Monday, April 6, 2015

Green Design

With Earth Day right around the corner, we’re highlighting a few of the many products at MDC that are environmentally sustainable. Whether it’s flooring, fabric, surface materials or windowcoverings, we’ve got the goods you’ll feel good about putting in your home.

1. Fabrics
You do not need to look very far to find green fabrics here at MDC, and we’re not just talking color! Duralee (suite 38), Fabricut (Marie-Howard, suite 119), Kravet (suite 105), Pollack (Tennant & Associates, suite 61), and Robert Allen (suite 28) all offer expansive collections of green certified fabrics that are composed of all-natural and sustainable fibers.

2. Flooring
Wool carpeting and cork flooring are great eco-friendly flooring options. Both materials are renewable by nature and prevent the depletion of raw material resources. Bloomsburg Carpet (Flooring Design Distributors, suite 73) offers a substantial line of wool and woven carpets that utilize eco-friendly nylon fibers, while cork flooring (The Ghiordes Knot, suites 19 & 20) is harvested by hand from cork trees every nine years – a practice that can prolong the trees life for two centuries more!

3. Surfacing Materials
"From Curbside to Oceanside" is Oceanside Tile’s (Virginia Tile, suite 100) company mantra, and for good reason – all of the glass used in their wide array of tiles are sourced from recycled bottle glass that would otherwise end up in landfills. Cambria (Extraordinary Works – Luxury by EW Kitchens, suite 93), a manufacturer of natural quartz surfaces, also employs green practices by adhering to strict mining guidelines; requiring each quarry site to be fully restored after the quartz is extracted. Because of this practice, flat surfaces are reclaimed with soil and vegetation, rocky slopes are stabilized and quarries are transformed into large, fresh-water lakes teeming with fish and surrounded by native flora and fauna.

4. Minimal or No VOC Paints
VOCs, or Volatile Organic Compounds, contribute to ozone and smog formation and are also linked to respiratory illnesses and memory impairment. Benjamin Moore (Resource Center, suite 84), Farrow & Ball (Kravet/Lee Jofa/Brunschwig & Fils, suite 105), and Sherwin-Williams (Resource Center, suite 84) each offer paints that are water-based and contain minimal or no VOCs, making them safer for the environment and our families.

5. Sustainable Windowcoverings
Both Hartmann & Forbes (Tennant & Associates, suite 61) and Conrad Shades (Rozmallin, suite 60) produce windowcoverings sourced from plants and grasses that are sustainably grown and harvested free of pesticides and other harsh chemicals. Additionally, both companies are committed to cultivating and harvesting rapidly renewable materials, which reduces environmental impacts on the air and water quality in the regions where the materials are grown and processed.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more tips on how to make your home eco-friendly!