Back in my college days, one of the best ways to score free furniture was to scour campus housing right after everyone moved back home for the summer. You could find tons of perfectly fine desks, dressers, beds — anything you might need, and perfect for a student's budget (FREE!). So imagine how much fun it must be to live in Quebec, a province with an unofficial moving day for all renters on July 1. Montréal designer Marjolaine Poulin of M Design takes full advantage of this 'holiday' and rescues free furniture off the streets and transforms them into beautifully restored pieces. More

What would it take to make you go all the way in terms of sustainability? Would you go no-poo? Would you get a composting toilet? Would you give up your car? Would you eat only local foods? Would you buy nothing new for 6 months? More

Last week I asked if you would sleep outdoors to escape the heat. After chatting with a few friends about the topic one of them remarked that they switch sleeping quarters seasonally to take advantage of the natural thermal comfort of their home. Do you change bedrooms with the seasons? More

One of the first things people look to when designing or renovating a home is good, energy efficient windows. But, with the ever changing window technology and tax incentives, it can be hard to sort out the good from the bad, so after the jump we've highlighted the most important things to look for to save money and energy. More

Dual/low flush toilets are now a fairly standard option in the porcelain goddess section of home improvement stores, but if you are a renter or unable to afford a replacement and want to conserve water without "letting it mellow" check out this simple solution. More

This summer has been relentlessly hot and dry for many states, taking a toll on our trees and plants. One way to help newly-planted trees make it through the summer heat is to install slow release watering bags. They're inexpensive, easy to install and conserve more water than traditional methods. Find out more after the jump! More

There are a lot of green building techniques to make a house more energy and resource efficient than a conventional building — one of these, Passive House, has been showing up in the news more recently as a leading green standard and certification of an energy efficient building. But even for us it can be hard to keep track of the various terms and certifications, so we've asked a green architect, Mark Miller, to help explain Passive House building: More

My seven-year-old niece came over this week, looked out the window with a frown, and told me, "Your gardens are looking... really, really bad." Which is entirely true. The lawn is totally dead, since my husband and I elected not to use water keeping it alive, and the vegetable garden is down to just a few sad plants. What do you do? More

So many of us have what seem like amazingly creative or innovative ideas to fill a known gap in the world. But, how do you get the capital to realize the dream? Kickstarter has become a great way to get funding from friends, family and supporters to get your project off the ground! More

The heat wave continues! With no letting up in sight, I've been minimizing my everyday appliance use in my home for two reasons: 1) The additional AC usage has me wanting to conserve elsewhere, and 2) Eliminating appliances that use heat keeps our house cooler in the evening.

Here are alternative suggestions to everyday appliances that use heat. More