Remodeling Guidelines to Re-Green Your Interior Design

Remodeling Guidelines to Re-Green Your Interior Design

Last week, at its annual conference in New Orleans, the American Society of Interior Designers released REGREEN, its set of guidelines for home remodeling with a shade of green.

In contrast with LEED, which scores and certifies green buildings, REGREEN is a set of guidelines, designed to give homeowners and interior design and buildings professionals the background and resources to evaluate green products and energy systems in the systems-based context of how an entire home operates.

As part of the (hooray for tree-free), the guidelines are accompanied by 10 case studies covering different project types -- kitchen remodel, bathroom remodel, finished basement remodel, gut rehab, etc. -- and is chock-full of home remodeling and interior design ideas, all with a green point of view.

The guidelines are just that -- guidelines -- rather than a script to be followed, which is closer to LEED's approach, and that has both drawbacks and benefits. Doing it right will require getting everybody -- including interior designers, contractors, sub-contractors and homeowners -- all on the same page, and the systems-based approach will require that everything work well together; executing a green home remodel won't be as easy as slapping in some bamboo cabinets and plugging in an Energy Star fridge. But if you're going to do it, you might as well do it well, right?