Green & Good
We began a discussion of what makes a home green when my husband and I bought a fixer-upper a year ago. Since then, I’ve shared the details of what we’ve done to keep our green promises in each room, like in the last installment: the living room. And now we move on to the loo.
The bathroom was easily the scariest room of the house when we moved in. We gutted the whole thing (amazingly giving the cabinets away on Craigslist) and started from scratch. Here are ten ways we greened up our redo.
2 ) Our 100% cotton curtains came from Target.
3 ) We fell in love with this modern brushed nickel faucet from Moen (link below) and its water conserving technology. The fact that it’s EPA WaterSense Certified was a bonus. Plus we’ve set the sink up to drain into a swale in the yard instead of into our septic tank. It’s our version of a greywater system and waters some of the backyard plants.
4 ) You won’t find anything less than 100% recycled content paper products in our home. Seriously, we have no business cutting down trees for this purpose! We’re partial to Seventh Generation’s 100% recycled, chlorine-free versions.
5 ) The real show stopper in this space is our dual flush toilet. Duals give you a choice of a full flush for solid waste or a half flush for liquid. Ours is made by Glacier Bay and also WaterSense certified.
6 ) You’ll never guess where we got our beautiful circa 1940s clawfoot tub. We found it in our backyard! The previous owners discarded it and we couldn’t wait to bring it back in. It still needs to be reglazed, but it was definitely our best freebie find. (The tub also drains out to the swale.)
7 ) All of our bathroom linens are organic cotton and fabulous (found at overstock.com).
8 ) The lovely blue rugs on the floor are 100% recycleable at the end of their lifecycles and don’t contain harmful offgassing backings.
9 ) We decided to put polished concrete in the bathroom instead of vinyl or tile for now.
10 ) Our favorite oil painting purchased in a second-hand store to give it a second life.
- 16 comments
- Your thoughts?
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Comments
Angela
Thanks for keeping me updated… congratulations! Your home improvements look amazing. What a project of love!
Alexis Banks
What is a swale?
Amberlynne Vithlani
Wonderful bathroom! The change is overwhelming. I had no idea those toilets were available for purchase for a private home!
Katura
Ok, while I applaud your remodel all told, I am stumped by one thing you mention above: Your RUGS are 100% recyclable?
Rugs from recycled materials are cool and I have some in the house myself. But what could a rug be made of that lets you recycle it when it wears out? (Newsprint?) And more to the point, where would you turn a rug in when it’s time to recycle it?
I run into a lot of problems where the packaging on a product claims something is recyclable, and then the local recycling company wants nothing to do with it. So you understand why I’m startled at the recyclable rugs claim…
Jennifer Lyons
Wow! What a transformation! I LOVE “before” and “after” stuff. I love how you thought of EVERYTHING to make it eco-friendly–you are an inspiration!
Debbie
Very nice transformation. I’ve never heard of the polished concrete option but it sounds really intriguing. How do you go about doing it and what makes it eco-friendly?
Danielle
Loving this series!
Candice
Hi Alexis,
A swale is just an indentation in the land used to help managed water runoff. In our backyard, the swale is completely covered in mulch which is why I didn’t photograph it for this post. To learn more about swales, check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swale_(geographic_feature)
Thanks for reading!
Candice
Hi Katura,
Thanks for reading!
Our rug is made of 100% olefin. Not a natural fabric and not our first choice, but I did some research and found out that it does have some eco-friendly properties.
I found out that the production of olefins leave very little waste byproducts or residue. Olefin is easier to recycle than most other fibers and can be made from recycled soda bottles though I’m not sure if mine were which is why I didn’t include this fact in the post. The cool thing for me is the fact that manufacturers will accept olefin at the end of its life cycle and recycle it. Olefin, in its basic form, is made into packaging materials. These materials are easily melted and reused.
Candice
Hi Debbie,
I love our polished concrete floors. If you saw the first post in this series, Keeping Our Green Promises, you know we’re trying to go green on a serious budget. So instead of calling up a professional company to do our floors (with chemical polishers) we cheated and used eco-friendly paint and a regular market sealer. It worked just fine for us. To find out more about how concrete floors are a green option, check out
http://www.articlebliss.com/Art/366064/53/Polished-Concrete-Floors-A-Great-Eco-Friendly-Choice.html
Kathryn
I really love what you’ve done. It is beautiful. Your dedication the the environment, while creating a beautiful living space is inspiring!
Mxine Furtch
I love it Candi. I like all your ideas. It is beautiful and your house is coming togather and I liked it before and now I love it.
Matt Y.
Very cool! I am learning a lot from watching this home take its eco-shape. Informative, well-written and inspiring!
Mona
I love reading your articles and finding out about eco-friendly options that I would never have thought about otherwise! Thanks.
Donna
You are such a creative visionary, Candi! Not only does your home look beautiful, it’s so environmentally friendly! Thank you for everything you share and congratulations on all of your efforts! You are an inspiration!
Alonzo Furtch
I think that Candice Michelle found it amusing when I told her that I take every opportunity I can to brag about my daughters green home. Not only have Candi and Scott taken the vision and made it reality, but they have done an excellent job inspiring the rest of us to do our part. The two of you make me proud.
