Name: Landis and Edmund
Location: South Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York

Adjacent to historic Greenwood Cemetery on the highest hill in Brooklyn, this light-filled, vividly colored dwelling is close enough to owners Edmund and Landis Carey’s Manhattan careers to be convenient. The plentiful charms of their South Park Slope neighborhood offer pleasantries and local shop owners they know by name.

Moving into the apartment in March 2008 with nothing more than a chest of drawers and their books, clothes and cat, this couple vowed to support their local economy by sourcing furnishings and adornments from local vendors, domestic manufacturers, and independent artists.

A few purchases that top their favorites include their Vermont-crafted bed and nightstands, a custom-designed entertainment center built just four blocks away, and a versatile bench-turned-coffee table they found at a DUMBO furnishings store. Supporting local shops "is a good investment in our community and it financially supports our neighbors, who own these businesses. It benefits our local economy by keeping tax earnings here. There’s great benefit from buying locally and supporting domestic production, and we’ve really enjoyed the process," comments Edmund.

In the end, the majority of what the couple spent to furnish their home was done with local businesses and domestic manufacturers. The single purchase the couple financially splurged on, which also strayed from their locavore vow, was for their dining set — six mid-century Scandinavian-designed Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs. The "chairs' elegance and organic shape caught our attention several years ago, and we are so pleased with them. We know we’ll have them for a very long time, which is better than buying something that lasts only a few years, but is considered 'green," says Edmund. This savvy homeowner brings up a very good point—products that are timelessly designed and durable enough for future generations' use have less of an impact on the environment because "fewer natural resources are used over time," comments the homeowner.

Thanks, Landis!