“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 …

Tags: cats and dogs , decor , DIY crafts , petcare , pets , recycling , wine , wine crates , wood

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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 …

Tags: ceramic , decor , design , diagonal gardens , gardening , houseplants , vertical gardens , wood

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My best friend got the holiday bonus gift she dreamed of from her dentist employer this year: A new food processor. It replaces the worn out one that came with her husband when she got married 20 years ago.

Susan is a great cook, but so much of what she grinds in her processor is better done without electricity.

Enter the mortar and pestle, said to date back 5,000 years when hungry people figured out grain could be separated from chaff to procure digestible food. It has since been …

Tags: ancient tools , bamboo , cooking , decor , design , eco , energy , food , gadgets , green , guacamole , home , kitchen , marble , Mexican food , Mortar and pestles , stonewear , sustainable , tools , wood

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In light of the recent survey finding many of us secure a better night’s sleep in separate cocoons, it might pay to return to the days of twins. You know, lie back and watch a show, roll over for fun, head home to your crib for a snooze so you can get up for work. Just like dating!

Think of the fun of sneaking into the resting chamber of your better half for a “hello stranger” kinda session, while saving all kinds of bucks on the bedding ’cause twin …

Tags: bedding , budget , contemporary design , couples , custom , dating , decor , desing , eco , green , marriage , mattreses , rattan , retro , romance , sex , sleep , sleep disorders , Twin beds , upholstery , wood

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“It’s time to change everything we know about paper,” is the mission statement of Sodra Pulp Labs.

And that’s what the Swedish architecture firms that partner with the labs are doing as they wrap their minds around 50 years of research on pulp-based materials.

“Could it be durable? Waterproof? Light and insulating? Hard as Kevlar? We don’t know the answers, but you’re welcome to join us as we find them out,” says the lab.

Well, one thing is for sure: it can be kid-proof, such as the Parapu kids’s chair by the architecture firm Claesson …

Tags: chairs , green , kids furniture , Milan , nursery , paper , petroleum , plastics , pulp , stackable chairs , Sweden , wood

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We try to showcase a range of furniture genres here at EcoSalon, offering an eco-shopping option as well as eye candy galore for all. And I’m usually pretty adept at pegging a style when I see one.

The best way I know to describe the raw, natural and hand-crafted aesthetic of Moe Design Studio, is raw, natural and hand-crafted. Or, I could call it country with a modern twist; rural with a city edge.

Most important, it’s reclaimed.

Andrew Moe opened Moe Design Studio in New York in 2003, after …

Tags: decor , furniture , natural , reclaimed , reforestation , salvaged wood , wood

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It sounds like an oxymoron – Urban Hardwoods, as in city and trees, but it’s actually right on target and accurately describes the Seattle-based company that salvages fallen trees and turns the wood into fabulous furniture.

Not a newbie to the field of green, Urban Hardwoods has been rescuing wood in the Northwest close to their headquarters for more than 10 years. Their wood repertoire includes Douglas Fir, California Redwood, Pacific Madrone and Alaska Yellow Cedar.

And if wood could tell us …

Tags: decor , environmentally friendly , furniture , salvaged wood , wood

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If you’re thinking about shifting to biomass-fuelled appliances, beware – they might not be as clean as you think.

It’s true that biomass is a renewable, and therefore technically green, fuel. It’s also part of the carbon cycle, as burning wood and any other plant matter releases carbon dioxide into the air.

The main ecological advantage between such fuels and fossil fuels is that with biomass, the carbon is continually cycling – it hasn’t been locked away underground, and it can theoretically be tracked, offset and generally kept going round without adding …

Tags: biofuel , biomass , renewable , sustainable , technology , wood

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To alleviate stress, some people indulge in aromatherapy, others depend on their monthly massage, while you hit up the tennis courts and leave it to the wrath of your racket. Along with a peaceful state of mind, this effective method of release has left you a basket full of old tennis balls that you can’t bring yourself to throw away. Here are some clever ways to take them out of retirement and save them from life in a landfill.

Slice a tennis ball down …

Tags: cleaning , creative reuse , DIY , guide , hack , howto , laundry , scuffs , slugs , tennis ball , wood

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