Sustainable Design, Sustainable Living, Sustainable Everything
Whenever we tell people about our land one of the first questions they ask is, “How many acres do you have?” Now, 40 acres may not be a lot if you come from a farming family and own a quarter section (160 acres) or
It’s that time of year again! And by “that time” I mean time to take a look back at the five most visited Of Houses and Trees posts of 2018. This year was an exciting ride as I saw my
Each year, everybody’s favourite idea-gathering platform releases their projected upcoming trends. Covering ten categories, including travel, health, wellness, home decor and more – 100 Pinterest Trends for 2019 is a wealth of information for consumers, business owners, marketers and bloggers like me.
Yup. We’re talking about underwear. Why? Well, because Of Houses and Trees is about sustainable everything. And your undies – they’re an everything. Now, I’m a huge proponent for buying whatever you can secondhand. I even wrote a whole post about the
I write a lot on Of Houses and Trees about eco-friendly interior design and decor, but those aspects are really only part of the sustainability package. Of course, what comes first is the building itself. I touched on this topic in my post 5 of Canada’s Most Sustainable Buildings, but one of the coolest things about sustainable design (other than it’s planet-saving powers) is that it’s constantly evolving. New technologies plus new ideas meet and mingle and suddenly an ingenious green product or practice is born. And with another year coming to an end, it’s always inspiring to take a look at current and upcoming innovative sustainable architecture trends. From showing off solar to filling walls with straw – here are 5 of the most innovative trends in sustainable design.
I may cause those of you who love Halloween to scratch your wig-covered heads – because you’re already wearing your costume, obviously – when I tell you that I’m not a fan. Then you ask through your plastic glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth, “What’s not to love?”
Don’t you like costumes? I’m a dancer – of course I like costumes! What about candy? I’ve been known to down an entire bag of sour Skittles in one sitting. A big bag too. And scary stories? I’m not a fan of the super gory stuff, but a tastefully told ghost story? Yeah, you got my attention.
So, why don’t I like Halloween? Well… because it’s wasteful!
Guys, I am obsessed with secondhand shopping. I’ve always loved a good thrift find and grew up on garage sales and antiquing, but only recently have I switched to buying only clothing and household items that are pre-loved. I actually have not bought an item of clothing for myself or my kids since the spring and the last time I bought anything home-related was last year for my nature-inspired holiday decor.
Sure, I still buy new things sometimes. Ballet shoes, craft supplies, gifts. But man do I have really good luck thrifting.
Back-to-school may be a stressful time, but with my eldest daughter entering Kindergarten – I’m actually pretty excited. I know she’s going to love it what with all the learning and the crafting and the playing. And – although having her away from home for two (sometimes three!) full days a week will be hard – I think it will be good for us as a family. Plus, sending her to school means I get to shop for school supplies – something I’ve always had a bit of a fascination with. And not just any school supplies, but eco-friendly ones!
I won’t lie, finding earth-friendly versions of everything on the list provided by her school was not easy. It isn’t that eco-friendly school supplies don’t exist, or even that they’re too expensive. But they weren’t easy to find in our local stores or on websites that would ship to us for a reasonable price. But don’t let that discourage you! The more of us that demand these types of products by refusing to buy anything else, the more readily available they’ll be.
Now more than ever it’s easy to buy eco-friendly home decor to fill your interior spaces. From buying secondhand, to searching out sustainably sourced products, to shopping on websites entirely dedicated to earth friendly finds. There’s no reason not to buy green!
Some people DIY because they love the process. Some people DIY to save money. Some people DIY because it’s eco-friendly. And some people, like me, DIY because of a three reasons! Here are ten simple eco-friendly DIY projects I’ve tackled over the last five years. I hope they inspire you to do all kinds of cool things yourself. To create, to save money and to save the planet.
