Home sweet home or toxic dump?

The typical newborn nursery is a toxic soup of paint fumes, gases from synthetic carpet, and emissions from vinyl wallpaper and particleboard cribs and changing tables.

"Unfortunately, we bring the baby home to the sickest room in the house," said Bernadette Upton, an interior designer accredited by the U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental (LEED) Design Program and certified by the National Environmental Health Association. She's co-author of A Baby's Breath video and book along with the American Lung Association.

Childhood asthma has risen 172 percent in 15 years, and this has more to do with the environment than heredity, Upton believes. Adults can also experience runny noses, burning eyes or throat, nausea, wheezing, coughing even difficulty breathing in their home interiors.

"When we're designing homes, we need to be thinking about far more than beauty," she said. "We really need to be thinking about comfort."

Major indoor pollutants include polyvinylchloride (PVC) wall coverings; latex and oil paints; synthetic carpeting; and particleboard, hardwood plywood and medium density fiberboard (MDF) furniture, trim, shelving and flooring, which release formaldehyde gases, a known carcinogen (visit www.epa.gov/iaq/formalde.html for more information).

"Formaldehyde is the number one air pollutant in the home," Upton said.

Improve indoor air quality by paying attention to the largest surfaces of the home: walls, floors and ceilings. Monitor every home "improvement" purchase and search for healthier alternatives including natural fiber rugs and curtains, tile and hardwood floors, furniture and trim, non-toxic wallpaper paste and cleaners, and low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints.

Even latex paints contain harmful compounds, so open windows and use fans while painting to draw fumes outside.

If you must include toxic materials in your home, "offgas" them outdoors overnight before bringing them inside: synthetic carpeting is sealed in non-breathable plastic until installed, so Upton suggests using a contractor who will unroll the carpet outside and let the fumes escape before installing it. Better yet, area rugs of cotton or wool can be removed for cleaning and "offgassed" of their chemical cleaners before being returned to the living space.

Leave particleboard items outside for a day to release the emissions, Upton advises, and seal all bare surfaces such as backs and undersides with a clear finish.

And if possible, add retrofitted HEPA filtration to your HVAC system.

"Then you have what I call a very healthy environment," Upton said.

If you don't have the budget for new furniture, floors or a HEPA filter, enter the Lennox Home Comfort Makeover. The company is searching for the most uncomfortable home in North America, which will win a $25,000 makeover by Bernadette Upton plus a new Lennox Integrated Home Comfort system with humidity control and HEPA filtration. Contest deadline is Aug. 31; to enter, visit lennox.com.