Wow, we were not expecting the number of resources available to us when we recently stepped into San Francisco's first green home center.
We chatted with Dietmar Brand, the center's owner, who told us all about his vision. Dietmar is, first and foremost, the very definition of a green design enthusiast. He is the owner of Brand Kitchens & Design, a sustainable kitchen design firm (whose work is shown above), and is an accredited green building professional. He transfered his vision (with partner Sean) into a rather large space that he uses to promote healthy home living with his ten partners, who range from green architects to local sustainable showrooms.
Green Home Center not only peddles kitchen options, but flooring, furniture, carpets, solar energy, tile, plasters, and bedding. It's basically your one-stop shop for all things green living.
You are not limited to what you see on display in the center. The above shot is an example of door styles and finishes available from one of the kitchen manufacturers available. We spent some time talking with Carmen, a kitchen designer from Brand Kitchen & Design (who has her studio right there so you can easily see her work) who readily answered all of our questions about green kitchen design options. Carmen told us that the soft contemporary look (think shaker doors, bamboo, and earthy tones) is the most popular, but they also do a lot of complicated paint styles (read: mega contemporary) and also traditional kitchen designs.
We absolutely fell in love with this brushed metal hardware. Paired with the bamboo tile back splash, we were in green kitchen heaven.
Eco-terric (full service interior design and furniture) has a terr(ific) selection of organic carpets that only use natural dyes. This is just a small example of what is available. Eco-terric also has an impressive selection of mattresses that Nick Greene of Eco-terric explained to us were so sustainable that we could "bury it in the backyard and use it as fertilizer for the next generation" when we were done with it. The queen mattress that we fell for (literally) was moderately priced at $1300.
Whether you're looking to build from scratch, do a remodel, or simply be inspired, you should most definitely check out Green Home Center.
-Sally
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Comments (1)
A friend and I stumbled into this place while on vacation in San Francisco back in October and took a look around. We were completely shocked by their extraordinarily high prices. To add further insult to injury, their staff was aloof and busy with other activities and hardly spoke, let alone bothering to explain or demonstrate their products. I frankly left there feeling that people who bought their products were basically being ripped off or greenwashed.
Sorry to be negative about a new company, but maybe they need to take some customer service lessons from Neiman-Marcus