Sustainability

Cambria has recently mentioned her affinity for bowls in the home and I have to wholeheartedly agree. They’re perfect for use all around your space, not just for a bowl of cereal! Here are a few suggestions on how to get more from your bowls:Now admittedly the bowls in the photo above aren’t the greenest of nature but they still convey the point we’re looking to illustrate below. See where else you can put them to use (besides your tool chest) from the tips below!1.

The small pillows that came with my sofa upon purchase didn’t really accent anything as their name might suggest. I wanted something a little brighter and jazzier. Instead of keeping those pillows shoved in the back corner of the linen closet, try putting them to use with one of these 5 ideas:1. Remove The Covers: By removing the pillow covers, you can switch them out to be any color, pattern or style you want. It seems obvious, but is an easy one to forget.2.

If you can’t go to the beach, let the RV—I mean, er beach—come to you.

There's a built-in rainwater collection system, too!

Cheap, eco-friendly, and durable—what more could you want?

We’ve featured some great articles recently on the value of downsizing our belongings. Yet even with the best intentions to pare down, it can be hard to part with certain things. If you have items you’re waffling over donating (the microwave you barely use, the business suit you wore once) here’s a list of 25 organizations that will happily take your stuff and put it to great use.

Q: I am in desperate search to find a way to shred fabric. I have tons of scrap fabric I can’t do anything with along with lots of kids clothes that are beyond repair. I would love to turn this into a fiberfill of sort. It’s been challenging to me to find a way to do this, so I would love if you all could help me find a solution.Sent by KelliEditor: Suggestions for Kelli?Have a good question? Email us! Read other Good Questions here!

Instructions for cast iron skillet cleaning often include a lot of don’ts: don’t use soap, don’t use steel wool, don’t put it in the dishwasher. It’s almost enough to scare one off from cast iron completely! However, with a few simple techniques, you’ll be able to keep your skillet clean, rust-free, and well-seasoned. (And, worst-case scenario, you can always re-season it.

There’s no need for a dryer with these creative and space-saving drying racks! Hang them inside or outside, over the tub or over the backyard, lower them from the ceiling or mount them on the wall. There are options sure to fit any space. So without any further ado, the creative clothes racks:Not all of these racks are made from sustainable materials, but we hope they provide some inspiration for either building your own or as a simply using your dryer less.TOP ROW1.

In order to curb her energy use in the winter time, Ashley English of Small Measure (who shared with us her green resolution this past December) has been making use of her indoor wooden drying rack, as she writes today in her weekly Design*Sponge column.

Do you have plants in the bathroom? There are actually a number of houseplants that thrive in this room’s typically tropical conditions of low light, warmth, and humidity—not to mention that they help freshen the air and your spirit! See our list, along with a few that thrive in bright and sunny bathrooms.

We love white distilled vinegar. We don’t love the way it smells. But we love it. It’s pretty cheap, it’s non-toxic, environmentally-friendly, and you can use it to do (literally) like a thousand things in your home.We just stumbled on this ridiculous website VinegarTips.com—a website where you can find 1,001 things to do in your home with vinegar.They’ve got cleaning tips (vinegar makes a cheap tile and grout cleaner) and laundry tips (use it as a stain remover).

Rust is a quiet, subtle things that sneaks up on your pans, pots, servingware and even some furniture. The weekend’s a perfect time to rid your metal of this pesky unsightly element. And guess what? There are five eco-friendly ways to remove rust, most of which came from you, our readers! Rust comes in many different forms, but the most common in households is rust from iron oxides, where metal is exposed to water or air moisture and becomes oxygenated.

Arbor Day is April 24th! Arbor Day is a fabulous day to go out and plant a tree, but if you don’t happen to have any land, it’s the perfect day to stay in and plant a tree. These thriving specimens from our House Tours are sure to inspire your green thumb…or make you green with envy, if you’re me.

A new year, a great opportunity to make a commitment to a healthy home by investing in more natural cleaning products. There are plenty of options to buy, and lots of ways to DIY. If you don’t know where to start, find it here. And if you’ve been using green cleaners for awhile, now’s a good time to examine your methods and see if there’s room for improvement!

‘Tis the season for pretty wreaths. Last year I did this roundup of pretty twig wreaths, and this year I went searching for some easy and natural wreath tutorials. If you’re looking for inspiration for making your own wreath, here are 5 easy projects that do not require a lot of time or supplies. 1.

Think that because you don’t own, you have no control over your home’s energy use? Not true! Here’s our ultimate guide; full of links to quick, easy and yes, even inexpensive, ways to reduce your carbon footprint and lower your bills (your landlord will thank you!). Most of these changes are likely to pay for themselves in energy savings over the duration of your rental.

If you’re a renter, then you’re probably thinking about taking a mental checkout from our October theme (Green Building and Renovating). I can’t renovate. I can’t even paint! you think. Don’t worry, my friend. We have solutions for you, too! We call it the non-renovation renovation— temporary yet effective ways to dramatically change your home without sacrificing your security deposit.

We get excited about stylish, functional, and innovative creative reuse ideas, from the myriad ways you can reuse a jar, to uses for chipped tea cups, antique bread bins, vintage card catalogs, bubble wrap, wallpaper scraps, even old gym floorboards. Here’s a big roundup of some of our favorites… The Many Amazing Ways to Reuse a Jar: • 10 Simple Uses for Spaghetti Jars • Crafty Uses for Baby Food Jars • Don’t Throw Out That Jar!

We just don’t feel comfortable spraying mysterious combinations of chemicals just to keep our shower clean. And, if you think about it, buying something that’s mostly water and which is intended to go directly down the drain just doesn’t make sense. Instead, we’ve adopted a slightly more labor-intensive technology that seems to work just as well: squeegee! Plus, it’s a lot more fun to say.

This is next-level sustainable living.

These budget friendly pendants were created from things you just might have laying around your home: terra cotta pots, cardboard, wire baskets, hanging planters, pretty paper. You can find the tutorials below. I’m adding a couple of them to my fall to–do list.TOP ROW:1. Globe Pendant Light, DIY from Apartment Therapy2. Terra Cotta Pot Pendant Lamps, DIY from Urban Gardens3. Cardboard Pendant Light, DIY from Poppytalk4. Paper Starburst Pendant Lamp, DIY from 3 Rs Blog5.

I dream of a day when I can fill my bathroom with plants. Mine is currently windowless and lacks any natural sunlight, so for now admiring other people’s sunny bathrooms will have to do. Here are some I am currently coveting, and here is a list of the best plants for the bathroom if you want to buy some of your own.TOP ROW:1. Apartment Therapy2. Brick House3. Frisson via houzz4. Design Sponge5. Elsie Marley via Apartment TherapyBOTTOM ROW:6. Fat Cat7. Nibs8. Apartment Therapy9.

One woman took to her knitting needles to reflect the daily fluctuating temperatures in January.

Every well-run home is teeming with tricks and shortcuts to keep it humming along. We’re sharing our best quick tips — for cleaning, organizing and repairing stuff at home — to save you time and money. Click through for today’s helpful hint, and links to tons more… Use OLIVE OIL! Before buff and polish, take a few minutes and clean your sinks, fixtures or furniture with whatever dish soap you have laying around.

And they're less than $15 for a pack of 20!

Five candidates will be chosen for the preservation trip of a lifetime.

It’s the showerhead of the future, and it’s going to save water and money.

160 trees, to be exact.

This eco-friendly resource is gold—I mean, er, green.