November 26, 2010

Beautiful, Eco-Friendly Kitchen Countertops

Products

Choosing an eco-friendly countertop in a kitchen renovation isn’t just good for the planet, it’ll make your life easier, too. The engineered stone countertop in this kitchen is called ECO by Cosentino is made by the same Spanish company that produces another well-known quartz surface called Silestone. Here are seven reasons to love it: 1. It’s beautiful 2. It’s composed of 75 percent post-consumer and post-industrial recycled raw materials, including glass, mirror, porcelain and industrial furnace residuals, and 25 percent natural elements, including quartz, other stone scrap and corn-oil-based resin, which makes it incredibly eco-friendly 3. It’s extremely durable 4. It’s non-porous … Read Post

November 23, 2010

How to Clean Stainless Steel Appliances, Plus Easy Delicious Holiday Recipes

Projects & Tips

If you’ll be hosting a Thanksgiving day celebration, then the last thing you’ll want are greasy fingerprints all over your stainless steel appliances, messing up the look of your kitchen, where everyone will surely be hanging out. Kitchen designer, Dave Burcher, design director of New York’s Inhouse Kitchen Bath Home, knows everything there is to know about kitchens. So we asked him his secret for keeping stainless steel appliances clean. Here’s his formula: Mix equal parts water and alcohol in a spray bottle, spray it over the surface of the appliance, then wipe it clean with a microfiber cloth. Follow … Read Post

November 19, 2010

Eco-Friendly Tile

Kitchens

When planning a kitchen renovation, why not make it as eco-friendly as possible? This one includes sustainable materials and energy-efficient fixtures and appliances throughout. The tiles for the floor and the backsplash are from Country Floors’ new collection called Hamptons and they are cut and textured to look like planks of wood in a range of colors, including the charcoal gray hue shown here called Gun Metal. They’re the first tile made that qualifies for points from the U.S.Green Building Council’s LEED certification program (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is generally considered the gold standard for judging eco-friendly design in the … Read Post

November 17, 2010

Cleaning and Protecting a Hardwood Floor

Products

Anyone with a newly installed hardwood would do well to keep it in the best possible shape. And Bona, the Swedish floor care company, has mastered the preservation wood floors. Its three-part cleaning and care system includes one swivel-head mop, two cleaning and polish solutions, and three cleaning and care pads that are cost efficient, eco-friendly and super-easy to use. Here’s how it works: Daily: To reduce dust and allergens that accumulate on your floor, you simply apply the fluffy, white dusting pad to the mop head and use it to dust the floor. Its electrostatic charge attracts dust and … Read Post

November 15, 2010

Thanksgiving with a Twist

Products

Interested in the idea of serving a traditional feast with a modern twist? Picture fresh bread or rolls served up in this clever “Wicker Basket” or a yummy dessert offered up in iconic “Tapio” cocktail glasses, designed by the great Finnish designer Tapio Wirrkala in 1952. Both are available through yoox.com, a ten-year-old virtual boutique established in Italy that offers multi-brand fashion and design objects from a wide range of companies like Muuto, which offers the work of contemporary Finnish designers, or Iittala, a contemporary design brand based in Finland that produces products by design greats like Aalvar Alto, Aino … Read Post

November 9, 2010

Easy Holiday Decorating Idea

Projects & Tips

Looking for an easy way to spiff up your kitchen for the holidays? Then consider brightening the inside of your cabinets with a pretty colorful paper backing like our friends Saverio Mancina and Ray Ehscheid did. Even if you don’t have glass-fronted cabinets like theirs, you could still do this treatment—and open a door to the surprise of color and pattern! Here’s their explanation of how they did it: “To bring a color pop into an otherwise elegant, but simple kitchen, we found some lovely, hand-printed Japanese washi paper online thru Paper Source, and selected several sheets that were slightly … Read Post

November 5, 2010

Dream Kitchen Done

Kitchens

This compact kitchen is packed with eco-friendly features, including flooring tiles made from recycled content, engineered stone counters, cabinets made in locally in America, energy-efficient appliances, and a low-flow faucet.

November 3, 2010

A Fresh Take on the Ancient Practice of Vastu

Projects & Tips

Diwali, an Indian holiday also known as the festival of lights, is celebrated over several days and marks the beginning of the Hindu new year—and this year the big celebration for this holiday is happening this coming Friday. Lakshmi, the goddess of material and spiritual wealth is honored on this holiday. And, especially at this time, various incarnations of the goddess are often acknowledged by people who follow vastu, an ancient Indian system of building design attuned to nature. Mayank Barjatya, an architect with a master’s degree in ecology and environment and a vastu consultant in India has studied the … Read Post

November 1, 2010

Easy, Stylish Entertaining Ideas

Epicure

Product designer Julia Knight, who’s brimming with ideas on how to entertain simply and stylishly, is a firm believer that, when it comes to food, presentation is as important and preparation. Julia recently introduced a new line of serving pieces that make even ordinary fare, like crudités and snacks, look extraordinary. “I’m a traditionalist when it comes to Thanksgiving, and I love entertaining,” she says. “This is one holiday when it really is all about abundance and food! And no matter what I prepare for the holiday, I want to present it on elegant trays, in beautiful bowls, and arrayed on … Read Post

October 29, 2010

Customs Closets Can Change Your Life

Products

Thanks to some good advice from organizing expert Lisa Zaslow, the owner of Gotham Organizing in New York, as well as some help from Kioka Abbott from California Closets, a shallow linen closet in this New York City apartment was converted into a built-in bookshelf with made-to-order shelves. Books may be relics of a bygone era to a lot of people these days, but to others they’re like old friends—always ready to inspire or comfort. At the same time California Closets created two custom wardrobe closets: One includes two hanging rods, one on top of the other, for the husband’s … Read Post