It’s been almost a decade since Zach House and Scott Kuryak donned the red and black for the Lake Travis High School basketball team.

They kept in touch since graduation and now see a great deal more of each other. They’ve even traded the familiar red and black for a more important — at least to their business — color: green. They are partners in a new company that concentrates on providing a green lifestyle for builders, homeowners, anyone really.
Last month they opened House+Earth, a retail shop located on West 6th Street in Austin, just west of Lamar Blvd. Early next month — on July 7 — they’ll celebrate their grand opening with a party for designers and builders.
It’s been a busy first month or so — a clay painting workshop last weekend drew well, and House and Kuryak both admit they’re still learning about running their business, whether it’s staying knowledgeable about the newest in green building trends or making sure their point-of-sale machine is running correctly.
“We’ve needed a little time to work out the kinks,” House said. “We’ve been learning the core of the business so we can educate both staff and customers, but learning how to run a retail business has been a challenge too.”
House+Earth was initially born about four years ago, when House’s dad Randy asked a rather innocuous question. “Why is there no Whole Foods of Home Depot?”
Zach, then living in San Francisco, thought about it for a while and then the proverbial light-bulb — LED, not fluorescent bulb — went off.
“It sounded like a legitimate question,” he said. “I was familiar with the concept of green building, and there is certainly a niche for healthy products at all times.”
He began researching the green building industry, green products and companies that sold green products. With his older brother Josh’s help, he crafted a business plan that survived the rigors of time — and the Columbia University MBA program.
“Josh is a smart guy and he worked on this as much as I did,” Zach said. “Our business plan made it into the business school at Columbia’s ‘Greenhouse Program.’ The plan went through a serious vetting process. The program only accepts five or six plans to review each year.”
House and Kuryak have taken the lessons learned through the Greenhouse Program to heart. They are both very knowledgable about the green building process and intimately versed in all of the details about their products, what makes them green, why that’s important and how they can help customers with healthy living. Touring the newly-opened showroom behind Julian Gold, House speaks quickly and passionately about the origins of flooring, the chemical composition of the oils used to stain wood and how a partnership with an LED distributor has helped keep the store lit while using roughly a third of the electricity that the former tenant used with standard lights.
“Everything we have meets the strictest thresholds for air quality,” he said. “All of our products are low-emitting products with no or very low volatile organic compounds. Everything is highly recycled content or made from rapidly renewable species. Our suppliers aren’t cutting down old trees in rainforests.”
As he walks from display to display, House describes as much as educates customers on the benefits — both short and long-term — of the different items, be it a sample of flooring or insulation made from the same denim scraps used to make the blue jeans he’s wearing.
“It’s important to think about these things,” he said. “Everything emits something, and some are more dangerous and linked to health problems. When you think that we spend 80 percent of our time inside, it becomes more important to think about how our counters are stained and what that’s causing us to breathe.”
As its states on the young company’s web site (houseandearth.com): “Our products reduce the strain on valuable natural resources, won’t over-stress eco-systems, and alleviate health risks associated with indoor air quality.”
“It’s not your every day retail experience,” Kuryak said. “People tend to think of green products as being more expensive, but we have items with a wide array of prices.”
House+Earth offers everything from flooring and cabinetry, tiling, lighting, household cleaners and much more, all of it harvested naturally and responsibly.
Kuryak and House like that Austin is a hot-bed of healthy living, which means there should be a market for House+Earth and its products. It’s one of the only stores of its kind in the region.
“We’ve done the homework and can educate people about the products we offer as opposed to traditional products,” Kuryak said. “We put two years of research into our products. They are good products. We know everything that is in each of our products is in there for a reason. “
House+Earth is located at 1214 W 6th Street in Austin.