Design^Sprout | Your Guide to Green Design

Once, twice, three times a blanket.

   Oh those Europeans! Seems like they can make everything stylish doesn't it? But it takes a particular talent to transform old packing blankets into these uber-stylish throws. Dutch designers Jane and Jantein of Ladak are just those talents. Made from 100% recycled materials, these blankets are beautiful enough to hang on your wall and leave me wondering, "Why didn't I think of that?". 

Recycled FedEx Wine Rack

   Not the most chic looking design on the planet but clever none-the-less. And if you're like me, your wine never stays around long enough to acquire a permanent address anyway.(source: craftzine)

The Ejection Bar Stool - You'll Wish You Had One.

       Need to make a quick getaway from the creepy barfly lurking in the seat next to you? Enter Motoart's F-4 Ejection Bar Stool. Re-purposing original parts from a retired F-4 Phantom Jet Fighter, the designers allow us to live out our Top Gun fantasies while poking fun at drunken bar antics . Ahhh, if only it worked.

Container Living - You've Seen it Before but Not Like This.

     Move over mobile homes, container living is here to stay.

      Once confined to scrap metal yards or landfills, shipping containers are quickly becoming the darlings of the modern architectural world.  Easily transportable, widely available and practically indestructible, these metal boxes just may be an answer to the worldwide housing crisis.

    Oh, and they're cheeeaaaap.  A used container can be bought for around $2,000.  Not bad, considering the average price of a house in California still hovers at around $400k. With such affordable pricing, architects and designers have had ample room to experiment, resulting in much chicer and more forward-thinking designs than the dissected mobile homes once traveling the US highways.

    Architect Adam Kalkin has received much notoriety for the high design of his Quick Houses. Based around the construction of five shipping containers and coming in at a cost of just $100 per square foot, multiple floor plans are available for customization boasting many of today's modern appetencies; stainless steel kitchens, wood floors, and walk-in closets.

     Even big business is jumping on the bandwagon. Hospitality giant Travel Lodge has recently finished construction on a 100 room hotel made by cleverly fitting 88 recycled shipping containers together. The Uxbridge, England building cost much less and was finished more quickly than new construction. 

   Although in truth there are a finite number of containers available for recycling, that number is in the millions, making container construction a viable alternative in worldwide building. Looks like we may all be sleeping in a box sooner than we thought.

 

The Quicker Picker Upper

     Sometimes what you aren't is more important than what you are or so the saying goes at Uncommon Goods.  These clever little dish towels remind us that there is a more eco-responsible choice than the disposable paper most of us grew up with.  They're 100% organic and at $20 for a set of 2, you'll want them to stick around awhile.

50 Ways to Recycle Your Yoga Mat

You hate to throw stuff out. You prefer to recycle it, give it away, or find another use for it. And then you had to replace your yoga mat.  What is an eco-lover to do? 

Gaiam, one of the leading distributors of yoga mats and related products, lists fifty ideas for what to do with your yoga mat when it's time to replace it. Fifty ways to recycle your mat later, you'll be healthier, less stressed and breathe easier. Plus, by replacing your mat regularly, you won't injure yourself using a worn mat. Some of the clever reuses include:

1. Use cookie cutters to cut the mat into holiday ornaments
2. Cut down for placemats for pet dishes. Keeps the area neat while also prevents the dishes from sliding around
3. Clean the mat well and use it to line kitchen shelves
4. Use the mat to smother weeds in your garden.
5. Instead of buying a rug pad, use an old yoga mat (or two) to keep your rug in place. Rug pads also make vacuuming your rug easier.
6. Instead of packing peanuts, wrap pieces of a yoga mat around your valuables.
7. Strips of old yoga mat make colourful stair treads.
8. Use a piece as a welcome mat outside a kitty litter box. The mat's stickiness grabs the litter off paws preventing it from spreading throughout the rest of the house and protects kitty's paws as well
9. Cut into rounds and use as coasters
10. Cut a piece to use as a sunshade in your parked car when it gets really hot

For another 40 ideas, click here. Namaste. (via re-nest.)