What is Eco-Friendly Interior Design?

Eco homes warrior Izumi Tanaka and Erica from Eco Method Interiors swim in the same eco-homes pond. Erica had the honor of being one of the first guests on her Home Green Homes podcast. On this episode we break down what exactly is eco-friendly interiors according to Erica Reiner. Listen Here or read the transcription below:

“Izumi: (00:07)
Hello. Welcome to Home Green Homes podcast. I am Izumi Tanaka, a green realtor in Los Angeles and the host of this show. Today I have my friend Erica Reiner as my guest. Erica Reiner is the owner principal of Echo Method Interiors, where her company helps families and businesses through a unique eco-friendly approach to interior design. Through her former career in environmental business and environmental education, as well as a lifetime of creating and studying interior design, Erica combined her two passions to create this unique business in 2014. Since then, Erica has helped clients with their health and happiness through design that goes deeper than aesthetics across the residential, commercial, and short term rental market. Using the echo method way Erica loves sharing her knowledge and has been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, folds, apartment therapy, reader's Digest, and more. Looking forward, Erica is working towards leading the home decor and design industry into a greener and cleaner place. So thank you so much to be a part of my podcast today. Erica, you have, you and I have been talking about doing this podcast for some time, and, and I really appreciate that you are sharing this moment with me. So let's just dive in. First of all, why don't you tell me about Echo Method? What is exactly echo friendly approach to interior design?

Erica: (01:52)
I, yes. Well, first of all, thank you very much for having me on. It's such a pleasure and I'm very proud of you. You got your podcast up and going and started so quickly and you're just charging away. So it's been great to see . So yeah, the, the eco method kind of refers to my approach to incorporating eco-friendly, non-toxic and sustainable pieces into any projects design plan. And I feel that in the past there's this perception that to be eco-friendly, it's kind of like all or nothing. And I just don't believe that. So I think that you can take a project style based on the client and the budget and all those other factors that you need to consider and then start there and then work in pieces or materials or products that are gonna be cleaner or grainer in a way that works for that particular project. So that's kind of my method and my expertise comes in and I look at that holistically, thinking about where it's gonna be best to do a little bit better and bring in some greener things over the conventional standard. So it's like one part science, one part art, and that's my, that's my method. So yeah. And then I'd say,

Izumi: (03:27)
Yeah.

Erica: (03:29)
Oh, I was just gonna say that the, the approach part is as far as eco-friendly, that could really mean anything from sustainability and how things are responsibly sourced or made all the way down to the health aspect and how toxicity and chemicals might influence humans. And so that's kind of all lumped together for me and or eco-friendly.

Izumi: (03:55)
Yeah. So when you said greener and or cleaner and you were talking about sustainability responsibly sourced, that type of thing. So maybe you can explain briefly about what makes things greener or cleaner in, in those terms of from the perspective of, you know, sustainability responsible clean, healthier in that way. How do you define that?

Erica: (04:28)
Yeah, that's a great question. So I'll give you, I'll give you like a couple examples. Yeah.

Erica: (04:38)
Let's say we are sourcing a kitchen table for someone's home. Something that would be sustainable would be if the table is made out of wood, I would look at what kind of wood that is. So is it mm-hmm, , a forestry stewardship council certification, wood meaning that it was responsibly grown and cut down mm-Hmm. in a way that's not gonna destroy the forest, or is it not that? So that's one element that is kind of on the mm-Hmm. sustainability side of things. And then mm-Hmm, , I would also look at, depending enough the client said, we are, you know, my daughter is Sens, has chemical sensitivity, and in general we just wanna like lower our exposure to toxins wherever and however we can. So in that case, I would not only just looking at like the sustainability of how something gets here mm-hmm.

Erica: (05:40)
, which also can involve many other things like, you know, the amount of energy or water it took to use or if it was shipped from overseas or made locally. So all kinds of stuff. But in the case of cleaner and toxicity and exposure, I'm also looking at, okay, did they use oil or water-based finishes and stains on that table? Mm-Hmm, and the adhesives, like where the pieces have to come together for the wood glues and a non-toxic wood glue, because if it's not, then okay, you're gonna be exposed to a certain level of VOCs, volatile organic compounds there. So people don't realize that there's like quite a bit of things to consider with everything that we bring in the home.

Izumi: (06:25)
Mm-Hmm. . Yeah. So, but that sounds very I'm gonna say overwhelming for to some of people who may not be thinking about those things. So is it, is it I mean obviously you are the expert, but how do you discern those things? How do you identify the items that, that are cleaner or you know, have less chemicals and is there any resources that people can use so that they're looking at, they look, they can look for that sort of things that you, you can make it cleaner or greener?

Erica: (07:10)
Yes, it can definitely be overwhelming. That is for sure mm-Hmm, because you, I take that one example and then you've got those two things to think about and then yeah. All those different elements within that one piece, and then you extrapolate that in your whole home. So that is, you know, part of what makes what I do and other designers like me so valuable is cutting down the time and the stress for anyone to think about it or research it or try and find it. So that is part of the professional expertise there. But then mm-hmm. in terms of how, I know it's just been a lot of years of researching and looking at what's on the market and getting in contact with vendors and asking questions and you know, years of compiling. And luckily as time goes on, I do see more and more makers making better things. Mm-Hmm. . So sometimes you can't get everything you want in one piece, and sometimes you can, and that's a part of that method that is in the name of many businesses looking and thinking at, you know, where, where we can make some things work where we can't and just, you know, not making ourselves crazy over it, just doing the best we can.

Izumi: (08:28)
Yeah. Yeah.

Erica: (08:29)
So so yeah, in terms of in terms of other people doing it for themselves, my biggest rule of them, well, what I'll say is unfortunately you have to come from the understanding that there is no real like rule or oversight in place that is mm-Hmm. going to be protecting anything that you might be looking to buy or pull into your home. Right? So from the littlest thing to the biggest thing, just know, okay, it's not gone under, under any testing. There's no regulation. People can make this however they want poda ever, they want on it, with the exception of five out of maybe hundreds of thousands of types of chemicals that have been invented since the fifties. There's five that are straight up regulated and not allowed. So that means there are an infinite number of them and, and combinations that are allowed. So in terms of your health, yeah.

Izumi: (09:34)
Mm-Hmm.

Erica: (09:35)
, you start from knowing that nothing is protected and it's up to you to do the research. So from there, instead of just researching all the bad things that could happen in any particular piece or rug or whatever, start with looking for things that are marketed as better or more eco-friendly or more non-toxic. Mm-Hmm. . And then if those pieces have a certification, there's quite a few green certifications in the home design and decor field, that's even better. So start from looking for the, the companies that differentiate themselves as being cleaner or greener.

Izumi: (10:17)
Mm-Hmm. .

Erica: (10:17)
Otherwise you can get a little bit lost.

Izumi: (10:21)
Yeah. So do, do you know of any particular brand that is considered cleaner or greener?

Erica: (10:34)
Yep. And it's great that I've seen many companies doing, coming out into the market as new companies or just, you know, Mm-Hmm. recommitting to their sustainability efforts. Mm-Hmm. . And again, it's kinda like what, what you're looking for. So like maybe in a bookcase you're mostly looking for something that has responsibly sourced wood, but in your baby's room you're looking for an area rug and a nursing rocking chair that are free of chemicals as well. So

Erica: (11:05)
To kind of, you wanna do your research based on like the key terms that, that are important to you in that particular regard. And so in terms of brands, I mean, I have seen everything from countertops made from complete, like beautiful countertops made from completely recycled materials using not much new material whatsoever, and a lot less energy and water going into the production. And then I have found recently I'm very excited about a woman's company. Her name's Linda, and she owns organic leave, and she has one of the only GOTS got certified organic non-toxic area rug and carpeting companies. And so that's amazing. So it's kind of a collection of, of finding these people and getting to know them, what they're about.

Izumi: (12:08)
Right. So that kind of leads me to my concern or question. Next question. So all these, all these materials that we can find, and I I'm, I'm happy to hear that there are more and more cleaner greener products available. Does it still have to be a lot more expensive

Erica: (12:36)
That does it still have It is going to depend. But mm-hmm. , what's interesting is it's the same sort of variance as you would find in the conventional market. So like in the conventional market, you can go, you know, very low down in pricing to IKEA level, and then you can go Mm-Hmm. as high as you could think. Mm-Hmm. The luxury brands. So it's kind of like the same level you can find , you can find something as expensive as you want, like without being green, you know what I mean? Right. So right,

Izumi: (13:12)
That's true.

Erica: (13:14)
So in terms of expense or added costs to normal, that's a bit harder to say, but yes, usually there's a little bit of extra cost. And that is going to be though in the short term. So typically with the products that are made with better quality and natural materials and natural substances, you find that it's of a higher quality and that the maker is very intentional about the ingredients or the pieces used. Mm-Hmm. and the materials. And so it's usually inherently a bit of a higher quality, and that means it's gonna last longer. So whereas something for Ikea, I personally have bought Ikea in the past, I'm not any exception, so I Mm-Hmm. have seen that lifecycle, you know, come and go pretty quickly myself, so Sure, sure. You know, it's tough with humans thinking we're very like short term based thinkers.

Erica: (14:16)
Exactly. So and that's, so it's a bit hard to say, but hey, in the long term costs, like this sofa is actually gonna last you way longer and Mm-Hmm. and so if you, even the costs out that way, no, it's not more expensive. Mm-Hmm. . And then something I'm even personally dealing with right now is some of the consequences of bringing in not good things into your home. And so I have like some crazy allergies going on, and so if you are bringing in better, nicer things that's great, but if you're not, you might be dealing with expenses on the medical side of things. So right now you're trying to get allergy tested. Mm-Hmm. , maybe you're gonna buy an air purifier or maybe you don't know what's making you sick and you can't figure it out and you've not, you've not made that connection to the, to the thing you brought into your house that was cheaper, but Mm-Hmm. , I kind of feel like there's multiple levels to this question.

Izumi: (15:20)
That'ss true. I know it's not a simple question.

Erica: (15:23)
Yeah, yeah,

Izumi: (15:25)
Yeah. . Yeah. So, but it's good to know that like, yeah, of course if, if you're looking at furniture from Ikea, you may not find like really clean products, although we know they just came out with the drapes that supposed to absorb some carbon or something. Right? So all the, all the companies are doing something to, to kind of make an impression that at least they care about something. So for instance, like say you, you, you select flooring products for your clients, don't you like flooring and the cabinetry and like you said the flooring materials, flooring products that FSC forest steward forest Stewardship Council certified products, are they more expensive compared to something comparable that's not certified?

Erica: (16:35)
Yeah, I think the other thing I didn't mention in my long ramble is that a lot of the products as they gain popularity do come down in price and can become quite comparable. Mm-Hmm. . So for instance bamboo flooring Mm-Hmm. is very comparable to other hardware types of flooring. And bamboo is not sustainable because it's more renewable. It grows back pretty quickly. Mm-Hmm. . Mm-Hmm. . And so so for, in that particular, again, it's not a straightforward answer because in some regards Yeah. Very comparable, especially like as the market grows, as the demand grows Mm-Hmm. the prices come down, it becomes very competitive. Right. Yeah. And I would say I've seen that in a lot of different areas of home goods. Mm-Hmm. . And then the, the places I would say I see a little bit more expense Mm-Hmm. might be something like upholstered goods, but at the same time, that's one of the most important things that you do get as cleaner and greener. So I would say it's all improving in terms of price competition and the more demand Mm-Hmm. , you and I and everyone listening can make to vote with our money and buy better things, like the better that's gonna get in the long term technology or anything else. I

Izumi: (18:05)
Agree. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. So, I mean, this is all fascinating and I just wanted to, I'm just curious, you know, you have a scientific background. You are, you were in the environmental science, right? Yes. So what, what got you to this place of combining your two passions? Like I know that you were doing the interior design, so kind, you know, interiors, but what was the catalyst that you got to combine these two passions?

Erica: (18:44)
Yeah, sure. , well, I had, I was working in, you know, my day job in the environmental field and eventually started lecturing and teaching as well. And I was always, you know, working on design projects on the side. I had studied decorating and design sort of for fun like quite a few years ago, and I didn't think anything of it. Yeah. And then I saw both my husband and a friend of mine start their businesses around the same time, and I was like, what? I didn't know we could do that . So I just got really inspired and I was like, I would love to have my own business and I'd love to have it in design. And it started off being quite like fractioned up. So I had a design side, and then I had what I was calling an environmental consulting side. Mm-Hmm. . And I kept them separate because I didn't even think of combining them. Mm-Hmm. . And then Mm-Hmm. as I got into more and more design and I knew about these alternatives and people were pretty oblivious to, to the better alternatives. I just saw the need and I couldn't Mm-Hmm.

Erica: (20:03)
It wasn't working to have them separate and I Mm-Hmm. I did want, I felt like I was pushing my values onto other people in, in terms of design. And so that is when I said, okay, I'm actually gonna just niche into being an eco-friendly interior designer. Mm-Hmm. . And so mm-Hmm. for people who understand that and want that, I'm gonna be your gal. And so, right. I, I do still want to educate and help other people understand the importance. But yeah, it was important to me to bring my identity as an environmentalist and environmental educator along for the ride. Mm-Hmm. incorporate that mm-Hmm. thing.

Izumi: (20:49)
I think that's amazing. I'm, I'm so happy that you are doing that. I mean, you and I kind of, you know, in the same path in that way. Yes. so how do you work with your clients? I know that you do some remote project and you said, you know, in the beginning when you were beginning to talk about your eco method you said depending on project style and budget, so you can work at different budget level and different and still be able to incorporate the eco-friendly eco method approach.

Erica: (21:34)
Yeah. So so yeah, I basically look at the way that would work is I basically look at the project holistically and if it's a smaller budget, I would say, okay, the best places and the easiest places that we can incorporate some eco-friendly items or materials or what have you is gonna be here and here for this amount of money. And then they can reassess or agree or whatever. And so basically it's kind of like, look, I start the way any other designer starts, it's with this style Mm-Hmm , it's with the needs, the priorities of the client, all that kind of stuff. And then I go through my whole process. So it's like the consultation, the floor plan, the mood board, vision board I 3D model, and I'm getting feedback the whole time. And then when it comes down to source, that's like really where the magic happens.

Erica: (22:34)
So I look based on like at that point I'm, I know what they want and I know what like price points they're looking for and based on my collection of vendors, or sometimes I just do research if I think I, something's out there. And I just see where I can kind of incorporate things based on all those factors. And and then I send them the purchase proposal and they can kinda go through and I have a nifty software and they just accept or decline and we keep working on it and then we go from there. So it's pretty straightforward. And it's just kind of knowing what it's, knowing what to look for really. So it's like

Erica: (23:22)
It's a carpet. I know that I wanna look for these kinds of qualities or certification and if it's drapes, I know that actually is one of my hardest things to source Eco-friendly. So I'm only going to a couple places if it's tiles. There's all kinds of cool amazing sustainably made tiles. So it's, yeah, it's a bit like I said, half art, half science. And then in terms of, to answer your question about working remotely, yeah, I do. I do work locally here in Southern California. And sometimes I will get up and go other places. Like I just finished a big mm-Hmm. office project in Palo Alto. So that was in Palo Alto. Yeah. Flight up north. Yeah. That looks amazing

Izumi: (24:09)
By the way.

Erica: (24:11)
Thank you. That was fun. Mm-Hmm, . In terms of remote work, I have worked with folks all over the country and right now I'm working with someone in Texas City, Texas, so that's fun. Mm. And how I do that is basically all the first parts are the same. So the consultation and all that kind of good stuff, the modeling. But it will depend on the client if they're willing to have someone who's not me, like whether that's a subcontractor I might hire, or they might have someone on their own staff that can go and measure or take photos, send it to me. So on that end, it's a little bit like the client might be willing to get their hands dirty a little bit more in terms of the onsite stuff, but it's great 'cause it lowers the cost for them for me to not be on site necessarily.

Erica: (25:02)
So it's a really good option for kind of everyday people. You know, yeah. Interior design is definitely not just for the 1% anymore. It's definitely right for low entire middle class and this is a good way to lower the cost, so, Mm-Hmm. . Yeah. If you're cool taking pictures and maybe even busting out a measuring tape, then it's quite easy to yeah, it's quite easy to work with that and a lot of the process is still the same around that. And then mm-Hmm. . And then basically I just do a lot of deliverables online, so I send them 3D model, I do all the sourcing and Mm-Hmm. , all that kind of good stuff. So, Mm-Hmm. . Yeah. It's really fun. It's kind of like a consultation on steroids.

Izumi: (25:52)
Yeah. And it's amazing what we can do with the technology these days. You know, we can just do all the things remotely. You just have to know where to source certain items in certain locations so you can make sure that they still have access to some of the cleaner and greener stuff, right. Like

Erica: (26:11)
Yeah. Absolutely. I would say in this day and age for what we're doing, it's making it much easier based on all the technology and online shopping and all of the sources I have being, you know, EA lot of them have only an e-commerce line or have both physical and an e-commerce sign. So it's quite easy to just be like, okay, ship it over there. Thank you very much. and, you know, it all works out really well. The other part of working remotely is kind of interesting and fun. So like, I do a green guide for every client and depending on their location, so I've never even heard of Texas City, Texas before, I have to admit. Oh wow. Near Galveston. You've never heard of it either. Oh, that's sad. And so, yeah, so with my custom green guide, I just was looking around for resources that could help them in their local area, like places where they could take the recycled or take the extra paint to a paint, you know, reclamation, recycling or where they could buy. 'cause We're working on a bit of outside stuff too, so where they could buy recycled mulch or, so it, it's kind of interesting to me to look at all these different other areas where I'm not and see like what's available in the local communities. Mm-Hmm.

Izumi: (27:33)
. Wow, that's fascinating. Your, so your local green guide sounds really intriguing that I may have to have you talk about that on my other another episode, .

Erica: (27:48)
Sure.

Izumi: (27:49)
Yeah. So how, how can people find you Erica?

Erica: (27:55)
Yeah. I would say the best way is to say hi on Instagram, which is the handle is at eco dot method dot interiors and the same thing for the website. So they can just pop that into the L eco www.ecomethodinteriors.com. They can poke around, they can email me from there whatever. So I invite anyone listening to say hi.

Izumi: (28:26)
That's so great. Well, I looking, I'm looking forward to doing some projects with you and I'm so grateful that you were willing to talk to me today and I'm sure I will invite you to do this again. . Thank you so much, Erica.

Erica: (28:48)
Well, thank you. It was really fun. You asked very great questions and it was a blast. So thank you.”