When it comes to combining rigorous sustainability standards with high-end design, it doesn’t get much better than Q Collection [www.qcollection.com], whom we’ve spotlighted before [www.sundancechannel.com] for their excellent work. If you’re looking to combine top-notch design with top-to-bottom sustainability considerations, you can’t go wrong with Q, so we’re excited to see that they’ve extended their offerings to include Q Collection Junior [www.qcollectionjunior.com], a cute line of mod furniture, bedding and accessories that combines beautiful design with very thoroughly considered and impressive sustainable materials and manufacturing.

A great example of how to avoid the indoor air pollution we talked about all week, the furnishings represent a practical guide to greening the interior of your home from the inside out. The list of green practices and materials that go in to the collection are all what we look for in sustainable furnishings: FSC-certified and locally-sourced, responsibly-managed wood; formaldehyde-free, water-based, non-toxic adhesives; non-toxic, low-VOC finishes; low-impact, non-toxic, heavy metal-free fabric dyes; 100% organic cotton. And we aren’t the only ones to give it a thumbs up: Q Collection Junior is the only children’s furniture and bedding line recommended by Healthy Child Healthy World [www.healthychild.org], a leading non-profit organization helping parents find non-toxic and environmentally friendly products for their children. Q Collection Junior’s cribs are the first (and only, so far) in the world to be certified by the Greenguard Environmental Institute [www.greenguard.org] for low-VOC emissions.

Their green-above-all approach makes lots of sense for children’s furniture, from both a planetary and human health perspective: youngsters spend tons of time in their cribs, on a changing table, and surrounded by stuff in their nurseries; exposure to VOCs and other harmful pollutants that are off-gassing from their surroundings can lead to both short and long-term health problems, especially if they’re living with poor indoor air quality during their busiest developmental years. By focusing on the dual “People Safe. Planet Safe” goals, the furnishings can help cut back on some of the risks.

In addition to the killer line of furniture and accessories (that’s the Luna changing table [www.qcollectionjunior.com] and Astronomer stool [www.qcollectionjunior.com] directly above, in addition to the Solare Armoire FSC [www.qcollectionjunior.com] and Claudius the Bear [www.qcollectionjunior.com] above that and the Solare armoire [www.qcollectionjunior.com], Stella stackable storage [www.qcollectionjunior.com] and Solare crib [www.qcollectionjunior.com] in the top image) Q Collection Junior wants to be a resource for greener, healthier parenting; they’ve got a great collection of resources [www.qcollectionjunior.com] and a glossary of terms [www.qcollectionjunior.com] that parents can use to make their homes healthier places to raise children.

Q Collection Junior is available for sale directly from their site [www.qcollectionjunior.com], which has lots more information on their materials choices, manufacturing practices and other green aspects of the business; the collection is also coming to a select number of retailers [www.qcollectionjunior.com] soon.

Pollution from power plants, cars, and other transportation is a well-known contributor to outdoor air pollution, but indoor air pollution is often worse; it can be up to 10 times worse for you than the air outside. Microbial pollutants like mold, pet dander and plant pollen can combine with chemicals like radon and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to create a pretty toxic environment in your home; since we spend an average of 90% of our time indoors and 65% of our time inside our homes, according to the National Safety Council [www.nsc.org] that can add up to allergies, asthma and worse.
Everything that comes in to our homes has the potential to be harmful to our health; this includes things from the building materials and elements that hold our homes together to the furniture we sit on and the paint that goes on the walls. Indoor air pollution can be bad, but it doesn’t have to be.

Not having proper ventilation can also help promote mold and other microbial growth, especially in damp climates; if cellulosic materials (like paper, wood and drywall) become moist and fail to dry within 48 hours, mold colonies can propagate and release allergenic spores into the air. As such, a basic way of maintaining the health of indoor air is by the frequency of effective replacement of the indoor air with cleaner outdoor air.

Aside from keeping known pollutants out of our homes, there are several strategies for keeping the indoor air healthy. At the top of the list is maintaining proper ventilation, which can be done most easily by just opening up the windows at regular intervals (even in the winter). Using green cleaning products [www.sundancechannel.com] can help cut way back on the toxins in your home, as citrus and pine-based solvents can react with ozone to create formaldehyde. Keeping pesticides out of your garden and off your lawn can also help, as they’re easy to track in on shoes and clothing. It’s also important to keep filters and vents clean, as pollutants can cycle through air ducts and central heating and cooling mechanisms.

For further reading, we recommend checking out the US EPA’s indoor air quality site [www.epa.gov], along with the US National Library of Medicine’s Environmental Health and Toxicology indoor air quality section [sis.nlm.nih.gov] and the Medline Plus Indoor Air Pollution section [www.nlm.nih.gov]. Stay tuned for more tips ‘n tricks for breathing easy, later this week.

The furniture and interiors TreeHugger often encounters that offer sleek, modern designs combined with green materials and production also often comes with a big price tag. This can be discouraging for those of us who want to live green and look good, too; for some, it also perpetuates the stereotype that green stuff is astronomically expensive, which is not always the case. Custom furniture company Viesso [www.viesso.com] seems to have found a good balance: all of their products, including chairs, sofas, tables, beds, benches, accessories and more, are customizable, and each different option (upholstery, cushions, frame, etc.) has several green choices, allowing customers to be as green as they want to.

They’ve got all the right materials options to make any discerning TreeHugger happy: fabric and textiles from Maharam [www.maharam.com] and Knoll [www.knoll.com], natural latex or feather/down filling instead of polyurethane for cushions and wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). They also feature bamboo, recycled steel springs and recycled stainless steel legs, finished off with water-based stains and glues, to help keep indoor air pollution down. The “Rondi” chair, pictured above, is one of our favorite designs.

While it’s true that these green options do come at a bit of a premium, this TreeHugger was able to put together a great looking 96″ sofa for about $2300, which is a reasonable deal for a big piece of custom furniture, green or otherwise. Viesso is thinking about going 100% green [www.viesso.com], but, in the meantime, we’re glad to see that they offer the option for those of us who care. Each piece, customizable right on their website (which is an ingenious system, we think), usually takes about three weeks to ship after your custom design is submitted; those in need of instant gratification can cruise their selection of floor models [www.viesso.com].