Pretty Little Green Things

Archive for September, 2010

Newport, RI has a brand new luxury resort, Forty 1° North, that’s not only beautiful but green!  This waterfront hotel is aiming for LEED Silver with features such as: efficient design of windows & doors to reduce heating & cooling, reduced energy consumption with LED and CFL lightbulbs, FSC certified wood, low flow shower heads and dual flush commodes, and recycled content in the exterior concrete.  While I’m impressed by this long list, the one feature that I’m most excited about are the iPads in every room.  While they’re incredibly fun to play with, the iPads are actually used as a paperless way for the hotel to deliver messages, menus, directories and newspapers.  How forward thinking!

The hotel was designed by DAS Architects of Philadelphia.  I’m loving the neutral color palette and understated yet elegant design. Now if only I could think of a reason to visit Newport soon, so I could see it for myself.

The Harbor View Suite.  The view is incredible!  I wouldn’t mind enjoying my morning coffee on that balcony overlooking the harbor.

A typical guestroom.  The bed is just waiting to be fallen into.  And I’m loving the pendant shades as bedside lamps.

Another view of the guestroom.  What cute chairs!

The Grand Suite – avery handsome color palette.

The Gallery is my favorite space in the hotel.  Its airy, bright, modern with a touch of whimsy.

See?  A very fun space indeed.  I want to hang out in those O loungers.  And when I learn how to play chess, watch out!

The Lounge – a very beautiful color palette.

The Marina.  This is really a gorgeous area overlooking the harbor.  I bet it’s an amazing spot at sunset.

Photos from Forty 1 North

It’s here!  I’ve been waiting with baited breath for Pure Green Living’s second issue and now it’s officially out.  I’ve mentioned the magazine before, but if you’re just tuning in, Pure Green Living is a shelter mag dedicated to “eco living with style.”  Green and chic?  Now that’s my kind of magazine!

You definitely need to check out this month’s issue because guess who is one of the contributors?  You guessed it, yours truly!  I wrote the articles on Reclaimed Wine Accessories, The Ace Hotel in Portland & Bardessono.  Click here to jump to the magazine.  Enjoy it!

I’m moving on from flea markets and antiques to a completely different subject – wallpaper!  (didn’t see that one coming did you?)  Phillip Jeffries recently launched their fall line and I wanted to share a few of these beauties with you.  The company specializes in natural fiber wallpaper such as grasscloth, raffia, paper, silk & wood and because of that, most of their papers are rapidly renewable and biodegradable.  Plus Phillip Jeffries backs most of them with 85-100% post-consumer recycled paper.  Beautiful and green?  I’m sold!

This wallpaper and the one below are Extra-Fine Arrowroot grasscloth.  This room is from Ty Larkins’ Baton Rouge home.

This room is from the Veranda Showcase House and was designed by Elizabeth Dinkel.

Voyage Collection – Arches

Voyage Collection – Ticking Stripe

Photos from Phillip Jeffries, Ty Larkins & Elizabeth Dinkel

If you didn’t see yesterday’s post, first of all you should and second, I’ll give you a quick recap.  This past weekend I went up to Brimfield, MA for the thrice yearly Brimfield Antique Show.  It’s an incredibly huge antique show and flea market with vendors from around the country.  Offerings included gorgeous antique furniture, porcelain, fiestaware, vintage clothing, hardware and so so much more.  Yesterday I showed you some of my favorite furniture and home accessories.  Today I’m going to show you a slightly different side of the market – interesting, unique and fun pieces to add a little character to your house.  Enjoy!

I loved all the colors from these antique spools.  Almost better as an assemblage than individually.

These are antique typesetters letters.  Another collection I love seeing together rather than individually.

There were tons of antique crates all around the show, but I particularly liked these.

These antique glass bottles were so pretty but I had no idea how expensive they can be.  There were a few from the early 1800′s that were $300!

These wings were huge and would look amazing hung on a really high wall.  Such a cool statement piece.

I love antique hardware.  It adds so much more character to a house than modern hardware just can’t.  I’ll definitely be back when we’re ready to buy door knobs for our apartment.

This truly is a bicycle built for two.  I can’t imagine anything more fun to take for a spin on the weekends.

And of course something for the kids too.  How cute is this?

As I said before, I love crates.  For a more industrial metal alternative, I found these.

The inner architect in me would have LOVED this set when I was a kid.  Although I did enjoy the Barbie townhouse that I did have.

I love using letters for decoration and these antique bronze ones were especially nice.  If only I could have found an E, T, R & A to go with the P!

Stay tuned for my upcoming guest post on music mag Fader.  I’ll be showing the really unique and crazy things we found at the show.

Photos by Lee Boykoff

This past weekend I traveled up to Brimfield, MA to check out the thrice yearly Brimfield Antique Show.  It’s a massive show that lasts an entire week with vendors from all over the country (and a few outside the country too).  I was amazed at just the sheer amount and diversity of offerings.  You could buy anything from furniture, dishes and old crates to dolls, antique hardware and chandeliers and so much more I wouldn’t even be able to fit it all in one post.  Some of it was complete junk, some valuable antiques and some items just waiting to be discovered.

Our main objective was to get some things for our apartment, but also managed to take a ton of photos so you could get an idea of what the show was like.  Today I’m bringing to you Part I of the Brimfield Antique Show Roundup of my favorite pieces and booths.  Today I focused more on cool furniture and home accessories.  Tomorrow I’ll show you some of the random and amazing things we found.  (and for the really random & weird, I’ll be guest blogging for music magazine Fader in the coming weeks so stay tuned for that one).

I loved these dining chairs.  The ultrasuede fabric would have to go, but they would look amazing reupholstered in a fun print.

I love crates – I think they both have so much character and are so useful.  These boxes were actually used at one point in the jewelry industry but I think they would be great for an office.

If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know it’s no secret how much I love Adirondack chairs.  So you can imagine how excited I was to find a two seater!

I loved this funky coat rack.  Too bad we already own one, otherwise this would have come home with us (probably much to my husband’s chagrin).

These pendant lights were refashioned from old screens.  Individually they’re interesting, but as a group they’re super cool.

No antique show would be complete without vintage fabrics.  They were a bit feminine for my taste but there were a few cool patterns (one of which you just might see show up at my apartment soon…)

There were tons of antique clocks around, but I thought these three were especially nice.

There were tons of cool lamps around too.  These were just a few of what I found.

These looked to me like vintage Emeco chairs.  The seat upholstery was screaming to be changed but otherwise were in great shape.

I really liked these green chairs, maybe not in that fabric, but the shape is interesting.  Now if they were reupholstered in something unexpected, they would be super cool.

Last but certainly not least.  These nightstands are fantastic, especially those drawer pulls.  They would look amazing on the set of Mad Men.

Photos by Lee Boykoff

I’ve talked before about the virtues of vintage, flea markets, antiques, used, or whatever you want to call it.  I think buying used rather than new is one of the most eco-friendly things you can do.  My husband and I decided to put our money where our mouth is and head to one of the largest flea markets in the US to show you the offerings (and hopefully pick some stuff up for us along the way!).  The Brimfield Antique & Flea Market Show takes place three times a year and has been going on for more than fifty years.  I’ll be blogging about our experience all next week so make sure to check back.  If you’re curious about what’s out there, send me your shopping list and I’ll bring back pictures!

It has been an unusually country decor style inspired week, so I thought I’d round it out with this Fire Island beach cottage as featured in Country Living Magazine.  This weekend getaway house belongs to Alex Bates, creative director of West Elm.  West Elm is a company with a great environmental platform and tons of eco-friendly picks throughout their standard line.  Any company that makes green design part of their everyday practice gets a huge check mark in my book!  You can tell this eco culture has pervaded all the way to the way their employees live as evidenced by this beach house (or maybe even vice versa!).  Flea market finds, vintage furniture and natural materials are just a few of the green touches found throughout.  Enjoy!

Not only is this room absolutely bright, airy and sunlit, but all of the textures and accessories really add another wonderful layer.

The farm table in the kitchen actually belonged to the house’s previous owners.  I like it paired with the more modern West Elm chairs.

Again, lots of white everywhere.  And the vases are from Heath Ceramics, an awesome company with a great environmental commitment.

Here’s a view of the front porch.  I love the collection of hats and bags ready to go in a moments notice.  Maybe just in case you’re going to run out to farmer’s market for some last minute tomatoes?

I think this space might be my favorite of the whole house.  The built in banquette is totally lounge-worthy, but it’s the indoor-outdoor function that really makes it an amazing room that you could spend hours hanging out in.

Here’s the master bedroom.  More white and blue here too.  The linens are from West Elm (of course).

And the guest bedroom.  I love those casual blue twin headboards.  They’re Alex’s childhood beds, recovered.  In a world where new is often viewed as better, I’m glad there are people like her that save special pieces like these.

More white!  I love the use of vintage photos in the bathroom.  Gives you something to look at while you brush your teeth!

I think this is one of my favorite things about this house (in addition to the indoor/outdoor terrace of course).  The chess game is so fun and playful.  Besides, who doesn’t need another excuse to spend some time outdoors.  Now all I need to do is learn to play chess…

Photos from Country Living

While I’ve never planned to write up recipes or take pictures of my cooking in this blog, I do think there’s a profound connection between living a greener life and eating locally grown organic food. As part of our unplugging weekend in Vermont, my husband and I made it a goal to eat as much locally grown or locally made food or beverages as we could.  This is easier said than done, and (spoiler alert!) we did cheat in a few times.  All in all I think we did a fairly good job.  Thankfully tomatoes were out in force and Vermonters have an appreciation for locally made food, making our objective a lot easier.   Here are a few pictures of our successes.  Makes me hungry all over again.

So first things first, we had to stop off at the Mount Tom Farmers’ Market to gather all our yummy produce.  If you’re ever in the area, it’s just outside of Woodstock, VT.

Here’s just a sampling of the amazing produce the farmers brought that day.

We ate a lot of those brandywine tomatoes.  And they were amazing!

Whoever said the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach must have met my husband.  If you ever want to get on his good side, just cook him something with beets in it.

A few of the fruits of our labors.  Even the pasta noodles came from the farmers market.

This was one of the most amazing types of bread I’ve ever had.  If anyone has a good recipe for molasses oat bread, pass it along!

My husband showing off his Cabot yogurt.  Cabot’s from Vermont baby!

You’ll have to bear with me on this one.  I’m an AWFUL omelette flipper but this time I managed to flip both of ours without mangling either one.  And yes, I was jumping around the kitchen with excitement at this point.  My poor husband – I made him take a million pictures as proof, but it was all worth it because now someone else has seen it.

And of course, what breakfast could be complete without eggs, toast and an amazing view.

Photos from Lee Boykoff

If you read yesterday’s post, you’ll know that my husband and I spent the extended Labor Day holiday weekend in Vermont (yes again – I guess we’re hooked!). This time we went for a slightly different experience and rented a cabin on a lake. Our goal was to get away from it all – people, traffic, dining out, obligations and stress. I wasn’t really planning to blog about our weekend, but the cabin we stayed in was such a cute country cottage that I thought you would enjoy taking a peek. While I can’t say that the house was technically green, the use of so many flea market pieces is definitely high on my list of eco-friendly do’s. Plus any place that gets you to slow down, eat food fresh from the farmers market and enjoy the outdoors gets a huge eco-check in my book.

I’m not usually a country decor kind of gal, but when done tastefully and in the right locale, the end result can be quite wonderful as they did here.  Enjoy!

Here’s the backside of the house, to give you an overall idea of where we stayed.

And here was our view.  Sigh…to be back there, sitting on those Adirondack chairs again….

Here’s an overall view of the living room.  I probably would never have chosen a red corduroy sofa for myself, but it totally worked in this house.

I loved all of the fishing references.  Too bad I don’t fish!

Another view.  That tall bench was a great piece.

Of course we had to take advantage of the wood burning stove.  Full credit for the fire goes to my husband.

The farmhouse table and chandelier in the dining room were great country style pieces.

This is the master bedroom.  The skinny four poster bed and the tall skinny lamps were a nice touch.

This was one of the bedrooms.  I love the shape of the bed.

This bedroom really felt like you were camping.  Plus the “Don’t Feed The Bears” sign in the back was a nice touch too.

Super cute bunk beds

No post should really ever be complete without a picture of toys.  I thought these guys were so cute all propped up on the dresser, just waiting to be played with.

Photos from Lee and Petra Boykoff

Needing to get out of hot and crowded New York City for the Labor Day holiday weekend, my husband and I rented a cabin in a very isolated and very small town in Vermont.  Our aim was total relaxation in a beautiful and charming locale.  Instead, what we found was a completely different and slower way of life.

With no cell phone service, no TV and no Internet at our cabin we were forced to completely unplug from our normal activities.  I had grand visions of spending my day reading by the lake, but it didn’t dawn on me till we were actually there that no service meant no texting, no emails, and certainly no way to update the blog.  For my husband who is even more plugged in than I am, I was afraid he would quickly get bored without his beloved Blackberry or TV shows.

But instead of frantically driving hours to the nearest coffee shop with an Internet connection, what actually ended up happening is that we slowed down.  We found the local farmers market (amazing and inexpensive produce!), cooked every single meal at the cabin (no dining out), explored the area and spent lots of time talking or reading.  I really made me realize how much of our precious time we spend watching TV, updating our Facebook status or surfing the web.  And because we’ve wasted all that time, we rush between the really important things and create more stress for ourselves.

Now I’m not saying that you should forsake all TV or cancel your Twitter account (trust me, I’m a huge fan!), but I do think we should take the time every so often to unplug, spend some time with the people we love and reconnect to what’s truly important in our lives.