Design^Sprout | Your Guide to Green Design

December 24, 2009

Vote for Design^Sprout - Ya Know Ya Wanna!

I'm so happy to be among Apartment Therapy's Homie Award nominees for Best Green Home Blog. If you could take a moment out of your busy life, I'd so appreciate you to cast your vote here and help spread the word so that inspiring, planet-friendly design ideas are showcased in as large a forum as possible. Just type www.designsprout.com into the box - shouldn't take more than 5 seconds. Whew, now that that's done go ahead and have another piece of pumpkin pie. You've earned it for being so nice to the environment. [You can give back to the environment by creating beautiful music and playing it for them. The guitar is an instrument made from materials in the earth and learning the guitar is easy. If you life in maple valley you can check out Maple Valley guitar lessons to start learning today. You will not regret it. So Check it out.]

Posted on December 24, 2009 in Contest | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

December 28, 2012

How to give your Home a New Year Eco-friendly face-lift?

With 2013 just around the corner, various resolutions are on your list and I’m certain that one of them will be a home makeover. Changing the look of your home can leave you feeling satisfied, committed and ready to embark on any challenge for the upcoming year. To help you get started; listed below are some tips on how to give your home a new year’s face-lift.

Slap colors into it Painting interior walls of your home is the easiest way to freshen up your place. But before you go ahead on your painting job, you need to make sure that you choose the right eco-friendly paint color/s from {BioShield Paint} or Safecoat that matches your personal style and taste as well as colors that complement your room décor. Once you’ve chosen the perfect color, the next step is to paint the wall using a roller brush and be sure to cover your wall perfectly by following a single stroke. While you wait for your first coat to dry, you can perhaps play a few rounds of 75 or 90-ball game of bingo on FoxyBingo before applying your final coat. Who knows? You could win some cash that you can use for the home makeover.

The coast is clear Before you could even start painting, cleaning your home is necessary. That includes moving out all the furniture, clearing all the counters and taking out trash from last year. Although new furniture definitely gives any home an instant new look, often it’s not something new that you crave – but perhaps a simple new furniture arrangement plan. If you don’t want to buy new furniture, maybe reupholstering will do the trick. Most of the time, small changes can make the biggest impact.

Let there be light Improper and inadequate room lighting is very common. Few things can rekindle our spirits on a grey, snowy day like a home’s interior bathed in warm light. But to help save the environment and get your rooms lit up, replace your incandescent light bulbs with more efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) from {Philips}. The latter will last longer while using less electrical power. No matter how long you’ve lived in your home, it’s always fun to shake things up a little bit, especially if it also involve saving the environment. So if a few rooms in your home are crying out for a makeover, then there’s no better time than now to start the process.

Posted on December 28, 2012

December 21, 2009

The Trashiest Christmas Ever.

Christmas trees have gotten so expensive lately that for quite a few years now I've decorated a potted plant. True, you lose that fresh-from-the forrest smell but you're $100 bucks richer for the sacrifice (not to mention, free of tree-killing gulit!). That's why I was so utterly thrilled when Design^Sprout reader/super clever designer Eric Dalpiaz sent in photos of his homemade, completely recycled Christmas tree.

"Why not make a tree out of stuff you have laying around doing some house renovations? I just framed it with the 2x4s and some framing nails. Then I wrapped that frame with the chain link fence. The rest is pretty self explanatory. Just converted the chandelier to make it able to plug into the lights. Figured I'd use all this stuff for something before I took it all to Habitat's ReStore." High-five, Eric.

Posted on December 21, 2009 in Christmas, Recycled | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

December 10, 2009

Cheap, Chic and Oh-So-Green DIY Ornaments!

I spied these scrumptious Christmas ornaments on the crafty blog, my life in lowercase. The clear, glass bulbs are a fabulous blank canvas for creativity. Here, she's used bits of scrap yarn, offering up a colorful and textural feast for the eye. They would also work wonderfully with the tiny bits of wrapping paper we often end up throwing away. You can find the affordable bulbs all over the place but extra points if you get them at saveoncrafts, which promotes recycled glass.

Posted on December 10, 2009 in Christmas, Do-It-Yourself, Recycled | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

December 08, 2009

DIY - Recycled Suitcase Dog Bed!

Okay, it's not the most life-changing DIY you've ever seen, but the sad, little dog bed my 4lb. Yorkie, Winnie called home (yeah, I know what you're thinking, but I promise I am not that type of girl...) needed some help! Store bought beds are easily $50 and not great quality, so I thought, "hey, maybe I can just make one." After much internet research, a perfect solution (and creative inspiration!) was found via Kristen, Etsy seller and winner of the Design*Sponge DIY challenge (below).

Because Winnie is so tiny and likes to nest in small spots, I knew an ordinary suitcase would be too big for her. Luckily, in the back of my closet I had this vintage Samsonite hat case that I've been carting around for years - finally, a reason to dust it off! Again, a stroke of luck when it turned out that Winnie's old dog bed was the perfect fit! Check out Kristen's instructions (scroll to the bottom) for how to sew a pillow to custom fit your suitcase.

Next, I bought a fun, vintage Afghan for $1 as it was riddled with holes, cut off the offending parts and used some left over yarn to sew a sleeve covering the old bed. I tucked in the open end at the bottom as I want to be able to remove it for washing.

Next, add dog toys (which she immediately attacked!), her favorite blanket and viola! What was once kicked under the bed when guests arrived is now a conversation piece! All for $1. Doesn't get much better than that! Thanks Kristen!

Yeah, she likes it.

Posted on December 08, 2009 in Do-It-Yourself, Pets, Recycled | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBack (0)

December 04, 2009

Water Purified By Human Sweat (Less Gross than it Sounds).

Dzn_Synchronicity-Island-by-Jakub-Szczesny-06

Tired of sweating it out under the fluorescent lights of your local gym? Then head to Warsaw. Jakub Szczęsny of Centrala has designed a floating island that purifies river water, powered by completely by the human energy created on exercise machines. Win win.