PAINT THE HOUSE GREEN
As the skin and bones of the house begin to fall into place, we are turning our attentions to the prettier side of things - i.e. the decoration.
Given our limited budget and tight timetable (baby due in 7 weeks), we may not get as far as sourcing ethical napkin holders at this stage, but rather will concentrate on the plain old underwear of the house: paint, flooring, work surfaces etc.
There is masses of information, not to mention masses of greenwash, on the internet about environmentally-friendly decoration, so it is dangerous territory we are entering.
Worktops
One area where we do think we may have struck gold is on kitchen worktops. There I was getting bogged down in all the pros and cons of the traditional products: granite, stone, corian, concrete etc, when along popped two extremely exciting and attractive products: recycled glass and recycled plastics. I got cold feet about the recycled plastics fairly early on into my research as they were too challenging for my conservative taste and, probably unnecessarily, I felt slightly nervous about them releasing toxins into the purity of our air-tight house… if you want to look into this yourself, the company we came across is www.smile-plastics.co.uk. So, glass is our main contender. Time for a quick check against our three criteria:
- Eco-credentials:
Glass worktops supplied by GLASSeco are made from 89.4% recycled materials. The glass used is 100% recycled post-consumer waste, including bottles, jars and mirrors. So instead of mouldering away on its own in the purgatory of a landfill site, a bottle that makes its way into a recycled glass worktop is essentially given a ticket to a new life of usefulness and beauty. It is also a One Planet Product, which measures various factors including lifecycle, but we have not had time to check this.
- Price
Okay, so this is not the cheapest solution in the world, but compared with directly comparable products such as granite or stone, it is at least no more expensive.
- Style
The product is undoubtedly beautiful, with great depth and interest. There are lots of different colours to choose from. Our favourite is the classic white, which is simple and stylish, but has flecks of mirror throughout which make it sparkle. If you really want to go to town, though, you can specify your own special blend of materials, get lights in-set into the surface or cast special designs into the surface.
Sorry for the rubbish photo – the best a blackberry camera in our corridor could manage – but if you like the sound of this material, visit www.glasseco.co.uk
We’re hoping to write a bit about paints soon, if we can successfully navigate the utterly confusing world of eco paints…til next time!
