Looking for a simple, affordable, and eco-friendly way to furnish a home?  Check out Victory Vintage Home for vintage furniture and accessories.  One of the most environmentally friendly things that you can do is to re-use materials that already exist.  Even new, environmentally-friendly materials often have some negative impact on the environment.  For instance, furniture made from bamboo is called eco-friendly because bamboo is a rapidy renewable resource, but you then have to figure in the distance that bamboo usually travels to get to the United States.  You would also want to know how it was harvested and a variety of other environmentally important factors.

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Oceanside Glass Tile offers an absolutely beautiful line of glass tiles.  Not all tiles contain recycled content, but a good amount of them do.  The recycled content is according to the tile color.  For instance, cobalt, has almost 75% post-consumer content.  The great thing is that you can see which colors contain recycled content, and how much, right on their site; there is a simple table that makes it easy to evaluate your color choice. 

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I’ve mentioned Kirei in projects previously, but I’ve never really blogged about it.  Kirei, or きれい, is Japanese for pretty, beautiful, pure, or clean — an apt description for this popular green product.  Constructed of reclaimed agricultural fiber (which is heat-pressed with a non-toxic adhesive), Kirei Board is lightweight and durable.  It’s often used as a finish material in flooring, furniture, cabinets, and other interior design applications.  Use of Kirei Board may help contribute towards credits for LEED certification, depending on a variety of factors …

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After extensive R&D, Quick Crete was able to come up with a house blend of greener concrete called Ecocast.  Ecocast is made of 70% post-consumer and industrial waste.  The blend may help contribute towards LEED credits for your project and contains recycled aggregates and other materials such as pozzolans.  The new formula produces an average compressive strength of 5000 P.S.I. in 28 days and comes in four colors: strata, geo, erosion, and stone.  Ecocast can be used in standard and custom designs, so check it out to see if it’s better than what you’re currently using.  Anyone have any experience using Ecocast?

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Elmwood Reclaimed Timber is a Missouri based company that reclaims old wood to give it a brand new life.  They offer products ranging from stair treads and cabinetry lumber to flooring and beams.  They have an incredible range of wood species offered including oak, elm, pine, walnut, redwood and their own special mixes such as "Vermont Moonlight Medley" (shown above). 

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