If you're looking for sustainable building materials this is the place. Countertops with recycled material? They have it here. Breathable and non toxic paint? They have it. Pros: Nice and really cool amazing stuff. I like all the products they carry and all the second life items in the back. Doors, doorknobs, pavers, faucets, etc. Cons: Pricing. The building materials are expensive. Not their fault these products cost a lot everywhere. Wishful thinking these type of materials should be cheaper than harmful building materials. Not something the store can fix. Clarifying the bad vibe reviews above. We walked in, they answered all our questions and helped us with flooring pricing. We got rough estimates of LVP per sq feet and cost of paperstone countertops. If I had the money I'd buy everything from this store. read more

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A home finishers dream for the unusual doorknob, wood frames, mirrors, lamps and yard needs. Nice staff with a friendly dog adding to the experience. read more

I have never walked into an establishment and felt such bad energy from an owner. She wouldn't even acknowledge us and when asking any question, was super snappy and rude. I checked out a paint sample in late June. I was out of town for three weeks and received a phone call from the owner. I apologized and kindly said our contractor had it and would bring it back the next day (there were multiples of this same sample) btw. She snapped back at me and hung up the phone! It is a shame because the store decor is super cute, but life is too short to be treated like that. Support a business that is kind to humans and has great customer service. read more

Natasha is great. I read some of the reviews that people say she is cold or snappy. I'd call her more as direct and blunt, and as a consumer I super appreciate it. She is VERY knowledgeable of products and knows this stuff like the back of her hand. She is a great resource of information and offers a wide range of high quality products. Truthfully, I'm not at her shop to be charmed by an upbeat personality that coaxes me into buying something I don't want. I'm there because I want a quality product that will last a long time and someone whose knowledge I trust to make sure it happens. I went to a lot of flooring places and she was definitely the best. Thanks, Natasha. read more

Love love love this incredibly thoughtful and original store. Natasha, the owner is amazeballs and I for one find her to be incredibly personable and beyond helpful and attentive. My husband and I feel fortunate enough to have stumbled upon her blessing of a shop and are officially customers for life. Thank you Natasha for creating such a fabulous space and place. We need more ppl like you in this world. It was such a pleasure to have met you, Kate and Brin and kitty. Thank you again for taking time out to answer our gazillion questions, share your knowledge of everything natural, environmentally friendly and beautiful in creating a lovely home surround and for allowing us to enjoy your wonderful plethora of options..... it's never ending. And lastly, thank you for all those great samples. We are so freaking excited about returning to your store and creating a warm, comfy and healthy new home. - the Starrs read more

Owner seems to go out of her way to be rude. The store fairly interesting, but a far cry from the coolest salvage/upcycle/environmentally friendly building materials shop I've visited. I usually love this kind of thing and was looking forward to the visit but the owner, Natasha, is outrageous. I have no idea how this place has stayed in business. She certainly doesn't seem like she enjoys working. Tucson has several small businesses that are excellent! No need to be verbally abused just to shop local when you have other (much better!) options. read more

This is a FABULOUS store! We were able to get almost all the non-toxic building materials we required for our major renovation from Natash at Originate. She goes above and beyond the call of duty to see that customers get the very best natural building materials available, and she is extremely knowledgeable about what is available in almost every line of product - from natural flooring and paint, to tile and ceramic artwork. And the store itself is super-cozy. We LOVE this place! read more

To say that the customer service here is prickly is an understatement. The muscles in Natasha's face that might enable her to smile have been compromised in some way, and she may have gone through special training to find ways to answer your questions in ways that make you feel sort of dumb. But Natasha knows everything, her selection is amazing, and it's just really damn cool, so you're going to have to address your friendly customer service needs in another way. Go here because you want to see what all the coolest eco-friendly building materials look like up close, sort through her great selection of reused doors and what-have-you, marvel at how she's pieced together a bunch of cool materials in this reused building, and weigh yourself on the wobbly floor scale. Look at locally made products. Pet Brin the dog once he decides you're acceptable, and the in-store kitty-cat. Buy things like recycled paper countertops, recycled tile, low-toxicity waxes and oils and cleaners that won't cause cancer or make your house smell like a chemical factory. And then you can go to Burger King or somewhere for a nice smile and friendly customer service, and everything will be just fine. read more

According to their website walk-ins are welcome. We went during open business hours as per the website and when we arrived the doors were locked and rightfully so as the business is located in a sketchy side of town. I noticed the woman inside looking at us and at no point did she bother to open the door and by the look of the reviews I am glad we walked away. Very poor business practice in my book. The "masks required" sign out front was also off putting. Good luck with a business who will not acknowledge customers, they must not like money. read more

This is a fun place to shop. I'm not completely into the "green" movement, but at the same time, I'm all for taking waste and turning it into useful goods. They have countertop material made from waste glass, paper, concrete and much more. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I have found Natasha to be very helpful. She doesn't start any sort of hard sell when you walk in the door, and perhaps that's being perceived as unfriendly, but nothing could be further from the truth. She is extremely knowledgeable about what she sells, the techniques for applying it, and has been eager to share that knowledge. read more

This is a great store if you are looking for natural building/home renovation materials. Many eco-friendly options and the staff is knowledgeable and helpful. There are demo's within the store which provide great inspiration for what can be done to have a beautiful home in a sustainable way. read more

Horrible Horrible Horrible customer skills Rude, abrasive and abusive sale rep Natasha could not of been more over the top rude to the customers in the shop Wow! Really under impressed read more

This is a wonderful shop that has tons of eco-friendly and sustainable options for home renovations or decorating. They have lots of beautiful and slick looking new options as well as salvaged odds and ends (doors, lighting, cabinets) that are inspiring and fun. Natasha isn't overbearing or pushy when you walk in the shop- which it seems like some reviewers have taken for unfriendly. I find her to be very friendly and very helpful! She was super patient with me as I borrowed samples time and time again and hemmed and hawed and asked her opinion. She emailed me some images of different ways the tile I was looking at could be installed, and she recommended some folks to help me install the tile when I ran into trouble with my contractor. I'm glad Originate exists in Tucson and we will definitely be back when we have other renovation projects! read more

This place is definitely cool.. but definitely out of my price range.. the one thing I would come back to get here is their soy paint stripper that they sell for $58. (I had originally bought some on amazon for around $50), but I would rather come here to give them whatever business I can instead of amazon. The reason why I say this place is expensive even though its hard not to fall in love with everything here is that the gallon price I was quoted for the milk paint and for another eco friendly brand that I can't seem to remember was roughly 2.5x more than the other chemically stuff you can buy at your standard Ace hardware. Unless I have some beautiful old antique table that I need to paint or restore.. $55.00/gallon is out of my price range if I'm looking to repaint the whole house or even a good section of the kitchen. The recycled glass countertops that I looked at were also ranged for around $45.00-$55 ish dollar a square foot... I am unsure if this is this installed price, but I didn't ask as it was again a little too expensive for me. Paint brushes were $22.00 each.. and yes again even though I loved everything this store stands for....... on my budget? a girl can only dream. read more

An industrial looking store on the edge of downtown. Very promising in look and character. The options from a sustainable stand-point are interesting. The quality of the products and displays were top notch. However, the individual minding the store could not have been any colder or disinterested. She seemed annoyed we were there and only reluctantly would engage in any sort of conversation. Perhaps that is their style. Go if you know what you want, don't care about being addressed, and don't need much assistance. Too bad as the options such for sustainable building supplies are limited in Tucson. read more

I had a pretty bad experience with this business. The carpet I ordered showed up ten days later then anticipated which was a pretty big problem for me since I couldn't move in without it and I had to move from the place I was living in. I'm still giving them three stars though because I think you really can see how a business runs when things go wrong. The problem was mostly caused by the shipping company and Originate was straightforward about the problem and sincerely apologetic about my inconvenience. It was hard to stay mad at them. I did wind up with really nice (hard to find) wool carpet at an amazing price. So despite the pain, I'm still glad I got it there. Be prepared though that it takes time to get anything from this place, even paint. It's a good resource to have in town as they have a lot of great options you won't find anywhere else. read more

We had such a great experience with Originate - Natasha was patient, knowledgeable, and let us borrow samples (and then more samples, and then some other samples, and then a few more after that) to see how the products, colors, and styles of flooring we were considering looked once in our home. It really helped us narrow down the myriad options. We finally went with marmoleum and worked with an installer Natasha recommended (he did a great job), and we LOVE how the room now looks - bigger, brighter, interesting-er! Like a previous reviewer noted, we probably could have found cheaper flooring but (a) we wanted to support a local business, (b) the service was superb at Originate, and Natasha was able to give us personalized attention and lots of answers to our questions, and (c) marmoleum is awesome. We would definitely recommend this wonderful place! read more

Sol B and I had very similar experiences. Unfortunately I think the employee is actually the owner. Don't waste your time. These days you can order almost anything online to be shipped directly to you (and many times with free shipping). Life is too short to deal with unpleasant people. read more

I originally found originate because I had several old windows and other various building materials that I wanted to donate. Natasha, the store owner, came out to my project and picked up these items. I gave them to her for free as I did not want the money but wanted them to find good "homes". Consequently, I went into her store and was impressed by her product knowledge and range of products. I checked out two sample decks of linoleum and two small sample pieces of countertop material. She phoned me after a month and asked that I return the materials. I said I would be there the next day. I was waiting for her when she opened at noon and was blown away by her rudeness. She did not greet me when I said hello and the atmosphere was so uncomfortable I finally had to say "is there a problem here " upon that, she became hostile and stated that I had her samples for a month and that she had to call me to bring them back. ( Ive kept library books longer) I've never encountered this behavior from a business owner in my life. Her demeanor was so unbelievable to me I question her sanity. This is not a woman I would recommend doing business with, especialy business that typically includes a lot of money. I have never left yelp review but felt compelled to do this to warn others. Stay out of originate building materials! read more

I love this place! And the staff is well informed and helpful ad friendly. We got marmoleum for our office here. And paint as well. I cannot say enough good about Originate! For folks who want to do their work in a 'green' and non-toxic fashion this is the place to go. Check it out. read more

I love this store - I have bought paints and clay plasters and cork flooring and stains and varnishes and pigments that were all naturally sourced and non-toxic. I feel good about being kind to the environment and creating a beautiful living space with the materials I have bought here. I also feel good about supporting local businesses and our local economy. If we don't use them we lose them - and while you can get many products online I really appreciate the local services as I like to see, touch and feel the things that will go into my home. Online just isn't the same when it comes to making good choices. I love that the materials really fit well into the southwestern esthetic and architecture and are of high quality. And the service has always been very friendly and very good. I am grateful to Natasha for providing this heartfelt service to our Tucson community. read more

I have been to originate dozens times in the past 10 years. I volunteered my time to install the water cistern and xeriscape the property, and I attended biofuel meetings on the weekends many many years ago. I love the idea behind the store and fully support the store's products. Of the dozen or so times I have been in the store, the owner, Natasha, has always been abrupt. Never willing to greet me or anyone I was with or exchange more than the barest amount of information. In retrospect, she always made me feel like I wasn't the caliber of customer she wanted in her store. (Perhaps this is true, her items are generally out of my price range.) While I always thought her attitude was an unwise business decision, it never bothered me until I went looking for a product to stain my daughter's bed. On that occasion, I arrived when Natasha was speaking on the phone. I walked around the store looking at the various fantastic products until I could ask Natasha some questions. Perhaps 10 minutes went by when I realized that she was off the phone. Once I realized this, I walked to her desk and asked her if she could recommend some very safe wood stains for my daughter's bed. She brusquely walked to a display that had a sample piece of wood with stains on both sides then walked back to her desk. I felt like I was intruding on her personal space and she would have preferred to be left alone. After a pause, I looked at the side she had pointed out and asked her a few questions. I learned two things. The stains she was showing me were water based and she didn't have them all in stock. I walked back to the display rack where the sample piece was kept and then noticed stains on the back side. I flipped the wood over to ask her about the glossier finishes on that side. Her exact words are lost to memory but the condescension and derision that dripped from her voice are not. After this treatment, I was livid. I put the sample piece down, took some deep breaths, and as I left the store I told her that I had never been treated so rudely and that I had no intention of visiting her store again. She had no response. read more