Patricia Gaylor

Patricia Gaylor has practiced as a green interior designer in the Northeast for more than a decade. Recognized for her earth-inspired style, she was handpicked two years in a row by renowned architect and best-selling author Sarah Susanka for the Home by Design Show house, and the Not So Big Show house at the International Builders' Show. Gaylor recently completed the interiors of Green Builder Magazine's ReVisionhouse in Las Vegas for IBS 2010. She was also the interior designer for BASF's Better Home, Better Planet initiative with a Near Zero Energy home in New Jersey. Gaylor's involvement with the BASF energy-efficient home, as well as her appearance on Good Morning America, during which she discusses the initiative, can be seen on her website at www.patriciagaylor.com.

I went to a press event the other night in New York City. INAX, a Japanese corporation, was introducing its incredibly gorgeous line of water saving toilets to the U.S. market.
An incredibly gorgeous TOILET? I’m guessing that the only people who can get jazzed about a toilet are the ones who are reading this blog, and you know who you are…
The Japanese are well-known for their sleek organic design, and INAX didn’t disappoint with its display of at least 30 or so modern and elegant toilets. All of them deliver either a dual or low-flow flush, and are WaterSense-certified. Beyond that, there were options like integrated bidet features, automatic flushes, deodorizers, music and motion sensors to automatically lift the lid or seat when approached! I should also mention some sexy blue LED lighting, and price points that range from reasonable to astronomical, depending on the features.

One of the first KBIS shows I ever went to many years ago opened my eyes to the world of THE GOOD FLUSH. I honestly never gave much thought to what makes a good toilet flush prior to that introduction by “another” toilet manufacturer. Men in white lab coats were flushing multiple hot-dog-shaped water balloons down a toilet and remarking on the “flushability.” I thought this was quite humorous until I installed a toilet in my home that continually clogged and occasionally overflowed. After replacing it with a new HET toilet, which I still have to this day, I have to say it’s never ever overflowed and has clogged maybe twice in 5 years. So I continually specify an HET toilet for my clients, and with the introduction of this beautiful new line from INAX, I’ve got so many more wonderful design choices.

One of the other great products that INAX was introducing was its line of ECOCARAT wall tiles. Made from a porous mineral called ALLOPHANE, the tiles are used to absorb excess humidity, odors and chemical VOCs. Great for public areas such as schools and restaurants, they are also great in residential settings, such as accent walls, to absorb household odors and repel mold growth. These tiles are also great installed in rooms designed for meditation or relaxation, purifying the air and promoting a sense of well being. They would be a boon for people with chemical sensitivities or small children, as INAX claims the tile will absorb chemicals such as formaldehyde.

I love this idea. It’s another very innovative way to include beautiful products that have a positive effect on the user and promote health and wellbeing. And isn’t that what good design is all about?

—Patricia Gaylor

Kevin Henry’s latest blog for this collaborative got me thinking. He wrote about the amount of choices we have today, not just limited to kitchen or bath design, but across the board. And how perhaps our choices are too many. Clients start to get that “glazed over” look when he starts to review all the options that are available in materials today. He also mentioned that you can’t even get a cup of coffee today without a plethora of choices, and although we are all fortunate to be able to have all these choices in a land of plenty, it can backfire on you.

This morning I picked up a design magazine that’s strictly focused on homes in my state. I won’t mention the name of the magazine, as I really like the folks who are associated with it (not to mention the fact that they have published several of my projects in the past), but some of the content leaves me shuddering. If overblown, over-done, over-the-top decorating (I won’t call it design) is what people want, stop the world, I wanna get off…

For some reason, people seem to equate large size, overdecorated grandiose rooms with good design. I’m guessing it started back in the ’80s with the emergence of the McMansion. I think I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been in and admittedly designed several homes that could double as bus terminals. Thankfully, this trend has gone away, replaced with better-scaled, more energy-efficient smaller homes.

The current economy has made most of us not only scale back, but there are still a lot of people out there who equate bigger with better. And designers who will load up these homes with way too much “stuff.” I’m talking not only about the living rooms and bedrooms, but also the kitchens. Are any of you designers out there still doing those huge “French”-style kitchens with tons of corbels, crown molding and center islands that you can’t even reach across? When I’m in one of these kitchens, I feel like I can’t breathe and that I’m being strangled by stuff.

Maybe you’re already thinking that I’m shooting myself in the foot by eschewing this type of work. The more stuff you pile in, the more money you make, right? Perhaps I have too much of a conscience, but I can’t do it anymore.

As a green designer, my first priority is to deliver a well-designed space that not only meets the needs and requests of my clients, but is also kinder and gentler to the planet. I can still do this and make money without going completely crazy with an over-the-top, overblown design.

Designing spaces with high-quality materials, energy-efficient appliances and lighting, as well as water-saving toilets and plumbing fixtures, can be just as beautiful and profitable, without all the overblown “stuff.” I love designing simple, classic kitchens that work. Kitchens that give me a good feeling when I walk into them, and let me breathe.

—Patricia Gaylor

What’s red, white and green all over? This year’s “Urban Farmhouse” from Green Builder Magazine. Sustainably built in Orlando, FL, for this past January’s International Builder’s Show, it was one of two great homes created by Green Builder Magazine’s VISION HOUSE series. I’ve blogged a little bit about this home in the past, but wanted to share a few aspects of the interiors. Simple in concept, and designed with an open floor plan, it’s a hybrid of both country and contemporary. And it’s not too much of either, so the result is easy and pleasant, neither heavy-handed nor starkly modern.

The exterior harkens back to southern country style, with open porches and large, cottage-style windows. The red shutters not only add a traditional flair, but secretly hide their true function: They are actually incredibly strong hurricane shutters. An EnergyStar silver-colored roof that looks like one found on an old silo is also used as siding on the side entry, further enhancing the “farmhouse” look.

The interior of the house is where it gets GREEN. As the interior designer of the project, I was responsible for keeping the inside as green and sustainable as the outside. Nowadays, it’s not as difficult as it used to be. The kitchen and dining area, pictured below, boasts many gorgeous green products.

Energy-efficient appliances from KitchenAid include an induction cooktop, and an Energy-Star-rated refrigerator and dishwasher. Simple flat-panel-style cabinetry from Merillat is made from plywood with no added urea formaldehyde. Quartz countertops from DeNova that look like modern concrete add a decided modern flair and are GreenGuard-certified for good indoor air quality. The engineered wood flooring from Mohawk gives the appearance of a New York City loft, probably because it’s actually used flooring salvaged from old buildings!

Some other green elements featured in this home were the great pendant lights from Barnwood Electric and the really cool dining room table from Martha’s Vineyard Furniture that is made from dismantled stadium bleacher seats. In the family room, the fireplace wall was covered in Dal-Tile’s terrazzo tile, which is made from recycled marble and stone chips and concrete. During construction, there were so many wooden pallets lying around, I decided to use some of them to create the wooden shelving on either side of the fireplace. There was a piece of laminated floor joist left over from construction, so I used that as a rough but hip looking fireplace “mantle.”

I mentioned before that today, it’s easier to find great green products. All of these beautiful products featured are readily available in home centers, online, or through local showrooms. There’s great selections available at all price points and styles, so there’s no compromise in terms of design or cost.

Some years ago, when I first started talking about sustainable interiors, I said that I wished for a day when “green design” would just be called “good design.” That someday, there wouldn’t be a giant rift between the two. I think that day is here, and I’m looking forward to what’s coming next.

—Patricia Gaylor

LOW IMPACT DESIGN WITH HIGH IMPACT STYLE

Some years ago, as I began a demolition on a kitchen for a client, I began to wonder where all the materials that were being ripped out would go. I saw them go into a dumpster, but where was that going? The answer I got was “AWAY”…. And to me, “AWAY” wasn’t so much a state of mind, but a place. A real place, called the LANDFILL, where these materials would languish for years, perhaps even centuries. So quite simply, that’s where my quest began to search for materials that were going to be kinder to the planet and make less of an impact.

“Low Impact” to me means many things: It could mean buying things locally to cut down on carbon emissions from transport over long distances. Or using lumber that’s from a protected source. Energy-efficient appliances, WaterSense-certified plumbing fixtures, or materials that can be recycled after their usefulness is over. I think we all know about most of these things at this stage of the game, and it’s becoming pretty easy to find materials that are green, even at the local home store.

As an interior designer, it’s also becoming easier to find furniture and finish materials that are low-impact. It wasn’t the case a few years ago. Everything that was “natural” or “green” usually had an organic or “hippie”-type look to it. I really wanted to get away from that and deliver a sleek, sophisticated interior with no compromise. Nowadays there are a number of really great furniture companies that practice sustainability. Sometimes these things come with a higher price tag, and that can be a deal breaker for someone who’s on a budget.

When I was designing the interiors of this year’s ReVision House in Orlando, I really wanted to make a statement about the “RE” in ReVision. After all, this house was a RE-model of an existing home. Remodeling existing housing stock is the greenest thing you can do, and I wanted to try to find materials and finishes for the house that would ultimately carry the RE theme throughout the house. I decided to use existing or second-hand furniture. Reupholstering existing sofas and chairs that were mismatched in a unifying fabric would work, so I began looking around for some used ones. I found some at a garage sale, and at a local thrift store, and got some amazing fabric from ENVIRO TEXTILES in a natural organic hemp fabric, which retails for around $25 a yard. I covered virtually everything in this fabric, to give it a cohesive look, even though the pieces were all a little different. I also found a cool coffee table made from reclaimed lumber, and an outdoor table and stools that I re-purposed as a wine-tasting table. The ceramic tile I used throughout the main areas of the house from Ragno boasts a whopping 40% pre-consumer recycled content. Pretty impressive!

There’s a company in Wyoming called Centennial Woods that reclaims wood from snow fences across the state and sells the sustainable harvested wood for both interior and exterior applications.  Unlike other reclaimed wood (barns and other structures), this snow fence has never been painted or chemically treated, and is a more reliable source for lead- and arsenic-free reclaimed wood. They have repurposed more than 5 million ft. of wood, saving snow fence owners more than $9 million and avoiding more than 9,000 tons of CO2 emissions. The wood can be used for flooring, furniture, and exterior siding. Here’s a beautiful floor made of the reclaimed snow fence. Gorgeous!

So here’s what I’m getting at: Think about what you want or need before you buy it. I mean really THINK. If you can’t afford the latest and the greatest, can you do with what you have? Can you RE-use or RE-purpose things you already own? It can be made to be fresh, beautiful and RE-usable if you give it a chance. If you do need to buy things like wood flooring or ceramic tile, check out what’s available with a RE-cycled content, or made from RE-cycled wood. It’s all here already. And that’s its own RE-ward!

—Patricia Gaylor