Sustainable and Recycled Furniture / Go Greener... Day 5

Day Five.... 

too many days behind in my blog-a-thon. Too much travel. See map above! Crazy weekend. Glad to be settling back in.

Today's blog is inspired by a visit with my closest friend. Her and her hubby both decided to try out a few business ideas. She started her own cookie delivery service and is making delicious cookies in unique flavors, one being candied bacon which we teased will taste similar to an McDonalds McGriddle sandwich:) I wish I had gotten to try them but I can vouch for the chocolate chip. They were yummy! And her logo is super cute too!!

Sugar Mama's Cookies

And what a great idea to be able to have cookies delivered. Anything to help when scurrying around trying to get last minute party prep together or who doesn't love getting a special delivery at work. Great idea Mel and congrats mastering baking, something I have not yet done, and probably never will. Lol

Now, her hubby's biz is right up my alley. He's building furniture out of reclaimed wood. This is something that means a lot to me. Of course that's two things I am super passionate about: 

Furniture and Green Living via Reclaimed Goods

The Woodsman Recycled Furniture

Now I have seen his furniture in person, sat at these tables for long nights of drinking beers and acting crazy and I haven't seen anyone fall off a stool yet. Lol. This is durable stuff! Well-made. And he's open to custom designs. 

A Texas flag can be seen as his staple. 

Hopefully in the future I will have him working on some custom designs for me. Maybe I'll design a whole line of reclaimed furniture built by The Woodsman :)

I'm down with furniture made from wooden pallets. See awesome ideas here. 

Get more info and DIY instructions here

Matching Chairs, anyone?

See article and DIY instructions here

I love this bed idea. If I wasn't totally attached to my sofa I would have this in my living room. OOh maybe I will make Kiddo a new bed.

See article and more pics here

OMG! Ran across this furniture line. Its a wholesaler but you can search out a retailer near you.  But I love, Love, LOVE this chair. 

Cisco Brothers

They have all these great pieces and meet all these certifications.

Here is a company I really like. 

RAD! that's the name LOL and it is pretty Rad!

I work with the owner's wife at TreeHouse. He has built some amazing things for TreeHouse that get complements daily. 

check out his site here

Here is a Facebook DIY-er that is selling items for a fantastic deal. 

Austin Recycled Furniture

Love this headboard style.

Ugh! I'm tired.. if you want more...

Here are some cool sites to check out for DIY projects and things sustainable.

http://www.readymade.com/

http://inhabitat.com/

Gotta Love... Bloglovin

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Small Living / Go Green-er! Day 3

I was thinking, I am really into supporting artist, local artist when possible. Of course, I work for two local businesses and TreeHouse is all about green living so here are a few products you can find there to solve some of the "Earth's problems" (for dramatic effect mostly, lol). But really they have a lot of solutions to live everyday a little greener.

Day 1 Cut Out Paper Towels

You can buy recycled paper towels there.

or even better skip paper towels and try these...

Full Circle dish clothes and more to choose.

Day 2 No More Plastic Bags

You can find these...

Blue Avocado (an Austin company) assorted shopping bags and more.

___________________________________________________

Ok now!

Day 3, a day late

I have been living in a tiny apartment for little over a year now and it's been a huge adjustment for me. After lots of research on small home living, I am learning to love it and to realize I don't need a lot of space or stuff. There are efficient ways to organize, eliminate, and make due. It's about living within your means. Being able to afford doing the things you love.

So in appreciation of my new small home living way of life I have gotten very excited by small house plans and ideas. 

Tiny Texas House

These are recycled homes.  Super cool! I love old things. Old Fashioned. Antique. Vintage. Whatever you call it, I dig it! I want my own tiny old house.

go here to read more... http://tinytexashouses.com/

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company

my dream house.... ahhhh! It's soooo perfect.

See more amazing little house plans here...

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

Read about small home living here...

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/blog

She totally did it right! maybe not so much white for me and Kiddo but Totally Girl-ie will do for us. I have always loved Victorian dollhouses, why not live in one. 

Read about this home here...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/garden/24cottage.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all

Photo Credits: Trevor Tondro for The New York Times

Check out the Small Cool Contest on Apartment Therapy

http://community.apartmenttherapy.com/contests/smallcool/2012

Here is a blog dedicated to living small... looks pretty good

http://lovinglivingsmall.com/blog/

Re-usable Bags / Go Green-er! Day 2

OMG! My computer got a virus today, or had one building up which finally took over today. I was freaking out. I am addicted to my computer. I definitely use it every day, all day. And on top of that I committed myself to this blog-a-thon. But, thank god, one of my best-est friends ever is a bigger computer nerd than I. He fixed my computer and cooked an amazing dinner, chicken fried steak. Yum! I am a very lucky girl. So computer fixed, back to work.

Day 2

I'm going to go obvious on this one because, heck, I'm tired and had a long stressful day. 

Shopping bags. You know they are bad, so stop using them. I used the excuse that I reused them for dog poop bags but they are not compost-able so it's not really a solution. But here are somethings you can do with all those bags your hoarding. 

You can make a purse! Click Here

or Click Here

You can make a dog leash, or rope. Click Here

Here's a neat idea. Not sure why you would want to do this but you can cover your already  plastic hangers. Someone tell  me why! But it looks cool. Click Here

If you don't feel like being crafty then you can support an artist and buy these, Click Here

I love these. Shopping bags made from old t-shirts. Love it! Click Here 

Love their whole shop!!! Click Here

Read More

Plastic in the environment: One argument for banning plastic bags

Austin bans plastic, paper bags

Well day 2 down and I'm feeling good! I had a fabulous Sunday at the creek with friends, the kiddo and my lovely doggie. If we don't all try and be greener, there won't be wonderful days like these. I couldn't stop telling the girls what a beautiful city we live in and how lucky they are to grow up here.

My dog can walk on water! Doesn' t she look magical. And the intertube is just a fashion statement, she's the best swimmer I know :)

Sunday night dinner/ Game of Thrones party, think that's going to be a regular thing now! So glad to be part of a group again.

Fabulous dinner again tonight, as I mentioned. Wonder who will feed me tomorrow. LOL

No More Paper Towels / Go Greener! Day 1

So as I said I'm going to try and post 30 ways to be greener or live better in 30 days. Starting with:
Paper Towels... Get rid of them. I did. It was sooo hard at first and I can admit sometimes still by habit I use them in public restrooms and well anywhere they are available and I have to keep reminding myself and coming up with solutions to avoid using them. And I have a secret to share... but first.

You are not awesome!
Did you know paper towels account for 3000 tons of waste in landfills daily?

And something like 51,000 trees a day are cut down to replace the amount of paper towels used.

Use your last one and just don't buy them again. You don't need them. Why not just use a wash cloth. I keep a basket of them, just rags. I can grab a new one any time. And you can buy cute ones from an Etsy shop and support and artist. Like these:
click here to buy

click here to buy

click here to buy, these might be my favs

click here to buy

and OMG check these out, love it

and my big secret is...
save any paper napkins from the fast food order,s you don't want to admit you sneaking. Use them for anything you really need paper for, like greasing you cake pan. I still haven't found a solution for that. And in most cases you can compost them. Oooh composting, were going to get into that one of these 30 days. I'm still learning :)

This company has a good thing going.
People Towels

Check out this website for more info:
https://www.peopletowels.com/aboutpt/BountifulEcoBenefits

I hope you will try to do your part.
And Arbor Day is this month. Plant a tree. Give back for all those nasty paper towels you've used :p