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What I Love with Trudy Dujardin, FASID, LEED AP

Pretty Porches

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Trudy Dujardin, FASID, Leed AP

Grass is growing, flowers are blooming, and our spirits are lighter, along with daylight lasting longer into the evening. The living areas in our homes expand with patios, decks and porches back in use. The foyer as a transitional space has given way to the garden gate, with paths and borders providing a tantalizing hint into the nature of your home.

Container plants at the door and gate add a lush note. Think of your pots as living architecture. Here the terra-cotta containers are a complement to the brickwork. Blend height with interesting textures and leaf shapes. Although flowers are always beautiful, you can create an arresting focal point with grasses and greenery.

Sometimes less is more, and sometimes, more is more! This cottage garden is overflowing with color and blossoms, and the gravel path is an old fashioned way to lead guests to your door.

Comfort and color go hand in hand when you add brightly colored cushions and throw pillows. Cobalt blue glassware is a lovely accent.

Don’t skimp on outdoor furniture. It should be as sturdy and comfortable as any other piece in your home. A covered porch adds protection from the elements.

A whimsical sign with the name of your summer home is always a fun touch.

Candles make the porch twice as inviting when evening falls. There’s no better place to enjoy a glass of wine with your partner or friends as you watch the stars come out. These are the months we waited for all winter. Take the time to enjoy them!

How to Garden Green

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Trudy Dujardin, FASID, Leed AP

Spring is here, and another season of rebirth and growth is upon us. We have a new opportunity, as gardeners, as homeowners, and as earth’s citizens, to make choices that support life, down to the tiniest creatures. Although you may not see evidence of it every day, your garden is teeming with life: bees lazily buzzing from flower to flower, birds flitting through trees brimming with nests and berries, and rivers, streams and ponds in wetlands throughout the region you call home

To really see just how many creatures are part of your micro ecosystem, try this: Sink a clean glass jar, without its lid, into a hole in the ground, and leave it overnight. The next morning, walk outside and enjoy your coffee with the beetles and other little visitors who came to your garden while you slept. Each one is part of a delicate balance that exists in every square foot of your property.

Make Your Garden a Sanctuary

Lawn and garden chemicals are poisons to things that live, including humans and pets. They pollute our water, harm wildlife, and interrupt the delicate balance of our ecosystem. They may also be endocrine disruptors, interfering with the body’s hormonal system in both humans and wildlife. If you’re not part of the suburban quest for the perfect lawn, then your neighbors might be. Killing weeds and encouraging rapid growth of thick green grass may seem the natural thing to do, but nothing could be further from nature.

One hundred million pounds of lawn care chemicals are used by homeowners every year. These include chemicals that kill weeds, insects, and a variety of plant diseases. A study from the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) found pesticides in 100% of the people who had both blood and urine tested. The average person carried 12 of the 23 pesticides they searched for. Many of these chemicals are linked to cancer, birth defects, and liver or kidney damage.

This Year, Garden Green

It’s possible to have a beautiful lawn and garden without resorting to dangerous and toxic chemicals. Make this year your “Garden Green” year.

Here’s how for the lawn:

Healthy soil promotes healthy plants. This is your foundation for every other thing you do in the garden. How do you get healthy soil? Add organic compost. You can make your own, or buy it.
Corn gluten is increasingly used as a high-nitrogen organic fertilizer. Organic fertilizers feed your lawn slowly; quick release chemical fertilizers encourage rapid growth that weakens the grass, promotes disease and leaches into nearby surface waters.
Tolerate a few weeds. You can dig them out by hand if they bother you, or you can adopt the philosophy of “live and let live.” A few weeds can also provide a home for beneficial insects, which keep the overall landscape in good health.
For the first and last mowing, mow down to two inches, which prevents fungus growth. For the rest of the year, keep our grass higher, at three inches, to shade out weeds and foster deep roots. Short grass promotes weeds, shallow roots and thatch.

Here’s how for the garden:

Just like in your lawn, add organic material to your garden soil to make it healthier, and less likely to be a host to disease.
Spread mulch (chopped leaves, shredded bark, compost) to smother weeds and keep soil moist.
Put up birdhouses and bird feeders to encourage nature’s pest patrol to help with insect problems.
Carefully choose plants that are suited to your year round temperatures, rainfall and amount of sun required. Look for disease resistant varieties of ornamental trees and roses.
A diverse biosphere in the garden best mimics nature, and makes a stable ecosystem. Plant a mix of trees, shrubs, flowers and herbs.
Remember that even organic chemicals and pesticides can cause damage if overused, so apply with care, and be sparing in their use!

A few other ideas to make your garden a home for wildlife and a pleasure for everyone:

Instead of putting up fences, plant hedges. A hedge can provide food, shelter and a nursery for wildlife, including birds and butterflies. If you want a fool-proof way to bring butterflies to your garden, plant a butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii)! Monarch butterflies love the purple variety.
Set up a wormery. If you have a compost system, add worms! You can buy a full kit, and they’ll eat virtually any organic kitchen waste. You’ll be making the best compost in the world. You might try Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm.
Encourage other beneficial insects. Lady bugs that eat aphids can be purchased online (Gardens Alive offers lady beetles by mail) or, if you live in Connecticut, at Gilberties Herb Garden in Westport.
If you have the space, you can even add a few chickens to provide your family with eggs. They enjoy foraging for garden insects, so they’re a benefit in two ways. Check out Backyard Chickens for more information!

Enjoy nature, and feel good about keeping your little piece of the earth safe and clean. Happy Spring!

My Seaside Inspiration

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Trudy Dujardin, FASID, Leed AP

My life on two coastlines (Long Island Sound in Connecticut, and Nantucket Island) inspires my design work in a very personal way. I have always been drawn to the colors of sand, sea, sky and sails. As I walk the beaches near my homes, I see exquisitely colored shells, small sea animals and picturesque harbors, all of which find their way into the interiors I create . Let me show you my seaside inspiration.

“I felt the full breadth and depth of the ocean around the sphere of the earth, back billions of years to the beginning of life, across all the passing lives and deaths, the endless waves of swimming joy and quiet losses of exquisite creatures with fins and fronds, tentacles and wings, colorful and transparent, tiny and huge, coming and going. There is nothing the ocean has not seen.”–Sally Andrew

LEED Accredited: Why It Matters

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Trudy Dujardin, FASID, Leed AP

There are few people who haven’t heard the term LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) at this point, whether it is applied to a building project (LEED certified) or an individual (LEED accredited). When a project receives a LEED rating, it signifies that the building saves energy, reduces pollution, uses fewer resources, and contributes to healthier environments.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) oversees the LEED certification and accreditation process, They maintain an immense infrastructure to offer support to industry leaders to create innovative and cutting edge homes and buildings. I’m a longterm member of the Council. My commitment to green building and design dates back to 1987, long before “green” or “sustainable” was a part of industry vernacular.

I’ve built, renovated, designed and lived in a number of “green” homes, and have been privileged to educate my clients and friends about the importance of sustainability. Not all Dujardin Design projects are green, but I try to incorporate green elements wherever there is an opportunity. We happily do every thing from deep green to “gently green” and everything in between.

I’ve studied to become accredited, and am proud to have the designation LEED AP +ID + C behind my name. Specifically, that means that I am a LEED Accredited Professional, with a further designation in Interior Design + Construction. The LEED exam I passed measured my ability to support green design, construction and operations. (The exam is a four and a half hour, two part, two hundred question assessment of the candidate’s understanding of LEED , and requires work on a LEED registered project within the past three years.)

Why is this important? It’s a measurement of knowledge and ability. It reinforces a commitment to green building. And it emphasizes skills in areas such as energy conservation, reduction in water consumption, improving indoor air quality, and making better building material choices. It’s about environmental stewardship and social responsibility. The USGBC community shares a common goal: everyone learns, works and lives in a green building within this generation.

That’s a goal I’m proud to support. I hope you’ll do your part to support LEED building projects, too.

T’was the Night(mare) Before Christmas

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Trudy Dujardin, FASID, Leed AP

T’was the night before Christmas

And though we had prayed

Not a curtain was hanging

Not a swag or a shade.

The client was calling and saying, “Dear Trudy,

My windows are bare

And they’re making me moody!”

So away to the wall phone I flew like a flash,

Called Saul to the rescue

And begged him to dash!

The snow started falling, the wind it would blow,

But Christmas was coming and my client felt low.

“Dear Saul, you must hurry!

The weather is bad.

And those poor barren windows,

Well, they must be clad!”

“Oy, Trudy,” Saul told me.

“Don’t worry. It’s done!

I’m on my way. I don’t need the sun!

No weather will stop me

My sleigh it is packed

With fabric and grommets and braid

That’s a fact!”

He dashed through the night,

Not a sound did I hear

‘Til late in the evening

They called in good cheer.

My client said, “Trudy, your Saul is a blessing!

He’s been here for hours, my windows are dressing!”

So all’s well that ends well,

My friend saved the day.

He never would stop

Until things went my way.

He showed me the meaning

Of Christmas that night

That business with friendship

Makes everything right.

The Story Behind the Poem

One of my first friends in the design business was a drapery maker named Saul. He was much older than I was, but he took me under his wing and taught me about design and draperies. I was blessed to count him as a friend.

Saul hadn’t had an easy life. He was a Holocaust victim, but he’d made it through Auschwitz, and worked hard to make a good life for himself and his family in a new country. He had seen enough of the dark side of life. He kept his face turned toward the light.

He had suffered; he had starved; he had survived. None of that made him bitter, he held onto nothing from his past. He was a good man with a big heart. He treated me like his daughter, saying, “Trudy’s little, but she thinks she’s big!” He always said he would do anything to make me happy, and one Christmas, he showed me he meant it.

I’d been working hard to finish a client’s home for the holidays. Saul was slated to install window treatments for the first floor of her beautiful home in Connecticut. The client, normally calm and understanding, called me late in the day on Christmas Eve. Saul hadn’t arrived, and she was beside herself, distraught over the idea of Christmas without curtains.

Snow had started to fall, the precursor to a full-blown blizzard. I didn’t know what to do. The roads were a mess, it was getting dark. Saul was driving from Co-op City,and I didn’t know if he had gotten stranded somewhere. These were the days before cellphones, when it was impossible to reach anyone. My heart sank. Was Saul all right?

I worried until 11:30 that night. At last, my phone rang again. It was my client. “Don’t worry, Trudy!” she told me. ” Saul just got here. He said he’s going to stay until he finishes. We’re drinking hot chocolate in front of the fire and singing Christmas carols. ”

The best part was that although Saul arrived in time for her to have curtains for Christmas, her husband had done his part to focus on the true meaning of Christmas as well. She told me that after her frantic call to me, her husband said to her, “Honey, we can have Christmas without curtains. Look around you. We have Christmas already! We have a beautiful home, a tree, and our children. What more do we need?”

And then Saul arrived at the door, stamping snow from his boots and saying, “Oy vey, I’m here!”

This dear Jewish man traveled hours through the snow, charmed my client, joined their family festivities, and didn’t leave for home until 2:30 a.m.

Saul taught me many things: about draperies and design, and about business, but mostly about life. He taught me what it was to stand by a friend, and that I could count on him when things fell apart. He was beside me when my mother was ill and in the hospital, and I was beside him when he needed me. He passed suddenly, after an unexpected fall, before I was ready to tell him goodbye. I wasn’t blessed with a large family, but I am grateful for my rich circle of friends. Saul will always be one who is closest to my heart.

There’s nothing more precious at the holidays than spending time with the people who love us. I wish each and every one of you a Christmas filled with joy. Curtains are a bonus.

Speaking of a Christmas filled with joy, I am so happy that my good friends Tracey and Bill have a new friend with a wagging tail to love this holiday season. Welcome, Dixie!

Belonging to the Heart of a Dog: The Story of a (Humane) Society Girl

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Trudy Dujardin, FASID, Leed AP

This is a story about a dog. It’s a story about rescuing a dog, and it’s a story about how it feels to love someone of another species, and how it feels to be loved in return. It’s mostly a story about what it means to belong to the heart of a dog.

The heart of a dog is no small thing. In fact, it may be the biggest thing on earth. How you get to belong to the heart of a dog can happen in many different ways, but to truly see how important it is, you have to start with one dog, and one dog’s heart. For Tracey and Bill, it started with Sophie.

Bill and Tracey met, fell in love, and got engaged. They were happy together, and there was nothing missing. But their love was big enough to spill out of their own hearts, big enough to share with someone else, and one day, Tracey said, “Let’s go see the dogs at the Humane Society.”

There were so many dogs there, and most of them were jumping up and begging for attention, and they all needed homes. It might have been too hard to choose, except that Tracey and Bill saw a dog sitting quietly, her head tilted. She was behind the begging dogs, with a dignity and grace all her own. “I like that one,” Tracey heard herself say. And Sophie found a home.

Sophie was ten months old, when they adopted her, in October of 1997. At first, she was afraid of being outside alone, and unsure of her new surroundings, but Tracey and Bill worked hard to reassure her that she was staying with them, that the bad times were over, that she finally had a home. They referred to her as their “society girl”–Humane Society, that is.

Luckily for Sophie, Tracey and Bill are the kind of people who know what it means to take care of someone. They brushed Sophie’s teeth, and cleaned her ears. Because of her Shar Pei heritage, Sophie had a bath once a month with antibacterial soap. Tracey and Bill watched Sophie’s signals; they looked into her eyes. Understanding the needs of pack animals, Tracey and Bill made room for Sophie in their bed. She slept with them until she couldn’t, and then, Tracey slept with her. “I would get in bed with her, Tracey says. “She was so gentle, and it was all kisses.”

“Sophie always looked at me as if she was grateful,” says Tracey. Being a grateful sort of dog, Sophie was watchful and patient, and always by Tracey’s side. Sophie knew what it was to take care of someone, too.

This story ends like the stories of all good dogs, with saying goodbye. “She was one loved dog,” say Tracey and Bill.

Here are some of Tracey’s rules for loving a dog. Perhaps they will help you love your dog, just a little bit better:

On rescuing a shelter dog:

“Sophie came from the wrong side of the tracks. She had mange; we had to cure that. She was terrified of going outside by herself–I think she must have been left alone outside. You have to be patient with a dog from the pound. They’re grateful, but they’re fragile, until they figure out you’re not just another temporary space.

On the importance of routine:

“People think dogs don’t wear a watch,” says Tracey, “but they know how to tell time. Routine is so important. Sophie learned to set her internal clock by Bill, who made sure she had breakfast at eight a.m. and dinner at five p.m. She knew someone would walk her between three thirty and four. She slept her in our room. We watched her signals really closely.

As dogs get older:

“It’s important as your dog gets older to see they have a different set of needs, and you need to help them stay a part of the family. When Sophie lost her hearing, we googled and read books on deaf dogs.”

On what they learned from Sophie:

“We never walked in the door that Sophie didn’t get up to greet us,” explain Tracey and Bill. “All she knew was unconditional love. Her legacy to us is the question, ‘Why have a bad day? God is good, life is good. Why have a bad day?'”

So, in the end, this is a story about a dog, and how it feels to belong to a dog’s heart, and all the big and little things that entails. It starts with falling in love, and it ends with staying in love, even when you say goodbye. But every cloud has a silver lining, and there can be a happy ending.

Sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes, the dog who’s passed sends a new companion your way: maybe a puppy, or a dog from the shelter, or an elderly dog who needs a home, or a dog of an entirely new breed. They know how much humans need company.

Trudy and GG, meeting for the first time.

GG thinking about sleeping alone.

GG, right before going upstairs to sleep with Trudy and Frank. “She healed my heart,” says Trudy.

You’ll know when it’s time. And somewhere, a dog will be waiting for you.

“It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as loving and generous as they are.’–Unknown

Something in the Air

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Trudy Dujardin, FASID, Leed AP

We often think about fragrance as something light, a delight, an aroma that is carried on the breeze. We love the lavender-laden air of Provence, the balm of herbs growing in our gardens, the honeysuckle clambering over a trellis to reach our bedroom window. There’s the smell of rain after a thunderstorm, the richness of soft soil and fallen leaves in autumn, and the heaven of a pot of soup simmering on the stove. In our chemical-dependent world, however, fragrance is not so much a pleasant breeze as it is a heavy storm cloud, making it hard to breathe.

A report by the women’s health advocacy group Women’s Voices for the Earth found that sensitivity to fragrance is more widespread than thought. Apparently tens of millions of people in the U.S. are sensitive to common fragrance ingredients in household and personal care products. What makes it almost impossible to identify and avoid fragrance allergens, however, is the fact that companies are not required to disclose the tens to hundreds of ingredients that make up a scent.

Some companies do voluntarily disclose this information. Seventh Generation, one of the leaders in the green products industry, has been disclosing all fragrance ingredients, including allergens, since 1998. They go as far as listing every essential oil that is added to their products.

Symptoms from fragrance exposure and sensitivity can include respiratory effects, immune system impacts, headaches and allergic reactions. The addition of chemical fragrances is common in cleaning products in particular; the European Union has identified 26 chemicals that are likely to cause reactions in sensitized individuals, including Amyl cinnamal, Benzyl alcohol, and Hydroxy-citronellal. See a complete list here.

You can search for fragrance free products, but it’s not an easy task. Fragrance is found in 96 percent of shampoos, 91 percent of antiperspirants, and 95 percent of shaving products. And it goes beyond the addition of chemical fragrances. The Environmental Working Group has been actively campaigning for safer cosmetics, evaluating nearly 80,000 personal care products. Their findings are alarming: there are an average of 13 chemicals found in the bodies of teenage girls, for instance, including dangerous products such as phthalates, triclosan, parabens and musks, all endocrine disruptors.

Although it may require a search, you can find organic, fragrance free products to support your health, and make you feel beautiful. Some of my favorites are: Nature’s Gate lotion (fragrance and paraben free), Seventh Generation, Nurture My Body (not all fragrance free), Jason (means “healer” in Greek), Kiss My Face (olive oil and aloe vera), and Burt’s Bees Baby Bee Nourishing Lotion (99% natural and fragrance free but not necessarily organic). .

Evan Healy (philosophy: The Skin Breathes) is a skin care line that can be found at Whole Foods. You can also check out Juice Beauty and Jurlique!

If you’d like to learn more about what major cosmetics companies are using in their products, make a visit to the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep: a cosmetics product database. You may be surprised to learn that the products you trust contain chemicals that are linked to endocrine disruption, among other concerns.

A book and website you may also find of interest is No More Dirty Looks: The Truth About Your Beauty Products and the Ultimate Guide to Safe and Clean Cosmetics. The authors, Siobhan O’Connor and Alexandra Spunt, leave no bottle unturned in their expose on the most dangerous ingredients in widely used brands and the best clean make up, hair care and skin care products.

And finally, while you’re treating your body well, check out Julie Morris’s cookbooks: Superfood Kitchen and Superfood Smoothies. Superfoods are the most nutrient desnse foods on earth, with a remarkable ability to heal, energize and promote radiant good health.

Kale is one of my favorites. Here’s a quick and easy way to add it to your dinner table:

Organic Braised Kale

Place 2 tablespoons olive oil in a Dutch oven, heat, and add minced garlic and onion to taste. Sautee until slightly browned. Add kale and braise until kale is wilted and not tough. Approximately 15 minutes, or longer if you prefer. Sprinkle on some freshly ground black pepper and grated parmesan cheese. Health and good taste in a serving!

My personal philosophy is A Healthy Home is the Ultimate Luxury. A healthy body is the ultimate necessity for a good life. Take good care of yours!

A Comfortable Place to Sit

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Trudy Dujardin, FASID, Leed AP

One of the most important considerations in designing a home is the comfort of those who live there. I believe that a home should be beautiful, as beauty lifts the spirits; it should be a sanctuary for health and well-being with clean air and non-toxic surroundings; and it should be be a place of comfort. A house is not a home without a space to curl up with a good book, put your feet up at the end of a long day, and enjoy a snuggle with pets or people you love.

When I designed my home in Madaket, one of my husband’s requests was that our living room be a place where he could truly relax. He wanted to be able to come in, put his feet on the cocktail table, and have a beer with friends. Nothing in this room is too precious. The sofas were slip covered in crisp navy and white so that they could be cleaned easily, and a comfortable wicker chair lets our guests know that this is a summer home, where relaxation is encouraged! (The white canvas is indoor/outdoor fabric, and completely washable!)

I love to read, and I find window seats to be irresistible for hiding away with a book. The light from the window, changing as the day goes by, the view into the garden, and the scent of a summer breeze takes reading in the middle of the day from a guilty pleasure to a perfect respite.

A window seat in a bedroom is always a delight! A space devoted to intimate comforts should have a place to take a little nap in the middle of the day when your schedule allows.

Creating a comfortable home requires planning; there should be welcoming chairs everywhere, with lots of daylight streaming through the windows, and a sense of order so you can really rest. Ottomans let you put your feet up, and a little chairside table will hold both your book and a cool drink.

If you are fortunate enough to have a beautiful view, then a comfortable place to relax and watch the sea and sky is always appreciated. It’s the perfect place to enjoy your morning cup of coffee as you slowly wake to the day.

When you sit down with a good book or to watch a movie with your family, you may not realize that your upholstered furniture too often brings chemicals such as formaldehyde, brominated flame retardants (PBDE’s) and dioxin into your home through off-gassing. Fortunately, today we have the option of choosing soy-based versus foam cushions, recycled filling for pillows, and organic upholstery fabrics. Some of the world’s healthiest fabrics are also the most luxurious, including organic cotton, hemp, linen and wool.

Firelight and the smell of burning wood brings its own kind of relaxation, especially when you’re enveloped in a cozy chair close to its warm glow.

A porch, veranda or deck can be another living area, serving as a quiet library during sunlit hours, and the perfect spot to watch evening fall with candlelight and a glass of wine to toast the end of day.

Most of us live busy lives, sometimes too busy, and it’s good to take a moment to sit down occasionally, and enjoy what we’ve accomplished. As A.A. Milne said (as Winnie the Pooh), “Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.”

On Safer Ground in Nantucket Today

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Trudy Dujardin, FASID, Leed AP

The August 2013 issue of Nantucket Today features a Dujardin-designed home with a unique story: this beautiful Edwardian-era residence was saved not once, but twice, from the perils of the sea. Built in 1908 on the sandy ground of Sconset Bluff on Nantucket, fierce storms and pounding waves in recent years have eroded the fragile shore, placing the house in danger of being swept out to sea.

The owners of this elegant home first shifted it farther inland in 2006, but it wasn’t far enough. The second move for the house was cross-island to Monomoy in 2010, where the house now watches the waves in the harbor from a safe distance. With the sea no longer a too-close neighbor, spectacular gardens have been planted outside with massive hedges, and organic vegetable and fruit gardens instead of sandy paths.

I first designed this home in 1996, so there’s an odd sense of deja vu for me as I walk through these rooms. An updated family room, breakfast room and kitchen replaced a maze of rooms that once was the servant’s wing.

The world of 1908 is still in evidence in the house, recalled by the back servants’ stairs and the original call box with bells for the library, the guest rooms, and the original owners of the house, Mr. and Mrs. Dustin.

As befits a home that has lasted for generations, there is a beguiling mix of ages throughout. In the entry, a 19th Century gilt mirror adds a touch of grandeur, arching over 21st Century whale art in handblown glass by Raven Skyriver.

An enfilade of rooms opens one upon the other, offering tantalizing glimpses of subtle blues and yellow, creams and whites, richly finished wood floors and plush rugs underfoot. Dignified antiques add a decorous note to airy spaces.

There’s a ribbon of soft color that runs through the house; shades of bluebells and buttercups wrap the rooms in tranquil tones that lit spirits on even the foggiest days.

The home’s original setting on Sconset Bluff is honored in an oil painting that hangs over the living room mantel, a reminder of those more precarious days.

Just as the house itself has had its second, and third, chance at life, many of the well-loved pieces throughout the home were reupholstered for their own second chance. The homeowners’ unique stories are told here, too. The 1840’s breakfront in the dining room is home to a collection of heirloom china teacups, given to the wife’s mother at her wedding shower. Each guest arrived with a different teacup, creating a charmingly mismatched set that has been treasured for years.

In the master bedroom, an elaborately carved 19th Century bed from the West Indies blends effortlessly with contemporary lamps and white lacquered night tables. There, seaglass colors soothe both body and mind.

Nantucket residents know our island is a fragile place. Climate change and stronger storms continue to buffet our shores, creating an uncertain future for seaside homes, wherever they face the waves. In this house by the harbor, the owners have surely done their duty by their home, lovingly preserving it for years to come.

All photography courtesy of Jeffrey Allen; visit his website here.

Your Sacred Space: Part Two of an Interview with Trudy and Women on Fire Founder Debbie Phillips

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Trudy Dujardin, FASID, Leed AP

This is part two of my interview with Debbie Phillips for Women on Fire, the group she founded to bring an amazing circle of fabulous women together for inspiration, strategies and support. The following is a transcript of part two of our talk on Your Sacred Space: How to Create an Inspired, Healthy Living Environment. Read Part One here.

continued…

Trudy: What I’m striving for is indoor air quality–whatever we put in that space. And the only space you can really control is your own environment, your home, so that everything in there supports your health and wellbeing.

Debbie: Right. Well, I love that notion, and I’m sure that people listening are thinking, “Well, how can I control other environments?” But like you said, we can control our homes. We can also control our cars, and some of us can control our offices. Is there any way, Trudy, to control other environments–short of wearing a mask?

Trudy: I think a lot of it is education, and you know I’m big on that. I’m always trying to promote how to support yourself at home through my blog and also in the lectures I do on The Holistic House. People ask, “Where should I begin?” Begin in the nursery because your baby is sleeping in there 20-24 hours a day and breathing in that air. But your own bedroom needs to be almost like a bell jar–really clean and free of dust and dust mites. Don’t have a lot of wall-to-wall carpeting because there is so much that gets trapped underneath there.

Debbie: Really?

Trudy: Oh, yes, microbial growth. At least area rugs can be sent out and steam cleaned.

Debbie: Interesting. So choose hardwood floors and rugs over wall-to-wall carpet.

Trudy: Hardwood floors, tile floors, stone floors–those are the cleanest. They are the easiest to keep clean and dust-free. When people who are really allergic or who have asthmatic children come to me, I tell them to damp mop their floors–as if we have enough free time to do all this. But try to damp mop floors twice a week. It is believed that our livers detox somewhere between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. Your liver and your kidneys are really hard at work, so you want to sleep in a really clean environment so you’re not still taxing your system and your organs.

Debbie: Trudy, I’ve seen those air filters that often can be bought at specialty stores. is there any kind or a particular air filter that you would recommend?

Trudy: As you know, I had such a struggle with chemical sensitivity. I had to go through a two-year detox program, which was almost like being on chemotherapy. It was really rough. So I don’t want to see other people go through that. The one filter that the environmental physicians–there are only 400 in the whole world; it is a very specialized group–like is the Austin HealthMate Plus. And the reason for that, Deb, is that it has a HEPA filter in there to filter out particulates–dust, mold spores, animal dander, pollen in the spring. But it also has zeolite in the carbon filtration, which filters out vapors such as car fumes. If you have a garage that’s part of your house, car fumes can infiltrate and go right through all the little perforations into the house. The Austin HealthMate Plus filters out all of that. It will filter out and lower the VOCs from your furniture because all furniture finishes have VOCs. So that’s the filter I swear by.

Debbie: That’s great. Is there a particular kind of mattress or pillow or bedding? I know it should be from organic cotton, but is there any particular brand or style that you think is best?

Trudy: There are so many out there, so I want to tell everybody: Buyer beware. Make sure you really go to someone who can say that a mattress is truly organic cotton or it’s truly organic wool because it has been certified. I personally like a wool mattress that’s been tufted, and then I have it encased in organic cotton. I get my physician to write me a prescription slip, so to speak, to give to the people making the mattresses, saying that i refuse to have it sprayed with fire retardant. By law, they have to add fire retardant in case there is a smoker in bed and a cigarette is dropped. But it’s a problem because the rest of us have to pay the price by sleeping on a bed immersed in that chemical, and you really don’t want that.

Debbie: Wow.

Trudy: The other thing you want to do–because dust mites and the little things they leave behind are what a lot of people are allergic to, especially asthmatic children–is to get an encasement, a completely zip-around mattress protector. It’s not just a pad on the top, and it’s made out of barrier cloth. That keeps out dust mites, bed bugs, all those things that can happen, and you are much safer. Your pillow really shouldn’t be foam or anything made of a chemical. it should be organic cotton or organic wool, again, in an organic-cotton encasement protector.

Debbie: Is there anything around the waterproofing of a mattress pad? Would that necessarily have chemicals in it?

Trudy: It could. Until I look at the label, I wouldn’t know. You have to be careful of chemicals, especially where you are sleeping at night. That’s the one room to change. People say, “I can’t afford to go through and change my whole house.” And I completely relate to that. But try to make your bedroom as clean, organic and chemical-free as possible. That’s the goal.

Debbie: This is so helpful because one of the things Rob and I have done is to create a couple’s sanctuary, but we have not gone to this level. This is very inspiring. I want to talk about something else that would potentially be a tip, Trudy, and that is because we are talking about an inspired environment with a strong emphasis on creating a healthy environment. I want to tell you a quick little story. When I met Rob, who is now my husband, he had this rule that one way to create a sacred environment was that all shoes were to be removed before entering the house. it took me a little while to get used to that, but I have adopted his ways and I have to say that I love it. And, Trudy, you are the only other person I’ve met who has a porch full of shoes. I wondered if that’s a rule at your house–a shoeless house–and is there a good reason for not wearing shoes in the house?

Trudy: Absolutely. I think it’s sacred. It’s respectful to remove your shoes, to not bring in all that stuff from the street. Asians do that a lot. But there is also a very scientific reason for it: When we are walking around on the street, we are actually walking through viruses, bacteria, chemicals sprayed on the streets to melt ice, and all of that. We walk through that, and we definitely don’t want to track it into the house. People I’ve studied with have said that if you could make pesticides iridescent and if you used a black light on them, they would glow. And if you had somebody walk through his yard after it was sprayed for ticks or mosquitoes or whatever and then you tracked him as he walked through the house, there would be footprints everywhere he went in the house. So that’s your practical reason. Let’s not bring all this inside. My biggest pet peeve is pesticides, chemicals, insecticides, mildewcides, and all of that. I understand the purpose of it and I know what people are trying to do, but I think the public doesn’t always know the horrible side effects of it.

Debbie: Right. It’s funny, but I wonder if you have had this experience: both of our homes on Martha’s Vineyard and Naples are shoeless, but I still feel a little embarrassed asking people to remove their shoes.

Trudy: You know what I do?

Debbie: What do you do?

Trudy: I go to Rite Aid and buy the little cotton socklets in all sizes, and I leave them right there at the door because sometimes people don’t want to slip on slippers if they feel that somebody else’s feet have been in there. I relate to that.

Debbie: I do too.

Trudy: So get a fresh, sealed bag of little socklets, and you can get the ones that the men don’t mind wearing. They’re almost like the little things they give you in the hospital when you’re walking up and down the halls. And that just covers it when they’re in your home, and they can choose their colors. Then it becomes sort of fun.

Debbie: What a great idea. Thank you, Trudy. That solves that problem. What are some other ways to detox our homes or space? And, by the way, I hear a lot about that. People will talk about, “I’m going to clear or detox my space.” Is there an appropriate way to clear and detox a home?

Trudy: The biggest thing is what you put in it. Let’s say you’re painting. There was some wonderful person who sent me an email this morning, “How do you choose your paint?” I wasn’t sure if she was asking about color or if she wanted to know how to choose a safe paint. For the latter, the biggest thing you can do, if you know you have oil-based paint and you’r’e going to repaint, is to go to a low-or no-VOC–again, Volatile Organic Compound–water-based latex paint. Oil paint is a petroleum product. People say, “Oh, my house doesn’t smell anymore. I painted it three months ago.” If you could dye those VOCs purple, you would see that they go on forever. It’s truly deleterious to your health. It’s truly injurious. It’s not good for your lungs. It’s just not good for a lot of reasons.

Debbie: Do the major paint companies make those or do you have to find a special company?

Trudy: They do. And so you don’t have to spend a fortune for that. If you don’t have a chemical sensitivity, you probably don’t have to go as far as I do with it for my own health.

Debbie: You were referring to a question from Jill Dulitsky, from Vernon, Connecticut. She asked, ‘We are redoing our house and making a much more open floor plan. How do you choose paint?”

Trudy: I emailed her back so we will continue that discussion, for sure.

Debbie: I don’t know whether she did mean color. Melissa McClain from Seattle, Washington, is very into color, and we should just bring up the color issue since I’m not sure what Jill meant. Melissa asks, “What is your philosophy on finding the perfect color for your home or room?”

Trudy: It’s really client-driven. After I sit and talk with clients, I get a feel for what they like. I also give them a client questionnaire. It’s long. I ask them, “What are your favorite colors? What colors do you hate?” I tell them to get five of the current shelter magazines and tear out pages and write on them, saying, “Trudy, I love this. I hate that.” By the time we’ve spoken and they’ve filled that out and I look at their tear sheets, I have a good sense of what they would thrive in. There has been a lot of research done on people who have thyroid issues, which I do. They thrive with the color blue. Well, it’s no surprise that I have a lot of blue in my houses. That’s my house in Connecticut. Debbie would love it. It’s more taupe and white and the sandy colors. And say people with stomach issues really resonate to the color orange. So, basically, what I do is interview everybody and I find out what they love. Sometimes they don’t even really know what they’re gravitating to, but I can see it. I can see it formulating. Then we get a little report back to them, and we sit down and start with color swatches. Then I see what they respond to.

Debbie: I love it.

Trudy: They always reach out with their hand for the things they love.

Debbie: Really?

Trudy: Oh, yes. If they don’t like anything, the hand doesn’t come forward. When they see a color they love, the hand goes out and they start rubbing it. I say, “Oh, that’s it! That’s the one. That one likes Sea Glass. She likes that color.”

Debbie: This is why you are the genius you are. That is really great to know. I know you love blue. All those blues are so beautiful on your site. What color don’t you like?

Trudy: You know, it used to be orange, but I’m in love with that color now. When I was going to art school, I took a course at Yale. It was a color study course. It forced us to become neutral about color. Most people don’t know this–I think you might, Deb–but I was a fine arts major, and I was a painter first.

Debbie: I did know that.

Trudy: I approach color in a whole different way. I had a studio in Rowayton, Connecticut, on the water. I’m always by the water, whether it’s a river, a lake, Long Island Sound, Nantucket Sound, whatever. I did commission paintings, and I loved it. I taught art for a while in Rowayton, and I taught at New Canaan High School. I loved working with the high-school students. I just loved that. But it was too solitary for me when I was working in the studio. I’d come home at night and I’d think, “I didn’t talk to anybody all day.” So I found myself gravitating toward doing rooms, and I thought, “OK, now I have to get more information about this.” So I went back to school at Parsons in New York. I also did a lot of on-the-job training. I had some wonderful mentors and teachers. You can shift course midstream.

Debbie: Yes, you can.

Trudy: It’s OK to do a mid-course correction.

Debbie: Well, as I always say, we’re stomping our perimeter. We’re building on what our interests are. Like the fact that you were two years old and you were sketching, and then you just continued to build on that to be the person you are and create the amazing environments that you do now.

Trudy: You know, Deb, I really thought when I was younger that I was just going to grow up and be an artist. I didn’t know I was going to go into interior design. It just evolved. It was an evolutionary process.

Debbie: Melissa McClain also asked the question, “Was there a defining moment where you knew you wanted to be a designer?”

Trudy: Yes. It was in that studio. I said, “You know what? I want to work with people. I want to make rooms that they feel good in. I want to work with fabric.” I just jumped in and started. I didn’t have enough training yet, so I went back and got the training that I felt I needed. But the best training I had, Deb, was on the job, watching other designers that I really admired.

Debbie: Oh, I’m sure. Trudy, believe it or not, our chats just go so quickly. In the ten minutes or so that we have left, I want to give our women some other tips for creating an inspired environment. Are there other things, in addition to the advice that if you start with any place start with your bedroom? Did we answer the question about what’s he right way to go about detoxing a room?

Trudy: There are different ways to detox a room. From a spiritual level, I like using sage. When I first had a house in Monomoy on the water on Nantucket, I knew a wonderful woman who was a minister. I had her come over, and she brought some other people. We said prayers to the north, the east, the south and the west. We asked blessings from every direction, and that was a truly blessed house. Wonderful. That’s one way to detox–mentally, spiritually and emotionally. The other detox method concerns the materials you are using. Say you bought a piece of furniture from a place where they use a lot of particleboards in the middle, and the formaldehyde levels are off the wall. You can even smell it. It has that kind of stinky smell. I would get that piece of furniture right out of the room immediately. I would stick it down in the basement until it offgasses enough. That’s one way to detox.

Now the truth is that formaldehyde probably never offgasses enough that it’s truly safe. But to detox a room, you have to minimize whatever is toxic in it. So if it’s the furniture, that’s one thing that goes. If it’s an old chemical-sprayed rug, one that you’ve used a lot of retardants for stain and stuff on, you just have to get rid of that. It’s time to roll it up. What people forget is that, even with area rugs, the pad underneath is disintegrating over time. We have a friend in New York who is being treated for leukemia. He had a stem cell transplant, and they’re calling me for a lot of advice on how to detox the home. The big thing they talked about was that they had all of the Oriental rugs taken to be steam cleaned. No chemicals, just steam cleaned. But it was the pads underneath that needed to be changed. There was too much microbial growth.

Debbie: Interesting.

Trudy: Get a new pad for under your rug. There are a lot of simple things you can do. You can put a coat of nontoxic paint on the walls.

Debbie: You’re inspiring me. There are some really simple things like that I need to do. I think we’ve had the pads under our rugs for ten years.

Trudy: There’s always time for a change! We vacuum the rugs all the time and even have them shampooed from the surface. But it’s best to roll them up and send them out to be steam cleaned. And we never check that pad. I’m guilty too.

Debbie: Hey, Trudy, I always hear about mold and how that is really dangerous in a home. Is there anything we can do about mold?

Trudy: The minute you have heat and moisture and darkness, you have a breeding ground for mold. Mold needs all three. You don’t see mold growing in bright sunlight. You don’t see mold growing where there is no moisture, and you don’t see it growing where there is no heat. So, if it’s freezing outside, you don’t see mold growing on the rocks or anything. Mold and pesticides–those two are my pet peeves. It is deleterious to your health. They affect respiratory systems. Stachybotrys atra is one. There were some fatalities in Long Island of infants who were in basement rooms that had been paneled, and there was stachybotrys atra growing on the sheetrock behind the paneling.

Debbie: How do you test for mold?

Trudy: You can get kits. You can order them online. You put these little plates out, and then you collect them and send them off to a lab. They will tell you if you have it or not. You can also use a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH). They are wonderful. These guys are like doctors. They are just amazing. They have so much information, and they can come and check for you. It’s truly like having people with doctoral degrees in all these chemicals and the molds. They are very valuable. I have one I use all the time: Microecologies in New York. I’ve known them for about 15 to 20 years, and I have a lot of trust and faith in them. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, Deb, but when I walk into a moldy house, it smells sweet to me. Have you ever noticed that? I can smell the mold or the mildew.

Debbie: Well, you’re such a pro, Trudy.

Trudy: I don’t know if it’s being a pro or that I have such heightened smells from being chemically sensitive. That’s one of the downfalls of being chemically sensitive.

Debbie: And I’m just so glad that you’ve been able to recover. One of the reasons is because you live in this holistic house.

Trudy: Deb, there’s one last thing I wanted to say. We’re probably getting close to the end.

Debbie: We are.

Trudy: I was so torn between just talking about how to make your home pretty and beautiful and talking about it being green and healthy. Then I realized that I want the two to go together, hand in hand. And that’s why I talk about “eco-elegant.” I want the two to not be separate, but to be all one.

We focused on the “green” now, because let’s start with everybody’s health. Their environment, their built-in environment, their home, or just their bedroom, if they can do only one room in the home, is truly supporting. It’s their underpinning.

Debbie: Yes.

Trudy: It’s got their back, so to speak, and their heart, as (Woman on Fire) Agapi Stassinopoulos (author of Unbinding the Heart) would say.

Debbie: That is a very beautiful way to put that. And, you know, Trudy, you are such a part of Women on Fire, and I’m grateful for Women on Fire to have access to your wonderful work. I could go on and on. I’m grateful to have a woman like you.

Trudy: Thank you. I am so honored to be a part of this interview.