Green Design Options For Your Home

The Interior Design Show kicks off today in Toronto and it got us thinking as to how we’d design our dream home. Ideally, we’d love to go green and seek alternatives to how we design and finish that home for both environmental and health reasons. The problem is that usually alternative energy sources have remained on the back burner to conventional residential design because of the cost to do it properly and have it consistent with YP standards. The good news is that it used to be more of a financial sacrifice to “go green” in home design than it is today. Not to mention green buildings and environmental standards are more prevalent than ever, with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for both commercial and residential buildings becoming increasingly favoured or required.

If you choose to go green from the beginning of a building project, there are many options to choose from before you break ground, like using a geo-thermal heating and cooling system, solar panels and reclaimed water. For the YP wishing to remodel or “green” their existing home, measures need not be so drastic and costly; things like flooring, cabinets, counters and appliances can make a significant difference in your ecological footprint. The main considerations to keep in mind are energy efficiency, conservation of natural resources and indoor air quality when choosing to “green” your place.

Sustainable flooring is a key component in green design, for both new construction and remodels. Historically, the lack of sustainable flooring choices that work with high-end design has been an ongoing challenge for designers, builders and homeowners working on green interior projects. Options like coloured cork, bamboo or linoleum flooring are not always up to a refined YP’s standards and they can tend to look, well, cheap. Thankfully, the variety of sustainable flooring options has grown over the last decade and a variety of eco-friendly flooring products have become commonplace in showrooms and home design stores with options at all price points.

One solution to a green yet refined and sophisticated design is using reclaimed wood flooring. The benefits of using things like salvaged flooring planks instead of construction wood are plentiful; the wood offers more character, richness, and story. It is also more durable, versatile and customizable. Options may include planks from old wood construction beams and siding from barns, factories, bridges, mills and even old ships, making shopping for flooring a creative experience for the art-loving YP. Materials are also used from other buildings that have been salvaged and restored. The strategic YP can find salvaged materials for a relatively cheap price, but trendier item are typically more expensive. Keep in mind that challenges exist to installing reclaimed materials so make sure you have realistic expectations and open communication with a building professional about labour costs. 

A more recent choice in flooring is genuine antique oak, which offers a rustic look and feel. Oak gained popularity in 2011 for those wanting a floor that is unique, refined, and still environmentally responsible. Another green flooring option is real wood flooring from sustainable forests. If the wood look isn’t your thing, you can also choose to go with a stone or tile floor material. There are some equally aesthetically pleasing flooring products that can be made from concrete, recycled glass and even soapstone.

Your cabinets can also be made of reclaimed wood, a welcomed alternative to typical wheat board cabinets or bamboo. If you are remodeling, keep in mind that your old cabinets may be used elsewhere in the house like in the garage for additional storage or to house toys in the future playroom. Cabinet faces are typically solid wood, but a more sustainable option includes a real wood veneer instead, which offers the same look but which is much thinner and subsequently utilizes only a small portion of the wood in solid cabinet facing. A few general pointers; choose a cabinet underlayment that does not contain urea-formaldehyde, with options like formaldehyde-free wood fibre panels and wood fibre panels that use phenol, rather than urea-formaldehyde. Make sure to use FSC Certified Lumber. For remodels, consider refinishing your cabinets instead of replacing them.

As for your counters, common building materials like granite and rock waste 70 per cent of their material after use. The Canadian market has recently seen large, super-thin and versatile porcelain surfaces that provide an environmentally conscious alternative in building materials without taking away from the appearance of stone. The new counters combine natural and man-made materials in composite slabs, and most of them integrate recycled waste into the mix. Many new counter designs include terrazzo-like recycled glass and concrete composites. Thousands of pieces of glass are derived from beer bottles, traffic lights, windshields and stemware, and are mixed with concrete to create these solid slabs. With 75 per cent of this recycled, it is suitable for counters, but also floors and walls. Surfaces are available in almost any colour and homebuilders can select from a variety of sizes. Another sustainable counter design is made from paper-and-resin composites, which offer a more matte finish that come in an assortment of colours. Newspaper, cardboard, waste paper, and even paper money are used as fibers in these slabs.

Even if you can’t achieve the ultimate zero impact home or LEED certification, socially responsible YPs can be mindful of regulations when purchasing appliances. The ENERGY STAR® symbol recognizes specific models that meet or exceed premium levels of energy efficiency and can be found on about 50 types of products, including major appliances, heating, cooling and ventilating equipment, lighting, electronics, windows, doors and skylights.