Green Intention Design | Feng Shui Interior Design in Half Moon Bay, CA

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Eco-friendly interior design comes to Coastside

Green Intentions seeks to remedy huge environmental problems

By Mark Noack
Half Moon Bay Review

December 31, 2008 -- A sense of earthy transcendence runs through Diana Zamudio’s new Purissima Street shop. Maybe it’s the soothing spiritual music piped in on the stereo; maybe it’s the sound of gurgling water from the shop’s rock fountains; maybe it’s the feng shui design of her shop — or maybe it’s the ethos of Green Intentions itself.

Zamudio says her store, Green Intentions, is an environmentally conscious interior design company, built around providing sleek furnishings and design for buildings that also ensure sustainable standards. Having been a designer for 15 years, Zamudio says she was gradually drawn to move into a environmental niche of home design.

“I never knew I’d be here doing this. This all just evolved,” the 45-year-old interior designer said. “My shop is about becoming more green in everything we do.”

The business has recently been certified by the Green Building Professionals, a stakeholder group committed to promoting eco-friendly building practices.

With the United States in a recession, many renowned economists say the nation is at a crossroads. Politicians, including President-elect Barack Obama, have touted renewable energy, sustainable products and other green businesses as a lucrative alternative for the U.S. economy.

The design of buildings is an excellent place to start in boosting an eco-friendly economy. Government and independent studies indicate that buildings consume 40 percent of the raw materials annually available in the world, along with 14 percent of water and 39 percent of the energy usage.

Zamudio says that choosing cheap and shoddy materials for a building can be an environmental nightmare. Cheap wood could decimate a forest in Southeast Asia, be shipped halfway across the world, and still fail to adequately insulate a home, she says. Perhaps worse, lousy heating or insulation can be a constant waste of energy for decades.

Green Intentions sells a variety of home furnishings to address the green concerns of her clientèle, from recycled denim wall insulation to sustainable bamboo wood floors. Products at the business are certified by various independent agencies to avoid any “green-wash” products — items manufactured on a specious environmental basis.

Zamudio says she guides her shop to cater to a wide spectrum of eco-consciousness, but overall, her plan is cutting down on energy consumption. One of her favorite products at her store, huge alcohol-powered burners, emit pillars of flame throughout her store, providing a cleaner heating option for her customers.

The cost of her products can be higher than the competition, she says, but the long-term savings of better energy conservation and environmental sensitivity should play into the added costs.

Zamudio knows she doesn’t have the solution to the world’s environmental woes.

“My showroom is about alternatives,” Zamudio said. “There’s pros and cons to everything, but it’s important for people to be making educated decisions.”