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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Getting back to nature – same thing as roughing it? If you find yourself loathe to ditch your oh-so-self-indulgent rituals like “warmth”, “being clean” or “eating actual food” you’ll be delighted to pitch in with a hot new approach to the great outdoors – glamping. Luxury without ostentation, eco-tourism without eco-terrorism – and everything catered for so you can enjoy your surroundings without worrying if you’ll survive the night in them.

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Tags: glamping , lifestyle , luxury , nature , sustainable

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No one growing up during the upbeat, Mattel-directed Sixties figures they’ll be worse off in middle age, forced to scrounge harder for work, buy less, live smaller.

Those Barbie songs my sister and I sang along to in our pink and green room constituted teenage visions of a supercalifragelistic future that we owned, co-starring Dick Van Dyke, four kids, a shiny Lincoln and full-service yacht.

“Here’s a cake, that you and I can make, I’ll share the recipe, if you say yes to me.”

But due to the recession and soaring costs …

Tags: affirmations , aging , birthday , blessings , book clubs , children , conservation , debt , Disney , family , green , jewelry , Life in the Green Lane , luxury , Mary Poppins , menopause , nature , pets , recession , San Francisco

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I love to sleep. When my head hits the pillow at the end of a day, I’m usually snoozing inside of 10 minutes. I’m also a fan of the cat-nap. In fact anything remotely resembling sleep rests well with me”¦including beds.

A literal luxury in many parts of the world, the bed happens to be my favorite piece of furniture. Sleep, read, nap”¦there’s so much to do in bed. The bed that currently captures the key to my always-eco heart is dreamy. And I mean “seriously in my wildest dreams I …

Tags: bedroom , beds , decor , furniture , luxury , sustainable

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Few places in the world are as remote, mysterious and ethereal as Rapa Nui – better known to us as Easter Island.

Rising from the sea 3,600 km west of Chile, this volcanic island is steeped in history. European explorers arrived in 1722 AD to claim first discovery, little realizing they were a thousand years too late. It’s generally agreed that 4th Century Polynesians created the island’s archaeological remains, after enduring a staggering sea journey of over 1,500km eastwards. Today, it’s temperate, breathtakingly gorgeous and as enigmatic as its famous moai (carved stone heads).

One thing it isn’t …

Tags: holiday , luxury , Places , travel

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The early mornings are for padding along silently.

When the sun’s barely risen and the house is as cool and serene as a Buddhist temple, it would feel wrong to clatter through it in hard-heeled shoes – but at that hour, the floor’s too cold for your bed-warmed bare feet.

To wander through the house without a sound, you’ll want some soft, snugly contoured slippers. We’ve been in love with this softest of footwear since at least 1478 (the earliest recorded use of the word in English), but in recent years slippers have tended towards parody – great …

Tags: craft , fashion , hemp , loungewear , luxury , organic , shoes , wool

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You all deserve a night on the town – your favorite restaurant, your favorite wine, your best friends. Alas. It’s time for one of you to take the short straw – the one soberly marked “designated driver”.

Or, you can hire a limo – and you don’t have to sabotage your eco principles to do it! The green chauffeur industry is on a…roll. (Oh dear, that’s two.)

For example, if you’re in the San Francisco area, you could contact Bauer’s Worldwide Intelligent Transportation. Over 85% of their miles are eco-friendly (they use sustainable fuel sources …

Tags: car , city , green , luxury , transportation

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They’re watching you – the advertisers and marketing gurus – keeping track of your every eco-purchase. And since the so-called green “trend” doesn’t seem to be such a trend after all (see What’s the Story), these marketing experts are watching more closely, and with green colored glasses.

Who is this green fashion consumer and what does she want…and why? Listed below are the four types, according to Iconoculture, and each has her own agenda:

If you’re The Living Green consumer you “most likely eat organic foods. [You're] finding …

Tags: fashion , green , hemp , lifestyle , luxury , organic , recycled , shopping

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I already know there’s a reader out there who will find this post extravagant, excessive and possibly even outrageous.
And if that reader is you, rest assured that I can hear you already. You’re saying things like “don’t waste our time. It’s ridiculous to pay that for a dress or a coat, when the sky is falling and the globe is warming”. Gulp. Here I go anyway.

Why am I going on about a line of eco-friendly clothing and the Florence, Alabama-based company that sells it, when I can smell the impending controversy? Well, …

Tags: artisan , cotton , dress , fashion , green , local , luxury , organic , recycled , reuse , sustainable

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