While you’re blissfully sleeping, your body is working hard to purge toxins you’ve been exposed to during waking hours, says Trudy Dujardin, a New England interior designer who specializes in creating beautiful and healthful environments. "We want to keep the bedroom really pristine and give your body a fighting chance."
Trudy, a member of the Traditional Home Green Advisory Panel, created
a health-minded environment for Connecticut homeowner Jill Jordon by using natural furnishings and finishes free of formaldehyde, VOCs (volatile organic compounds), and petroleum-based products.
Jill sleeps on an innerspring mattress made with natural latex foam, wool, and organic cotton. Natural latex comes from the sap of rubber trees, is fire-resistant, and resists moisture buildup, mold, and dust. The latex is topped with a 3-inch layer of wool wrapped in organic cotton and hand-tufted.
Trudy special-orders the mattresses from a company in California, but she finds transporting them is worth the resources expended by shipping. "The Vivètique is one people do very well with," Trudy says. "You buy it because when you sleep at night, you won’t be breathing in anything harmful. It’s the most luxurious bed in the world."
Conventional innerspring and foam mattresses are made with petroleum-based polyester and polyurethane foam and treated with flame retardants. Many of the flame-retardant chemicals, as well as the foam itself, emit VOCs and fumes that migrate into the environment and cause health problems, Trudy explains.
Design:
Trudy Dujardin, F. Price Connors, Dujardin Design Associates, P.O. Box 5202, Westport, CT 06881; 203/838-8100 and 508/228-1120; dujardindesign.com.
Text by Amy Elbert
Photographs by Michael Luppino
Produced by Stacy Kunstel
