apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

There's no mistaking that the holiday season is here, and chances are at one point or another, you'll be having people over. When we host guests, we always hope to keep them comfortable—which we assume means stepping outside of our green living parameters. But it doesn't have to! Here are a few ways to be eco-friendly and a good host.

We ran the dishwasher about five times last week between all the pies, birthday cake, sweet potato muffins, and regular dinners that got whipped up in our kitchen. Since we have an Energy Star-rated dishwasher, use Seventh Generation powder, and pack it full each time, we don't feel too guilty about that. But we've also talked about taking things back to the basics, and cutting out some electronic gadgets. Which brings us to the Dishmaster, a vintage device we heard about through a reader tip.

Between tomorrow and next Friday, we will be attending three separate Thanksgiving celebrations, one office potluck, and two birthday parties. ('Tis the season!) And since we enjoy cooking and never like to show up empty-handed, we'll be seriously taxing the oven in the next week. Here's our simple green tip to save time and energy:

We thought bricks were pretty green to begin with thanks to their durability, but here's an even greener (and just as durable) option: Pozzotive Plus bricks are made from a mixture of recycled glass ground into a microfiber and recycled masonry aggregate, making them (you'll really like this part) LEED-friendly.

It's not too late to participate in another No Impact Week, inspired by Colin Beaven, the No Impact Man. We pointed it out last month but didn't hear much back from readers, so either the idea for participating in a no-impact lifestyle for a week just hasn't caught steam, or it's a little daunting. What's your holdup? We'll start with our reasons for holding back.

Getting ready to bake that apple pie for Thanksgiving dinner? Make sure the apples are clean! Until today, we washed all of our fruits and veggies as well as we knew how: by running tap water over them and scrubbing until it looked clean enough to eat. But the point of washing a piece of fruit or vegetable is to rid it of any germs that might be lurking on it surface, whether it's organic or conventionally-grown.

Yogurt is one of our favorite foods. We buy it in the quart-sized containers and re-use those at home, since in our city we can't recycle #5 plastics. But Preserve—the company we know so well from their cutting boards and other eco-friendly kitchen necessities—uses that #5 plastic to make toothbrushes. In seven bright colors, no less. One more way to make your bathroom even greener.

This striking home is a refreshing take on a "tree house," utilizing whole, unmilled trees (and not the strong ones in the forest, either, but the weak and diseased ones) to create an environmentally-conscious and beautiful home that echoes nature.

Probably the greenest way to redecorate a space is to do so without buying anything new. Thankfully, the green choice here is also the budget-friendly choice. Here are some of our favorite ways to do this. Read our list and then share your own ideas!

Going green means making decisions that might seem silly to others (eliminating dryer sheets? no more plastics?), but are probably very important to you. Otherwise, it seems, everyone would just do it, right? Like many of you, our home is getting greener all the time, but we're finding that the hardest decisions to make revolve around food...

Remember that computer game Myst? It took up countless hours of our junior high lives... And when we spotted this image of sustainable tree houses from Benoit Fray and Dans Mon Arbre, we were immediately plunged back into that otherworld...

When ideas gain speed in the marketplace, marketers take note. So when the natural food movement became popular, we all noticed more "All Natural" stickers popping up on our grocer's shelves. Likewise with eco-products, greenwashing soon became a phenomenon. Now, there's another phenom to look out for: Localwashing...

A few months ago, sewing became the new "it" thing in our house. Pillowcases, simple bags, and... well, more pillowcases were sewn with upcycled fabrics. Now we have another goal for our new hobby: making patchworks of any shape and size. The idea came when a favorite shirt with an interesting print on the front became worse for the wear...

Pardon the pun, but these creative dog feeders found on Etsy totally bowled us over. With stainless steel removable bowls nestled into vintage wooden crates, they make the perfect accent for the right space. But that's not all you'll find at Juliacuster's shop: there are eco-conscious collars, too...