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Interior Design | Kathleen Smithnosky & Ellen Diamond
Ellen Diamond and Kathleen
Smithnosky are graduates
in Residential Design from
the Art Institute of Pittsburgh
specializing in color
consultation, furniture
layout, fabric selection,
and accessorizing. They offer
affordable and unique
decorating alternatives such
as their one-day makeovers
for your home, staging homes
for resale, and personal
shopping. You can contact
them by phone at
412-780-1606 or
412-260-8766.
Or visit their web site:
www.sensationalsurroundings.com.
Green Design
Makes Advances
On April 22, 1970, some 20 million
Americans took to the streets and started a
revolution against environmental abuse. It
was the first official Earth Day. Since then,
much has been accomplished toward reaching
this goal, yet much more work still needs to
be done. Earth Day’s mantra of “Recycle,
Reuse, and Reduce,” is more important to the
health and sustainability of our planet than
ever before.
With global temperatures rising, people
are finding new ways to be kind to the
environment when it comes to decorating
their homes. Designing sustainable, energyefficient,
and comfortable homes through the
use of eco-friendly products isn’t going to go
out of style any time soon. The good news is
that there are lots of innovative ways to
reduce damage to the environment without
sacrificing beauty. For example, there are so
many gorgeous fabrics and materials for the
home which fit the environmental model
nicely. To be truly eco-friendly, products
must possess at least one of the following
attributes: they must be recycled,
biodegradable, organic, energy-efficient,
extremely durable, non-toxic, locally
produced, and sustainably harvested.
“Everything old is new again.” The old
saying about the cyclical nature of design
couldn’t be more appropriate in “Green
Design,” the practice of designing with a
commitment to environmental stewardship.
Today, many designers are using salvaged
materials such as reclaimed wood for floors
and furniture, antique tiles, old fixtures, and
vintage fabrics. There is even a line of floor
and wall tiles by Ann Sacks that utilize
rescued river rocks! In addition to being good
for the environment, these items can add a
huge dose of charm and a more lived-in look
to a design project. Salvage operations have
exploded in the last 10 years.
In Pittsburgh, we have Construction
Junction, the area’s only non-profit building
reuse retailer. In addition, many home
furnishing manufacturers are introducing
lines that integrate materials reclaimed from
old buildings. One such manufacturer is
Charleston Forge, with its high-end limited
editions using materials such as cedar from
lake houses and decorative metal grates from
hospitals, banks, or department stores. Keep
in mind that well-constructed furniture pieces
that are long-lasting and extremely durable
are a much more eco-friendly choice. Many
less durable pieces with toxic components
such as polyurethane foam, glues, and stains
will often end up, after only a few years, in a
land-fill.
When it comes to flooring, one can
literally tread lightly with a number of ecofriendly
choices available. Flooring choices
can make a huge impact because such a large
amount of material is required. Cork and
bamboo floors are a great solution – cork
actually reforests itself every six years, so it is
very sustainable while being much softer and
warmer than wood or tile floors. There are
click-together cork products which use no
toxic adhesives. A number of carpet
companies offer modular carpet tiles in
addition to their traditional wall-to-wall lines.
Often very stylish, these are made from
recycled materials such as old carpeting and
even bottles.
Other soft decorative items such as
bedding and pillows can be both luxurious
and environmentally responsible from the
inside out. They may use feather and corn
by-product fillers and biodegradable linen,
unbleached cotton, raw silk or raffia for the
outer coverings.
The EPA has recently come out with an
alarming statistic – in a typical American
home, the indoor air is 3 to 4 times more
polluted than what is outside! Greg Snowden,
the owner of Green Fusion Design Center in
California, explains that “the VOCs [volatile
organic chemicals] in paint will release gas for
the lifetime that the paint is on the wall.”
Fortunately, there are increasing numbers of
high-quality paint manufacturers who are
coming out with non-VOC paints in a variety
of colors.
Because transportation consumes fossil
fuels, purchasing locally produced products –
from food and clothing to home décor items
– typically helps to reduce global warming.
Buying local also supports area farmers and
manufacturers. But products such as clothing,
furniture, and home goods are generally
produced locally only on a very limited scale.
Products made from recycled or reused
materials are more likely to be made locally,
partly because the raw materials can be
procured at little or no cost. The Buy-Local
movement is a major component of green
design and has at least started people
thinking about the life stories of products.
According to Zem Joaquin, green editor
of House and Garden Magazine, “a really
good eco-design is a design that you never
have to explain.”
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Home Remodeling 2008
