Mrs. Claus is a Striper
Date: December 17, 2008 | Category: Holiday & Gift, Home Furnishings, The Home
There are eco-accessories for the whole family at Pottery Barn. Getting colicky environmentalists off on the right side of the crib, they have a cute organic baby line. PB Teen’s line of organic bedding is essential for any tween. But Mr. & Mrs. Claus shouldn’t have to towel off with pesticides either! Pottery Barn’s Mason Stripe Organic Bath Towels are festive but not seasonal enough to garner ho ho ho’s the rest of the year. (more…)
Rescue, Reuse, Redecorate!
Date: December 10, 2008 | Category: Home Furnishings, The Home
That’s Furnish Green’s philosophy when it comes to decking out your New York apartment. Founder (and ballroom dancing extraordinaire) Nathan Hescock answers his eco call of duty by rescuing used furniture: scavenging for potentials at garage, warehouse, and basement sales in the metro area, refurbishing each piece and selling them in his midtown showroom. (more…)
In Bed with Goldilocks
Date: November 26, 2008 | Category: Featured, Home Furnishings, The Home
It’s no wonder Goldilocks wanted to try out all the beds in the three bears’ home. She was trying to find the best sheets!
With the release of Goldie Home, a new line of eco-luxury bedding, sophisticated design meets sustainability. Using only third-party certified organic cotton, you can rest assured that your zz’s will be enjoyed pesticide-free. The dyes are not vegetable-based but do adhere to strict European standards, and Goldie Home makes the commitment to switch to more ecologically-sound dyes in the future. (more…)
A Staycation in Bed
Date: November 19, 2008 | Category: Home Furnishings, The Home
It is beginning to get a little chilly to lay in a field of flowers (OK, LA, we know…) So to do your part to reduce your travel footprint and to save your pretty pennies, try turning your bed into a retreat. The Bloom organic cotton duvet from Wildflower Organics can help create an escape. (more…)
Jar O’ Sun
Date: October 29, 2008 | Category: Home Furnishings, Lifestyle, Tech
Need a night time pick me up? Try a Sun Jar. No, it’s not a new cocktail, sorry.
Made with a traditional Mason jar packed with a highly efficient solar cell, a rechargeable battery and low-energy LED bulbs, when the jar is placed in sunlight the solar cell creates an electrical current that charges the battery over a few hours. This energy is then used at night to light the jar, which glows in either blue or orange. The Sun Jar makes a great nightlight, or can be used outdoors in the garden, or as part of a camping or emergency kit. Better yet, tell trick-or-treaters that there is ghost jelly in the jar.
Rest Easy
Date: October 23, 2008 | Category: Featured, Home Furnishings, The Home
We’ve long been fans of cushions by LoooLo Textiles, which marry artful design with biodegradable yarn. Still, we can’t help but sing their praises once more with their introduction of a new line of cradle-to-cradle home accessories, which return to the earth within one year of repose. (more…)
LIVE a Little
Date: October 16, 2008 | Category: Home Furnishings, The Home
Finding eco-friendly textiles has never been an easy task, which is why LIVE Textiles is so refreshing. The company’s 100 percent organic linen and cotton, hemp linen and bamboo fabrics come in a dizzying array of solids and prints.
Whether you are looking for fabric to make draperies, roman shades, pillows and duvets, or if you are reupholstering furniture you already own, LIVE Textiles has you covered.
And, if you can’t find what you are looking for in the company’s stock fabrics, LIVE Textiles offers customers the ability to customize patterns by changing the scale of the print, altering the color or the type of fabric. Plaids, stripes and dots can even be customized to the color scheme of your room and a printed sample of your fabric can be ordered so that you can be sure to get what your little eco heart desires.
All fabrics are grown organically and are not treated with insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, or formaldehydes. Nor are they whitened with chlorine bleach. What beautiful shades of green.
Happy Paint Comes from California
Date: October 9, 2008 | Category: Green Building, Home Furnishings, The Home
By now you have probably figured out that it is far easier to do the right thing from the beginning than it is to undo the wrong thing.
Take paint for example: Did you know the EPA estimates that 64 million gallons of paint are diverted away from landfills and incinerators thanks to responsible disposal and recycling? The only problem is that the EPA also estimates it could cost close to $500 million to keep a handle on all that incoming paint.
Yikes!
A better alternative for safeguarding Mother Earth from toxic oil-based paints is to start out on the right foot from stroke one.
California Paints has recently unveiled its new Elements Zero VOC interior paint line and its Envirotech Zero VOC commercial-grade paint line. Both product lines are GreenWise certified and LEED Compliant, and - as the name suggests - are free of nasty VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which have long been used in paints to help ward off pesky microbes, like mold and mildew, but which play a significant role in contributing to the planet’s greenhouse gases. These two eco-friendly paint lines, boast Microban technology, also known for keeping paint (even in the bathroom) free of mold and other stains.
That’s that kind of news that can brighten your day, not to mention your walls.
Flannel is so 2009
Date: October 9, 2008 | Category: Home Furnishings, The Home
With winter on its way - though you’d never know it in California - now is the time we start cozying up to the idea of flannel sheets to ward off the impending chill in the air.
From the cotton seed to the deliciously velvety finished product, Coyuchi flannel bedding is certified organic. Each fiber is produced in accordance with IFOAM’s (International Foundation for Organic Agriculture Movements) growing and processing standards as well as SKAL’s, a trusted Netherlands-based organic certifier.
We used the insanely comfy sheets on the kid’s bed in the showhouse at WCG where we had to keep an eye on all of the adult visitors tempted to snuggle up on the enveloped mattress.
This is an investment that will have an excellent ROI, both in the money you will save on energy bills (you can turn the thermostat down) and in pure pleasure. Downside? You may be tempted to call in sick so you can spend the day in bed watching movies… maybe I’m projecting.
It’s Got the Beauty and the Brains
Date: October 9, 2008 | Category: Featured, Home Furnishings, The Home
Let’s face it, reupholstering sustainable furniture with sustainable fabrics has been challenging. There have been some dreamy eco-choices for shears but covering couches and chairs and such has been either eco or fabulous, but combining gorgeous with green was quite impossible. Enter O Ecotextiles.
From Chinook, a stunning, almost translucent line of hemp fabrics, to the 100 percent bamboo Northern Lights, which mimics the drape and hand of velvet, everyone seems to be awestruck by how they have raised the bar. O Ecotextiles’ pretty face is just the topping on this supremely virtuous cake.
Down to their very fibers, all of O Ecotextiles’ fabrics are responsible and ethical. The company uses only materials made using clean processing practices and under fair trade conditions. Plus, O Ecotextiles is committed to giving the customer the full story: from how the fibers are grown, harvested, softened and dyed to how the finished product is processed. All pertinent information is thoroughly documented on their website so that consumers can be assured that the fabrics they are selecting meet the very highest enviro-standards.
We recently used the company’s Wisp sheers in the master bedroom of our Harbinger House project at the West Coast Green show house and visitors could not get over the fact that these beautiful drapes were made from the waste by-product of the pineapple industry.
Beauty and brains in a single fabric? Smart!
