Earlier this year I wrote about the ReVISION house in Las Vegas and how a tight building envelope can create some indoor air quality issues if the proper materials aren’t selected. And as time goes on, I’m happy to say it’s getting a lot easier to select furniture and products that meet the criteria for good IAQ.

Both the VISION and the ReVISION houses in Orlando next year will again be designed with good indoor air quality in mind. Here are some great interior features that promise a clean, healthy (and gorgeous!) interior design:

MOHAWK, a front runner in sustainable choices in flooring, leads the way with an amazing engineered wood floor that’s green on many levels. We’re using a vintage hickory wide plank floor in the VISION house that’s actually salvaged from old buildings, so there’s no virgin lumber used on the surface. It’s engineered as well, so the amount of salvaged wood used goes even further. It’s bonded to a no-added-urea formaldehyde substrate called PURE BOND that doesn’t off-gas any toxins. Not only is it a super green product, but it really looks great in our urban farmhouse. It has an aged appearance with a nice patina, so it looks like an existing floor in a New York City loft or factory building…very cool!

The ReVISION house is a deep green retrofit of an existing home. It has the same tight building envelope as the newly constructed VISION HOUSE, due to the foam insulation from HONEYWELL, as well as the gorgeous stone look façade from SURETOUCH that increases the R value on the exterior by virtue of its ingenious foam panel installation.

The interior design of this home is a calm and uncluttered NAPA STYLE, with simple lines and much less of the “Tuscan Villa” look so popular in years past. The flooring is ceramic tile throughout the main areas. Easy to maintain and keep clean, tile harbors no dust mites which can trigger an asthma attack in some individuals. Many of the choices I made from an incredible array of ITALIAN TILE have green attributes. For example, the faux wood planking tile from EMIL that is being installed in the breakfast room is manufactured using no harmful chemicals or heavy metals, and emits no VOC’s. In the laundry room, I’m using a thin tile from EMIL called GREEN LITE that’s about half the thickness of regular tile, and can be installed OVER existing tile that would normally have to be demolished and wind up in a landfill. All of these tiles are being installed with adhesive and grout from MAPEI, which are low VOC.

The bedroom furniture from STANLEY’S YOUNG AMERICA collection has recently been awarded GREENGUARD certification. When purchasing furniture for infants and young children, not many parents consider what goes into the manufacture of the furniture they select. Did you ever buy a piece of furniture and get it home, only to discover that when you opened a drawer, there was an unpleasant odor of paint or varnish? Not only can this odor be unpleasant, it could harm you. Growing immune systems in young children, or kids with compromised immune systems shouldn’t be exposed to any materials that can possibly trigger an adverse reaction. Stanley’s Young America furniture collection has dozens of GREENGUARD certified pieces to choose from in wonderful colors and finishes. Stylish and affordable, this furniture is not only healthy, but you can add pieces later so it can grow with your child through the years. It’s made in America and built to last. I’m using pieces from the MY HAVEN collection.

—Patricia Gaylor

It won’t take magic for kitchen and bath professionals to attract bigger projects from better clients, and get higher profits in the year ahead. It will take seven simple strategies.

#1: Sell Yourself! Communicate with confidence, and present yourself with polish. The most important sale you’ll ever make is the Personal one.

#2: Expand Your Brand. Create your brand around your “Only” statement. Nothing differentiates you better.

#3: Risk More Rejection. Don’t be “nullified” by “No.” Understand that it may simply mean “Not now.” Or, “Not yet.”

#4: Add “Wow!” to Your Website. Include a knock-their-socks-off Home Page. Address timely, topical issues in a website blog, and make your site interactive.

#5: Save the Best for First. Show your best before talking about the rest.

#6: Focus on the Future. Discuss “Phase II” before you start Phase I.

#7: Persist. Winners never quit. Quitters never win.


—Fred Berns coaches interior design professionals worldwide. Contact him at 303-665-6688, or Fred@FredBerns.com.

Perhaps millions of us are flocking to online communities since the real ones are so lacking.

My Grandfather used to fix and maintain his cars by himself. “Why pay someone to do something I can do?” he used to say, beaming with pride. Oil changes, tune ups, transmission work…he did it all. Today, I fix and maintain my computers. We were both responding to the prevailing technology of our time, but both unaware of how fully it will transform society. My Grandfather, who passed away in the 1960′s, probably never considered how the automobile eventually shaped US cities, culture and economic policy. Can we ever fully understand the impact the current technology will have until it is too late?

(Incidentally, my Grandfather, whose name was Frank, was how I was first told about Frank Lloyd Wright.)

IMAGE: Courtesy of 60 Minutes

This week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was interviewed on 60 Minutes, discussing the future of his company, which has 500 million of us online an average of 7 hours a month. Zuckerberg presented his new paradigms for social interactivity and how Facebook was helping to facilitate that. The interview also included a tour of the Facebook offices in Palo Alto.

IMAGE: Courtesy of 60 Minutes

But the irony was not lost on the reporters after touring the Facebook offices. The company that has redefined social interaction has none in its own office. Long rows of anonymous desks and computers are manned by people not speaking. The room is nearly silent save the clickety-clack of the fingers on all of those keyboards.

IMAGE: Courtesy of 60 Minutes

It looks as if it were designed by the computer engineers themselves (which it probably was). Any discussions with others are done through instant messaging, even if the other person is seated right next to them. The line between person and machine gets blurred.

IMAGE: Courtesy of 60 Minutes

This is a missed design opportunity. As designers, we should be designing spaces for social interaction that complements the types of interactions we find so appealing online. In short, we should be designing reality to be more appealing that virtual reality. Online community is our competition, and we should be rising up to meet the challenge of designing livable, joyful and connected environments.

Perhaps millions of us are flocking to online communities since the real ones are so lacking.

In the 1980s, as computer use began to surge, many raised concerns to the pending isolation in the modern world. Instead, computers connected us together in ways most never imagined while our built communities languished and remained relatively the same for decades.

There is even a new film about this surge in online community. Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology is a new film by filmmaker Tiffany Shlain that explores these ideas.

You can watch the trailer for Connected here:

We cannot fully realize the long-term effects of such digital interconnectedness. Today’s kids will be working in careers that do no yet exist. The top 10 in-demand careers of 2010 did not even exist back in 2004. Which means we are preparing today’s students for careers that do not yet exist and they will probably use technologies that have not yet been invented, in order to solve things we don’t even know are problems yet.

Pathways to Success (PTS) is a career mentoring program in a Southern California desert area called the Coachella Valley. (The Valley is home to the famous Palm Springs.) PTS brings experts into classrooms to connect the kids with the people in whose footsteps they may want to follow. Part mentoring program, part scholarship, PTS has helped thousands of high school students prepare and attend college.

So last week, I was asked to visit a high school in Palm Desert, California for its annual Career Day. On a Saturday morning I spoke with about a hundred students about Sustainability and Design and the potential that awaits them in those areas.

When I polled the room with, “Who is planning on going to college?” everyone in the room raised their hand. I continued, “Who knows what they want to do?” I was shocked to see only five hands remaining. College is now the place you go expecting to find yourself and your dream job (I hope they are not too disappointed).

Many of the students were asking sweetly hopeful questions, such as, “What is the real story with Global Warming? My science teacher says one thing, but my dad said it is a hoax.” (This, by the way, is a typical comment I get from students.) Sadly, none of the news I had for them was good as I explained the bitter reality of pumping 5.8 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere, the 1.1 billion people without access to clean drinking water and how we stalled and dragged our feet for decades over doing something about it.

It was just announced that once again we broke the record and this past 10 years was the warmest decade on record.

Their tiny faces fell as I explained how the construction and operation of buildings was the biggest culprit for this damage. I also encouraged them to view the data for themselves. These students need to get to work on redesigning everything. We need to change our built environments, and we need to do it quickly. If not, perhaps the online communities will be all we have left.

You can watch the 60 Minutes interview here:

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—Eric Corey Freed is an architect and author of four books, including “Green$ense for the Home”.

Are we really present these days? How many places can we be at one time?

In business meetings, I see people having conversations while at the same time responding to emails on their Blackberrys (myself included!). Are we really present with the person we are in front of? How urgent is it that we respond right away?

I just came back from a one-day seminar I presented in South Africa, where I brought my 12-year-old son with me for a week vacation after the event. For the first time in a long time, we spent the best quality time together without being somewhere else. When’s the last time you spent a day with your kids, friends, or spouse without the interruption of technology?

Don’t get me wrong, technology has its place just as the automobile, but just because I have one doesn’t mean I drive it around the block all day long. My relationship with my son has never been stronger. I did not bury myself in my emails and he did not disappear into a video game. Building strong relationships does not happen through email, Facebook, or any venue as powerful as being in the present and being present.

While writing this piece, I decided to reach out to Michael “Dr. Woody” Woodward, Ph.D., executive coach and author of The YOU Plan, to get his thoughts on this notion of being present. According to Dr. Woody, “both our personal and professional lives have become dominated by our need for constant and immediate communication.” He went on to say that “we have created this general expectation that if you ping me on my wireless device, I must get back to you ASAP, otherwise I’m somehow slighting you by not making your need for a response a priority.” Our attachments to our mobile devices have even gotten to the point where we will interrupt in-person one-on-one conversations in favor of checking that ding coming from my pocket. “It’s as if we have lost our ability to engage those standing right in front of us,” said Dr. Woody. I tend to agree, which is the reason I chose to bring my son to South Africa in the hopes of escaping at least some of the digital distraction.

When it comes to social media, the distractions can be even more challenging. Just recently the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) took up the case of a woman who was fired for trashing her boss on Facebook. According to Dr. Woody “what’s unfortunate about this case is the fact that this woman chose to turn her dispute into a nasty public rant instead of first handling the matter in private with the relevant parties or through proper channels.” This type of display seems to be something we are seeing more of these days. He went on to say, “it worries me that social media has become a vehicle for uncontrolled and reckless venting.”

At the end of the day there’s a real need to not only be present, but also thoughtful in our interactions. So, every time you are tempted to pick up that device or update your status, you should ask yourself, can it wait just a few minutes? Do I really need to divert myself from the current conversation?

The past is history, the future is a mystery and today is a gift, that’s why they call it the present.

—Barry Farber