HARDEEVILLE, S.C. - Linda Woodrum had one goal when she was decorating HGTV's first "green home" along the South Carolina coast.

She didn't want visitors to see "green." Instead, they would simply see a "welcoming, pleasant, beautiful, attractive home."

"My feeling is that green is not about design style, it's about lifestyle," said Woodrum, an interior designer with T.S. Hudson Interiors in Hilton Head, who has worked on the past 11 HGTV Dream Homes.

At the network's green home in the Tradition Hilton Head development, the idea was to design the home inside and out to be environmentally friendly - and beautiful. The home will be open to the public for tours and eventually given away by the network.

"People think green homes are outrageous or spaceship-like," HGTV house planner Jack Thomasson said. "I hope someone who visits will get a surprise."

What designers want visitors to see is that green can work in any style of home decor - from French country to contemporary to traditional. Along the South Carolina coast, it's a Lowcountry cottage with plenty of windows (that reduce glare and heat gain) to take advantage of the water views and comfortable furnishings (upholstered with organic cotton) that invite you to relax.

"We wanted it - really - to be a home," Woodrum said.

The word green "sets people off," she said. "We wanted people to be comfortable with it, not have a political reaction to it."

Woodrum suggests starting with green hand soaps and lotions and organic sheets and linens.

The Lowcountry cottage-style home is just over 2,000 square feet, with three bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths.

The master suite is on the first floor, while the upstairs features two bedrooms and a TV sitting area.

Outdoors, the lot features patio space, a firepit conversation area and mostly drought-tolerant plantings. Irrigation is supplied by a rain-harvesting system.

Here are some tips from the HGTV Green Home:

Use antiques. Reuse pieces instead of throwing them out, or buy old instead of new.

Buy higher quality furnishings and appliances. Because they last longer, you'll use them longer. And they won't end up in the landfill in a few years.

Paint with low-VOC, nontoxic paint. Low VOC paints release few pollutants and are odor-free.

All of the upholstery, towels and linens are made from organically grown cotton. The mattresses are made with foam from Sri Lanka, which produces natural foam rubber in a fair trade country.