Design^Sprout | Your Guide to Green Design

So Bad it's Good...

    We've all been there - home decor projects we're in love with one moment and hate the next. Thankfully someone out there is showing our awful taste some love. Zabitatz, a new green, home design and social media site is sponsoring a Wacky Tacky Design Contest with the most horrifying entry winning...

ONE YEAR OF MORTGAGE PAYMENTS!

  So go on - be proud of that horse in your kitchen. Tell the tale of how long it took to match your orange shoes to your bathroom fixtures. I promise, we'll only laugh a little.

When You Have Nothing But Time...

     Yeah, it took two weeks. Yeah, it's completely useless. I don't care. I love this totally handmade, plush Nintendo system. Designer blueblythe from Craftster dyed the recycled felt, hand-sewed and embroidered all the details.  She even made interchangeable Duck Hunt and Super Mario screens for the television. Altogether, one of the most enjoyable wastes of time I've ever seen.

A Rainbow of Fruit Flavors

      Love letters. Shopping lists. Spit wads. All things requiring paper. You use it all the time so it may as well come from these colorful journals. New from ecojot and made from 100% recyclable, post consumer materials, these guys are a daily reminder of being green. Go ahead, spit wad to your little heart's content.

'Stache Envy

     How clever is this hand-screened wallpaper by Natalie Wright? I'm going to hang it everywhere and watch my friends congratulate me for being so cool. You should too.

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How To Match Your T-Shirt To Your Tug Boat

    Let's face it, lugging that $2K Mac around is f-ing exhausting.  Thankfully, crafty Icelandic designer Hafsteinn Juliusson answers this elitist conundrum by adding straps to recycled pillows, calling them Napbooks and taking arty photos by the docks. Cute. Next up: bedtime stories by Steve Jobs.

Get Off the Road, Jackass!

     Anyone who's ever visited San Francisco knows that parking sucks. Anyone who's ever lived here will tell you that because it sucks they would rather run, walk or crawl before owning a car, lest they rack up thousands of dollars in parking tickets (I speak from experience on this one) and battle the overwhelming rage that surfaces every time one of those little Meter Maid cars skulks by. Seriously, you really wanna throw your drink on those guys. Well, one day a year we citizens of the crowded streets get a little retribution in the form of Park(ing) Day. Volunteers, in coordination with the Trust For Public Land, take over street parking in our busiest neighborhoods and turn the spaces into lovely public parks.
     You'd be surprised how refreshing it is to see these tiny patches of asphalt put to communal use. Office workers take their lunch outside, kids have their shoes off and everyone enjoys the sunshine. Makes you think that there's got to be a better way...