Evaluation

I am very happy with my design. This project really expanded my interests and skills. I have been able to do something I’m really interested in and I loved every minute of it.

I have been always interested in interior design it’s my passion since I was little. When I started this project I knew I will work in this particular subject. I was thinking to design my bedroom to make it friendlier than it is now. Suddenly one day when I was segregating my rubbish, bottles to one bin and plastic to the other, I have been inspired by it and ask myself a question why not becoming ‘green’ in my design as well as in my life? This is the way it all started.

Beginning from the research I went on a journey. I have been researching masses of products that are actually eco friendly. I learn that they are very easy to find on the internet as well as in the shop near you like B&Q. Plus they are not very expensive. I realize it is great news and so I started to design my room using all eco- friendly materials.

I have been using Polish designing program called ARCON which helped me developed my designing skills. The program was clear and easy to use.

In my opinion my design is very successful. I thing by using all eco- friendly products I have shown to people that being ‘green’ is not that hard and everyone can do it. I hope that in the future more people will start to care for environment and especial more designers will use greener products in their projects. I hope I will continue designing green and learn even more about it because I enjoy this project a lot.

10 Easy Pieces: Eco-Friendly Paints

A simple coat of paint is an affordable way to revitalize a room. And, thankfully, there are now many paints on the market that are friendly to the environment and your health. A good resource is Inhabitat's Green Home Guide to eco paints, which rates paints from conventional manufacturers like Benjamin Moore to newcomers. Here are ten paints we like.

Above: Marstons Premium Paints from Marston & Langinger are available in three types: a gloss for inside and out, an exterior eggshell finish for exceptional durability, and a fine-finish matte interior paint. Marstons Premium Paints are water-based, non-toxic, non-flammable, and virtually odorless, and when dry, completely safe for pets and children.

Above: C2 LoVo Non-Toxic, Low-Voc paint is a premium low-voc paint with infinite color options. LoVo paint can be customized in any color, and is available in the full range of Philips Perfect Colors (see Paints & Palette: Philip's Perfect Colors) at G & R Paint Company.

Above: Devine Paints is an Oregon company founded by artist Gretchen Schauffler. The paint is low odor and meets the strictest green standards, requires only one coat, and creates a luminous surface. We especially like the Northwest-inspired palette.

Above: Bioshield Natural Paints offers "beauty without the beast." Their products include clay paints, milk paints, and solvent-free paints, including a special children's (Kinder) line with a soft pastel palette.

Above: Portland, Oregon-based Yolo Colorhouse offers premium, environmentally responsible paint products with a user-friendly color palette. Yolo offers poster-size color swatches with real paint ($5.95 each) and repositionable tape on the back that lets you try colors out on different walls and rooms without ever using a brush.

Above: The Old-Fashioned Milk Paint Company originally developed paint for wooden furniture. They now offer Safepaint, a newly formulated milk paint designed for use on walls. Milk Paint is environmentally safe and non-toxic (there is a slight milky odor when it is applied, but it is completely odorless when dry). The paint is safe for children's furniture and toys, and can also be used for interiors of homes of people who are allergic to modern paints.

Above: Benjamin Moore Natura Paint is a new, non-toxic, environmentally sensitive paint line from Benjamin Moore; the waterborne paint is now available in WA, OR, CA, and TX and will be available nationwide in spring of 2009.

Above: Mythic Paint is a non-toxic, ultra low-odor paint that provides the durability and coverage you expect from a premium paint without the off-gassing VOC’s and cancer-causing toxins that continue to emit for years after application. Made by Auro, a German company that now distributes in the US.

Above: Introduced in 1995, Rodda Paint Company's Horizon Paints are low-VOC, Green Seal–certified (free of all restricted components as defined by Green Seal), and contain an agent that inhibits the growth of mold and mildew on the surface of the paint film.

Above: Green Planet Paints are zero-VOC paints that have moved away from petroleum to a truly sustainable product made from plant resins and mineral pigments. Available in three finishes (flat, eggshell, and semigloss) and 120 mineral and clay-based colors.

From Janet (http://www.remodelista.com/posts/10-easy-pieces-eco-paints)

Eco Materials for Decorating Your Eco Home

One of the ways you can make your eco house as environmentally friendly as possible is to decorate it using natural eco materials. Whether it’s the type of glass, paint or wood varnish you use, there are plenty of eco materials you can use for smartening up your eco home and looking after the environment at the same time.

Using eco materials is also beneficial for the construction industry because they’re easy and cheap to produce. Eco materials contain natural, rather than synthetic, substances, so they can be harvested over and over again. And because they’re also biodegradable they can be easily disposed of, rather than pollute the earth after being dumped in a landfill site.

Eco Glass

Eco glass generally comprises of 95% recycled glass and plastic, and can be used as a hard wearing surface for kitchen worktops. Eco glass worktops are available in a range of finishes to resemble marble, quartz or granite, and match conventional glass for practicality and style

Eco fabrics

Natural eco fabrics are the environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic cloth because they’re made from renewable plant fibres. The two most popular eco fabrics are cotton and jute (also called hessian), and other types include hemp, recycled polyester, organic leather, wool, felt and fair trade silks.

Eco fabric can be used for armchair coverings, carpets, curtains and rugs in your eco home. As well as being more environmentally friendly and biodegradable, eco fabrics are more breathable than synthetic cloth.

Eco Paints
Conventional lead based paint emits harmful chemicals into the air, such as pesticides, herbicides and toxins, which are referred to as volatile organic compounds (VOC). These chemicals are damaging to the environment and people’s health. In fact, conventional paint is blamed for causing asthma, chest complaints and sick building syndrome.

Eco paints, on the other hand, contain fewer or no toxins at all, in which case they’re labelled as being VOC free. Eco paints are odourless and popular types are milk, plant, water or soy based, rather than lead.

If anybody in your family suffers from asthma or other breathing problems then you should consider switching to using eco paint to decorate your eco home.

Eco varnish

When decorating wooden surfaces in your eco home, you should consider using varnish with a natural, rather than synthetic, resin. Conventional synthetic varnishes contain acrylic, vinyl and algid, which are environmentally damaging to manufacture and dispose of.
Eco varnishes, however, contain a plant based resin. Popular types contain resin from dammar, copal and rosin trees. Eco varnishes are therefore more environmentally friendly to manufacture because the resin can be harvested over and over again, making them the green friendly eco material for protecting wooden surfaces in your eco home.

About Kelly Laplante organic interior design

Leading eco-designer Kelly LaPlante (LEED AP) has been demonstrating for over a decade that "green" is a standard, not a style. Sacrificing nothing in the way of aesthetics, quality or the environment, LaPlante has presented her clients with everything from Victorian to ultra-modern.


Recently completed projects include the Lexus Hybrid Living Suites at Fairmont Hotels in San Francisco and Washington DC, as well as the Venice Beach Eco Cottages. Her work has also been featured at DIFFA's "Dining By Design" and the Jane Goodall Institute's 30th Anniversary Celebration in Los Angeles. Currently, she is working on residental projects across the country and a new restaurant in Pasadena, California.


At her by-appointment-only Atelier in Venice Beach, LaPlante and her staff offer vintage, antique and sustainable-new furnishings including LaPlante's studio collection with designer James Saavedra, jak, which made its debut on the Sundance Channel set from Project Greenhouse at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.


LaPlante is the executive producer of "Brilliant Green," a special for Ovation TV, which will air this winter. She has appeared as an expert on television programs including Discovery Home Channel's Greenovate and Sundance Channel's Big Ideas for a Small Planet as well as in segments for Good Day New York, KTLA, Good Day Dallas, Good Day Atlanta, and Martha Stewart Radio on Sirius. Features of her work have appeared in Elle, Vanity Fair Online, Flaunt, Lucky Magazine, 944 Magazine, Western Interiors, California Home and Design, Blackbook Magazine Online, Hospitality Design, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, Sprig.com, Treehugger.com, and Dallas Morning News, among others. Her blog is available to read at kellylaplante.com.


LaPlante's first book, écologique (benefitting The Blank Theatre Company and Global Green USA) was released last summer to rave reviews. She also recently developed thegreengrades.com, a website which presents expert reviews of various green furnishing companies as well as highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. LaPlante chairs the sustainbility committee for The Blank Theatre Company and serves on their board of directors. She is also serves on the board at ecoracing.org.


Kelly LaPlante
Organic Interior Design
310 /581 . 6789

How to start your own eco design

This is a short video of how to start your eco friendly design. I think it’s great for everyone you can get some really good tips on how to be eco friendly I hope you will enjoy it!!!!!!:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibSue7xz-Go

My first design

These are examples of my first designs. I’ve used program Arcon+ it helped me to achieve a professional look of my design. All the product I used are eco friendly.

These two photos present a bird view on my design. You can see all the details very clearly. For the floor I used bamboo flooring, the pain on all the walls is eco friendly and the counters are made from recycling materials.

This is a floor plan of the eco friendly kitchen.

This is more detailed photo of my design. Example on the top is presented in its true colours and damnation second one is a detailed drawing striped from all colours keeping the outlines of the project.

The bird view 3d wire framed drawing of the outlines without any edges and colures.

Eco flooring

Today I was looking at different flooring ideas for my design. I had no idea how many different kinds of organic flooring. Unfortunately they a little bit expensive than a normal flooring but in my opinion is worth to invest in those materials coz on the end of the day it will benefit in the future atmosphere. See what I found:

Bamboo Flooring



Bamboo Vertical Natural Lacquered 15 x 96mm is available in Bamboo Vertical Natural ([FL_BAM_96_NAT_VRT] £19.95). Dimensions: 960 x 96 x 15mm

http://www.ronseal.ie/eco/ecovarnish.asp

http://www.calibamboo.com/bambooflooring.html

http://www.calibamboo.com/bamboo-flooring-fossilized-java.html

Eco friendly wallpaper

The eco wallpapers are printed using water based inks, are VOC Free (so no volatile organic compounds) and are printed on paper from managed sources (for every tree chopped down three are planted). Furthermore the packaging is fully compostable. Giving you great looks without costing the earth!
Graham&Brown Eco Collection - Visit this website it contains lots of eco friendly products

Children's Wallpaper
This great new collection of children's wallpaper is a blend of fun, playful prints in soft shades that really compliment the earthborn claypaint range

Printed with non-toxic water-based ink on FSC acredited, sustainable paper
Selected designs come with a colour me option so that the paper can be coloured in (as shown oposite) - great for little artists!
All suitable to be used with the Earthborn Wallpaper Paste.

Beautiful new wall decals from Inke.

Hand crafted from recycled vintage prints from the 1960s and 1970s

All information taken from internet shop: http://www.mylittleeco.co.uk/

Dorothy Draper, History's First True Interior Designer

picture fromhttp://www.canadianinteriordesign.com/kwi/Dorothy_Draper.jpg

The actual profession of interior designer is credited to a woman named Dorothy Draper, who was commissioned to decorate all thirty-seven floors of the Hampshire House hotel in 1937 Manhattan. Even though renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright called her an "inferior desecrator," Ms. Draper had decorated scores of offices, restaurants, hospitals, and even a car for Packard (in 1952) and an airplane interior for Convair (the 880) before she died in 1969.
Ms. Draper also left a legacy through a number of books, as well, including a string of books on entertaining etiquette, some of which have recently been reprinted to help modern socialites entertain guests and be the life of their parties. In a way, Dorothy Draper was the Martha Stewart of her day, offering tips on a wide variety of issues to her eager readers. Although Dorothy Draper is no longer a household name, she had an enormous effect on American interior design ideas in her day, and though she had her detractors (like Frank Lloyd Wright and others), there's no denying that she was the one who made the profession of interior designer possible for all those who came after her.
Much of Ms. Draper's work hasn't survived to the current day, but you can still see some of Ms. Draper’s work in various places around the country. For instance, there are still Dorothy Draper chandeliers hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. For a less prosaic look into Ms. Draper’s influence, just look for the blue-and-orange facades of the many Howard Johnson restaurants that still dot the countryside from coast to coast. Their color scheme was first suggested by Dorothy Draper.
The science of interior design has come a long way over the past seventy years. Today, it's a multimillion dollar industry, and incorporates aspects of environmental psychology, and architecture, as well as product and furniture design to create spaces that work well and are esthetically pleasing to their owners.

http://www.jeanettefisher.com/dorothy_draper.htm

History of interior design

There is a long history of interior design that first started around the time of Tutankhamen’s tomb being found, it was after the finding of all the basic every day items that the Egyptians had decorated that the British started to take an interest in the designing and accessorising of their homes and basic house hold items such as bowls. Since then on the design of buildings and interiors has reflected who holds most power in the country at that time for example during the 12th Century the church held a lot of Europe’s power so there fore designers had to be very careful with their designs making sure they were not related to treason or suspicious in any way as they could be executed at the decision of the church. Some of the different eras that have affected the world of interior design greatly over the years are:

Romans

This was a time when people were most interested in living as comfortably as possible and also showing how wealthy they were through their homes and life styles. Many wealthy people’s homes and public places where wealthy people would frequent (banqueting halls for example) were decorated lavishly with the walls covered in murals and the floors with mosaic designs. They tended to have their furniture custom built to suit their needs exactly, classic Roman furniture such as tables and chairs would usually have the clawed feet and also the soft furnishings would be as rich in quality as the furniture and decoration on the walls and floors with them having trims and being made of expensive materials.


Monastic

This was the period after the Roman Empire had fallen and the church gained most power because the church didn’t believe in the craftsmen’s right to express their selves through their work the grand buildings with columns and all the interior work that had been created was replaced by the sober wood panelling that showed very little personal expression. This showed the great influence that the church had during this period through out the whole of Europe.


Renaissance


This was the time just after the fall of the church and with renaissance being the French for rebirth it was not only a rebirth for the freedom of Europe but also within the arts and design. This is when the French began to have a great influence on interior design and art was once again incorporated with interior design with very elegant and detailed designs being created.


http://www.interiordesignersregister.com/history.php

Naturally Green

Decorating your home can be a bit of a challenge and it can be quite expensive. At the moment many furniture shops offers you help to find your perfect design. Unfortunately that can be quite expensive so why not do it your self? It’s not that hard as you think its good fun plus it can save you some money. I would like to convince you to create your own design but not just any design. I’m determent to encourage you to take on eco friendly project by using found objects as well as organic materials. I will present a wide range of ideas so you can choose the one for you.

image from Style Estate Blog