Eco-Shiek...Green Decorating Vol. 1

What does it mean to decorate green? Well this is a complicated question but first I would say your first step should be the basic three R's - Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Recycle - donate, give it away, or use Craigs List to sell or give away. Keep useful goods out of over-flowing garbage dumps with Excess Access which links donations of business and household items with the wish lists of nearby nonprofits. This is one of many ways to recycle. Refer to Martha Stewart's list of 100 Reasons to Get Rid of It for anything from recycling furniture to cell phones.

Reuse - can you reuse it in a different room, for a different purpose, paint it or say reface? Buy from a salvage yard or products made out of reclaimed wood, metal, plastic. Anything antique is green. Shop consignment stores, which aren't just used furniture. Consignment stores also get model home furniture and samples from furniture shows or showroom floors. Don't throw away small amounts of paint. Look at the colors you have and mix them to come up with a different shade of paint. OR, use small amounts to do color blocking, paint designs, or paint an accent wall or trim. Basically, keep it out of the landfills.

Reduce - "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." -William Morris. If you don't love it, don't buy it. Keep it simple and make wise decisions. Do you have loads of stuff that you don't love or don't need? Are you saying to your self...it was gift, my kids made it or won it, or I inherited it from grandma? I personally have a one year rule...if 'I don't believe it to be beautiful or useful' it's OK to get rid of it after a year and let if go to a new home. Or let's face it...sometimes it's just time to "retire" it.

All in all, don't be wasteful, teach your children to do the same and be a role model to others.

WHAT ELSE???
Shop Locally
Choose products for your home that can be bought local or buy products manufactured within 500 miles or less. If it comes from China, you're using a lot more energy getting it to your house than if you chose something made just down the road.

Shop Smart
Many companies offer green products from carpet and paint to furniture and tchotchkes that are made from recycled products. Be a smart shopper and be aware.

More Resources
Domino Magazine 2008 Green List
Suite 101 - Green Decorating Articles
Reduce Reuse Recycle
Wholehoue Building Suppy & Salavage
The Furniture Man - Santa Cruz
Low Impact Living


Look for future articles on Eco Shiek. There's so much to tackle.

Cute, Clever Storage Options

West Elm does it again with cute and clever storage.

studded lacquer boxes

Wall Tiles, Green Friendly Too

Fun, inexpensive, simple, modern, paintable and a goof-proof product for decorating your walls. These wall flats from Inhabit are designed to expand in any direction, with easy peel-and-stick adhesive tabs and an automatic pattern repeat. You can cover a existing wall, help disguise a not-so-smooth wall or add a modern pattern to any room setting. They are made of 100% bamboo pulp so a thumbs up for being a green product.

If this concept is a little much for you to pull off in your living room try them in a kid's room, laundry room, as a headboard or pair with something more traditional to create an eclectic look.

These tiles can be found on many sites by doing a search on Inhabit wall tiles. I, however, found these on Treehugger.

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Go for the Gold!

West Elem

As mentioned in a previous post, gold is a hot, hot trend. You can't go wrong with gold, so pull out those gold pieces that you haven't been using and add some new sparkle to Fall, Winter and the holidays.

Crate & Barrel, Piazza Nesting Tables, $399. A stunning trio of mirror-topped triangles, poised on elegantly tapered legs and handpainted in shimmering tones of copper, gold and silver. I especially like the combination of metal tones that allow you to easily incorporate into any decor regardless of your primary metal tone.



I know most of us love Target, but I also find Target a great resource for affordable and often designer inspired lamps and shades. In particular I found a ceramic gold lamp which has a nice designer quality in the shape and texture, and even a decent linen lamp shade - only $59.99 and when I checked online shipping was free.

Lamp tips:
1) I'm often shocked at how often homes are missing basic lighting such lamps. Each room needs at least one lamp and 3 depending on the size of the room. They offer the obvious...LIGHT!
2) They balance tables with height and sculptural detail.
3) Update an old lamp with an updated shade for a new look
4) If you find a lamp but hate the shade buy a new one. Lamp shades are inexpensive
5) Think of lamps as a pair of shoes for a room.

How can you go for the gold???

Curtain Panels

Today I'm discussing options for soft window treatments - curtain panels. What you can get out there in the world of retail and how does that compare to semi-custom or custom window treatments?

Prepackaged window treatments can be found for great prices at Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Target, JC Penny's, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Z Gallery and a host of other places. Curtain panels typically come in lengths of 84" or 96" and sometime up to 108-120"; however they tend to be quite narrow and range from 23-50" wide.

Linen's n Things: silk, lined with cotton, 42x96", $89.99/ea. or $179.98/pair

Pottery Barn: silk, lined with cotton, 50x96", $169ea. or $338/pair

For semi-custom treatments you can try options such as Smith & Noble, JC Penny's, Shades of Light, Silk Trading Co., etc.

Smith & Noble 24x96" (very narrow), silk, privacy lining, casual pleat, $498/pair.

Shades of Light: silk, cotton lining with inner fleece lining for insulation and added body, 23x96" (very narrow), $428/pair.
Silk Trading Co: "Out of the box" drapery, 47x96", silk taffeta, lined (not interlined), $782/pair. This fabric is high quality silk taffeta and better then anything you would get in a department store. Fabric may be comparable to Shades of Light above, but the above Shades of Light example is only 23 inches wide.

Custom curtain panels will depend largely on the cost of your fabric which could be any where from $10-150 per yard. Here is a sample break down of pricing I recently quoted a client for standard panels, 54" width fabric by 92" long. Other embellishments such as banding, buttons, or trim is extra labor & material costs.

Two panels (one width of standard 54" fabric) = $310 (or $620 for double width panels)

• Fabric 6 yds @ $25 = $150
• Labor & lining = $160 (or ~ $80 per panel)
• Plus sales tax

Good luck finding window treatments!

Trend Watch 2008-2009

Here's what the experts at Las Vegas Furniture Market had to say about upcoming trends.

There will be no one or two hot colors to watch for in the 2008-2009 color forecast. Look for a more varied approach featuring color families. As we embrace more color in everyday lives, we are becoming more adventurous about color combinations and unusual color effects.

A cool, clean, Asian-influenced aesthetic is inherent in the forecast. Watch for blackened hues with a new alternative to black and whites in indigos, deep plums and purples on more fashionable, high-end products mixed with whites, off whites and browns. Yellow has been a rising color in many variations, including mango and wheat hues.

· Far East. Watch for “eastern cool” and aged neutrals from the landscape — stone gray, moss green, deep indigo — accented with lacquer red and sky blue. A continued interest in metallics, particularly with special finishes such as blackened patina or hammering. Also look for natural forms and materials. Consumers love the traditional black and red lacquer, but new, unexpected colors such as white, aqua, coral and lemon are giving the trend a fresh look.

· Indian Market. An earthy, saturated palette is reflected in the emerging Indian market, with vibrant colors related to fresh fruits and vegetables, showing the growing strength of the natural food movement. Look for ethnic prints, modernized either through bright colors or oversized scales.

· African. Rocks, fossils, horns can be high-end with a metallic coat. Leopard and tiger skin patterns are paired with unnatural colors to make them feel new. Moroccan motifs, such as grillwork, stars and paisley, work well in sheer and lustrous tapestries. Tapestries are coming back in a very different way. We’ll see other architectural elements being used on products. Add in exotic grasses and metal and lacquered wood to round out the look, and you have an African trend to reenergize the global mood for the balance of the decade.

· New England Shores. A sophisticated take on preppy, with moody mid-tones suchas classic camel in the luxury market. Look for beachy, dreamy hues out of an Edward Hopper painting. Sandy taupes punctuated by barn red, salmon pink and grass green. This color palette reflects a rustic, worn feel.

· Blues are taking off in new directions - through 2010 we expect many more blues in an upcycle than we have had in years, all of them exciting. Water-based and saturated midvalues of blue have the potential to be best-sellers in everything from bed and bath to upholstery and even Christmas and holiday. Navy blues are being pushed to the red side along with denim-inspired blues.

· Purple. Purple with red casts, pale and midtone purples, and fuscia-inspired purple. Pinks will stay cool, with the exception of a hot coral.

· Browns & Oranges. Will stay the same course for 2008,

· Greens & Yellows. Get ready for a very different green-cast yellow to pop. We will also see neon-flavored yellows in 2009. This is going to be a parallel trend with ready-to-wear. It also looks great with gray and silver.

· Metallics. Biggest trends are metallics. Gold is the freshest way to tell that metallic story. Gold is showing up in all sorts of thicknesses. Think of those little threads of gold in the fabric and then contrast that with something that is nearly viscous. There is no wrong way to do metallics right now.

· Warm grays. Look for a mixture of warm-temperature grays in 2009.

· Skin-tone neutrals. The transition will be made from shades of pinks and peaches to desert neutrals, such as khakhi browns and gold grays, perhaps accented with white and black.

· Paisley is back. Bohemian or Morrocan themes update this traditional pattern.

· Crowns. This icon can be a little edgy, from the counter-culture point of view.

· Stripes. They’ve been off the trend-radar for several seasons. New combinations of colors and thicknesses energize stripes in a new way.

· Art nouveau. In the coming years, art nouveau will have the potential to be a replacement for glamour looks.

· Fabric & Pattern. intricate weaves, fine and elaborate textures, and lustrous overtones in fabrics. Visual and textural variety are important. Look for patterns in décor and tableware. New interpretations of fine point illustrations are decidedly decorative. Patterns such as Greek keys, camphor leaves, medallions, iron work patterns, scallops and architectural elements are making their way onto tableware and accessories.

· Wood. Remains the leader in materials, which is great for the eco-chic trend. Expect all newness of the green movement to become the new normal. There is also going to be shift to lighter finishes that is really going to keep this category going. Look for gray wood. Dark is not done, but we’re evolving.

· Glass. Glass also fits into the eco-chic trend. Be on the lookout for bumpy textures, or textures that are reminiscent of water or ice. There is a shift away from plain, smooth glass toward glass with facets, scoring, and hand carvings.

Eclectic Living Room

An eclectic mix living room in a Walnut Creek project. The key here was mixing both the old with new. Sometimes you have to work with things you don't love such as the off-white side chair in the corner, but we made it work by accessorizing around it and creating an attractive niche. A future buy will be two clean-lined contemporary side chairs.

Some things we did: custom curtains, new carpeting, new area rug, accessorizing, new gold sofa, balanced the sofa by touches of gold in the vase and the throw pillow & inexpensive art.

We needed to fill some expansive walls, one of which was done with collection of Ikea frames which we filled with pictures from magazines. I found a whole stack of Asian Art News magazines in a thrift store and they had fantastic pictures of great works of art.