Underfoot

For years, we have worked to make our home more environmentally friendly, both in terms of materials used and the spaces we create. We've raised the 70's dropped ceiling in the kitchen, removed roomfuls of filthy wall-to-wall carpeting, and retrofitted radiant floor heat to this end. As I write, I sit in a used office chair on a true linoleum floor, chosen for its beauty along with its natural anti-static properties.

As our boys grow up, we are finding they need a bit of privacy, but we don't want to interrupt the flow of their play by separating them and their toys. We hit upon the idea of a large doorway between the two rooms that now serve as shared playroom and bedroom. A pocket door that closes for privacy and opens for play. Ah, but rien n'est simple. If we remove a piece of wall, there's a piece of floor exposed. The while-we're-at-it syndrome kicks in: now is the perfect time to replace that icky synthetic carpet with something more healthy and beautiful.

We know we want wool, and there's a carpet I met years ago in Europe, called Tretford. It's 80% goat hair, 20% wool, with a jute and PVC (non-off-gassing) backing. It comes in a gazillion colors, doesn't need a pad (no dust trap), resists staining naturally, and is easily patched, since the edges don't fray. Warm underfoot but solid enough to form a firm foundation for a tower of blocks. This is what we want. Thus begins my quest.

Google is my friend, and I locate the manufacturer quickly--in Ireland. (A brief visual flashes through my mind of us going through customs with a roll of carpet. I quickly dismiss the idea.) Yes, there is an American distributor, in Pennsylvania. A call to them takes a humorous twist, as the person on the other end can't quite grasp that I would want to put a commercial carpet in a home (never mind the picture of a family room on their website). She finally relents and provides me with the name of the Seattle distributor. A call to them yields the information that they only "sell to the trades," and translator isn't one of them. Still, I persist and they agree to sell to me; I can even bring my kids with me to pick up the sample card (but I'll have to use the side door).

My resolve to Do The Right Thing is being sorely tested. I mean, it's the perfect carpet for us, it's what we want, but it's coming all the way from Ireland! I make a few calls to see if I can find something similar closer to home, but come away empty-handed: they either aren't wool, or they're bound with latex, which I am allergic to.

Remember those maps of the United States that we had in fifth grade, with little symbols representing the different products associated with different regions? There were apples and trees in Washington, wheat in the Midwest, and a roll of textiles in the south. Turns out all the carpet made in the US is made in Georgia. There's just no such thing as buying local carpet. I talk to a sales representative at the Environmental Home Center, and she verifies that even they order their stuff from all over the world--and most of the wool is from New Zealand. She tells me not to worry about the distance, since one trip from Ireland for a sturdy wool carpet is better than twice from Georgia for an inferior synthetic product, since the wool will last (much) longer than the synthetic, and is much friendlier to the Earth to produce.

Now all we have to do is choose a color.