Happy birthday earth

Well, our little planet is having its day today. In that spirit, I want to bring up a very well-known triumvirate of words:
Reduce, reuse and recycle.

There's a reason that recycle is number three. It's the one you should do as a last resort. If you reduce the amount of things you buy, you save a lot of needless energy from being expended in manufacturing. When you re-use, you increase the useful life of what you already have. Recycling, if you're not reducing your consumption or reusing what you own, can actually be counter-productive, if you factor in the costs of processing. Here in Los Angeles, recycling is akin to picking up the trash twice a week.

My favorite way to go green? Dumpster diving. Everyone's a winner that way. I've retrieved a cane chair from the trash of a local cafe, and it now sits in my mom's garden, and it looks good. Pictures are forthcoming.
To see just how cool the results can be, check out http://finedivingchicago.com/

So, readers: do you have any good tales of found furnishings given a second chance?

Cow rugs

Something I've never fully understood the appeal of is animal rugs that still bear a resemblance to the animal whence they came. Bear skin rugs are the exception, as they have a certain rugged charm to them, especially when embellished with a tale about how said bear threatened your life, so you had no choice but to kill it with your own hands.
Cows lack that critical element of danger. Mostly, cows gaze vacantly into space. Plus, when tipped sideways, they are unable to right themselves. This is a serious design flaw.
Putting a cowhide rug in a living room is a bit unusual, but putting one in a kitchen seems just cruel. You're telling the poor rug that one of its relatives is in the broiler not more than 15 feet away, slowly becoming what's for dinner.
To which the cow's spirit says 'moo', then continues to stare off into space.

Urano Bed

I wish I had enough bedroom space to have one of these in my room. I think it makes a stunning design statement placed in the middle of the room. This is the Urano Bed, designed by Leonardo Dainelli.
Available from Falegnameria (I wish I could get a link to the specific product, but the website is flash)
Image taken from Cribcandy

Green and white kitchen, take two

In an earlier post, I mentioned a green and white kitchen which I think is such a bold and innovative use of color. I found another kitchen that uses similar colors in an entirely different way.

Two different styles, but both kitchens still have a bright and clean feeling. And in this kitchen, I am completely sold on the countertop color.
Kitchen from Design Sponge

A thought on open shelves

If you're going to go for open shelves in your kitchen, you have to keep your cabinets organized, because you can't hide the clutter. Ask yourself 'how organized am I?' before making the choice to add them to your kitchen.
Image from Apartment Therapy

Also, I'm a little bit in love with these checkered storage tins from Lavender and Sage. They're just that perfect cheery retro accessory for storing kitchen staples.

Dinnerware for people like me

In my younger years, I made family history by spilling three different drinks at the same time. Thus, I'm a fan of the word 'unbreakable'.
Unbreakable doesn't have to mean tupperware or something equally unstylish. Apartment Therapy featured many options for unbreakable AND delightful dishes in a recent post, but I know which ones are my favorite.






















The medico line from Sprout Home. Combine colors with a lot of 'wow' and versatile geometric patterns and you get this. It's the definition of 'cheap and cheerful'.

And here we have the definition of 'cheaper and unbelievably peppy'; these plates from Crate and Barrel
Sadly, melamine is not microwave safe.

green gets the respect it deserves

Thank you, dear readers, for sticking around while I've been busy with work this past week and a bit.
What awesome treats do I have to share with you today? How about this kitchen.
















I admit, I'm not a risk-taker. I err on the side of caution far too often, which means I have a certain appreciation for bold designs that work. The green color really pops, but the rest of the kitchen is restrained enough that the color doesn't become overwhelming. The mix of high-gloss with matte only accents the bold choice more.

I'm still unsure about the green countertop, however. Not my favorite.

Today's link comes fromDesire to Inspire The fact that this kitchen is the same color as my blog is pure coincidence.