‘Green’ Education Defines Designer’s Mission

LITTLE FALLS, NJ— ‘Going green’ gets a lot of buzz these days, but few people embrace the concept as fully as Patricia Gaylor. ‘Green’ is not just dinner conversation for Gaylor, a renowned green expert and speaker who has built her design business around the idea.
Patricia Gaylor Interiors is located in Little Falls, NJ, just a short commute from New York City. It may seem like an unlikely place for the environmentally conscious entrepreneur to set up shop. But New Jersey has been home to Gaylor all of her life, and she believes her vision of ‘green and clean’ can work anywhere.

Interestingly, Gaylor started out her career as a photo stylist. “I worked in a studio that created room sets for catalogues and magazines,” she says. “This sparked my interest in design, and I decided to focus on that and open my own business. I have had my own design business for over 25 years.”

As a new designer working on several home renovations, Gaylor began to consider all of the waste hauled away from work sites. She wondered what happened to all of the garbage that was being removed during demolitions, thrown in a dumpster and hauled away. “I wondered where it was going and how long it would be there,” remembers Gaylor.

It was from this simple train of thought that Gaylor began to wrap her mind around other possibilities.

“Designing and creating beautiful, sustainable interiors for my customers is not only my desire for them, but also for the planet,” she explains. “Specifying materials that are enduring and gentle on the environment has a two-fold outcome – happy customers and a healthy planet.”

The idea has been a work-in-progress for Gaylor, who gradually educated herself about ecological issues and how the environment is impacted by remodeling or new home design. She often found the information she wanted in obscure “hippie publications,” she jokes. “People would look at me like I had two heads,” she says, reminiscing about the early days of her journey before environmentally friendly design was in vogue.

“Little by little, I realized that I wanted to focus on the environment in my business,” Gaylor adds.

Today, Gaylor is a champion of the green philosophy and incorporates its ideas into her work every day. In fact, she used to introduce the concept to her clients but now about 80% of her clients seek her out – largely because of her eco-based philosophy, she notes.

Green and Luxurious

Working with Gaylor, clients learn they can still have beautiful homes and fabulous kitchens and baths without hurting the environment. “You can still have luxury but be much more socially conscious and kinder to the planet,” explains Gaylor.

When planning a new design or renovation, she takes into consideration whether or not the materials used will end up in a landfill and, if so, if they will eventually degrade. She tries to minimize or eliminate products that contain VOCs – volatile organic compounds – that can pollute air quality in a home. She recommends including energy-efficient appliances, and searches out regional materials to further minimize wasted resources. Whenever possible, the goal is to use energy-efficient and sustainable products, produce a healthy interior and design a building envelope that will also be energy efficient, she says.

According to Gaylor, the cost of eco-friendly materials runs about 15% more than other products. She finds, however, that her customers are willing to make the investment. It helps that her clients recoup some of that investment in energy savings by choosing greener products. For example, products such as energy-efficient lighting, low-flow showers and high-efficiency or dual-flush toilets can improve the bottom line of a client’s household budget. Building products such as insulated concrete forms are also considered, which can significantly reduce the amount of energy used to heat and cool a home.