Don’t worry, I’m not going to get all sanctimonious here. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s difficult to go totally green when you’re building or remodeling. That “stuff” whatever the stuff may be, can be darn expensive and girl has a budget you know.
It always seems ironic and unfair when the good choice is often unattainable. This is true not only with green building, but with healthy food. We’re fat (well, I’m not fat, but I work at it) because we like bargains, and bargains usually aren’t grown locally. This could be a good thing, though, because if we all ate locally, there would be no “People of Wal-Mart” and where would we be without that time suck.
People of Wal-Mart Contemplating Cheap Food
Okay, off of food and back to the building. Like I said, for budget purposes, I can’t dub Starnes a totally green remodel, but there are some lines I just won’t cross. And one of those lines is made of vinyl. While looking for the 132 square feet of flooring for the laundry room, the assumption was that I would get a big ol’ sheet of cheap vinyl…this is basically a throw-away room when it comes to décor after all. (Well, not if you’re Sarah Richardson.)
Sarah Richardson’s extra-fancy laundry room
Not only did I want to keep the Sarah Richardson dream alive, but I just couldn’t bring myself to use vinyl. (Incidentally, I asked the flooring guy at Lowe’s if they had linoleum as an alternative because, I explained, unlike vinyl, it’s a green product. He looked at me perplexed and said, “No, vinyl comes in a lot of colors.” )
While back in school for interior design, Jane Nichols, one of my professors, showed us the documentary “Blue Vinyl” which chronicles an adult daughter’s quest to dissuade her parents from residing their house with vinyl.
Sounds dreary right, but it was actually really funny. The narrator carries her chunk of blue vinyl around the country, and to Europe oddly enough, as she finds out about the extreme heinosity (I coined that word, don’t try to look it up) of both the material and the industry centered around southern Louisiana. We’re talking Erin Brokovich territory here.
If you can’t tell, I highly recommend it. Check out this link for more info. about vinyl and why you should avoid it at all costs:
http://www.myhouseisyourhouse.org/
On another note, a couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to intern with Victoria Schomer, one of the early pioneers of the green building movement. Victoria had just participated in the development of ASID’s ReGreen remodeling program, which is geared towards consumers, not necessarily designers. I can also highly recommend that if you are undertaking a remodel.
It goes room by room with suggestions for green approaches to remodeling without being too esoteric or preachy. Very nuts and bolts, “you don’t have to be a kinjillionaire (another invented word….it’s a bad habit) to implement these” kinds of tips.
So, when push came to shove, I ordered ceramic tiles for the laundry room. I’m not in love with them, they’re kind of faux stone-y which is actually one of my pet peeves, but they’re nice, basic (AND CHEAP) and a good choice for a workhorse room.
I’m not sure Sarah would have picked them, she did after all tile a laundry room with 12x12 marble tiles, but until I have Sarah’s budget and tv crew, I think it was a pretty good choice.
