Pretty Little Green Things

Archive for the ‘Furniture’ Category

What better way to ring in the New Year than with brand new furniture?  Okay, maybe not brand new, but at least with a nice new coat of paint.  One of my friends gifted me this lovely dresser two years ago when she moved out of town.  My plan was to paint it, rather than refinish the wood, since the veneer was chipped in places and needed some love in others.  But of course indecision and general procrastination led me to finally tackle this two year old project now.  With a few days off work and a husband to help me carry the thing out of our bedroom (clearly I’ll be milking the pregnancy thing for all I can get), I was set.  I had always wanted to paint it a charcoal grey color, but thinking that might be a bit too dark, I settled on a slightly lighter shade.  The final grey is a wee bit bluer than I had anticipated, but I think it’s a beautiful color, and especially lovely with the wallpaper remnant that I added on top for extra durability.

Here’s the before picture of the dresser.  I neglected to take a true before picture with the drawers still in, but you get the idea.

Okay, here are the drawers post wood filler.

Ta da!  I love the grey color against the vintage brass hardware.  Such a pretty combo.

I don’t know if you can tell from this closeup, but the wallpaper is actually a kaleidoscope of mermaids.  It comes from bespoke wallcovering company, Carolyn Ray, who makes beautiful handprinted papers with metallic inks.  (They can also print on vinyl for you commercially or practically minded folks.)  I love my “new” dresser and especially love the contrast between the grey paint color and my husband’s darker wood dresser next to it.

Since getting our new bed from Dwell Studio, I’ve had a special place in my heart for gorgeous beds.  When I saw this one from Finnish company, Woodnotes, I just had to share.  The low profile, simple shape and neutral color make this feel like a very restful piece for a very restful area of your home.  What I find most interesting about this bed is its upholstery.  The fabric is made from paper yarn, which has been spun from durable heavyweight paper that can be recycled or burned at the end of its life cycle.  The natural color comes from the lack of chlorine and dyes to color the paper.  If you’re looking to get your hands on this bed, it’s sold through Suite New York (or I suppose if you’re in Finland, you can just buy direct).

Photos from Woodnotes

I’m a big fan of designers using their talent to promote good causes, especially when said talent produces something so cool.  Last year Suite New York teamed up with 20 designers who each put together their vision of what a pink Hans Wegner Wishbone chair should be, in order to auction off those chairs for charity.  This year, they’ve again teamed up with an amazing cast of designers who each put their own unique spin on the Arne Jacobsen Swan chair.  This Pink Swan project, so entitled because the Swan chairs are all pink, benefits the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  They’ll be auctioned off on Charity Buzz in October, just in time for Breast Cancer Awareness month.  I think these chairs are absolutely inspirational, not only because they promote a good cause, but because so much talent and design is packaged into one little chair.  I’ve shown a few of my favorites below.  Which one is yours?

Kelly Hoppen

Madeline Weinrib

Vicente Wolf

Victoria Hagen

Karim Rashid

Missoni

Campion Platt

Swarovski

Windsor Smith

Photos from Suite New York

I’m not talking about dogs or cats, but furniture!  Yup, my new lounge chair arrived from ABC Home and I finally tackled painting our nightstands this weekend.  So even though our apartment looks like a tornado ripped through the middle of it right now (hey, painting is messy work!), I’m pretty happy with this latest transformation.  Take a peek for yourself & tell me what you think!

First off, the nightstands.  I bought one at Brimfield last year and the other at Housing Works here in Manhattan for a combined total of $40.  Pretty sweet, huh?  The Brimfield one needed a lot of love in the form of wood filler but the small size & cool handles are what sold me on the piece.  And both nightstands are narrow, a necessity in our bedroom because with the addition of a new and wider bed frame, we’re taking up every inch available door to door.   Here are the before pics.

Brimfield nightstand.  I love the shape, but the cracking wood and retro look had to go.

Housing Works nightstand.  Even though drawers are so practical, I love the look of the delicate open shelves which help make the narrow area look not so heavy.

So, how to make two totally different nightstand shapes & styles look like they match?  I painted both of them the same blue and topped them with the same wallpaper for a little added durability.  The wallpaper was actually a leftover strike-off from Studio E.  This company makes beautiful products, one of which is palm leaves pressed into plaster which creates a luminous and textural wallpaper.  And because the plaster is troweled over paper, it can be installed just about anywhere, even furniture.  So are you ready for the after pics?

The Brimfield nightstand.  I have to admit that taking pictures later in the day, doesn’t do the best for bringing out the beautiful colors of the paint or wallpaper, but you get the idea.  I’ll post more pictures on Facebook when the light is right.

And the Housing Works nightstand

Another view of the Housing Works nightstand

What about the chair?  As I said, this modern wing chair is from ABC Home from their Cobble Hill collection.  It’s made with a goodwood frame and manufactured by an American employee-owned, family and community oriented company.  What I love about it is not only is it super soft and comfy, it’s also extra wide, so when we have people over it can fit two people (okay, two very good friends) perched on the ends instead of just one.  While my husband is still getting used it versus the old Ikea chair, I have a feeling I’ll be spending a lot of time curled up reading here.

The long awaited chair!  The pillow is from Fabricadabra who generously sent me a thank you gift for writing about her gorgeous collection on Pretty Little Green Things.

The front view.  Excuse the messy shelves – those are a project for another day…

I have just about a zillion eco-friendly bookmarks on my computer for everything from sustainable furniture and lighting sources to green paint, wallpaper and art installations.  So it always comes as a bit of a surprise when I find a furniture manufacturer that is both green and chic that I haven’t already heard of.  This happened to me the other day and I was kicking myself for not knowing about G. Romano sooner.  The company has been around since the 1960s making elegant modern pieces in Montreal, Canada.  As a member of the Sustainable Furnishings Council, they use green practices and materials whenever possible.  To name a few, G. Romano uses responsibly sourced wood for frames, soy based foams, solvent free glues and stains and metal springs made out of recycled steel.  Plus even more importantly from my humble opinion, their furniture is well made and built to last.

Now that I’ve discovered this new green furniture retailer, I had to shade a few installation shots of their modern and sleek furniture.  Enjoy!

Photos from G. Romano

I know that you’ve all been waiting with baited breath to see our brand new bed in our apartment all set up, so drumroll please…..it’s finally here!  For those of you who have no clue what I’m talking about, take a peek at this previous post I wrote about the wonderful Dwell Studio upholstered bed that we got from ABC Home.  I love the clean yet elegant lines, subtle color and the fact that it gives a little extra polish to our bedroom.  There’s something about owning an entire bed frame & headboard that makes me feel like a real adult.  My husband keeps scoffing when I say that, but it’s true.  A designer without a bed is, well, a fish without water?  Whatever it is, I’m pretty darn excited.  And now that the bed is here, I can finally tackle painting the nightstands.  Stay tuned for those!

Most of you are probably aware of Dwell Studio and their collection fun and colorful bedding, but did you know they’ve branched out to furniture?  Yup, it’s true.  They’ve got some great shapes upholstered in a variety of fabrics including some of their signature patterns and textures.  And even better, Dwell has incorporated some green elements too.  The upholstered pieces are made in the USA with kiln dried hardwood, certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and formaldehyde free glues.  I may be a bit biased about this collection because….one of these beds will soon be gracing our bedroom!  I saw these headboards a while ago and have been patiently waiting for them to come on the market (okay, okay, I’ve actually been quite indecisive and didn’t get my act together.  Whatever.)  The bed isn’t yet in our house yet, but I’ll post pictures when it is.  In the meantime, you’ll have to settle for Dwell Studio’s beautiful installation shots.

Can you guess which bed I chose?

Deco Bed upholstered in their signature Gate Brindle fabric

Sloane Bed.  I love the big polka dot bedding – it’s fun without being too cute.

Turner chair

Mayfair Bed

Ornate Bed.  I love the beautiful ikat bedding

The Cooper chair has a fun retro feel

The Sloane bed in another one of Dwell’s signature fabrics

Photos from Dwell Studio

As I said in yesterday’s post about ICFF, I spent most of the day Sunday walking up and down the aisles of the Javits Center in search of unique, beautiful and inventive eco-friendly products to show you.  If you didn’t take a look yet, you should pop over to that round-up as well.

I have to say, this Binary Chair from BRC Designs, is one of the most unique and inventive pieces I’ve ever seen.  There’s also an accompanying coffee table and both are made out of motherboards and computer rescued from old computers and printers with the upholstery on the chair meticulously woven from ribbon cable.  These pieces are conversation starters to say the least.  I for one could spend quite a while just looking at all the different components and trying to guess where they came from.

I’m not even sure how to describe Molo other than absolutely unique and interesting.  They make reusable partitions, furniture and lighting from their surprisingly strong kevlar & kraft paper accordion forms which are recyclable and reusable.  My pictures definitely don’t do their products justice so take a peek at Molo’s website to get an idea of what they do.

Newly launched pillow resource, MUMO is a socially and environmentally responsible company.  Their fabrics are sourced from developing nations and their products are made through fair trade labor.  But I’ll just call them unique and artistic, made out of everything from traditional textiles to interesting materials like fish skin.  If you wan to see more, take a peek at MUMO’s Facebook page.

If I had known about Fermob when I wrote my round-up of fun outdoor furniture, I would have included their brightly colored bistro chairs and tables.  Their products are made from recycled steel, coated with paint in a zero-release facility (which means that their sprays don’t become airborne and therefore don’t get out into the world) and made to last.  You might have even seen these chairs before since they’re scattered throughout Bryant Park and Times Square in New York City.

John Ross makes beautiful furniture and art out of reclaimed wood found near his home in Vancouver Island, BC.  Each one is formed from the inherent shape the wood takes when he finds it.  I really love this wall piece, but his furniture is just as gorgeous.

Made with LED lights, these newly debuted lamps from Cerno are sculptural but still fun.  They’re made with an integrated cooling technology so the bulbs don’t get hot, which you can cover, as they did with this lamp or keep out as a decorative element.  They also have an oversized floor lamp version which I love.

I really haven’t gotten into mattresses yet on the blog, but I thought these hi-tech and allergy free ones from Somnium were quite interesting.  From the TPEE springs (or Thermoplastic Polyether-Ester Elastomer) that contour to your body to the hypoallergenic covers and foam, my interest was definitely piqued.  I can tell you from sitting on it, the mattress was quite comfortable, although I suppose that’s not the most thorough test.  I’d love to try one out for a few nights or hear from someone else who has.

It was nice to finally meet Jason Phillips of the Phillips Collection in person.  If you remember back, I wrote about his beautiful organic furniture a while ago.  All of his wood furniture comes from sustainable source and is coated with water based, non-toxic finishes.  Take a look at the entire collection here.

You may have seen these CFLs before, but guess what, they’re finally available in the United States!  Plumen takes the regular compact fluorescent light bulb design and turns it on its head.  The shape is reminiscent of the filaments of an Edison bulb, but of course as a much more energy efficient version.  If you’ve been using incandescents only so you didn’t have to see the ugly shape of the CFL, this is your answer.  I’m almost tempted to buy a fixture with an exposed bulb just so I can try it out.

I spent most of a rainy Sunday wandering around the aisles of the Javits Center looking at wonderful eco-friendly products and talking with new vendors.  All in all, a great show.  I found it refreshing to see that instead of promoting themselves as green, many manufacturers have embraced sustainability as a best practice and just the way things should be done.  It seems like it’s finally more important to do good than to tell others that you’re doing good.  And I for one appreciate this evolution.

I’m posting half of my eco-friendly furniture, lighting and material finds today and the other half tomorrow, so enjoy today’s round-up and stay tuned for tomorrow.

Made of 70% recycled glass from beer bottles, this pendant light was designed by Ismael Quintero of iQenvironments (that’s him posing in front of his pendants!).  And even more impressive than the recycled content is his mission.  Ismael was inspired to create this light after finding a fire hydrant lid on Wall Street after September 11.  In fact, a portion of his proceeds will go to the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

One of my recurring favorites – Eskayel.  Shanan Campanaro’s artistic wallpaper has now been extended to fabric, pillows and even woven baskets.  I recently wrote a post about their beautiful collection, although now seeing the new introductions, I’m due for an update.

I included Loll Designs in the Fun Outdoor Furniture roundup from a few days ago, but now that I’ve seen a few of their latest features in person, I have a bit of an amendment.  What I didn’t tell you about their chairs, is that in addition to the fun colors, they also have a bottle opener bolted right to the chair.  Yup, that’s right – no need to go searching for an opener during a party (it’s the little silver square at the top of the picture on the left).  Their other fun item is this fire pit that says, “Do not place on hot fire ring! Duh!”  I mean, if you need an explanation, you probably shouldn’t be using it, right?

Vervano is a new furniture company to me, but their quality was top notch.  I was really loving the faceted design of the desk (picture on left), as well as the ottoman with storage (bottom right) and desk that looked like it had a floating top (top right).  All of their pieces are made in the United states with sustainably harvested wood, plant-based foams and low-VOC finishes.

I’m a sucker for a cool desk lamp, so I was loving this bright orange lacquered one from Koncept.  All of their lamps are made with LED lights, a very efficient light source and are super functional, easy to used and fun.

Caba Company makes beautiful wallpaper out of hand pounded bark.  Because they’re using natural materials, the texture and patterns are absolutely unique, organic and always eco-friendly.    I love that they also mix in fun colors with the naturals for a modern twist on a traditional technique.

John Houshmand has been making gorgeous hi-end furniture from reclaimed sources for quite a while now.  The only problem for the common person (like you & me) is that his pieces are unique and custom and therefore beyond my budget.  But no longer.  John has teamed up with Jack Donenfeld of Simplemente Madera Group to create JH2 OneTreeHome and bring his design to the masses.  And I for one am excited about it.

I’ve seen plenty of pin-up boards in my day and while I’m still a fan of the fabric wrapped versions, I’m really loving this Baroque framed version from MIO.  Made of 100% granulated cork, a by-product of the wine industry, this tack board is not only fun & cheeky, it’s also eco-friendly.

Last but certainly not least is Manulution, a Bosnian furniture company that started out in 1927 as a source of hand carved pieces.  Even though they’ve since evolved to contemporary shapes, Manulution has remained true to their roots by using traditional techniques to create moden carved details.  As always, you can still find traditional Bosnian pieces too if that’s the sort of thing you’re looking for.

Now that spring has officially sprung, it’s time to get outdoors and enjoy the sunshine.  There are lots of great retailers selling your basic resin and teak furniture, but what about something that’s a bit more fun?  Something that pops a little on your patio?  I’ve put together a round-up of my favorite colorful, interesting and unique eco-friendly outdoor furniture and accessories for your summer lazing pleasure.  Or in other words, get out there and have some fun in the sun!

1. This Racer rocker from Loll Designs features a cool racing stripe design, 2. Interesting crystal shaped planter from Pour les Alpes, 3. This Water Hyacinth daybed from PIE Studio makes a statement, 4. What patio would be complete without this Wine Barrel Chiller from VivaTerra?  5. Hello swing! Rattan swing from PIE Studio, 6. Colorful Campy planters from Perch! 7. Pick your color with classic Adirondack chairs from Polywood, 8. So fun! Knot pillows made from recycled sailcloth from Sea Bags

1. Can you tell I like swings? This one is from Loll Designs and comes in lots of colors, 2. Love this Nature planter from Design Night, 3. Why stop at fun colors when you can also have patterned cushions? This Series 9 chaise from Haskell Collection, 4. Or try something curvy with these Talenti chaises from Henry Hall, 5. For those of you who want something a bit funkier, try this Sushi daybed from PIE Studios, 6. Water your plants with these colorful Kettle Watering Cans from Eco Age, 7. Love purple? Check out the purple Adirondack chairs from Siesta, 8. Last but certainly not least, you’ll need a fun outdoor rug to add to your fun furniture. This one is from VivaTerra.