Q: We are moving into an old home (l892) and plan to keep most of our furniture aka antiques. It seems like the perfect chance to live the eco-smart life we've been hearing about for the past 15 years. But this will eventually become our retirement house, and we agree that it shouldn't look like an "experiment in sustainability."

Can we have "normal" decorating that's also green?

A: You must not have been paying attention during the latest of those l5 years, or you'd know that green has become upscale and downright sexy.

With sustainability on everyone's lips, manufacturers are making haste to meet consumers' green demands in everything from paints to finishing products to furniture stuffings. More good news: eco-friendly doesn't have to show. Thanks to today's intensified focus on eco-smart products, home decorators can help protect the planet without making a big deal of it.

For example, take a long look at the pictured living room. About as traditional as they come, right? On the surface, yes, but nearly every item in the room fits the 21st century's "Three R" formula: recycle, reduce, reuse.

You're looking into the Charleston, S.C., home where Eve Blossom and her husband established a new tradition of sustainability without overriding the Old South's traditions of warmth, comfort and hospitality. A few clues to how they did it: First, almost all the furniture is antique, between 50 years to l00 years old — chalk one up for recycling and reusing.

Next, they've used eco-friendly materials throughout the house, such as low volatile organic compounds (VOC) paint and BioShield formaldehyde-free millwork. In the kitchen, countertops are made of Silestone, which is engineered for low or no off-gassing of toxic chemicals. Chalk up another eco-R for reducing.

Several all-natural, hand-dyed, handwoven textiles help make the Blossom home visually inviting. Blossom is founder and president of Lulan Artisans, a company that designs and produces sustainable fabrics in Southeast Asia. The business keeps centuries-old weaving traditions alive in small villages, where the skills have been handed down many generations from mother to daughter.

The textiles feature natural and low-impact dyes, organic silks and cotton grown without chemicals, according to a spokesperson for Lulan Artisans. "They even reuse rice husks during production," she says, "so everyone benefits, environmentally, socially, culturally and economically" ... especially Mother Nature. Learn more at www.lulanartisans.com.

Q: Need an escape-place at home?

A: Getting away from togetherness may be the newest need, judging from one of this season's more interesting designer-show houses. Several designers opted to carve tiny private hideaways in the enormous 1908 mansion that housed Twin Maple Centennial Show House in Summit, N.J.

Donna Donaldson built a floor-to-ceiling canopy bed into the corner of her "chamber de serenity." She piled it with pillows and papered the ceiling with a trellis pattern before hanging an oversized, outdoor carriage lamp in the middle (www.donnadonaldsoninteriors.com).

Douglas Alfano and Eileen Sievers (www.spotlightstudiodesigns.com) balanced a trickling fountain on the end of a claw-footed tub in their "meditation garden" under the eaves, while Caitlin Rutkay (www.caitlinrutkay.com) hung a flowing bed curtain from the slanted ceiling in her teeny "nap room" next door.

Forget genteel napping: Ashley Moos designed "her room" specifically as a retreat from a snoring husband, she said. The l9th-century painted day bed, sized for one, was tucked under a ceiling-hung canopy to create 'the perfect dream escape." The designer explained her idea in the guidebook for the show house, which benefits a local hospital and the Twin Maples Historic Preservation Fund (www.historictwinmaples.org).

Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of "Hampton Style" and associate editor of Country Decorating Ideas. To find out more about Rose Bennett Gilbert and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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