Here's what Re-nest readers were clicking on this week:
• A Green Search: The Best Air Mattress Alternative
• Solar Hybrid VW Westfalia Camper by Alexandre Verdier
• Snapping Deck Ti...
Sigh. Here's a little eye candy to get your weekend off to a nice start. This idyllic Greek home was photographed by Vangelis Paterakis, and it looks to be made completely out of stone. Bea...
Oh, Flip & Tumble, we really love ya! Your classic bags work really well for groceries. We use your Loopt bags everyday — they're perfect for toting lunch to work. And now? Produce bags? A...
We've showcased countless cool stairs here at Apartment Therapy. Here's yet another to add to the books: it's a stair made of paper tubes, found in a project called the Paper-Brick House...
>>Read th...
So, maybe you’ve decided to go carless and are using a bike to get you around town. Getting yourself from A to B may be simple enough, but what about toting your groceries, kids, pets and oth...
Heath Ceramics is chock full of lovely things that we just can't get enough of. Heath is one of the few remaining mid-century American potteries still in existence today, and they remain a small, l...
Trash to treasure — or art, in this case. The Love London Green Festival is currently providing over two dozen artists from around the world the opportunity to showcase their recycled scu...
Ahhhh...It took us awhile, but when we finally admitted it was time to buy a new set of sheets, we knew just where to go. We'd been debating which organic cotton sheets to buy for quite some time. B...
You probably know how much we love succulents here at Re-Nest. So it comes as no surprise that we're intrigued by this particular incarnation of the easy-care plants......
Q: I'm looking for some energy efficient track lighting. Does such a thing exist? I'd like to minimize the amount of electrical work that I do to add more overhead lighting to my long, narrow hallway....
We love getting gifts, partially for the excitement of what's inside the box but also for the wrapping paper and ribbons. Although we're not wrapping paper savers or re-users, we are a sucker for a...
Buy second hand, and you could keep stuff alive longer. My favorite Apartment Therapy City Scavenger picks for the day include this amazing vintage fan (I totally have a thing for vintage fans) and...
Living a simpler life without the everyday technologies upon which most of us are reliant is an escape we've probably all considered. That's what Better Off author Eric Brende and his wife, Mary, did...
That's right. If you live in a particularly warm climate, a light colored roof could save you 20% on cooling costs. So it makes sense that The New York Times is reporting that light roofs are catch...
The pouf seems to be a design trend that has some sticking power, but no one is really interested in paying top dollar for the designer version. First, we found a source for cheap Moroccan pouf...
We all need to escape every once in a while, and it's often impossible to hop on a plane or into a car. That's why it's so important to set up at least one or two "getaways" within your own hom...
This past weekend we had dinner at my mother's house, and we cooked for her and two of her old friends. It was a lovely summer evening. My first job was to set the table, something I love doing....
The Laybourne House and Art Barn in Colorado is designed by architect firm Fernau + Hartman. Their home designs are rooted in an understanding of the surrounding site and climate, and this hom...
We've always loved both sides of a garage/stoop sale — he buying side (hunting for treasures) and the selling side (getting rid of unwanted stuff and making a little cash). And, over the years, ...
We've been enjoying the new September issue of Dwell - it's our favorite in a while, which is not a surprise - its focus is on apartments. The most wonderful by far is the peek inside one family's hom...
Having just spent a weekend camping isolated in the mountains, we’ve really come to appreciate a break from the city and technology. So when we came across this solar powered tent we felt conflict...
Do you remember when we wrote about Montrose Green last January? Emily and Christopher Stromberg were doing a complete green renovation of their Philadelphia rowhouse. Well, the house is now ...
The Home B.A.S.E. (Building Academic Skills and Experiences) teaches high school students in Columbus, Ohio how to build green homes. Led by a building and technology education teacher at Colum...
You pay to heat the water for your shower, so wouldn't it make sense to milk that energy for all its worth instead of letting it just go down the drain?
That's what Montreal designer David Velan th...
We can probably all admit to being swept off our feet by a powerful wooded landscape or a sea creature on a pristine beach, so it makes perfect sense to have our home's decor mimic the colors and nuan...
Q: I have recently been using Seventh Generation toilet bowl cleaner, and I've noticed that a ring of mold and/or mildew or something yucky is developing in the bowl after just a few days. I'm concer...
We're excited because tonight we're headed over to Cisco Home to check out Bazzeo, a kitchen design that's been generating a lot of buzz. Bazzeo is the first eco-centric contemporary kitchen collec...
Buy second hand, and you could keep stuff alive longer. There were lots of good items for sale today in Apartment Therapy's City Scavengers. Some of my favorites included this retro yellow desk in...
These little liqueur glasses are easy to find for less than a dollar at thrift shops. Individually, they're nothing special, but when you line them up in a collection they offer lots of possibilitie...
We're always dreaming up new ways to use old tin cans. But our little craft projects never end up looking half as good as what Jack Bresnahan has done with his tin cans....
Proving that there are many folks far more resourceful than ourselves, The Oregonian featured this handy way to reuse an old croquet cart, for which the actual croquet set had long been missing piec...
We love the COMPACT line from Portugese designer Pedro Gomes. Made from cardboard and recycled polypropylene, this modular furniture line is eco-friendly and sustainable...
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We love Liz's reuse of a handsome door DIY'd into a dining room table. The features of this door in particular make it a great find to display in the home. Not to mention this door has a past--...
The Creators Inn in Gothenburg, Sweden offers free (yes, completely free) accommodation to visiting creators. As they say on their website, they "try to support up and coming creators of diffe...
Yes, we're still obsessed with chickens. If anything, ever since our neighbors got a chicken, the obsession has gotten worse. We hear it clucking every time we walk out to our car. We want one (or two...
Last month we fell in love with the Pooktree Tree Shapers Living Furniture over on Apartment Therapy San Francisco. We've always loved the idea of a tree grown in the shape of a chair and wondered if ...
Engineered flooring has gotten a bad rap because of its thin veneer counterparts, but FSC-certified EcoTimber flooring is out to change that misconception with its 3.6mm wear layer, providing e...
Broken iPod, old phone, busted computer. Most electronics die sooner or later. We all know you shouldn't just throw them in the trash, and this is especially true now that there are so many resour...
Our readers have asked this question before: "How can we reuse those plastic pots that plants come in?" Here are 10 ideas for keeping them out of your trash bin ......
We have a kind of complicated problem: we recently sold a rarely-used futon to make way for a much-needed desk. Then, yesterday, we found out that three good friends are coming to stay for three nig...
Over the weekend, a friend and avid Re-Nest reader emailed us to say she'd had a green eureka moment--and it's a good one. In the midst of unpacking after a move, she kept coming up with air-filled pl...
Q: I've got a crusty oven that needs a good cleaning, with an assortment of old and new grease stains that won't come off using soap and water. But I've recently set out to eliminate using chemical fo...
Ah Summer! Fun, sun, picnics, pools...and mosquitoes. Keeping them at bay often involves an arsenal of chemically laden product sprayed or wiped directly on the skin. Why not consider enlisting Mot...
Buy second hand and keep stuff alive longer. My two favorite picks today from Apartment Therapy's City Scavengers include this yellow antique display cabinet in Boston, and this beautiful vintage w...
The gals of Domestic Construction offer up much in the way of inspiration when it comes to creating eco friendly interiors. While Trish and Maureen come from different backgrounds, their visio...
Michael Iannone, the man behind Iannone Design, makes furniture out of materials that we love — cork, Kirei board, FSC and formaldehyde-free plywoods — and he uses low-VOC finishes and nat...
We're smitten with the designs of German artists Wolfgang Winter and Berthold Hörbelt — according to Treehugger, the duo has been building milk crate buildings since 1992. Check out thes...
As we were reminded on a recent vacation, our driving skills are getting slightly rusty after almost fifteen years living in New York City. Sure we'd love to fill up a car trunk with groceries or c...
When this green thumb came across a worn antique brass headboard in a second-hand shop, her thoughts turned not to the bedroom but the garden...
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These images are all from Domespace homes — circular homes designed to rotate 330 degrees as it follows the path of the sun. It takes passive energy from the sun when it needs warmth, an...
Our friend Karine over at BODIE and FOU recently added another great DIY project to her blog: she stripped her bathroom wall of its outdated wallpaper, and recovered it with with book pages......
We love the idea of residential wind turbines, but we have heard some grumbling lately about whether or not they're a truly feasible way to power our homes. Regardless, we were intrigued to learn abou...
Lately we've been trying to buy most of our gifts on Etsy, or from local businesses who carry handmade goods. Sometimes Etsy can be a bit overwhelming, though—despite its user-friendly design, there...
Growing up with hippy parents, VW buses have always held a special place in our heart. Well, the feelings have been rekindled with this modernized eco-friendly version developed by Alexandre Ve...
We've suddenly gotten WAY into biking. This past weekend we biked everywhere and it made us feel like kids again. Sara gets on her new bike with Ursula in the baby seat and I get on my old bike an...
I actually do this all the time when we order pizza: simply tear the box in half, divide the pizza in two, and eat it right off the cardboard. (It helps that I'm a voracious eater and can consume, ...
When Toronto-based architect Paul Raff was designing this home for a family of four, he knew he needed to find a way to bring the warmth and light of Arizona — from which the family had j...
Maybe it's the fact that we've been pining for cooler weather and a chance to enjoy evenings on the back porch, but more likely it's the fact that this ultra-modern swing made from reclaimed teak is...
Q: We live in an adobe house and, contrary to popular belief, it is not particularly energy efficient. The "R value" is about 5 or 6. Short of wrapping the exterior of the house in insulation and re...
Need a getaway that soothes the spirit without damaging the earth? Consider Solange Calistoga. Recently featured in Traditional Home, this spa, located in the heart of Napa Valley and designed by l...
Buy second hand and keep stuff alive longer. My favorite Apartment Therapy City Scavenger picks for the day include these CB2 Orbit chairs in San Francisco, and this stunning turquoise Danish Moder...
We appreciate every little green gesture that hotels make, but we’re especially impressed by the Topia Inn of Adams, Massachusetts which boasts a near zero carbon impact by utilizing solar pa...
We're always on the lookout for people who know how to incorporate flea market finds seamlessly and beautifully into their home decor. So we fell for Rod Hipskind and David Williams San Francisco home...
Wine, re-purposing, and attractive storage solutions — these are a few of our favorite things. Perhaps that's why we've featured the wine crate on so many occasions. As a flea market stap...
Finding parking in our U Street neighborhood is increasingly difficult, and we've been wondering more often whether it's practical to keep a car in the city. Our friends in the suburbs wouldn't dre...
We must be going through a wall mount phase. Earlier this week our friends at AT:Boston blogged about wall mount cabinets from CB2. Now this: a wall mount drying rack that folds down when not in u...
The Juvet Landscape Hotel in Alstad, Norway is comprised of a 16th-century farmhouse and barn and ten additional detached hotel rooms situated on an isolated landscape near the country's wester...
We knew we had to post this as soon as we came across it on Etsy. It's exactly what we need in our kitchen. We aren't big wine collectors, but we like to have a few bottles on hand and we never know w...
Backpacking, of course, has its own glories—the wonder and quiet of remote areas, the enjoyment of living as simply as possible for a short time—but car camping is a great way to escape for differ...
Hey, it happens. You have more than you can use of something, or you bought something you don’t like but can’t bring yourself to throw it away. We try to help you with that, but we can’t thin...
Although IKEA might not always be the most sustainable retailer out there, we still think they're a good option for select pieces. Our editors are headed to a special IKEA event tomorrow to se...
We've kicked around the idea of installing a deck, but are always overwhelmed by the options: what's best for the environment, what's easiest to install, Trex vs. wood, etc? Or maybe a patio instead...
We just got a looooong email forward (you know the kind) about the dangers of fabric softener, which is said to include chemicals like "chloroform, benzyl acetate and pentane." While we can't verif...
As we've already touched on here at Re-Nest, staying green on vacation requires some extra effort. But there's one thing that requires very little deviation from the norm: eating sustainably. We've fo...
Q: I keep hearing that we should replace our fridge with an Energy Star fridge. My questions are, what do you do with the old one?
Which is less green: using a non-energy star fridge or an energy s...
With all the construction going on in our neighborhood, blackouts and downed power lines have become a frequent occurrence. Last night was no exception. Just as we were settling in to write our po...
We totally fell in love with this Vintage Desk and Matching Chair for sale on Apartment Therapy's Chicago Scavenger. It's such an interesting design and looks to be in fantastic shape. Interested?...
The Fire Island beach home of Brooklyn residents Noel and Ellen Berk-Rauch was featured in Coastal Living magazine — the story focused on architect Fred Stelle's use of super-durable buil...
We try our best to keep pollutants out of our home, but when we read about Kathy Hemenway's "safe house" in Snowflake, Ariz. we realized how much farther some people need to go to keep their homes hea...
Part rustic, part abstract, and totally cool. We're almost always drawn to wooden design elements whose histories are reflected in their texture. Driftwood, worn floorboards, fading painted barn...
It seems as though nowadays, thankfully, everyone is carrying a stainless steel water bottle. With so many at school, home and in the office, how can you make sure yours is easy to find? The fine fo...
When we heard Outstanding in the Field is coming to our hometown soon, we headed on over to their website to learn more. While there, we were bowled over by the varied arrangements of long outd...
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