modest materiality
This recently completed residential care building for The New Camaldoli Hermitage (the coolest monks I have ever met) in Big Sur is a great example of the use of modest eco-materials used in elegant ways. The monks of The New Camalodoli Hermitage have made a life commitment to stay at the monastery and their cells [...]
green it yourself: cork mud mat
Cork can do a lot more than just keep wine safely in its bottle. In fact, there is an unbelievable number of creative and practical uses for this great, eco-friendly material. This is one of our favorite: a mud room mat. Besides being a rapidly renewable resource, cork is super durable and water resistant, so [...]
Green punctuation
A year ago I made a small green living wall for our deck with instructions and a video. We recently just moved the cute little vertical garden to our retaining wall backing the courtyard, acting as a green “punctuation” along the wood wall. It is one of the great things about the vertical gardens. Much [...]
Better Fire
I love fire. I hate to admit it, but I do. When Kevin and I were designing and building our house, it was the one decision we really struggled with. While we knew that having a wood-burning fire place was not good for the environment by emitting ashes, soot and carbon toxins, we didn’t want [...]
youtube shows us how to live green
In anticipation of Earth Day on April 22, YouTube has teamed up with Sun Chips to launch an entire channel devoted to all things green. The new Live Green YouTube channel is a one-stop-shop for videos devoted to helping you live a more eco-friendly life. In addition to videos from Live Green partners like Discovery [...]
green it yourself: recycling center
Only about half of all paper gets recycled here in the US and only a third of plastic bottles. That means a huge amount of usable resources are simply going to waste in our already overflowing landfills. So we have to step up our efforts! One solution is to make recycling easier on yourself with [...]
green it yourself: reclaimed wood cutting board
Reclaimed wood is a fantastic green material. Using reclaimed wood not only gives new life to old wood but also saves a bit of virgin wood from being harvested. Everything from furniture to siding to cabinetry can be made from reclaimed wood, which comes from sources like old buildings, railroad trestles, fallen trees, old docks, [...]
green it yourself: recycled wine rack
What’s greener than organic wine? Storing organic wine in a wine rack made from reused materials. This DIY wine rack is super easy to make, plus the geometric design gives it an awesome modern look. If you already have the cans you need to make it – great! Otherwise you can just buy some the [...]
green it yourself: living wall garden
We’re not all lucky enough to have a big yard in which to grow a garden. Sometimes all you have to work with is a tiny apartment balcony or a teeny walled-in yard. If that sounds familiar, then a living wall garden could be just what you need. A living wall garden mounts vertically on [...]
green it yourself: eco outdoor fire
Who doesn’t love a big roaring fire, especially one you can enjoy outdoors? Unfortunately, all the smoke produced by backyard fire pits is yet another source of air pollution. The majority of our beloved wood-burning devices emit particulates at the very eco-unfriendly rate of 20 to 60 grams per hour of operation. This smoke contributes [...]
