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Archive for the week of

How To: Start a No-Dig Garden ... Step by Step

A few weeks ago we blogged an article in the LA Times about No-Dig Gardens. They require less water than traditional gardens and they're an easy way to start a raised bed. You can even start one rig...

Green Tour: Malena and Graham's Shrine to '59

Name: Malena and Graham Location: Portland, Oregon Years lived in: 2, owned Enter Slideshow It took Malena and Graham a long time to find their home, and it's not green in the expected ways. You...

Good Question: Carpet, Without Offgassing?

(Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first. Email questions and pics with QUESTIONS in subject line to: green(at)apartmenttherapy(dot)com) Barbara asked: Where would ...

The Great Green Compromise: Paper Towels for a Guest

We mentioned last week that a friend would be staying with us for three weeks. You overwhelmingly agreed that we should stop letting the yellow mellow, but basically enforce all other green househol...

Reclaimed Wood Wall Racks: High, Medium, and Low

Ever since we spotted this pot and pan rack by Metropolitan Produce, we've been thinking about its simplicity and beauty. Made from a reclaimed beam, the design is fairly straightforward, but the pr...

Green Fabrics and Fibers

You know about organic cotton and pesticide-free hemp but what about SeaCell, an open-weave blend of wood pulp and seaweed that's soft and breathable? Or paperwool, a blend of organic wool and rice ...

Become an Urban Farmer

OK, so you've read No-Impact Man and Fritz Haeg. If it’s time to try your hand at the land, SPIN Farming intends to help you do it for fun and yes, profit. You don’t even need a yard of your own. ...

Green@Home: Lara's Gone Green
submit your own...

Name: Lara Location: Clarksville, TN Profession: Realtor Welcome to Lara and her family, who have made many meaningful green moves already, with plans for more. From the basics to big plans, this is ...

Aerators: They're Green and How to Keep them Clean

Aerators are on our faucets to put air in the waterstream, which increases pressure with less water. They can gunk up over time and cause low pressure that's solved by simply cleaning the aerator......

Recycle Your Corks: Yemm & Hart Turns Them into Tiles

Recently, Maxwell blogged about storing your saved wine corks in a lovely Horchada jar. Well, for you boozers who aren’t interested in hoarding your corks, you can now donate or redeem them for m...

New Gallery Beta!

Dear Readers, For the next hour we'd like to ask you to help us by trying out our new gallery, which we've totally redesigned. You can click to any gallery in any post or tech tour to see the new ...

Green People: Jay Hasbrouck

You may know Jay through his blog, Verde Vista, which we've linked to since the start of Re-nest, and you may remember the retaining wall and bench built of recycled materials in the backyard of his R...

Vermont Green Home: Remember Ian and Raedia?

Hey! Remember Ian and Raedia? Our readers who built green in Vermont? Well, it looks like they're done!...

Switchplates from Happy Robot

 We like these switchplates from Portland, Oregon based Robot Candy so much that we're going to blog them even though we're not sure they're really green......

Galya Rosenfeld: Reclaimed "Puzzle" Pillows

Galya Rosenfeld's lovely modular series pillows are a great green addition to any home and are available for purchase at Branch......

Good Questions: Good Reusable Grocery Bags?

(Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first. Email questions and pics with QUESTIONS in subject line to: green(at)apartmenttherapy(dot)com) This question comes from B...

Green @ Home: Matt's Power Plan
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Name: Matt Location: Chicagoland Profession: Financial Auditor/Photographer Welcome to Matt, whose green moves started with a simple motivation - to save some money. As we all look for ways to spend ...

Traditional Mosquito Repellant?

The mosquitoes are driving us all crazy this summer, and the citronella candles don't seem to be helping all that much. This "Anty Fly" sphere designed by José de la O was recently shown as a mosquit...

Rearrange Your Furniture: Save Money and the Earth

We've been doing it since we were kids. We'd rearrange our bedroom on rainy weekends, exhilarated by the new feel of walking into a rearranged room. And we still do it. It's a great way to freshen up ...

How To: Beat the Heat Without Air Conditioning

We sweated out last summer without AC, and this summer we're hoping to do the same. It's not too bad here in Chicago, where temperatures rarely creep above 90 degrees, so we try to get by on hot day...

Green @ Home: Cal's Very Green Drying Rack
submit your own...

Our very green drying rack! Name: Cal Location: 1200 sq foot apartment, Winston Salem, NC Profession: Physician Green Move #1: We've been implementing "green" strategies for a while now, but our ne...

Swiss Family Robinson

Hello to Amber, one of the bloggers trying out for a spot on the Re-Nest editorial team. Comments are welcome! When we saw this bamboo structure a few years ago at a self-sustaining cooperative calle...

Eco Home by Diseño Earle

We've already had quite a few conversations here about square footage and its relation to the greeness of a home. So, forget for a moment that the Eco Home by Diseño Earle is 7,000 sq. ft (what!?)....

How To: Get Good Results With Zero-VOC Paint

Getting a good looking painting job with a zero-VOC paint such as American Pride or Yolo Colorhouse is all about understanding flow... and going with it. Keep on reading for the step-by-step guide to...

Awnings

Sometimes, we get so caught up with the high-tech solutions to green building that it's easy to overlook the simple solutions. Awnings are a simple way to keep summer sun and heat out of your house. ...

Rag Chair by Droog

We've been seeing some really interesting chairs these days -- made out of wine barrels, whiskey barrels, clothing hangers. You name it. Now rags ......

Simple Green: When it's Yellow...

This one definitely falls under the category of too much information, but it's a green tip that we learned when we were growing up in drought-prone Southern California before the advent of low flow to...

Garden Inspiration: Local Nature as a Guide

can you name this plant? seen on Angel Island We're constantly gathering inspiration for own large backyard. As amateur gardeners and with an eye towards conserving water, we're especially keen on ea...

Green@Home: Simple Small Steps, Pt. 2

Name: Heather Location: Chicago Profession: AT Editor Today I follow Janel's lead kicking off the Green@Home giveaway. Like Janel, most of my greening steps have also been slow and steady...many thin...

Green @ Home: Environmentally Friendly DIY Projects

Name: Sally Location: San Francisco Living in the Bay Area means that I have very few excuses to not utilize locally sold environmentally friendly materials. There are more resources here for sustai...

Good Questions: Recycling Bench

(Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first. Email questions and pics with QUESTIONS in subject line to: green(at)apartmenttherapy(dot)com) This question comes from J...

Blogging Common Ground: Grow Your Own Way

We thought we saw the ultimate in urban homesteading after watching a clip on CNN.com about the Dervaes' in Pasadena. But, after reading "Grow Your Own Way" in Common Ground this month, we realize t...

Renovo Wooden Bicycle

We were surprised by this wood bicycle displayed in the airport in Portland, Oregon. First, we thought of the cardboard bike Stephanie posted last week. Then, we realized this bicycle is a thing of ...

Tankless Water Heaters: Worth the Extra Work?

Hello to Trent, one of the bloggers trying out for a spot on the Re-Nest editorial team. Comments are welcome...My girlfriend and I recently purchased our first house, built in 1950 and not updated si...

Light My Fire Spork

We're human and sometime we're suckers for packaging and colors. Such was the case a few nights ago when we were in the checkout line at REI. We'd gone for a couple water bottles and we walked out ...

Reflective Roofing

A crazed raccoon dug a hole in our aging roof last week. We had been waiting as long as possible before replacing the roof, but now we've got to take action. ...

Green@Home: Saving While Shaving

Name: Aaron Location: New York Profession: AT Editor All of our Green@Home posts have talked about the little things that, over time, can make a big impact. In our small Manhattan apartment, we're...

Green@Home: Simple Small Steps

Name: Janel Location: Chicago Profession: AT Editor Don't get me wrong, I'm far from a green expert but (thankfully) that is not required to be part of our Green@Home giveaway - our goal for July is ...

Eco Gardening Kit from Biome Lifestyle

In a fitting segue from garden month to green home month, we spotted this eco gardening kit from Biome Lifestyle. Practical and very beautiful, this would make a great gift for a stylish and green-l...

Organic Fertilizer For Your Tomatoes

Tomatoes are usually considered one of the easier things in the garden to grow. Just as long as they have enough water and sun, most times they stay rather bug and disease free. But are they really ...

Greenland is Melting: Inspiration for Making Your House Greener

July is Green Month at AT. We've all heard about global warming and melting glaciers, but just this week we actually saw Greenland melting (from an airplane). This has inspired us to reevaluate ou...

Solar Textiles: Energy-Yielding Curtains

This could be the best solution to the dilemma of window coverings — especially if you live in an apartment with floor-to-ceiling windows. Designers from Kennedy & Violich Architecture of Boston,...

Simple Green: Use the Library

Let's start with disclosing that we're avid readers. Like super-avid-have-fights-with-the-bf- over-the-light-being-on-oh-my-gosh-gotta-check-out-Gregory's-post on-reading-lights kind of avid. We lik...

Former Urbanites, Now "Local Food" Farmers
The New York Times 7.3.08

Many urban dwellers have embraced the local food movement. Greenmarkets are booming in Manhattan and CSA food boxes are trendy. The New York Times shows us some former urban dwellers have embraced the...

Girl Scouts and CFLs... Again?

We thought there ways no way our bizarre experience with CFLs, Scientology, and Girl Scouts could be duplicated. So you can understand why this ad in the North Berkeley BART station made a chill run ...

Hot or Not? Cardboard Bike

This cardboard bike was designed by a Sheffield Hallam University and aims to reduce thefts and encourage bike riding in general. Of course, it's also recyclable! via EcoGeek ...

A Green Plea to Home Depot

As a rule, we try to be helpful, in life in general and in our posts here at Re-nest. So, it is with that in mind that we implore thee, Home Depot:...

Green People: Zem Joaquin

We've been slinking ecofabulous for some time now. Although we rarely cover the green fashion world, we get our fix over there. And, we're always finding great new eco-friendly furniture. In fact, w...

Green Home: 700 Palms House

I've seen the outside of this modern house in Venice hundreds of times, basically every time I come home, but with its giant walls I'd never caught a glimpse of the inside until now: ...

A Good Side Effect of Living Green: It's Thrifty
Cookie & Laurie David

Cookie has a great post up with info Laurie David's book The Down to Earth Guide to Global Warming. Included is a chart listing six very easy to implement simple steps that not only are eco-friendly b...

Biothinking's Top 40 Greenest Products

The green top 40. This list of The World's Top 40 Greenest Products by Biothinking is a helpful and interesting introduction to green product design. Some of the standouts for us:...

Green@Home: It's in the Materials

Name: Regina Location: New York Profession: architect, AT co-editor To kick off July's Green@Home giveaway, we're sharing a few green tactics from our own homes. In case you missed it, check out J...