I saw the most amazing rennovation–a bar had taken the lanes from an old bowling alley and repurposed them into this amazing wood floor, complete with those little arrow markers to keep you from going into the gutters. Really was a stunning piece of work. And got me thinking–could I do the same? Could not think of a better way to honor my grandparents both avid bowlers and owner’s of a great little bowling alley.

Fortunately, more and more salvage yards have found the value in offering reclaimed wood flooring, salvaging perfectly good wood from a landfill. There are a multitude of unique and exotic hard woods available. There are a ton of offerings out there–so the next time you install a wood floor check out reclaimed alternatives.

Check out Restore in Springfield, Ma and Longleaf Lumber in Cambridge, MA or search in your own area for salvage yards.

The Liebherr CS 1350 Refrigerator is just a stunning stunning appliance with a supremely intelligent design. Pure perfection, my needle in a haystack in a sea of stocky oversized fridges. I first ‘met’ the Liebherr in 2006 and just had to have it, despite the $2500 sticker price. It is probably one of the most wise purchases I have ever made. I know, you may say that’s some praise for a fridge, but it is quite deserving. How do I love my Liebherr? Let me count the ways:

1. The slim size (78x 23 ½ x 24 ¾ ) compared with standard US models (69 ¾ x 35 ¾ x 32 ⅞), making the Liebherr the supermodel of refrigerators
2. It is Energy Star Rated
3. Freezer on the bottom allowing the more oft used fridge contents to be located at eye level
4. Individually labeled freezer drawers bringing much needed order to the freezer – no more ice cream containers falling out on your head (this also helps to conserve energy as less cold air escapes when you open the freezer door)
5. A huge vegetable crisper drawer to store all your farmer market finds
6. A gallon jug holder on the door thus utilizing space more efficiently
7. Ice cubes in perfect little cubes as opposed to those insolent half moons
8. An optional wine rack when just one bottle won’t do
9. The handles—very cool
10. Super super quiet
11. All sorts of settings including a vacation mode so you can save even more energy while you are away
12. Liebherr has made a commitment to manufacturing their products from start to finish in the greenest possible way from being the first company to remove harmful CFCs from their products to reusing the energy released during manufacturing to heat their facilities; they are an eco-responsible company.

Scooped again…….for years I have talked about opening up a home improvement store that only sells environmentally friendly products making it easy for the consumer to go green without having to do all of the leg work. Well, the good news is that the Green Depot has done just that providing a one stop home improvement store for all of your green rennovation needs.

One of the hardest parts about doing a green remodel is finding the right products and determining whether they are green or not. To do so you have to consider the entire process by looking at the life cycle of the product-the materials, the manufacturing process, the dyes used, the transportation costs, the sustainability/recyclability of the product at the end of its life…….The Green Depot team weighs all of these factors when designating their stamp of approval on a new product and in turn takes the guess work out of the equation for the buyer. There is no green-washing here.

And with stores located up and down the East Coast from Maine to Virginia, environmentally friendly products finally have a showcase on the East Coast! For locations click here.

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(Updated August 21, 2008)

I had the opportunity to check out the Stoneham location and want to add a disclaimer here-don’t expect to walk into the Green Depot as if you were walking into the Home Depot. The Green Depot is more of a show room, offering displays of bamboo & Breathe Easy Cabinets, marmoleum flooring, FSC Certified wood floors, floating floors, trex decking and so forth. All products can be ordered through Green Depot, but don’t expect to walk away with eco-friendly wall board on the spot. Much more of a showroom than a warehouse. But a great place to start your green renovation.

Paperstone – An excellent “green” option for countertops. Made of recycled compressed paper that does not employ harmful chemicals in the manufacturing process, it is 100% recyclable at the end of it’s life and qualifies as an LEED certified product. As opposed to Richlite countertops, a petroleum-free resin is used in the manufacturing process. The counter is installed as you would install a butcher block counter–it cuts like a wood. Available in a variety of rich saturated colors. The difficulty I found was in sourcing this product. I found a dealer (Bettencourt) in New York, but they would not north to install it, nor did they know of any local installers. Supposedly, it is relatively easy to install yourself if you are handy, but I worried about making a misstep on a relatively expensive material.

Concrete– A great countertop option as is a very pliable material–you can create sorts of design layouts with hardly any restrictions. From a green standpoint the transportation costs of such a heavy product are high, but often you can incorporate recycled fly ash and glass into the manufacturing resulting in a ‘greener’ countertop–particularly a great alternative to unsustainable granite. Icestone carries a beautiful recycled glass and concrete line. Stone Soup out of Florence, MA offers a stunning selection of concrete countertops–it really is amazing the versatility of concrete.

My bedroom is on the third floor of my house–a converted attic. When I first moved in there were two tiny windows on either end of the house. I am not quite sure how I survived that first summer. It was so blazing hot up there, you would just melt into your bed at night–it was oppressive! The following summer I decided to install 3 Velux Skylights and they have made a world of difference. The heat is just sucked right up and out the windows, if I had to guess I would say installing the Velux Skylights has reduced the temperature on the third floor by 10-15 degrees. The skylights have served as a great passive cooling tool for the entire house as the ventilating skylights suck the air up and out from the lower floors for keeping the house cooler and greatly lowering our electrical bills. I used to run three fans up there to no avail, now we’ve got skylights and a ceiling fan as an efficient and environmentally friendly alternatives to air conditioning.

I recently installed eco-friendly Richlite countertops in my kitchen. It was not an easy decision, but ultimately I chose the product because I wanted an environmentally responsible product and a product that was unique. I had been on the open house circuit for a few months and was tired of seeing granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. All this quarrying of granite cannot be good for our planet leaving pock mocks across the globe. Richlite is a great alternative because it is made of pulp from FSC certified forests and even uses some recycled paper in it’s manufacturing process. The only downside to the Richlite is that it uses a phenolic resin may affect the “recycle-ability” of the product at the end of the line. The manufacturing process is quite green; no hazardous wastes are produced during the manufacturing process, no off gassing and 99% of the VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) are burned off during the drying process. So yes, it is a green product and it looks great! I chose a saturated black color that looks much like the old slate lab tables in chemistry class. I installed an under-mounted sink and a 4″ backsplash for an overall sleek finish. I would caution that the product does have a natural patina so that over time you will see some fading or weathering. You may be able to apply a finish to alleviate this tendency. I do love the countertop, but I think I might consider Paperstone for my next project.

GreenGuard certified and member of Co-op America

I just fell in love with the most fabulous toilet on the market–okay rather one in my price range as Duravit and other high end brands have some pretty amazing models out right now–but the toilet I am referring to is the Toto Aquia Dual flush toilet. Discounted TOTO Toilets @ HomeClick.com

It is amazing and in the first month of usage, I have already noticed significant savings in our water bill. Which goes without saying as I traded in my water guzzling 3.5 flush per gallon toilet for a 1.6gpf for a “twosie” and 0.9gpf for a “onesie.” (As a TMI sidenote–I have been known to flush a twosie with a onesie flush, but I digress……)

Before purchasing, I did a lot of research into the dual flush concept. Clearly, America is, again, behind the times when it comes to dual flush toilets. They have been available in Australia and Europe for years. Whereas in the US, sales reps at the Home Depot have no idea what a dual flush toilet is and look at you like you are crazy and instead try to sell you on a toilet that can supposedly flush up to 36 golf balls–not sure why I would ever want a toilet that could flush 36 golf balls and if I did I might have bigger problems. Bygones.

I checked out the Caroma model, the Sterling Rockton, various Kohler models, but I could not resist the sleek design of the Toto Aquia. I had read several reviews citing the small water spot is small and may result in streaking–I have had the toilet in use for three months and have had no such issues.

I will agree, that the installation process is much more difficult than installing a standard toilet and resulted in my dad griping about why, for such a modern toilet, did they make it so difficult to install–as if Toto was getting too cute with their installation. There were some other design flaws–mailnly that the rubber gasket Toto provides (connecting the water tank to the toilet base) does not work very well. I read about this problem online, as other people noted that they were getting leaks because of poor gasket design. I couldn’t agree more. For a new, sleek toilet to have such a poor design (particularly given how much effort must have gone into creating the proto-type) makes no sense. I ended up going to a local hardware store to buy a basic rubber gasket with more of a “V” shape that minimizes the chances of leakage (the one provided by Toto looks like a hollowed-out hockey puck and has no “V” shape to it — it just slides around and doesn’t appear to seal very well).

Despite the issues with the installation, I have been thrilled with my new toilet. I love the look of it, but more over love the water savings. Going with a dual flush is an easy way to go green. So, the next time you are in the market for a new toilet, consider a highly eco-friendly and tres chic toilet – the Toto Aquia.

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(Updated September 29, 2008) Toto, as a company, has made a commitment to conservation. They have focused on designed powerful flushing toilets while using the least amount of water possible. The factory in Georgia recycles and reuses waste water from the manufacturing process. They work in conjuction with the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) to explore how to make their products more eco-friendly.