Design^Sprout | Your Guide to Green Design

D^S Contest! Win this ALL NATURAL mineral make-up set!

    "If you can't eat it you shouldn't be putting it on your skin." Or so the saying goes at Jenulence, a small family run cosmetics company dedicated to completely natural, toxin-free make-up. It is water and sweat-resistant, hypoallergenic, doesn’t clog the pores, delivers complete sun protection and is 100% cruelty free. Blah, blah, blah - yeah, it makes you look pretty too!

WIN THIS MAKE-UP KIT!!!

  The kind people at Jenulence are giving away a starter kit - 2 shades of foundations, a finishing powder and an all-natural brush, to one of you "earth-friendly" gals. Just drop me a comment and I'll consider you entered. Yup, any 'ol comment will do. I'll announce the winner on Friday. GOOD LUCK!!

The Art of Making Do.

     While browsing over the photo sets on Flickr I ran across Hungarian architect and jewelry designer Panyi Zsuzsi.  Her lovely style and commitment to re-use and green living insprired me so that I tracked her down to find out more...

"If you asked me what style do you have, I would say it is the panyizsuzsi style. This is a mixture of mid-century modern, contemporary and retro styles. I furnish and decorate our house environmentally friendly and low-budget. I buy mainly used furniture on-line or at flea markets. I know specialty local workshops, who turn them into pure beauty. It is really important for me if I take furniture to such shops, that they exactly follow my instruction. By now they got used to it and they call every time when there is a question of any detail."

"My favourite part, the living room, I would say is almost done. The living room hosts the dining area. The furniture here are some IKEA pieces and some other(armchairs, coffe table) refurnished items from the local ebay. I think these furniture that someone does not needs are not bad, moreover they are much better quality than the ones made today, they just need some work to add a new look. The couch is a Hungarian brand. That means less transportation so less smog!"

"I would not say I am a totally green person, but I am on a journey of turning into green! That means I pay a lot of attention to buying quality food and cooking from scratch every day, preserve my own jams, and grow some veggies in our garden, such like tomato. We have fabric napkins. I use environmentally friendly detergent or washing soda, a 100% bio-degradable cleaner and vinegar (no poisonous stuff in our house!) I cloth diaper my baby, use a sink-erector (that is very-very unusual here).

My next steps are replacing kitchen sponges, to the crocheted alternatives, disposable facial pads to washable ones. My other plan is to buy a bike and use that whenever I can instead of my car!"

"The mannequin is a child size and I use them for craft fairs and shows, to demonstrate my jewelry. The vest the mannequin is wearing is an old Transylvanian one, made of leather and nicely decorated.  The vase is my latest finding from the schools garage sale."

Her beautiful recycled glass jewelry can be found in her Etsy Store. All Design^Sprout Readers can claim a 20% discount if you mention this article! Thanks Zsuzsi! 

Sometimes we all need to ward off evil spirits

   I have always always loved tales that involved cottages found off the beaten path - either in a deep dark forest or on the end of a long dirt path at the edge of a forgotten meadow.  The kind of cottages that contain gnarled old women who offer advice of the most unusual sort and are surrounded by wild and useful old gardens and oftentimes a tree (just as gnarled as the dweller) clanking with bottles and charms meant to ward off evil spirits.

 

   I thought if I had my own bottle tree, it would be tucked into some corner of my lawn, and while no one would probably come seeking advice from my house, at least I would have such an interesting (and protective!) tree.  One month ago I bought a house with absolutely no trees on the entire lot.  On a tree-lined street no less!

  While I am stymied at the moment in my desire for a witch tree of my very own, I still had to share my adoration of their beautiful oddness.  I must say I prefer those that involve actual trees over the ones made out of iron rods, but they are all charming in their way.  Plus, it gives you a reason to re-use pretty bottles instead of tossing them all in your recycle bin.  (And some of us go through many, many wine bottles).

So if you have a witch tree/ bottle tree of your very own, take a moment to share some pictures with those not-so-fortunate... pretty please.

Photo Credits: Ken Rockwell, lifeonflower, and Taggart

 

You'll be stumped!

     Could fellow CCA grad Courtney Skott be more talented?  I first saw her in an exhibit at my design school and I've been a loyal fan ever since. Her designs are so technically sound yet appeal to the girly side in me. A bunch of her tree stump stools would be fantastic around a low coffee table and I would put that patterned chair anywhere!

D^S Contest Winner!

Thanks again to all who entered - after a random drawing the winner is.......

Rashmi!

She wrote:

Hope this giveaway is still open for I absolutely love this bag! Trying to juggle sunglasses, diaper bag, purse, keys, recyclable bag and a squirming toddler generally leaves me with precious little arm space. This one would come in real *handy* ;)

E-mail me with your address and I 'll pop your new bag in the mail! Thanks again!

Bubble baths and pillow fights for everyone!

   Oh, if only we could all be Audrey Hepburn for a day! At $3500 a pop, maybe this recycled bathtub sofa isn't the cheapest way to live out my Breakfast at Tiffany's fantasy but a girl can dream, right? I love the all-white feel and the obvious re-purposing of a junkyard object. Once I win the lottery you can bet this will be jazzing up my living room covered in funky, colorful and totally organic pillows from 2modern.
     But for now, I'll take away the green lesson that it's a great idea to purchase things in a color you can live with for awhile and then spice it up with accessories as your mood changes. I think Audrey would be proud!