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In interior design furniture, textiles, and light fixtures tend to steal the show but flooring – alas, often of less glamour – is equally essential. When one gets up in the morning and paddles through the house, it’s good to know that the comfortable carpet underfoot matches one’s ethics as well as it matches one’s furniture.

The idea of low- or no-VOC paint or finishes seem to have seeped into the public consciousness enough that the former are commonly found at big box home improvement stores.

Low-VOC carpet? Not so much.

So it was pleasant to discover these flooring options by Merida Meridian: carpet patterns which can not only contribute to LEED points but which are, according to the company, “Green-Label Plus certified”.

So what does that mean?

GLP+ is the carpet industry’s reply to questions over the effect its products have on indoor air quality. Certification is given to those products which pass a 14-day emissions testing process – one which was developed in co-operation with the EPA and which utilizes a laboratory independent of the industry itself.

Merida offers a range of 23 GLP+ certified carpets in 55 different neutral-toned color variations. The carpets are intended for a dry, indoor environment and are suited for light to medium foot traffic.

Most are woven from a fiber obtained from the agave plant – sisal, from plantations in East Africa. No pesticides or chemical fertilizers are used in sisal production, most of the weeding is done by hand (as opposed to by herbicide), and, since the fiber is a rapidly renewable resource, its use as flooring can contribute one full Indoor Environmental Quality credit to LEED Ratings.

One product line, Pure, surely feels delicious to bare feet, as it is crafted from a blend of different New Zealand wools. Mmmmmm… And warm during winter, too. Sounds nice, no?.

~ Emerald

Images courtesy of Merida Meridian.