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WCCO News, Feb 27, 2007, Shop Green For Your House at Local Store |
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Shop Green For Your House At Local Store
(WCCO)
Minneapolis When you first walk in, it may look like any other
home improvement store, but on closer inspection you'll notice things
aren't what they seem.
Rachel
Maloney, who hardly considered herself a decorator when she opened the
store last year, showed off a set of glass tiles that look like the
ones used in many kitchens today, saying, "These are 100-percent
recycled glass tiles."
Maloney was a geneticist when she and her
husband moved back to the Twin Cities. They bought their home and then
were unable to find some of these natural products for their own home.
So that triggered the idea to open the Natural Built Home Store on 4020 Minnehaha Avenue in Minneapolis.
"I figured if I was looking for these kinds of things, I am sure other people are, too," she said.
In Natural Built Home, decorators can dream in green. The products are natural and affordable.
"People
kind of have that notion that everything green means more expensive,
and our store we really try to have things that are very reasonably
priced," Maloney said.
Comparing Prices
WCCO-TV did some checking. Natural Built Home sells
floor tiles made from corn. You'll spend as much as $11 a square foot -- about $2 more than regular carpet tiles.
There are also counter tops made from
recycled glass bottles, which run between $50 and $70 a square foot. That's about the same as high grade granite.
The
dual flush toilet allows you to choose to use less water or the typical amount depending on the need.
"An average family of four will save about 65 percent of water usage over a regular low flow toilet," Maloney said.
The toilet runs around $400, about $120 more than a typical toilet.
One of the newest products in Rachel's shop is insulation made from
recycled blue jeans,
which runs about 65 cents a square foot -- about double the price of
regular insulation, but it's mold resistant, fire resistant and you
don't need to wear protective gear when you install it. It's been
proven to be such a good insulator that many condominiums are now being
built using this material. Builders say the material is much better at
blocking noise from neighbors.
Also available in the store are pendant lights
made of recycled materials, sinks made of recycled aluminum cans,
flooring pulled from old barns and chemical-free paint.
In short, they have everything you could possibly imagine to have a naturally built home.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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