Eco-Friendly & Green Living Blog

Klean Kanteen has got me craving a whole lot of colour with their new line of bottles.

Still made from recycled and recyclable stainless steel, but this time sporting a coat of punchy colour, these dishwasher-safe bottles are great for schlepping around town and even using at home.

Who needs those pointless plastic water bottles* anyway???

Available at: www.kleankanteen.com

Price: from $16.95 US

* In Toronto, as reported in The Globe and Mail, 100 million water bottles are managed by the city’s solid-waste program per year; only 65% are recycled. What happens to the rest of them? And what about the ones that somehow never make it into the waste system? Something to think about…

Do you have a product you’d like to recommend for this blog? Email Laurie at naturalchic@styleathome.com!

With just a few days and a tight, student-friendly budget, STYLE AT HOME style editor Karl Lohnes turned an empty bedroom into a chic and colourful dorm-style retreat using buys from Kijiji Canada’s free local classified ads. The environmental lesson here? Buying new isn’t always necessary!

For more on exactly how Karl stuck to the reduce and reuse mantra and pulled the room together, view the story by Lauren McPhillips here.

Check out: www.kijiji.ca

Do you have a product you’d like to recommend for this blog? Email Laurie at naturalchic@styleathome.com!

Do you have a product you’d like to recommend for this blog? Email Laurie at naturalchic@styleathome.com!

Enjoy the fabulousness of  Mooka, a four-month-old boutique in Montreal, and if you’re nowhere near Montreal, order their goodies online.

Their mission? To create “skin-loving, delicious-smelling and environmentally friendly soaps, balms, butters, scrubs and salts (and anything else you’d want to slather on or throw in the tub) at affordable prices.”

And they do just that, serving up the most scrumptious body care products, and I really do mean scrumptious: I had a brown paper bag with their Oats, Milk & Honey Soap, Brown Sugar Whipped Shea Body Butter, and Chocolate Lip Butter sitting by my computer, and the smell was so delicious it made me positively hungry!

The formulations are mainly vegetable-based (the few animal-based ingredients like honey, beeswax and milk are clearly listed) and boast skin-safe essential fragrance oils, so these made-by-hand products will have you doing a happy nature dance and smelling awfully good to boot. Life is short, so treat yourself well!

Available at: Mooka, 3412 Saint-Antoine O., Montreal, 514-509-7708; www.mooka.ca

Price: from $5

Do you have a product you’d like to recommend for this blog? Email Laurie at naturalchic@styleathome.com!

Many wipes used in households today, whether they be baby wipes or other wipes, contain polyester, a petroleum product, and chemical-based liquids.

Go totally green with these handy towelette rolls. Made of vegetable fibres and packaged in easy-to-carry rolls, each has 10 tabs or wannabe towelettes; just add 2 tsp of liquid (water, lemon water, rosewater – your choice!) and you end up with a wipe that measures 8 1/2 by 12 inches.

No worries about leaking, dripping or drying out!

Available at: www.ashtongreen.com

Price: $2.95 for 10 tabs to $24.95 for 100 tabs

Do you have a product you’d like to recommend for this blog? Email Laurie at naturalchic@styleathome.com!

Want to paint but are concerned about VOCs*? Check out Farrow & Ball paints. A number of their products boast zero VOCs, including their Estate Emulsion, Modern Emulsion, Water Based Eggshell, Exterior Masonry, Water Primer & Undercoat, and Stabilising Primer lines.

In addition, their wallpapers are also produced using their zero VOC water-based paints.

*VOC: Volatile organic compounds – including formaldehyde, toluene, benzene and methane – that cause odours (hence the term “off-gassing”) and health problems from eye irritation to cancer.

Available at: 877-363-1040 or www.farrow-ball.com for retailers and to order

Do you have a product you’d like to recommend for this blog? Email Laurie at naturalchic@styleathome.com!

These fabulous drapes are a blend of bamboo, cotton and linen and would dress up any interior beautifully. Bamboo, which grows a whopping three to four feet daily, is popping up in more and more places, from the obvious hard flooring to less usual carpeting, towels and bedding.

Plain drapery panels without fancy headers and blackout lining would be the most inexpensive option you could choose, but if you’re past the just-moved-into-my-first-apartment-stage, well-constructed draperies are well worth the splurge. Pictured is the Bordocano Angelus pattern with the eight-inch buckram inverted pleat (one of the pricier options, admittedly, but gorgeous, no?).

Available at: www.drapestyle.com

Price: From $279 US

I’ve been using Ecover’s Lemon and Aloe Vera Dish Liquid for months now and just love it.

Ever since I started using environmentally friendly cleaning products, I’ve realized just how strongly scented most chemical cleaners really are. This subtly scented dishwashing liquid gets rid of the most stubborn cooked-on food and leaves all of my dishes sparkling clean – all thanks to plant-based ingredients that are fully biodegradable and suitable for septic tanks.

To top it all off, there are no phosphates and both the bottle and cap are recyclable!

Available at: Ashton Green, www.ashtongreen.com; Whole Foods Market, www.wholefoodsmarket.com

Price: from $3.99 to $5.95

I have this thing for wooden bowls. I have yet to buy one, but I’ve been on the lookout ever since I spotted one at a B&B I stayed at in Ireland and realized how fantastic they are. Since then I’ve searched high and low for the perfect specimen.

I’ve driven my sister Candy nuts during a trip to Italy examining olivewood bowls minutely in every store we came across. Unfortunately, none were exactly what I wanted. This one was too pink, that one had too many brown streaks. The other day, I spent at least an hour staring at bowls in a shop. I think the store owner thought I was nuts, especially when I walked out empty-handed.

The other day I stumbled across Laura Yeats’s website. Yeats is a Seattle artist who started out in urban design and got sidetracked by an interest in woodworking and welding. She now specializes in finding dead, diseased or unwanted wood and works magic with it.

She does make smaller bowls, but I fell in love her large Madrona side bowl. A 20-1/2 by 9-1/2 inch beauty, it’s just what I want and would be perfect on its own or for displaying food or other beautiful collectibles. Alas, the price is just too high for my pocketbook. The search continues…

Available at: www.laurayeats.com

Price: $1,800.00 US

Ever wonder what those water-saving showerheads feel like? I did, so I decided to put one to the test and tried out the Moen 6306.

It looks just like any other showerhead, but is touted as saving 30% water over regular models, and press materials say that its designed to concentrate water flow to provide a ”satisfying shower experience.”

How was it? Well, to be honest, the water pressure doesn’t feel quite as strong, but the difference was really hardly noticeable enough to make me switch back to my regular model. After all, I am saving 30% more water (and the energy I would have used to heat that water) and come bill day, that would be a HUGE savings in any household.

My showerhead is polished chrome, just like the one in the picture above; other finish options include brushed nickel and oil-rubbed bronze.

Available at: hardware stores via special order; check www.moen.ca for availability

Price: $43.55 (chrome 6306); $67.49 (brushed nickel 6306BN or oil-rubbed bronze 6306ORB)