Who says the pantry has to be a catch-all black hole for prolonging that shelf life? That’s what high school lockers are for!

It’s time to take stock in our most commonly used household storage nook, and make it as inviting as a vintage general store (with a modern green twist, of course).

Open pantries offer easy access for the organic gardener and cook, but also should look tidy since they are exposed to your visitors. Mine is en route to the powder room. Yep, that’s country life.

I find it’s easy to arrange …

Tags: apartments , baskets , bins , boxes , bulk food , decor , eco , food , green , home , homes , jars , pantry , preservation , small living spaces , space planning , storage , sustainability , tea

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Metropolitan Home is being put to bed for good.

I suffered reflux trying to digest the death of Gourmet, one of four Condé Nast publications closed recently. I didn’t sample the food bible much but felt nostalgic about it as an American institution. I only picked up Modern Bride a few times when plotting my wedding. (I had the main prop but needed flowers and a dress.)

Now, achy-breaky heartburn ensues from Hachette’s news about …

Tags: accessories , ad recession , apartments , broadcasting , Conde Nast , Crackberry , decor , design , Donna Warner , Dorothy Kalins , dwell , eco , fabrics , furniture , Gourmet , home , home magazines , journalism students , Kenny Scharf , Magazines , Metropolitan Home , Modern Bride , Northwestern University Medill School , paper , print is dead , remodel , small spaces , sustain

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Sure, you’re forced to take down the ghosts and fuzzy spiders (news flash: your neighbors are pissed if you haven’t done so), but some of the seasonal elements we put up to get in the mood  should endure until the end of the year, if not beyond.

Here is my list of favorite affordable decorative displays for the festive and frugal in all of us.

1. Lanterns

Rice paper lanterns bobbing outside (with solar lights) or in your rooms make a huge, happy statement. I love the cylinder shapes with Asian motifs like the …

Tags: beeswax , candles , cards , Christmas , coasters , Conserve , decor , decorating , dishes , fabric , fall , flowers , foliate , glassware , green , Halloween , home , house , lanterns , organic , peach glass , photo display , photo walls , photos , pinecones , pumpkins , recycle , reuse , rice paper , runners , seashells , Seasons , sew , stringing cards , table design , Thanksgiving , vintage , winter

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Porcelained out? Carve your niche with an alternative sink for soaking up greener materials like certified teak, bamboo, recycled metal and glass and friendly painted ceramics. You can even experiment with poured concrete with 50% recycled fly ash, as seen in the striking orange basin by Jeremy Levine Design.

Here is a handful of other options we rounded up:

From William Garvey’s Fusion Line of handmade sinks from certified teak grown in the mixed deciduous forests of South Asia….

Tags: aluminum , art , bamboo , basins , bathrooms , ceramic , clay , craft , decor , decorating , design , eco , green , home , house , interiors , luxury , metal , poured concrete , powder rooms , recycled glass , rooms , sinks , sustainable , teak

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Organic, textural and highly ornamental, cabbage is an ideal crop to plant in your garden during those fall and winter months when falling leaves can be the only color abundant in the garden.

Planting rows of the cabbage was a great solution for my own raised veggie bed (below), which is very challenging to maintain this time of year. I long for pumpkins but we never seem to get them going in time.

A garden designer friend suggested the purple, low-water use option of the Cruciferea family (from the same family as cauliflower, broccoli, …

Tags: Cabbage , decor , design , fall crops , gardening , growing , healthy , home , house , houseplants , organic , outdoor , plants , raised beds , seeds , slaws , soup , succulent , water , winter crops

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“When you watch the commercials you can tell they’re made of cheap stuff,” says my astute oldest daughter about the fleece blanket sensation known as the Snuggie™. “The people wearing them are just so cheesy, like the man in the leopard one who says he’s so glad he found a fun designer print that suits his personality.”

Snuggie consumers proudly wear the Made-in-China label on their sleeves, not considering the synthetic polyester fabric they’re breathing in all the while they’re adjusting their thermostats in the thin, robe-like throws. I find they …

Tags: bedding , blankets , breast cancer , cotton , decor , design , fleece , flu , home , organic , polyester , robes , toxins

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There is something about berries that screams summer to me. Where I live in England it’s the height of strawberry season right now and the berries are cheap and plentiful. They are also succulent and sweet with the summer sun -  unlike the watery tart versions you get from supermarkets out of season. For the next few months we will have a berry bonanza with raspberries, gooseberries, blueberries, red currants, white currants, black currants, and finally in the autumn, blackberries.

For my fifth birthday I begged my mother to make a …

Tags: berries , DIY , fruit , home , how to , jam , Recipe

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I’m not ashamed to say that I recently searched out a dishwashing liquid as if it were to become my personal signature scent.

It began in September, when I attended the Natural Products Expo East in Boston and was handed a fistful of Biokleen Lemon Tyme dishwashing samples. The smell, in my opinion, is intoxicating, and the product worked well. So when my samples ran out, I jumped online to find out where I could buy more.

Now I’m not going to tell you that using Biokleen turns everyday life …

Tags: clean , cleaners , cleaning , eco , green , home

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When I was a child, I religiously watched every episode ever made of “I Dream of Jeannie”. Every time she lounged on piles of plush pillows inside her bottle, I remember vowing to, one day, furnish a room that was sofa-free. Although I’ve long since outgrown this plan, I still like the idea of non-traditional seating arrangements.

The innovative giant bean bags available at Waste are the adult equivalent of this childhood dream. Made from recycled car upholstery, these …

Tags: decor , green , home , reclaimed , recycled

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