The air inside our homes can be pretty bad for us, as we talked about yesterday, but what to do? We’ve learned a few tricks to keep the air inside your home fresh, clean, and toxin-free. Take a look and breathe easier.

1) A collection of the right plants can help filter your air from inside.
2) Keep volatile organic compounds (VOCs) out of your home; when you re-paint, only use [url=http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/10/affordable_low.php]low- or no-VOC paints [www.treehugger.com].
3) Regularly check and clean your home’s air filter [www.treehugger.com] so it can do its job well.

4) Furniture and other furnishings can bring a lot of baddies into your home. Greenguard-certified seating [www.treehugger.com] and furniture like the Steelcase’s Think chair [www.treehugger.com] and Haworth’s Zody chair [www.treehugger.com] won’t contribute nasty stuff to your air. Our pals at Q Collection [www.sundancechannel.com] are also working hard to improve our indoor air quality, both with their furniture [www.treehugger.com] and
[brand-new collection of furniture and accessories for kids called [url=url=http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/10/q-collection-junior-launch.php]Q Collection Junior[/url] (pictured above).
5) You can’t keep all the bad stuff out, so portable air cleaners [www.treehugger.com] can help remove some of the nasty stuff that’s already in your home.
6) When it comes to heating and lighting, both wood and pellet stoves [www.treehugger.com] and scented candles [www.treehugger.com] can have a significant impact on the indoor air quality in your home.

7) Your cleaning products can also have a big impact on indoor air quality; we recommend non-toxic cleaners like Seventh Generation (and we also recommend their book [www.treehugger.com]); check out our How to Green Your Cleaning [www.treehugger.com] for more tips on cleaning green.
Lastly, a super-green option is the Green Light [www.treehugger.com] (pictured above), a slick gadget that combines solar power, LED lighting and plants to help improve your indoor air quality and support alternative and green technologies at the same time.

Made from eco-sensible plantation-grown teak, Henry Hall Designs’ Pure Collection [www.henryhalldesigns.com] have classic good looks that will keep your backyard looking fine, while resting easy that your furniture hasn’t contributed to biodiversity loss in Indonesia; you don’t need unpleasant thoughts like that mucking up your summer of relaxation, right? The “Pure Sofa”, pictured below, is complemented by a variety of tables, which also work with some of their individual chairs, like the “Pure Stacking” chair, further on down.

Teak is a great outdoor wood, since its density leads to great durability that stands up to weather and moisture well; since it’s plantation-grown — that is, planted with the purpose of harvesting for wood, rather than slashed-n-burned from a virgin forest — you know that your beautiful furniture hasn’t unnecessarily harmed our fragile planet. Henry Hall has earned a Forest Stewardship Council certification (more about that here [www.sundancechannel.com]) for their Pure Collection; this distinction is especially significant, given the ramifications of unsustainable [www.treehugger.com] and even some reclaimed [www.treehugger.com] teak. More often than not, teak is not a green choice; the Pure Collection is a notable exception. Learn more about Henry Hall Designs [www.henryhalldesigns.com] at their website.

We like it when design tells a story. It’s one of the ways that we, as consumers, can make a more mindful connection to our stuff; when there’s something more to it than just a table you picked up at the mega-mall, you connect to that piece, and it gives you a reason to hold on to it, to cherish it, and to share its story with others. When that story is a green one, as with Contraforma’s new MW Series, it’s a double bonus: you want to keep it forever and it’s a solid green choice.

Contraforma’s new MW Collection [www.contraforma.com] does a really nice job mating the new and innovative with traditional materials; the frames are made of powder coated, laser-cut metal combined with 100 year-old reclaimed wood. We love the way the reclaimed wood works with the steel, and the patina that lends real character to the pieces.

Originating in a Lithuanian wood house, the material comes with a story and history that you just can’t find in virgin materials. The wood is already a century old, with such classic, timeless design, we wouldn’t be surprised if it lasts another. Get the whole story from Contraforma [www.contraforma.com].

Though TreeHugger loves the uber-chic, ultra-sleek, clean lines of traditional modern design, sometimes it’s nice to showcase simple, thoughtful, functional design that looks good and serves its purpose. It may not be flashy, but it prefers its simplicity, and revels in it. Such is the case with STAACH Furniture, a design collective seeking to make a difference in not only the product they produce, but how designers do business. The sustainable methods the company adheres to are seen in the products as well as the design manifesto [www.staach.com] they follow.

The company strives to follow the concept of creating new, avant-garde pieces that functionally question the modern world in products, graphics, and culture. A need for simple, affordable furniture was the ultimate goal for the Cain Collection (chair pictured here), but they’ve gone far beyond that, including some useful extra features like being stackable and the ability to be upholstered. Even better, the line is the first production piece to truly encompass their concept of “sustainability” in manufacturing and design; the wood comes from sustainable sources in New York and Pennsylvania (they’re based in Rochester, NY), and all the fabrication is done in house with only two tools. The chairs are finished with non-toxic wood glue and water-based, low- to no-VOC lacquers, and can be flat packed — requiring a bit of assembly — for shipping.

In addition to the chair, the Cain Collection includes a stool, benches, bar stool, armchair, lounge chair, settee, sofa, bed and table sets, that all follow the same simple, self-aware aesthetic. STAACH also features the Adam Collection [www.staach.com] and Enos Collection [www.staach.com], which feature the same easy, modern aesthetic and sustainable considerations. They’re doing a lot of things right; go to their website [www.staach.com] to get all the details.

Each Friday, we point TreeHugger’s green spotlight on a designer practicing sustainability and incorporating green into their designs. Either through materials selection and use, manufacturing practices or finishing techniques (or a combination of the three…or any number of other, smaller — but no less important — considerations), they’re creating beautiful, useful, functional artifacts that leave a smaller footprint on the earth. But doesn’t it just create more stuff that we may or may not need? Isn’t an opiate for people who want to be greener but don’t want to actually do anything? Why is spotlighting (and encouraging) sustainable design important? Read on…

Just about everything we use, consume or see every day has been designed; designers have their hands on all of these things, far before we ever see them on the shelves (or on your computer screen, as with each Friday here at the TreeHugger blog). While there’s a lot — a lot — of “design-for-design’s-sake” out there, we want to encourage designers to take these formally disposable products, keep them beautiful and increase their relative sustainability. While it’s true (for the most part) that we can’t buy our way to sustainability, TreeHugger feels its important not only to showcase as many of the really striking, really modern examples of design as we can, but to use our green voice to encourage designers not yet on board to follow suit. If we can help convince the world (and the designers) that green can look good and is worth doing, there is no product that can’t be made greener by this philosophy. The computer you’re reading this on, the keyboard tray you’re resting your hands on, the light you’re reading by — all exemplified in Herman Miller’s new Be Collection [www.thebecollection.com], pictured above — all can be more beautiful, more functional, and more sustainable.

So, we don’t think you should go out and buy everything that you read about on this site, or at TreeHugger, for that matter. But you should know that it exists, that sustainable, fantastically-designed, thoughtful versions of just about everything you consume on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis can be yours. Come back this week for more musings on product design, plus some advice about where to learn more and (finally) where to buy it when you’re ready. Stay tuned!

At TreeHugger, we embrace design as part of the solution to a healthier, greener, more livable planet; we all need stuff (though not too much) and all that stuff needs to be designed by someone; the more sustainability in incorporated into design, the better, and the better the design is, the more people will want a little piece for themselves. This is why we’re such fans of the work done by Q Collection [www.qcollection.com], whose chic, modern products are pure sustainable design.

TreeHugger first noticed the work of Q Collection back in 2004 [www.treehugger.com]; since then, they’ve added more furniture [www.treehugger.com], along with fabrics and accessories, to a lineup of home furnishings that are a true triple threat: better for you, your home and the planet. Combining a refined, timeless modern sensibility with carefully-selected materials that reduce or eliminate risks to human health and the environment, their products are constructed without toxic chemicals, carcinogens and the leading components of poor indoor air quality. You won’t find nasties like polyurethane, formaldehyde and brominated fire retardants, which are all either known or suspected carcinogens and not good for anyone, along with chemicals like dioxins and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), in any of Q Collection’s work. This commitment extends to their fabrics and leathers; the textiles use zero impact dyes and the excess clippings from the fabric are used as ground cover by farmers near the mill. Their leather uses only vegetable dyes and no heavy metals in the tanning process, which, when it comes to leather, is the healthier, more sustainable way to go. Listing their entire volume of environmental and sustainability concerns addressed by their work isn’t practical for this space, but we’re confident in saying that it’s well-thought out and executed, and quite complete.

The ‘design’ half of’sustainable design’ is what sets Q Collection apart from many others, though — after all, they were named as one of the “Best of TreeHugger: Sustainable Designers” [www.treehugger.com] awhile back, and exhibited last year at HauteGREEN [www.treehugger.com], an exhibition of the best in sustainable design. Furniture like the “James” side chair (above, left) and “Joe” lounge chair with ottoman (above, right), show off their clean, modern sensibility that’s accentuated by accessories like the Moss Dot Pillow (above, center). Whether you’re looking for a single piece or an entire living set, Q Collection can help you be healthier: individually, in your home, and with your entire ecological footprint. There’s a lot to learn and a lot to see, including more details on their materials, products, and where you can find them, at qcollection.com [www.qcollection.com].