maxK's Profile

A well edited and fabulous home, thank you for sharing! Am definitely going to bookmark your store and check it out when we get to LA.

I wonder if you would also mind sharing your contractor details? We are relocating back to Los Angeles soon and ALL of the houses we are looking at have low-slung ceilings! I'm worried it really cost prohibitive to raise them.

Hi Greengoer,

Phew! You guys are a tough crowd! I'm going to let Peter Kater my MD (and husband) handle this one.

Thanks for your query about palm oil in your e-mail to Max. We are keenly aware of the environmental disaster that indiscriminate palm plantation farming causes, having lived in Singapore (which suffers annually from the "blower" effect from Indonesia) for 3 years when Max and I were first married.

That was a pure Rookie Mistake. We are still running out some older labels for the refill bottles (which sell through less rapidly as they carry twice the volume of the 500ml bottles) which were printed some time ago when we were still with our previous supplier. The supplier, being perhaps overly diligent advised us at the time that palm oil was an ingredient in the base product, which we duly included as an ingredient on the labels we printed at the time.

We subsequently learned that in fact palm oil was not an intended ingredient in our product but a possible contaminant IN TRACE AMOUNTS due to the fact that our product was produced on the same equipment that was also being used to produce palm-derived products for other customers!

We now have a new supplier in any case and we do still have some of the older labels for refills that we are running out until the old label stock is depleted.

I hope that this answers your question and that the mention of palm oil on the refill labels is not a serious issue for you. I apologise for any inconvenience or concerns that this may have caused.

Please feel free to email me: peterk@murchison-hume.com if you would like to discuss this in more detail.

Very Best Regards,
Peter

Oh no!

We only just spotted this and are mortified by the way this was slated. Gosh, if I was taking this survey, I would say "No Thanks," too! But you have to try our products to feel the difference. It's like comparing freshly squeezed orange juice to "orange drink." Yes, both orange and wet, but a world apart!

We're not greedy. Those prices are not indicative of wide profit margins. We are trying to do it ourselves without selling out and using inferior ingredients! We are a small, family run company based in Sydney, Australia. We literally produced everything on the kitchen table for the first year from 2007 to 2008 so the shipping alone makes our products very expensive in the states.

We're trying very hard to make sure that our products are natural, effective AND affordable. To wit: We launch our own US production next month which will minimise costs significantly. Even so, it will be awhile before we can compete with the big brands like Mrs. Meyers and Method on price, especially because our products aren't made with inexpensive synthetics, Sodium-Laurel Sulphates and crazy artificial colours!

I just wanted you all to know we're committed to bringing you a genuinely earth friendly product (that actually works) at a fair price. And please keep in mind that 5 years ago Mrs. Meyers, 7th Generation, Method and Caldrea (Meyer's parent company) were all boutique brands and all more expensive then we are now. The more volume they produce, the lower their production costs.

We're just not there yet, but we're trying! We also wanted you to know that there's some serious grunt (and Genuine Green Credentials) behind those pretty labels!

Please read more at our website: murchison-hume.com

Sincerely,
Max Kater
Founder/Murchison-Hume

And the Rest...

White Bathroom Cabinets from Restoration Hardware, USA
Bathroom Tilting Mirror from “Recollections,” Leichardt
Custom made “magazine rack” (in WC) custom designed and made by Peter Kater!
Bathroom vanity chair bought at auction (Raffan, Kelaher & Thomas)
Water feature (above Koi pond) from Yardware, Surry Hills
Black Lacquered Daybeds (in Cabana) from Orson & Blake, Surry Hills
Florence Broadhurst cushions (on daybeds) from Signature Prints, Sydney
Water Hyacinth Ottoman (in Garden) from Equator Homewares, Glebe
Grey Garden planters from Garden Life, Darlinghurst (Sydney)
Upholstered Linen Chair (In Charlie’s Room) from David Met Nicole, Surry Hills
Woven baskets, Floor cushions and Throw pillows (in Charlie’s Room) from Country Road)
Row of Hooks (in Charlie’s room and Laundry) from Recollections, Leichadrt
Custom made Campaign Desk and bookshelves (in Ben’s Room) by James Lee Warner, Sydney (drawer pulls from Mother of Pearl & Sons, Sydney)
Chinese bedside tables (in Ben’s Room and Master) from Cotton Love Home
Antique Apothecary Bottles and antique desk calendar, (on Ben’s Desk) from Society, Inc. Paddington (Sydney)

Phrenology Head and Hand (in Ben’s Room) from REMO, Sydney
Brown cloth stationary boxes and files (Ben’s room) from
Kikki K.

mk

Who? When? What the? Thanks for the shout out Jenny B! We read AT every morning but never realised we'd been tagged!

Just a heads up: Murchison-Hume will be launching stateside in all 130 anthropologie stores from coast to coast, so now our American friends can enjoy some glamourous green clean, fresh out of Oz.

maxK (stylehawk)