Max in color: Graffiti Patina. These rectangular panels click together, are made without phthalates and have FloorScore Indoor Air Quality Certification.

Air conditioning gets installed in the nick of time to achieve proper moisture levels 003“The relative humidity is still reading 65 percent. Should we open or close the windows?” In preparing to install hardwood flooring, we have been monitoring moisture levels at this new construction site for weeks. It’s part of our normal preparation for installing hardwood and cork floors. “Don’t leave the windows open overnight or we’ll be sabotaged by night-time condensation,” our quality-control manager says. “The air conditioning is being installed tomorrow, and as long as that happens, we should be fine.” Tomorrow will be just 24 hours before all the flooring is delivered to acclimate in the home for three days prior to installation. The moisture content in the subfloors has been measured and was fine, but the relative humidity has been climbing since the walls were painted.

Year in review shows Natural Interiors visitors focus first on style and indoor-air-quality, then concern for planet health We couldn’t head into a New Year without a baby. Fortunately, the winner of our Natural Housewife Contest – one of our Top 10 traffic generators for 2011 – now has one. 1.  Sara Eickhoff reports that son, Hayden, now two months old, enjoys the sisal-look wool, chemical-free Nature’s Carpet his Mom won by submitting some of the best tips for keeping a natural and healthy home that we received. “ We converted the large piece into smaller area rugs, which we use throughout the house, including one that Hayden uses daily for tummy time,” Eickhoff says. “It's so nice to know he's getting the comfy support he needs for this activity, while at the same time avoiding unnecessary chemical exposure.”

Part Two: Formaldehyde Alternatives Can Pose Dangers, Too It has been observed that in trying to solve a problem, we often create another. The U.S. Green Building Council was trying to solve a problem in 2007 when it clamped down on Urea Formaldehyde – an ingredient in the adhesive used in many bamboo and engineered hardwood floors. Until then, most traditional (non-strand) bamboo floors from the bamboo leaders contained Urea Formaldehyde, but in amounts far below the E1 limit (a German standard adopted in China) of 0.1 parts per million. More stringent limits have followed. The CARB (California Air Resource Board) limit for formaldehyde emissions is .05 ppm.  And flooring products with GREENGUARD Environmental Institute Certification® have been tested to ensure that formaldehyde emissions do not exceed .05 ppm.

National effort to recycle carpet diverts more than 300 million pounds a year from landfills, but some complain of roadblocks John Hughes doesn’t need to watch Green Master’s Natural Interiors® TV presentation this week. He could have written the script. He has been thinking about the health of the planet for a long time. And he is getting a little frustrated. Hughes, president and owner of O’Briens Carpet One Floor & Home in Colorado Springs, Co., has installed solar panels to reduce the energy needed to run his business. He recycles the wood he tears out when replacing a customer’s floor in addition to all of the rebond carpet pad he replaces. He has tried, repeatedly, to have a successful program for recycling his carpet tear-outs, too.