Eco-Friendly & Green Living Blog

Crate & Barrel does houseware basics beautifully, and these bamboo salad bowls are no exception.

Made of pressed natural bamboo grown without fertilizer or pesticides, they’re handmade, foodsafe and waterproof!

Available at: www.crateandbarrel.com

Price: $32.95 US (serving), $9.95 US (individual)

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

Scatter a few of these seahorse pillows around your home for a nautical look that’s sure to brighten up your summer!

These pillow covers from Humble are 100% organic cotton twill and are printed with non-toxic water-based inks in (clockwise from top left) Metallic Gold, Navy, White and Tomato; custom colours are also available. Each is 18″ square; inserts are sold separately.

And if you really love the motif, splash out on a matching tote, also made of organic cotton! It measures 18″ wide x 15″ high x 5″ deep.

Humble has all kinds of other home decor items on offer through custom orders: table runners, draperies, bags and pouches and other goodies!

$1 of every sale goes to the Coral Reef Alliance to help protect coral reefs all around the world. Visit www.coral.org for more information.

Available at: www.humble.bigcartel.com

Prices: $34 US (per pillow, inserts not included), $22 US (tote), $22 US (bamboo insert), $46 US (kapok insert)

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

I just can’t get enough of fabulous stationery and love journals, paper and cards to the point of obsession.

In particular I love letterpress stationery, which has a 3D effect because the ink is pressed into the paper, and now love Smock stationery, which is based in Syracuse, N.Y.

Its designs have a chic retro flair and are fashioned by Amy Graham Stigler, who was an art historian prior to working at Smock; its papers are pure bamboo – perfect for the letterpress technique, since it’s soft and thick, and, from an ecological point of view, it’s absolutely appealing because it doesn’t need fertilizer or pesticides or as much water as cotton, and it’s incredibly fast growing.

You can get everything from note cards to invitations in all kinds of lovely ready-made designs. Or looking for something more specialized like wedding invitations? Smock will happily handle that, too. They also do gift wrap, which is printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper – sheer bliss!!

Have a peek at some of the company’s work below, or check out their website here.

Fun Canadian connection: Smock owners Debbie Urbanski and Harold Kyle named their son Jasper, after the Canadian national park!

Available at: www.smockpaper.com

UpCountry releases the Bond Sofa, the first piece in their Green Upholstery Initiative, fast on the heels of the latest Bond pic, Quantum of Solace.

Like Daniel Craig, this sofa is sleek and good-looking, but it’s also Canadian-made and eco-friendly.

• The upholstery fabric is a 100% cotton/bamboo blend available in 5 nature-inspired colours – Slate (shown), Flax, Lynx, Pine and Coffee – created with environmentally low-impact dyes certified by the Organic Materials Institute.

• The primary upholstery foam is soy-based.

• The sofa frame is constructed from a combination of Canadian oak, maple and cherry and engineered wood panels. The engineered  panels are made from recycled fibres and zero VOC, zero formaldehyde glue.

• All glues, stains and finishes are non-toxic, low VOC and water-based where possible.

• The sofa is made the Greater Toronto Area, so if you live here, buying it means a low carbon footprint, since it’s not being shipped long distances.

The next product to be introduced in the initiative will be a daybed sofa in late January ‘09. As well, the soy foam will begin to be used other products and, if the bamboo fabric proves popular, Todd Childerhose, president of UpCountry, says it will be introduced into other ranges, too.

Available at: UpCountry, Toronto, 416-366-7477; Burlington, Ont., 905-333-3088; www.upcountry.com

Price: $1,795

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

This gorgeous handmade bamboo platter is one of the many treasures you can find on the Rainforest Site. Buy it and you’ll not only get a great-looking bowl, but will save 2,290 square feet of rainforest!

How does that work?

It’s simple: The Rainforest Site works to preserve rainforests around the world. Go to the site daily, if possible, and hit the “Click” button to fund the purchase of rainforest land worldwide by The Nature Conservancy, The Rainforest Conservation Fund, The World Parks Endowment, and Rainforest2Reef. Or buy one of the products from the site’s shop and you’ll also be saving a set amount of rainforest land.

Some 35,500 people around the world click on the site each day, and, to date, their more than 150 million clicks have preserved more than 40,500 acres of land – impressive!

Make The Rainforest Site your homepage, and clicking on it each day will become second nature – a definite feelgood way to start your day – or make it your go-to-site for at least some of your holiday shopping and do a little good in the world while making friends and family happy.

The Midas Touch bamboo platter measures approx. 15″ x 8″ x 2″ and cleans up easily with a damp cloth.

Available at: www.rainforestsite.com

Price: $24.95 US

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

Bamboo is one of the favoured environmental materials of choice lately due to its fast-growing, regenerative nature.

In my last post, you can see it being used in a snuggly blanket, and a few posts ago, I wrote about it being used in drapery.

Here, it’s put to good use in this attractively angular bathroom sink with a masculine seafaring kind of vibe that would look amazing in a modern clean-lined bathroom or even a more rustic cottage setting (plan ahead for next summer!).

Available through: Amati Bath Centre, Thornhill, Ont., www.amaticanada.com; Taps & Tubs Kitchen & Bath Studio, St. Catharines, Ont., www.tapsandtubs.com; Cantu, Vancouver, www.cantubathrooms.com

Price: approx. $750

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

Wrap yourself up in one of these babies from Yumi & Laurie (no relation!) and you won’t ever want to get up off the couch again! Made of 50% organic cotton and 50% organic bamboo, they measure a generous 6′6″ by 4′9″ and are so plush and lush you won’t believe it.

I love the beautiful Furano pattern in the Plum Goldenrod Persimmon colour combo (pictured), but there are many other colours and patterns available.

Available at: www.yumiandlaurie.com

Price: $235 US (as shown)

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