Here are new finds we love:

Flax, silk, cotton and hemp duvets and and ed skirts from Zia and Tia combine organic sustainable elements in both monochromatic and rich color options (pick from the pile), adding exotic elements to your room. Custom quality and a bit pricier than most. Think henna tattoo for the linens. $400 to $750.

The Kalamkari bed cover and shams collection from Viva Terra weaves the floral and fern motif in natural indigo on pure white sun-bleached organic cotton, using gentle Ayurvedic dyes extracted from plants and roots in a process dating back 400 years, $45 to $99.

Red Coral Organic Duvet Cover and Sham, Pottery Barn, $25 – $110. Our coral reefs may be disappearing but this gift form the sea still thrives in textile design and takes you to a resort mindset even in rainy, winter weather.

Bungle in the jungle, baby, with the organic and highly exotic Desert Retreat Leopard Duvet, $143 to $223, from Ralph Lauren Spa. This is an animal print we can live with.

Placid shading and stonelike textural originality from VivaTerra, the exquisite Felted Stone Lumbar Pillow by renowned South African textile designer Ronel Jordaan, $198.

Anthropologie is waking up to organic – finally – in its BoHo fashion, introducing new organic cotton sheeting evoking ferns, flowers, berries and vines. Sets are $68 to $268.

It’s tough to re-feather the nest during hard times. That’s why the home design industry is struggling not to be nailed shut while weathering the storm. But you can make subtle changes to your decor that won’t add up to big spending. Here are a few tips we recommend:

1. Reface Rather Than Replace Cabinets

Innovative companies can work with your existing wood and reface those cabinet doors with sustainable woods rather than trashing and starting anew. Read this post for more tips for the kitchen cabinet facelift.

2. Swap Decor with Family and Friends

You don’t need a piano and I don’t need that daybed in the TV nook, so let’s trade and recycle our stuff and get what we really need. It’s a match made in eco heaven when it doesn’t cost you a dime to swap decor, especially with people who have a good eye like you do, and are low on storage space. It’s how they did it in the olden days before widespread consumer waste and climate change. Here’s more.

3. Baby Steps Can Equal Full Grown Changes in a Room

Rearrange the furniture, buy a few new pillow covers, paint a wall. These easy fixes will refresh your pad without sinking lots of cash. As you’ll discover in this handy how-to post, it can all be done for under $30.

4. Repurpose Excess Upholstery Materials

Those fabric rolls are not doing anyone any good just sitting in the closet. Cut them up and redirect them to your interiors for pillow covers, framed art, bedding, even wall coverage like the picture shown above, if you have enough for adequate padding. See these great ideas for repurposing your excess.

5. Clean Before You Replace

Perhaps that rug can come clean with eco spot remover techniques. Why rip it out if it’s still useful? Another option is to cover a damaged section of the carpet by layering with a small, affordable area rug, one made of eco fibers that won’t cost the same as new carpeting or a large are rug. Go shagging for answers here.

6. Seasonal Accents Make Great Distractions

A collection of seasonal organic blooms and greens from your garden, lanterns, greeting cards, photos and tablecloths – they all can act as happy distractions in a room that is begging for a redux. Don’t have a garden? Head to the farmers’ market, the flea shop, the vintage shop in your hood, and spend little to stage your spaces with renewed charm. Head over here for inspiration.

7. Paint can Perk it Up

Even a dingy clawfoot tub can look ultra modern and cool by finding the right low VOC paints and giving the bath a new coat. You will find sprucing up furniture with paint can be a great cheap fix that refreshes your spaces.

8. Be a Thrift Shopper

It’s no wonder second hand shops in cities nationwide do well during hard times. These are outlets that actually offer discounts while more upscale sights like 1st Dibs are peddling vintage treasures that cater to those with lots of spare cash. Do some research and check out the shops in various neighborhoods to find out where nifty castaways are being parked.

9. A Room of Her Own

Sometimes just carving out one room of your own in your dwelling can suffice until you have a bigger budget to fix up the place. Are you craving that Project Runway sewing room? How about a closeted dressing room out of a spare bedroom? Having a blast doing just one space for yourself can be very rewarding, even if it is a multi-use corner for working, painting and reading. Own it with visuals on the walls and a fun rug that speaks to you. Experts say you will accomplish the most in a space you gravitate towards.

10. Spa Makeover

So you can’t afford to tear out the old tile and tired tub to make way for stone and steam. Use zen decor touches and nurturing elements to turn your blah bath into spa bath: Ideas include indulgent, organic towels; sensuous beeswax candles in an array of holders; yummy creams and oils displayed in a vintage tray; and my favorite Nob Hill Day Spa element – a large pitcher of spring water filled with sliced cucumbers or lemons and a pretty glass.

Image: Elle Decor

I love my dog more than frozen yogurt or vacations at the Four Seasons resort in Punta Mita, and that is saying a hell of a lot. But I have a pet peeve about styling decor with images of animal friends, like my precious Pug. I won’t accent a chair with a silkscreen pillow of his highness like the ones available at Etsy or commission pet portraits to join our family dynasty of oils on the walls. To be fair, the same goes for my aging arthritic cat, Audrey Jane. When I want to recall her placid, green glassy eyes and wanton yearning for a dead spider, a lovely photograph will suffice.

Animal ambiance is just not my cup of kibble. The ubiquitous practice of borrowing from both the domestic and wild animal kingdoms for home decor should be buried for good. Herewith, my top pet peeves in decorating:

Oil Memories

Remember when our little equestrian, Pepper, took the fifth prize in stadium jumping on Liberty Bell? Remember when old Harpo escaped the wrath of the kids by resting on the deck? If you don’t, you must have forgotten to order a large oil portrait from that digital photo. It’s just like a real painting, except it’s not. Think paint-by-numbers and a perfect 10 in sappy.

Antler Furniture

Home on the range for the deranged. Cover your bases with something other than dead animal cartilage, the chateaux version of Euro trash. There is eco wood, repurposed metal, and dozens of other surfaces that make a more uplifting statement in the eclectic, well appointed space.

Genuine Skin Rugs

Whether cowhide, zebra or bear, these genuine floor skins give me the willies. Vendors like Hollywood Love Rugs say sales of the rugs are up. But the chic factor takes a back saddle to the tacky factor. Sheepskins that don’t require slaughtering the source are less offensive. Faux is the way to go, a way of saying I dig your stripes and spots without placing coffee tables on the real thing.

Leopard Print Fabrics

Even when it’s high quality, such as this upholstery velvet  from Old World Weavers, safari glam is just pretentious and cheesy, evoking Out of Africa set design in this English Regency ottoman. It went out with leather rhinos from Abercrombie & Fitch.

Trophies on the Walls

Is a Scalamandre room any richer with an African trophy mounted on the toile wallpaper? I get a headache just looking at taxidermy treasures, even though some designers argue they cannot forgo them when styling upscale rustic lodges or taverns.

Main Image: Flock Home

Images: Seattle Times, Guaranteed Portraits, Scalamandre, 1st Dibs

“What is that?” I asked my housemate.

He was doing his online banking, and next to his pad of scribbled finances was a small rectangular box of bright plastic, about the size of a credit card. He opened it up and slid out a few credit cards.

“Who needs a wallet?”

Who indeed. There’s the fact that most wallets and purses use leather, and our feelings are mixed on that issue. But how about functionality? How many modern money-holders are too big to fit in our pockets – or get too big, because the larger capacity they are, the more they accumulate stuff? Opening my wallet (yes, leather), I find stubs, used train tickets, receipts, brightly-colored paperclips and a gift-card with no credit left on it. Junk.

In contrast, the Jimi Wallet – “the wallet for people who hate wallets” – holds your credit cards, a driver’s license, a few reward cards and nothing else (although you can also buy a version with an external money-clip). If you always know where your keys are, hang the Jimi on your key-ring! It’s rainproof and sturdy, solid yet light, and it’s both recycled and recylable. As a further eco-incentive, the manufacturer invests 1% of profits in environmental causes.

A wallet that actually fits in your pocket. Now that’s progress.

Images: Branch

Like bell bottoms, leisure suits and The Hustle, terrariums were totally groovin’ in the 70s but seemingly fell off the face of the earth as the clock struck midnight on January 1st, 1980. But if feathered Farrah Fawcett hair can come back, so can these gorgeous gardens in glass – they’re riding a wave of renewed popularity right back into our homes.

What makes the modern-day incarnation of terrariums so very 2010? Upcycling glass containers like mason jars, jelly jars, wine bottles, glass teapots, spice bottles and even light bulbs. There’s virtually no limit to the kind of container that can be used, as long as it’s mostly enclosed.

Terrariums are little worlds within themselves, providing a high humidity environment for plants that might not otherwise survive very long in your home. It may seem strange that plants can live inside glass without constant exposure to air, but when the conditions are right, they actually need very little fresh air. The amount that gets exchanged when you open the lid to water them is enough.

All you need to get started are these materials, many of which you may already have:

• Glass container
• Activated charcoal (the kind sold at pet shops for aquariums)
• Pea gravel
• Potting soil
• Moisture-loving plants
• Decorative stones, moss, or figurines (optional)

Assembling your terrarium is fairly simple. Horticulture expert David Trinklein of the University of Missouri suggests washing your container in hot, soapy water and drying it thoroughly, then lining the bottom with a thin layer of gravel for drainage. Next is a ½ inch layer of activated charcoal, which will filter the air. Add at least 1-½ inches of moist, high quality growing medium rich in organic material and then you’re ready to insert your plants.

For visual interest, choose plants of various heights and colors that all have roughly the same needs. The easiest way to accomplish this? Head out to your backyard and see what you find – moss is a great choice for beginners. Trim off any damaged parts, place the plants in the soil using long tweezers or a stick with a wire loop attached to the end, and gently tamp down the soil. Try to keep the leaves from touching the glass to prevent rot.

Mist the inside of your terrarium and let it sit for a day before misting again. Once the water has evaporated off the leaves, you can cover the container.

Of course, figuring out just how to fit all of these materials and plants into oddly shaped containers like light bulbs and wine bottles can be tricky – there’s an art to it. Check out these tutorials for all the details:

• Mason Jar Terrarium – Craftzine
• Inverted Jar Terrarium – Design Sponge
• Wine Bottle Terrarium – Dr. Vino
• Lightbulb Terrarium – Instructables

Now, proudly put your terrarium on display in indirect sunlight and get ready to ignore it! The best part about these little glass gardens is that you can have the blackest thumb on the block and still maintain healthy plants with just a spritz of water every now and then. The larger the container opening, the more frequent it will require watering – but closed terrariums may not need water for up to six months.

Hopelessly craft-challenged? You can still get in on the terrarium trend. Handmade goods purveyor Etsy.com has a smorgasbord of terrarium offerings, including the moss terrarium by Greenbriar and light bulb terrariums by Tiny Terra, pictured above.

Photos: Greenbriar, Tiny Terra

“Honey, the dog’s wine crate is empty – can you refill it for him?”

Banish thoughts of pooch-pampering gone mad. Fido isn’t polishing off that bottle of cheap Beaujolais deemed unfit for the dinner table – and that’s a relief because if he was doing so, you’d be poisoning him. What your dog really needs is a bowl of water, and a recycled wine crate is what’s on tap.

Wine crates used to be invisible and unloved – nothing but cheaply-made (read “virgin wood”) boxes to lug bottles of plonk around in. Now we’re wising up. They’re tough, they polish up gorgeously, there’s a huge supply of them (less so since they became recycle-hot, so nowadays you have to look around), and there are a million and one things to do with them. Free-standing wine cart? Light box? You name it.

Not that Fido gives two shakes of his tail for anything right now. He’s happily got his nose jammed in one of Whiner & Diner’s range of recycled wine crate pet feeders. Pick a height, pick a color to match your room (or Fido’s coat), pick a style and your order is ready, completed with recessed, removable stainless steel silver bowls.

Or of course you could try making your own – but just think of the terrible trial of having to drink all that wine. Appalling. Still, Fido’s depending on you and you can’t let him down. Corkscrew at the ready!

Images: trentroche and Whiner and Diner

Here at EcoSalon we love glass – and we’ve spent years celebrating its use in milk bottles and gorgeously translucent tableware, its almost magical ability to be renewed and reshaped by the elements into something truly sublime. We want glass to shove past plastic and regain the well-deserved status it’s enjoyed for the last thousand years. Frankly, we can’t wait.

But nothing has prepared us for this.

A German company called Nanopool has secured the patent for a new type of glass – in spray form. It’s being called liquid glass, and it’s laid down in an unbelievably shallow coating (less than 30 molecules thick) that acts like no other surface we’ve ever heard of. Yes, it’s glass, and therefore water-resistant and easy to wipe down – but it’s also thin enough to be flexible and breathable. (Yes – air-permeable glass). If that weren’t enough, it blocks UV, resists heat and forms a surface bond that’s difficult to break, making it potentially as hard-wearing as its large-scale counterpart.

Where could it be used? Answer: absolutely everywhere. It will revolutionize decor. It could be used on any surface (being glass, it is chemically inert) including clothing, and the manufacturers are claiming that it will virtually eliminate the need for scrubbing because most stains will be prevented from forming in the first place. It will make household surfaces much more resistant to bacteria and grime, and keep medical equipment squeaky-clean. It can even be used to protect wood against termites and vines against fungal diseases.

So far, so world-changing. (Seriously so). But there’s one big question mark. Let’s not forget this is airborne silicon dioxide, and there’s a very ugly medical complaint associated with it – Silicosis, also known by the grotesque name of Potter’s Rot. When crystalline silica dust is in regular contact with our lungs (say, if we worked in a mine), it lodges inside them. Hard-wearing, water-resistant and so on? These marvels now become curses – and silicosis is currently untreatable and therefore irreversible.

Liquid glass is an incredible breakthrough – but let’s hope it’s applied to our products before they reach our hands. If not, the consequences could be quite literally breathtaking.

Image: amagill

First our gardens stretched horizontally (quite popular, that technique) – and then we had the vertical variety. What’s between the two?

If Chicago decor designers Unison have their way, diagonal gardening is the next big thing, and very clever it is, too. Riffing wildly on the millenia-old designs of terraces and ladders, the Kiikku Planter is a tiered walnut frame you prop against one wall and fill with pots of your favourite foliage. It uses your room’s vertical space, but keeps each plant separate from its neighbors, allowing easy tending and encouraging riotous growth.

Next up: How about larger-scale versions for the outside of our houses, maybe with ladders built into them? Perfect – except that popular culture seems keen to throw a spanner into the works. (Unlucky, Unison).

Image: Unison via Re-Nest

In the highly ideal world of tomorrow, we’ll have forgotten all about soda bottles.

Oh, we’ll remember they used to exist and what they were for. We’ll know we made and discarded an incredible amount of them. We’ll have finally weaned ourselves off the bottle, so much so that we won’t recognise the name – even though they’re still very much around.

“Soda bottles”? Oh, what they make lampshades from? The same material as greenhouse walls, watering cans and homemade windmills (pictured)?  Like my zip-up purse, then?

You mean…the arms of coat hangers?

(They used to make hanger arms from polystyrene foam? That’s just nasty).

Like all the best ideas, the Rethink Concepts Hanger from designer Xuan Yu seems obvious in retrospect. It tackles our PET infestation by upcycling two of the little blighters into lightweight, well-padded hanger arms. All you buy is the hook – and when you do so, 10% of the sale price goes to helping people slake their thirst in developing nations. (And try upcycling to the max by hanging recycled polyester garments on them).

And to think, these…plastic tube-like things get thrown away. (Whatever they’re called. I forget).

Images: noquedanblogs

With all the wine and food pairings I’ve been road testing, I’m on my way to becoming a connoisseur. The only problem? I need some stylish storage for my new hobby, of course!

Released just in time to save them from a life in the pantry, the Riddling Wine Rack from sponsor VivaTerra is at the very top of my wish list (ahem, friends and family). This chic and functional piece of décor is named after a process utilized in the renowned wineries of France. Better known to the French as remuage, riddling is a method in which winery workers frequently turn aging bottles of Champagne stored in similar racks called pulpits. What a perfect piece to spark conversation (and show off your knowledge) at your next wine and cheese party!