Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The light at the end of the tunnel

We are nearing completion of our remodel and it took exactly 9 months.  It truly feels like I am delivering a baby, but this baby was a lot more expensive. I am at the point of picking out the finishing touches like draperies and rugs.  I am trying hard to stick to natural fibers to avoid a lot of the off gases and formaldahyde.  However, you've got to be careful because a lot of the natural stuff has backing that is not so natural.   

I've decided on linen draperies, wool rugs, jute rugs and one sisal rug.  We have solid wood floors throughout so we need a lot of rugs.  I love the look of jute (and the price) but the downside is that you can't professionally clean them.  Wool has always been good to me and I continue to rely on it.  I am amazed at the amount of diversity in natural and or organic materials out there now.  It seems like it has grown even since I began my process over a year ago.   Should you end up buying a carpet that has a lot of toxicity, there is a product by AFM that coats the carpet and essentially encapsulates the carcinogens.
http://www.afmsafecoat.com/products.php?page=5

Almost forgot, we used Dunn Edwards line of eco paint and I am not that happy with the results.  However, Yolo Colorhouse was used in one of our rooms and it seems to be a much better paint and much more expensive :)  Hopefully these larger chains which have decided to go eco will actually improve their products before they market them in the future.   ha ha ha