After attending numerous home building and design shows this year, it’s safe to say that eco-friendly appliances and green home products are more than just a passing trend. If you’re thinking about sprucing up your bathroom and want to trade in your conventional home furnishings for something a little more earth-friendly, I’d recommend checking out kitchen and bath manufacturer, Native Trails’ fall inventory.

Tatra sink
When it comes to creating an eco-chic bathroom, there’s more to greening than water conservation. California-based, Native Trails’ handmade sinks, tubs and home accents are all crafted from recycled cooper. Their new Tatra sinks are an eco-friendly and striking alternative to porcelain or ceramic sinks. The textured surface and deep glow of cooper add warmth and a unique finish to any bath décor.

Aurora bathtub
Give your bathroom a cozy cottage look with Native Trails’ cooper tub. The Aurora is an oval tub made from 100 percent recycled cooper. Because cooper is highly conductive, it’s great material for a bathtub. When hot water starts filling the tub, the tub’s surface heats up, allowing it be nice and warm when you climb in.

Old World vanity
The Old World Vanity from Native Trails is a unique piece with a past. Built of reclaimed wood salvaged from barns, fencing and other sources, the vanity’s weathered texture and hand-washed finishes create a tranquil, earthy ambiance in your bathroom. Similar to the cooper sinks and tubs in the Native Trails line, the vanity is handcrafted.

Native Trails products are available at top kitchen and bath showrooms in the U.S. and Canada. Visit www.nativetrails.net to view the collection of sinks, tubs, tiles and home accents—all made from recycled materials.

Got hot local housing tips or a story you want to share? Contact Amy Le at openingdoorsblog@homescape.com.

The world is changing. Gas has reached beyond $120 a barrel, and the demand for biofuel has caused food prices to skyrocket. As our everyday expenses surge, homeowners are looking for better ways to save money. For a growing number of people, this has led them down the path of “green” technology and products. While some of these environmentally friendly gizmos have been around for some time (solar panels, for example), most are still fresh on the market, especially when it comes to energy-efficient products.

Tankless water heater
I’m currently planning to install a tankless water heater in my own home this year, but unlike most water heater units I inspect on the job, I have never seen a tankless unit installed before. About a month ago, I met a plumber who has been installing these units in Houston. We had a lively conversation about the proper way to install these water heaters and the common mistakes people make when purchasing them. I contacted some home inspectors around the country to see if they knew of any other issues. It appears that the tankless units are popular in California, but it has not caught on in most other parts of our country.

Yesterday, I ran into an acquaintance who mentioned that she and her husband have been working on “greening” their home, but she was growing frustrated with the process. The plumber who installed her tankless water heater happened to be the same plumber that I had spoken with earlier in the month. I had checked out his facts in the building code, and found them to be accurate, so I was confident that he installed the unit properly. But her frustrations all began when the city’s building inspector paid a visit to her property.

Keeping up with the “Greens”
The inspector informed her that he had never seen such a unit. He asked for the installation manual, which he quickly glanced over, she said. He came to the conclusion that the unit was not installed to code, so he insisted that further modifications be made.

Unfortunately, he had the authority to enforce his request. Although most home inspectors that I know are trying to keep up with new developments and technological changes, city building inspectors do not always have that luxury. Having to go on daily site visits takes up most of their schedule and prevents them from having the time to study the latest information on new products.

If you are an early adapter, you may face a similar situation. My best advice is to have the expert installing the new unit at your home during the inspection. The installer may be able to show the inspector how the system works and meets the guidelines for the proper installation.

Frank Schulte-Ladbeck, Professional Real Estate Inspector

Over the weekend I stopped by the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show & Conference held here in Chicago. While I saw my fair share of sleek new bathroom faucets and granite kitchen countertops, nothing topped the list of cool new gizmos like Kohler’s VibrAcoustic bathtub.

I could hear the oohs and ahhs as I approached the crowd of spectators converged around this state-of-the-art tub. Like something straight out of “The Jetsons,” the long, white multisensory bath integrates light, choreographed music and soothing vibrations to create the ultimate relaxation experience.

The science of bathing                                                                                                                                      

Kohler's VibrAcoustic bath intergates light, music and soothing vibrations to create a relaxing experience.

Barry Glasford, a project analyst with Kohler and one of the brains behind the creation of the tub, told me the VibrAcoustic bath successfully marries the science of water and sound with the art of ergonomic design. Vibroacoustics is a technology-based sound therapy defined as hearing and feeling sound vibrations through the body. Glasford says it’s proven to promote relaxation and is an ideal feature to add to a bathtub that is designed and engineered to instinctively ease tension and stress.

Who needs whirlpool jets when you have a selection of four uniquely composed music numbers creating a soothing synchronized vibration. Transducers producing the vibrations are strategically placed on the backside of the bath allowing the bather to not only hear but also feel the music streaming in from one of the four preset fountainheads. The sound waves travel through the water and gently resound in the body.

“During our test runs, I would see people fall into a deep, relaxed breathing, as they lay there in the bathtub,” Glasford says. “The vibration and lighting encourages the bather’s breathing rate to align with the beats or chord structures. The experience is truly three-dimensional.”

Creating euphoria
The four VibrAcoustic original compositions were created in collaboration with a renowned sound therapist and are choreographed uniquely for this bath to optimize the vibroacoustic effect. Two massaging beat experiences add even more physical vibration that can be adjusted to the desired level of intensity for a personalized bath experience.

But if you’re more of a Guns N’ Roses fan like myself, the DTV bath interface allows you to download your own songs from a MP3 player or radio station from a home computer. Glasford, however, says he wouldn’t recommend up-tempo tunes if you’re looking for a euphoric experience.

The synchronized lighting is truly the psychedelic eye-catcher on this suped-up tub. The four lights in the bath can create eight different colors and a myriad of color combinations and patterns. A color dial even allows bathers to choose a particular hue of each color. The lights are synchronized with the four preset fountainhead experiences and will also align themselves with the rhythm of outside music.

Bath design
The bathtub is made of acrylic and available in two sizes: 88-by-48-by-24 inches and 72-by-42-by- 26 inches, which allow bathers of different heights to be submerged completely. The 88-inch tub will cost you around $13,000 while the 72-inch bath retails for $10,500. For some people, the price will be worth the experience.

Got hot local housing tips or a story you want to share? Contact Amy Le at openingdoorsblog@homescape.com.

When a seller is preparing her home for an open house, she usually packs away the clutter, scrubs away stains on the walls and adds some fresh flowers to liven up the ambience. But sometimes not even fresh flowers can help a home when it comes to getting rid of stinky odors. From the pungent stench of tobacco to the nose-pinching reek of an unkempt kitty litter, no one wants to be “snuffed out” of a sale. While some homeowners like adding scented candles or spraying air fresheners to mask the smells, even the rich aromas extracted from these products can sometimes overwhelm those who are sensitive to strong scents.

To play it safe, I would recommend going with an aroma-free product. At the International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago last week, I found Fresh Wave’s line of natural odor neutralizers as a good alternative for the fragrant-sensitive, environmentally conscious consumers.

From the gel crystals and home spray to the vacuum pearls, the Fresh Wave products do a good job of eliminating odor molecules. I don’t want to get too technical, — I’ll leave that to Bill Nye “The Science Guy” — but how these odor-eating products work, is the plant oils in the gels and sprays get picked up by natural airflow and attach themselves to the odor molecules, neutralizing the smells in a room.

The products are all made with a unique blend of natural ingredients like soy, purified water, aniseed, clove, lime, pine needle and cedar wood. When you open up the gel jar, you can initially smell a hint of pine and clove, but the smell quickly dissipates within minutes. The gels can be left out in the open or hidden behind air ducts. These products are all nontoxic, recyclable, non-aerosol and EPA approved.

The gel crystals last 30 to 60 days and cost $14.95 for a 16-ounce jar. So even after you’ve moved out of a home, and your agent is still showing the property to buyers, you can leave the crystals out to keep the home smelling fresh. Fresh Wave products can be purchased online at Freshwave.com or you can pick them up at Sur La Table, the Container Store and select Whole Foods and Ace Hardware stores.

Got hot local housing tips or a story you want to share? Contact Amy Le at openingdoorsblog@homescape.com.

On my lunch break yesterday, I stopped in at the 2008 International Home & Housewares Show to see if there were any new gadgets or home accessories worth writing home about. One booth that caught my attention was green-friendly home and garden design company Ecosource. The Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based company first left their imprint on the houseware scene two years ago when they debuted their biodegradable garden pots. At this year’s show in Chicago, the environmentally innovative company is moving the industry forward in the “green” revolution with the launch of their new Grēnware table-top line.

When I first noticed Ecosurce’s beautifully rounded bowls and sleek dinner plates atop the white square display tables, I instantly fell in love with the simplicity of the design and the dark earthy colors, which gave the product a very contemporary and elegant look. Grēnware’s slogan on their brochure reads: “Who says you can’t have style and still save the planet?”

The Grēnware table-top line, which includes dinner and appetizer plates and bowls, are made with renewable plant fiber from coconut, bamboo, straw and rice hulls. Without using any chemical dyes, the products rich colors come from its natural plant cellulose, such as the dark brown from the coconut shell. The products contain no petroleum or plastic, making it both food safe and also completely eco-friendly.

Chad Callihan, co-founder of Ecosource, said the grēnware products have a shelf-life of up to five years, and when it comes time to dispose, they are completely biodegradable. “In today’s market, consumers are spending more time educating themselves on environmental issues, and they aren’t afraid to spend more money on green-friendly products,” Callihan says.

Ecosource’s products won’t burn a hole in your pocket book. Their new Grēnware table-top products retail for $9 to $15 per piece and their flower pots range from $5 to $20. To find a Grēnware retailer near you, check out Ecosourceonline.com list of directories. And if you just want to educate yourself more on environmentally friendly companies, I recommend checking out Co-op America.


Got hot local housing tips or a story you want to share? Contact Amy Le at openingdoorsblog@homescape.com.