apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I’m not a big calendar person, but when I do get them, I usually really love them for their design and get sad when December is over. Yesterday Stephanie posted about how to make a planner out of scrap paper. But what do you with your newly out of date calendar? Check below the jump for some ideas of how to repurpose your calendar…

When I was younger one of my favorite Christmas gifts was a Radius toothbrush. I loved the big handle and ergonomic design - they even make separate designs for right handed people and lefties. Over the years they’ve rolled out variations on their design, and now their most recent, the Source Toothbrush, which was already being made of tree cellulose, is now offered in two additional environmentally friendly options - flax and recycled currency.

'Tis the season for great green tips, December was all about the holidays -- how to make gorgeous paper snowflakes, ornaments, and creative wrapping ideas!

Jump below for the the best how tos and tips from December...

It’s been quite the year for lighting – whether it was clearing up misconceptions about CFLs, advances in LED lights, alternatively powered lights, or creatively upcycled light fixtures – there’s been a lot to get excited about. We’re looking forward to upcoming advances in lighting technology, and look out for some new LED reviews in the New Year.

Jump below for our favorite lighting posts of 2008 ...

1. Yale Student's Tiny House

2. 250 Square-Feet of Heaven in San Francisco

3. Look! A Totally Overloaded Drying Rack

4. Where to Get a $5 Filing Cabinet?

Jump below for the rest of the list...

June was full of great green tips - some focusing on improving your home with greener cleaning supplies and fixing the grout in your bathroom, while others focused on the outdoors such as how to stay cool with out A/C and how to save your local bees.

Jump below for the the best how tos and tips from June...

House tours are one of our most popular features for you readers, and I’m no exception – I can’t get enough of them. We’ve toured apartments, historic renovations, vacation homes, high-tech, practical, modern and traditional – all very different but green in their own way. I can’t decide on my favorite, so I’ve listed the top 10 most popular green house tours of the year, and rounded up the rest for your viewing pleasure.

1. Handmade House in Williamsburg

2. Anne's Sunny Renovation

3. A Barn Inspired Wisconsin Retreat

4. Michelle Kaufmann's Very Own Glidehouse

Jump below for the rest of the list...

1. Dr. Bronner Stresses Me Out, Man

2. Good Question: Paper Recycling Receptacle?

3. 2-Bin Recycle Center from The Container Store

4. Soften Sheets with Baking Soda

Jump below for the rest of the list...

Taking a page – literally – from Stephanie and Trent’s 9 Days of Gift Wrapping, Bugs and Fishes has a great idea for recycling various papers to use as large font name tags. We love the look of it, and will be using this idea for our gifts – click below the jump to find out more.

Somehow we missed this activity when we were kids, but this magazine Christmas tree is a great looking and super easy idea! We all like things made from magazines so check out the instructions below the jump.

Amongst all the recent worldly turbulence, I’ve somehow found myself very satisfied with my life, possessions and day-to-day activities. Perhaps it’s just seeing life from a different perspective, but most of my friends and family feel the same way. So we’ve decided to do gift giving differently this year. Some require no money whatsoever, and all of them are more about quality, not quantity. Click below for a few things were’re looking at that will last beyond the holidays.

>Last week the New York Times featured a cute article about a green inspired gingerbread houses. We love this second place winner – it’s so different from the traditional gingerbread house and it kind of reminds us of a gingerbread version of the Low Impact Woodland Home. Click below the jump to see one of the other contest entries – with a wind turbine and all!

Master of Design candidate, Jiyeon Song, has created this amazing interactive pavilion out little more than perforated panels. The specific arrangements of the perforations reveal different shadow-poems according to the solar calendar: a theme of new-life during the summer solstice, a reflection on the passing of time at the period of the winter solstice.