apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Names: Lynne Henrietta Siodmak and Rubi

Occupations: Textile Designer and Australian Cattle Dog, respectively

Location: Ventura, Ca

Size: 2600 sq/ft

Years lived in: Owned 4.5 years

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When Lynne Siodmak bought the Valentine House, an historically beloved Craftsman in downtown Ventura, Ca, the place was almost literally falling down -- the foundation had collapsed, the roof beams were rotten, and the water damage was extensive. So Lynne pulled her Airstream into the garage behind the house, set up camp, and got to work. Two years later, the green restoration was complete.

This is a green escape we've been dreaming of ever since we heard a friend mention "Treebones." We didn't know where it was or what it was, we just liked the sound of the word.

As it turns out, we like the view even better.

This question comes from Monica, she asked it yesterday in response to Elizabeth's post on reusable mesh coffee filters:
We have one of those and recently we switched back to paper filters. Emptying and cleaning the reusable filter every day (2x a day on weekends when we're riding the caffeine train!) took a ton of water and it was just so messy. We also wondered if using all that water was any better than throwing out the little paper filters. What do other folks think?

Consider this a love letter to Amtrak.

This week, I've take more modes of transportation than I usually take in a year. In the last 3 days alone I've ridden in a plane, a taxi, a Mini Cooper (my first time!), the subway, a train, and a Greyhound bus.

None of it was too awful, if you don't consider the carbon offsets I'll need to buy to make up for that cross-country flight. I had a good book, and most of the travel has flown by. But of all the modes of transportation I've experienced this week, nothing was as downright pleasant as the hour I spent with Amtrak.

Do you have a similar love affair with trains?

We've been posting some weird lamps over the past week or so. In keeping with that trend, here's one more: The ReGlow which is composed of screwed-in, empty, unlabeled plastic drink bottles.

What do you think?

Survey and detailed sketch of the lamp after the jump.

Given that it's Escapes month here at AT, and given the fact that we're spending the week in a hotel in Boston, we've been asking ourselves this question quite a bit: How do you green a hotel room?

We have some ideas (below the jump) but we're looking for more.

Remember how we said we don't like carpet? We should explain, because what we really don't like is all the dust, allergens and general nastiness that a carpet collects and holds onto.

If you can get a carpet really, really clean then it's not quite as bad.

7 days without plastic. It sounds impossible, right? Well, actually, we think it probably is.

But, Zadi Diaz over at EPIC FU is giving up the bad, unnecessary plastic for 7 days. At least she's trying to ...

We always like reading the "Ask Umbra" column over at Grist.org. Her answers are well-researched and often funny.

We were particularly charmed by her investigation of Method products last week, and we really like something she had to say about green cleaning in general.

Quote after the jump ...

We know for a fact, because we read all the comments on all the posts here at Re-nest, that some of you have really fantastically creative upcycling ideas. You've always got thoughts on how to take useless things and make them functional again.

Why not make some money at it?

As you may recall, we really, really don't like carpet. We kind of loathe it even though we admit that sometimes it serves a purpose and is the appropriate flooring choice for certain rooms.

As far as we're concerned, the more things we can recycle the better. So, when we heard that our local drugstore (Elephant Pharmacy) will be recycling old and broken crayons throughout the month of September we were both amused and inspired.

I live in a college town and I can't help but notice the recent influx of U-haul's migrating up the main drag, blocking traffic, unloading futons ... Our local Target is stocked to the ceiling with mini-refrigerators, neon pink waste baskets, and every color shower caddy you can imagine.

It's been awhile since I lived in a dorm or shopped for "back to school" supplies, but I'm amazed by the green options that are cropping up left and right.

Jamie Ward takes old, discarded, essentially broken down pieces of furniture and breathes new life into them -- saving them from the junk heap and putting them back to good use.