Mohawk teams with Country Living, New World Home

NEW YORK—Mohawk Industries recently teamed with popular lifestyle and decorating magazine Country Living and New World Home, a producer of sustainable, historically inspired modular homes, to help create a line of green homes that are currently pursuing LEED certification. The collection offers consumers attainable green living coupled with classic country style and features fireplaces, oversize windows and an open floor plan that fully integrates the greenest products and practices available today.

The debut of the Home Green Home, Country Living’s 2010 House of the Year, kicked off June 3 and will remain on display at New York City’s World Financial Center through June 17. The 1,600-square-foot structure is a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath home that embodies “green living with classic country style.”

“Country Living came to us looking for partnerships for their Home Green Home project,” said Lindsey Ann Waldrep, director of creative services for the residential division of Mohawk Industries. “We don’t do a lot of show houses. But when Country Living explained it would literally be dropping a house in the middle of the Financial Center in one of the largest, most famous cities in the world, I was intrigued.” Once Waldrep learned New World Home would be integrating an old world aesthetic with modern state-of-the-art sustainable practices, she realized this project was something in which Mohawk would be interested in partaking.

“The thing that got me really excited about the partnership with Country Living and New World Home is that it’s more than just a one-time show home,” Waldrep said. “Country Living is beginning a licensed program with New World Home for their model homes. There are four floor plans and Mohawk has the opportunity to be the spec-flooring provider in the Country Living line. And it’s more than just a house; it’s an entire builder program. Beyond that, we were also able to get our products, including EverStrand, SmartStrand, reclaimed wood and all of our PureBond wood products, into the entire line of New World Homes.”

Waldrep noted that “The Hudson,” named for the model’s launch in close proximity to the Hudson River, makes the best possible use of its space and is very price point oriented for a LEED- certified home of this category. She added that the price is very much below the cost of a custom home, yet the various available options make the home feel as if it is a custom-built product.

The products

Mohawk products featured in “The Hudson” include Zanzibar Antique Elm Natural engineered hardwood. The product is constructed of reclaimed lumber from dismantled buildings and can be floated, glued or stapled down, according to Ben McNabb, brand manager of hard surfaces for residential. He added the hardwood in the show home contains pegs that were used in the original building from where it was reclaimed. “This unique characteristic made for a really great look for the project.” By reusing the wood, it is kept from piling up in landfills, illustrating its environmental emphasis.

The carpet in the show home is from Mohawk’s Everstrand PET collection. “The fiber is made from 100% recycled plastic from soda bottles; 3 billion soda bottles are made into EverStrand every year,” said Bart Rich, director of brand management for Mohawk Residential. In fact, Mohawk touts one in every four recycled plastic bottles in North America is recycled into EverStrand carpet. He added that Everstrand and Mohawk’s SmartStrand Sorona carpet will be among the options for the home owner.

“This project has been many years in the making,” said Tyler Schmetterer, COO and co- founder of New World Homes. “Our goal was to enunciate the partnership with Country Living and New World Homes. After that, Country Living decided to feature one of our homes as its 2010 Home of the Year. Because my partner [Mark Jupiter] and I are native New Yorkers, we decided it would be amazing to build this home in the middle of the Financial District.”

After June 17th, the house will move to Crystal Springs Resort near Vernon, N.J., and reside at the Country Living Green Modular Home design center and be featured in the October 2010 issue of the magazine.

-Melissa McGuire