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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It may have been published a couple of years ago, but Americans are now catching up to the message of Steve and Annette Economides and are eagerly plunking down their pennies for the hot home economics crash course.

The authors of America’s Cheapest Family have done remarkably well feeding their family of seven on just $350 per month, paying off their first house in nine years and purchasing a second, larger home, buying cars with cash, taking nice vacations, and yes, even socking away …

Tags: American , cars , cash , college , credit , debt , families , fresh , frugal , green , groceries , house , payments , processed foods , recession , reuse , saving , second-hand , vegan

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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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Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but inside my steam shower, it’s so delightful. I swath myself in a cotton towel, sit on the stone bench and breathe in the warm, moist clouds puffed out by a Mr. Steam(R) vent near my feet. It’s the next best thing to being at a spa – and has relieved sinus tension and muscle aches since I installed it several years ago when I was more lean on my commitment to going green.

Installing steam was in fact the top priority in …

Tags: carbon impact , energy , house , spa , steam shower

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