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Green House

O, The Oprah Magazine  |  From the Summer 2007 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine
 
Kimberly Biehl Schmidt, her daughter Isabella and her mother Catherine.

 

Kimberly first had to go through her L.A. house and, as she puts it, "get rid of everything that could be dangerous to Isabella." So out went most of the food in the house; out went Mr. Clean and in came Mrs. Green; out went Isabella's stuffed animals and Kimberly's shampoos and cosmetics. "So many things contain almond oil or shea butter, which is hazelnut. You really have to read the fine print."

Today, the L.A. house—with its limestone floors, nontoxic paint, and new furniture made of untreated wood and organic cotton—is a perfect hypoallergenic haven, until someone comes in wearing shea butter lotion and sits on the sofa, causing Isabella to have an allergic reaction when she sits there later. Even Isabella's weekly gymnastics class can leave her "red and itchy and needing a Benadryl," so she is homeschooled for now.

Credits: Photographs by Carter Berg
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