CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The quiet southeast Charlotte street that looked more like a movie set this week wasn’t for carpenter Carter Oosterhouse’s show on HGTV. It was for a series of online clips that will be posted on the web site for Clorox Green Works.
Oosterhouse was in Charlotte for three days creating a $20,000 makeover for the Harding family.
“We're going to give the nursery and the family room, which is kind of like a rec room playroom, a complete greenover, which is a makeover with an eco friendly twist,” Oosterhouse explained.
Oosterhouse started with the guest bedroom, which is now a nursery.
The Hardings are expecting their second child in the spring. Their 2-year-old son Graham has allergies and the family doesn’t want their newborn to suffer from allergies as well.
“My job is to make sure that I bring in a new eco friendly room so that they don't have to worry about allergies down the road,” Oosterhouse said. “We want to just alleviate or not even make that a possibility with the new furniture that we're bringing into the space.”
He started with putting new, no VOC paint on the walls.
“Think about no VOC paint. I mean, that is a huge one,” Oosterhouse said. “That paint smell that you usually smell when a new room is painted, that's not always good.”
“It's really important, especially when you're a child, you don't want to inhale a bunch of toxic fumes.”
The room was painted bright blue on the top and white on the bottom. He purchased all new bedding and furniture that is all organic, formaldehyde free and very natural.
He also put in brand new eco friendly cork floors, a ceiling fan and used new window treatments.
“When we give these rooms makeovers we want to make sure everything is eco friendly and that is from the energy taken away from the windows to the flooring to the cleaning products we bring in.”
The room above the garage was used as a playroom and exercise room. Since the guest bedroom was turned into a nursery, the room will also be used as a guest bedroom.
“Because it is sort of an enclosed room and there's only one window, it's a little bit claustrophobic,” Oosterhouse said. “So what you do is you use bright colors to sort of open up a room.”
He used a golden buff color on the walls. On the wall with the window, he used paint that actually turns the wall into a dry erase board.
While it may sound very neutral, Oosterhouse used the furniture for pops of color. He used bright colors like red, oranges and light greens.
“It makes it a kid friendly room, but at the same time it keeps it bright in here,” Oosterhouse said.
He installed new lighting along with a ceiling fan and new cork floors.
“Natural, organic materials or elements that you put in a room, those are huge. Those are huge in my book,” Oosterhouse said. “You know, ultimately we consume that in some way, shape or form and that could lead to health hazards or problems over time.”
Oosterhouse said he learned about being eco-friendly as a child from his dad.
“My dad was a farmer and he was very much into saying, hey, take care of your body as natural as possible,” Oosterhouse said. “And I sort of figured if you do that for yourself, why can't you do that for home building, or design?”
In all of his designs he tries to be as efficient as possible.
“A lot of people I think take it for granted … we don't really think about the stuff that we don't see,” he said. “I'm just trying to showcase that maybe there's an alternative you can use that will hopefully improve your health or at least keep it where it's at right now.”
And with a new baby on the way, the Harding family is thrilled with the end result of the makeover. Mom Katie Harding initially thought she was just getting a few free cleaning products.
“When they first approached me they mentioned that Green Works wanted to do an in home related program. I thought great, I love Green Works. I'll be able to get some free wipes,” she said.
They got a lot more than just free wipes. They now have peace of mind knowing their baby will come home from the hospital to an eco-friendly room.
The clips shot at the home with Oosterhouse will start appearing on the Green Works web site in March.
