What Makes Us Different?

Interior Harmony is a different kind of residential interior design firm. Some have even said it’s the first of its kind. We understand that true luxury means more than just high quality, bespoke spaces that reflect your personality and the way you live. True luxury means knowing that your beautiful space didn’t come at a high environmental cost. Instead, the impact of your project is thoughtfully considered at each step along the way.

How do we accomplish this? We developed a unique process for sourcing and disposing of materials – the first of its kind in the residential design industry. For every item that goes in or out of your home, we asked the tough questions - “where did this come from?” and “where can this go and get a second life?” We created a multi-prong approach to limit the impact of your project on the environment.

The best part of this process? It’s seamlessly integrated into the process for designing and remodeling your space.

Step 1

First, we look at your existing furniture and materials to determine whether they can be given a “makeover” to meet the needs of your space. This is called adaptive reuse. Adaptive reuse has the lowest carbon footprint for materials in a design project. If you don’t already own a good candidate for adaptive reuse, we first look to our vendors of high-quality resale items - gorgeous pieces that have stood the test of time.

Step 2

If adaptive reuse is not an option, we move on to our tiered sourcing system for our network of vendors – companies that sell new furniture, lighting, bedding, tile, etc. We rank them based on their own commitment to sustainable design. We look at multiple factors including:

Where they sourced the material used to make their product
Where their product is manufactured (this governs what environmental rules the vendor is subject to)
What steps they take to mitigate waste and energy usage in production
What the working and pay conditions are for their employees

How their products are packaged and shipped

Our tiered sourcing system means that when a client needs an item – say, a sofa – we check first with our preferred vendors. If we can’t find a sofa that meets the clients’ needs through our top tier partners, we move down a tier to vendors who meet some, but perhaps not all of our most stringent criteria. Our last choice is a vendor who has no documented efforts towards sustainability.

In addition to our own research and vendor relationship building, we rely on a number of 3rd party independent verifiers of green materials in our industry, including Building Green.

Step 3

At Interior Harmony, we hate waste. Yet we work in an industry where giant blue dumpsters in the driveway are the norm. We are here to redefine what is “normal”. Did you know your old, gross carpet can easily be recycled into new carpet padding? And that there are local firms who can recycle old porcelain tile, which typically ends up in the trash? In addition, we also work to ensure that every piece of packaging for your project that can get recycled, is in fact recycled.

We have developed a robust list of partners who specialize in giving new life to your old, dated materials. Is it a little bit of extra effort? Yes. But it has a big payoff for the environment. And when we take care of the environment, we take care of each other.