Since childhood I've always harbored a joy for watering the garden or washing the car with a garden hose. Perhaps it's the memories of Slip 'n Slide summers, sipping from hose after a game of tag, or maybe days helping my dad wash the car. 

Green. Sustainable. Ethical. Responsible. Recycled. Reclaimed. Upcycled. Downcycled. There are a lot of words being thrown around these days advertising products made from reused materials. Luckily, there are just about as many innovative products to keep the these category of eco-friendly goods interesting and fashionable. Just check out what people are doing with laptop bags.

Handmade Ash Wood Mouse
• $100.00
• IljaElectronics

All throughout the year I enjoy combing the coastline for pieces of wood polished by the ocean into unusual shapes, soft finishes. The ergonomic warm curves of this handcrafted ash wood mouse reminds me of some of the chunks of wood I've found by the seashore. Constructed from two solid pieces of wood, and then glued together, inside it's all the latest and greatest, with a 2.4 GHz Bluespot wireless mouse (OS X and Windows compatible).

You try and try to keep cords under wraps. But sometimes – maybe thanks to a houseguest, party, outdoor screening setup or just an awful floorplan –you've got no other option but to let the wires lay where they may. You can at least give them a facelift from boring beige to something a little more colorful and decor-enhancing.

Recently a friend of mine was trying to figure out how to improve their wi-fi reception throughout their apartment. Certain corners were just near deadzones with either no reception or painfully slow wi-fi. Upon asking a few questions, the problem seemed to stem from the location of their Apple Airport Extreme, tucked inside a cabinet in the far corner of their house. I recommended positioning it higher and outside the all-wood cabinet. Voila! Improved reception!

Even in sunny SoCal, it’s still been on the colder side at night. But I’ve been eagerly waiting for warmer weather so I can jump onto this year’s trend of florals, especially for summer concert season. Being into fashion, I like to complement my outfits with style-coordinated tech of the season. Here’s a roundup of tech in all floral to welcome spring in bloom...

As a journalist working from home, I have a hard time taking myself seriously when conducting an interview via speakerphone — even if it's a high-quality speakerphone.

Apartment Therapy Tech reader, Magalie Chetrit,  shared this artfully arranged collection of cords, cables and chargers over at our Apartment Therapy Tech Flickr pool. We recommend keeping all these extra peripherals inside a toolbox.

Here's a unique way to put a laser printer to use beyond printing out TPS reports, Peter. Reddit user jmsndrnkr and his brother put their carpentry skills to work, assembling handsome all-wood coffee tables, and then embellished the tabletops with photographs transposed using large format laser printer printouts!

While strolling through the aisles of the SXSW Interactive convention center, something immediately caught my attention...literally stopping me in my tracks. A roaming bot on wheels, standing about 5 feet tall with an LCD monitor affixed to it, turned and followed me. A live person greeted me through the screen. This was Beam, and it may be the new way you work from home.