Creative Cabinet
The uniquely designed doors on this dramatic bedroom armoire by Philadelphia’s Iannone Design are crafted from kirei board (made from recycled sorghum stalks) and certified low-emissions white laminate. The cabinet’s shelves and drawers are built with Forest Stewardship Council-certified birch plywood and assembled using formaldehyde-free adhesives.
“Many of our clients have green houses, and they’re shopping with that in mind,” designer Michael Iannone says. “At trade shows, we promote sustainability heavily. If people don’t know what that means when they enter our booth, they know what it is when they leave.”
Graphic Armoire: 42 inches wide, 22 inches deep, 70 inches high: $3,995. (856) 889-7307
A Better Bed
Think an organic mattress is beyond your budget? Lifekind of Grass Valley, California, makes an affordable innerspring mattress with six layers of hand-tufted, certified-organic cotton padding covered with quilted organic cotton and pure wool. All materials are sanitized using an ozone process rather than chlorine bleaching.
For Lifekind president Walt Bader, author of Toxic Bedrooms (Freedom Press, 2007), toxin-free bedding products are a personal passion. “I’m chemically sensitive, and I needed something to sleep on,” he says. Lifekind operates a North American eco-factory certified organic by Quality Assurance International. Mattresses start at about $1,000 for queen size and $1,500 for king. (800) 284-4983
Ecology Underfoot
For durable and beautiful flooring with impeccable environmental credentials, check out EcoTimber‘s hand-scraped wood planks. Made from Forest Stewardship Council-certified hickory and formaldehyde-free adhesives, the flooring can be installed over radiant floor-heating systems.
Hand-scraped flooring has a rustic look and is easier to maintain than ultra-smooth hardwood floors, EcoTimber marketing director Brad van Unen says. “If you ding it, you’re just adding to its rustic appeal.” Prices are competitive with other quality wood flooring and vary by dealer. (415) 258-8454
Stop-And-Go Enlightenment
“Bucket” lights, made from old stoplight lenses in green, amber and red, are the brainchild of San Francisco-based architectural designer Daniel Krivens, who has collected about 40,000 discarded traffic-light lenses to remake into light fixtures.
“I like doing the right thing for the planet,” Krivens says. “It makes sense to use what’s around, take what you have and make it magical.”
Krivens’ dimmable night-light creations are compatible with fluorescent light bulbs. $90 for 8-inch-wide lamp. (415) 702-5655
Pillow Talk
These elegant, linen-style, organic-hemp accent pillows, made by Loop Organic of Brooklyn, were chosen as an example of “best in sustainable design for the contemporary home” during New York’s HauteGreen 2006 design show.
“When I started in this business, there were organic-cotton linens on the market, but in limited colors,” Loop Organic president Carmel Campos says. “I thought if we could raise the bar in terms of style and selection, we could broaden the market.”
Campos chose water-efficient, sustainable hemp for her birch-leaf pillows. Loop treats its fabrics with hydrogen peroxide rather than chlorine bleach and colors them with low-impact dyes. Birch pillow hand-printed on organic hemp linen with natural kapok filling: $100. (800) 987-5667