We spotted a great post over at inhabitat about designer Kenzan Tsutakawa-Chinn's LED Constellation Lamp. Made out of slender copper tubes and warm white LEDs, it's a great example of a designer taking advantage of new technology to create form.
LED Constellation Lamp by Kenzan Tsutakawa-Chinn
Survey: Where Do You Keep Your Bike?
With gas prices the way they are (and warmer weather), we've really been trying to use our bikes lately. Still, we don't think we ride them as often as we should.
We store them in the basement and we're worried that the "out of sight out of mind" phenomenon has taken hold. Would bringing them upstairs into our living room or foyer change anything or would it just make our living space more cramped?
Survey after the jump ...
image via sol one; sxc.hu
A Green Deal: Brown Furniture
If you don't share the moment's obsession with all things midcentury modern, it turns out you can score some great deals on high-quality antiques of a certain style called "brown furniture"—Victorian, Art Deco, and French Provincial. Demand is way down for these styles of furniture, and prices have fallen accordingly. It certainly is easier to pick a few items out of a catalog, but there's something to be said for the history that comes along with an antique or two. Plus, it's a greener choice, and not just in the obvious way.
Keetsa Mattresses
Walking to a meeting in San Francisco last week we noticed the Keetsa Mattress store. Curiosity and Susie's question about foam mattresses compelled us to take a look around.
We didn't know what to expect ... and, 15 minutes later, we walked out seriously impressed.
If all the information in the store and on the web site is accurate, the Keetsa mattress is the greenest we've found.
What Do You Do With Wire Hangers?
After reading that wire hangers have recently shot up in price, we're curious if our dry cleaner will start to re-use hangers. We've tried collecting them and returning them for re-use, but the dry cleaner was only annoyed — so now we recycle them (what a waste). With a constant supply of them coming into the home, how do our readers deal with the abundance of cheap wire hangers?
Sliding Barn Door and Wall from Cliff Spencer
Green Ideas: Ten Ways to Use Baking Soda To Care For Your Baby
We all know baking soda is a great natural cleanser and deodorizer, but you may not have thought of all the ways you can use it to clean baby and kids' stuff.
Trash Compactors: The Missing Kitchen Appliance?
When you think about essential kitchen appliances you think fridge, stove, microwave, dishwasher, espresso machine. Well the last one is for me at least. What about trash compactors?
This isn't something that you typically find in a residential kitchen but it would help to decrease the volume of garbage you throw out. Broan says that you can compress 14 average garbage bags into one compactor size bag. While you will still have to make composting and recycling part or your routine to decrease the amount of waste you produce, with a compactor, that which is going out your door will be taking up less space.
Upcoming: East Bay Build It Green Home Tour
We're eagerly looking forward to this year's East Bay Build It Green Home Tour. Tickets are $30 (or $50 for two people) and include access to 17 homes on Sunday, June 1. Not in the East Bay? There may be a tour in your area...
Good Dishes for Kids by Zak Designs
The more indestructible a dish is (or a toy, or a piece of furniture, etc) the better it usually fares in the hands of a child.
There's nothing green about going through numerous sets of dishes as little Johnny accidentally drops them all on the kitchen floor.
Recycle Wine Corks with ReCork America
Restaurants and wineries in Oregon and California are now collecting wine corks for reuse. If you want to join in, you're probably out of luck. As of now, there are only three public collection points: two in Napa, California, and one in Oregon; they're keeping the program small while they work out the kinks.
A Green Search: The Best Shoe Organizer
We grew up slipping our shoes off as soon as we walked in the door. Mom's orders.
Granted, Mom wasn't thinking green -- she was thinking oatmeal, the color of her easily-stained carpet. Still, removing your shoes outside (or near your doorway) is a green habit.
Your shoes can track allergens, pesticides and all other kinds of nasty toxins into your home. If you have children, or animals, who spend a lot of time on the floor, this is doubly worrisome.
But, if you're going to take the shoes off, you need a good way to keep them organized and out of the way. Our favorite solution might be this DIY floating shoe rack (pictured) that we nabbed from AT: Nursery. We think we could jury-rig a decent version of this with some leftover pieces of wood we have stored in the basement.
Push Lawn Mowers from Green Living
Our teeny patch of grass is finally showing signs of life (this is our very first yard and we couldn't be more excited that spring is here). While we've never given much thought to mowing, our new reality includes lawn care. Talk about a foreign concept. One thing we'll have to invest in is a push lawn mower...
20 Ways to Reuse from AT:CHI
The EPA lists Reuse as the top strategy for reducing waste in landfills. Although tackling the waste reduction problem requires coordinating many large-scale efforts (including corporate and community initiatives), we can help at home by reconsidering what we throw out. Websites like craigslist, freecycle, and e-bay all offer easy ways to get rid of things responsibly. Before running out to buy something new, we can also think about creative ways to reuse what we already have (and save some money along the way). Click below for 20 ideas from AT:
Julia Lohmann Designs With Kelp
During the Milan fair, designer Julia Lohmann has been experimenting with kelp. Instead of showing finished products, she has been using both an Irish kelp and a Japanese kelp to share the process of drying, re-hydrating, stretching and varnishing the marine plant. She notes "The Irish kelp turned out to be beautifully translucent and green whereas the Japanese Kombu was much browner and hard, almost like a 70’s plastic."...
Composting
Did anyone see Oprah yesterday and her Earth Day Special? We happened to catch a moment where Julia Roberts was fluffing the compost.
AIA Top 10 Green Buildings: MacAllen Building Condominiums
This building by the firm studio dA (Harvard architects Nader Terani and Monica Ponce de Leon) was the only residential building to win one of the AIA/COTE top ten awards... and that's the fifth award it's racked up. The building features extensive green roof areas and recycled aluminum cladding, along with a Gold LEED rating. The roof terraces and massing remind us a bit of the VM Bjerget in Copenhagen...
Blogging New York magazine: The Locavore Fantasia
New York magazine had a little fun in their most recent issue. They asked four architects to design their dream structure at the corner of Canal and Varrick Streets in New York.
One architect went big with locavores in mind.
Constellation Wallpaper by Aurélie Mossé
This is such a beautiful concept that we hope we do not have to wait until 2030 to see it in production. But if it takes that long, we're willing to wait. The paper has two layers: the outer surface functions as a PV cell, generating electricity, and the inner surface functions as a battery. The flaps move out to show how much energy the wallpaper has generated.
Biodegradable Kitty Litter
Attention all indoor cat owners!
We grew up with cats that used nature's litter box (i.e., mom's flower bed) so when we got our own cat and moved to the "city," we were pretty bummed about bring a litter box into our house.
But we did, and ever since that day we've been suspicious of that stuff. The dust doesn't seem like something that we or our cat should be breathing. And then how do you dispose of the litter when you clean it? Plastic grocery bags? Aren't we trying to avoid those?
We've experimented with a couple alternatives, but haven't found one we're thrilled with yet.
Natural Toys at Toys R Us
Have you heard that toy-retailing giant Toys R Us has introduced a new line of environmentally conscious toys? They're simply called Natural Toys and are available exclusively through Toys R Us.
Tiered Dessert Stand: Eco-Chic Ideas from Martha Stewart and Danny Seo
Unlike many of the websites out there that were touting things to buy, buy, buy for Earth Day, Martha Stewart and body + soul come through with a great slideshow of inspiring ideas for going green with things you (gasp!) already have! They team up with Danny Seo, author of the Going Green series for some inspiring ideas.
Here's one of our favorites - a tiered dessert stand. More ideas and link below.
Look! Modular Water Jug Storage Bins
Check out this crafty idea to store small items! Over at the Instructables site, member Randofo created this shelving system he made recycling regular 2 gallon drinking water jugs...
Pill Sized Plasma Light Bulb: Better Than Compact Fluorescent?
Extremely bright and extremely efficient are the two main benefits of an Argon filled light bulb. While a regular incandescent bulb produces 15 Lumens per watt, this Argon filled plasma light bulb produces 140 lumens per watt. To put this into perspective, this is brighter than a street lamp.
Green Food Storage
Last night, as we spooned cold stew out of one of those semi-disposable plastic food storage containers we felt like we had reached the height of hipocracy. ZipWare, GladLoc, whatever it was, it didn't seal correctly any more, so we'd improvised a solution involving plastic wrap, rubber bands, and tape: hardly elegant, and, on a small scale, wasteful.
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