I recently learned that two different family members are pregnant. After my initial excitement for them subsided, my brain immediately went into nursery mode. Even if you haven’t done a whole lot to the rest of your home to make it as nontoxic as possible, the nursery is a great place to start. And of course, making your nursery eco-friendly doesn’t mean making it boring or drab. You can stil welcome your little one to a world of color with Baby Room Colors from Glidden® Paint, as seen in What to Expect When You’re Expecting (only in theaters).

Glidden’s paint is low- and no-VOC, depending on which specific line you purchase, and I actually used it in my daughter’s room. The paint offers great coverage and very little odor — which means it would make for a stress-free nursery-painting experience.

My Colortopia is an awesomely inspirational site from Glidden where some of your favorite bloggers offer ideas for how to inject color in your nursery, and the rest of your home. You’ll find ideas from stylish ladies like Nicole Balch of Making It Lovely, Melissa Michaels of The Inspired Room, and Kate Riley of Centsational Girl. In fact, Nicole created the mood board at the top of this post using Glidden colors and items from Walmart.

Want help building a nursery of your own? You’re in luck! Hosted by Circle of Moms, Glidden is giving away a $2,500 Walmart gift card to use towards your dream nursery. You’ll be able to find everything from furniture and bedding to Glidden® Brilliance Collection™ Paint. The giveaway runs from 5/17/12 to 6/7/12). Entering is easy: Simply check out all the blogger mood boards at Colortopia, then visit the contest page at Circle of Moms and leave a comment telling them which mood board is your favorite. The winner will be announced during the week of 6/18/12 at My Colortopia.

Need help deciding which colors to use in your nursery? Just answer the questions in the widget below!

Disclosure: I have been sponsored by Glidden brand paint to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

© 2008-2011 Green Your Decor. Do not republish any items from this feed without permission.

At this very moment, I can count at least 10 cans of spray paint in various colors within arms reach. Once I start using the stuff, it really gets addictive. So after I created the simple, recycled centerpiece for my dining table, I was inspired to use spray paint to make over another reclaimed material that I’ve worked with once before: toilet paper rolls. This time, I decided to use them to create napkin rings for the table.

What you’ll need:

• 1-2 empty toilet paper rolls
• Embellishments (like wooden or foam flowers or butterflies)
• Glue gun
• Spray paint or craft paint

This is honestly one of the simplest craft projects I’ve done in a while. First, cut your toilet paper roll down into strips about 1″-1.5″ wide. You can get about 4 of these strips from a single roll.

Gather your embellishments. The possibilities for this are genuinely endless, depending on the theme of your table design. I chose foam and wooden flowers, both found in the Walmart craft aisle. However, you can use bumblebees, scrapbooking supplies, small figurines, old keys, those ridiculous plastic toys from Happy Meals and birthday party goody bags — really whatever works for you.

Simply hot glue your chosen embellishment to one side of the toilet roll strip. I chose to stack several flowers and butterflies on top of each other for a more three-dimensional look.

Once the hot glue has set, spray paint the entire assemblage in a single color. Keep in mind, however, that some materials take spray paint better than others. So while I preferred the look of the foam butterflies to the wooden flowers, the wooden flowers were definitely more receptive to spray paint. It took about 3 coats to get the coverage and color I wanted. If you’re worried that your materials might not work well with spray paint, you can always use craft paint and do them by hand.

You’re done!

Altogether, this will take you about 20 minutes to complete, not counting paint drying time when you could be doing other stuff.

And they look really good! Noone will ever guess the humble beginnings of your napkin rings, and the project is so easy and inexpensive that you could change them regularly. I already have plans to use a bunch of the small toys that have been littering my stepsons’ toybox to create napkin rings for a kids’ birthday party.

Disclosure: I am a member of the Walmart Moms program. I was provided with compensation for my time and effort in sharing craft projects with you. Participation is voluntary and as usual, all opinions are my own.

© 2008-2011 Green Your Decor. Do not republish any items from this feed without permission.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I took on the task of planting some herbs and veggies, hoping that we’d eventually be able to bring the fruits of our labor into the kitchen for some literally fresh from the garden organics. I think it’s safe to say that Spring-er has arrived in Georgia. “Spring-er”, meaning it’s still spring, but it feels like summer. Case in point: It will be 90 degrees today. So I have no doubt that conditions are right to produce a lovely crop.

Thus far, though, all we’ve got is a couple of sprouts. Take a look at this video:

That’s to be expected, given it’s been such a short time since we planted the seeds. We do have a plan for the next step, though: Once the sprouts are large enough for transplanting, we’ll move them to larger garden boxes, which will hopefully be large enough to contain our herbs and veggies for a while.

I’m impatient though. I can’t wait to taste something that we’ve grown with our own hands, and the wait is driving me crazy! Still, I know once we really get our garden growing, it will be totally worth the wait! I’ll keep you posted on our gardening efforts over the next few months.

Disclosure: I am a member of the Walmart Moms program. I was provided with compensation for my time and effort in sharing my planting experience with you. Participation is voluntary and as usual, all opinions are my own.

© 2008-2011 Green Your Decor. Do not republish any items from this feed without permission.

I have a habit of savings thing I “can eventually use.” Wine bottles, corks, cookie tins, strips of ribbon, plastic packaging components — you name it, and I have saved it, promising myself that I’d one day make use of it in some as yet unknown project. Well in honor of Earth Day (yesterday) and my 4-year blogiversary (yes, it crept up on me this year, because it was last week), I decided to finally do something with all that…well…stuff. Or at least some of it.

I decided to dress up my table for spring, beginning with a group of liquor bottles I saved months ago. I knew they could make a gorgeous centerpiece with just a little TLC. So here’s how to make a repurposed bottle centerpiece:

What you’ll need

• 3 glass bottles, preferably of varied shapes and sizes
• Spray paint in the colors of your choosing
• Spray paint clear coat
• Printer
• Pencil
• Craft paint
• Small, detail paint brush
• Water and/or any kind of oil

How to remove labels from glass bottles

The first step to prepping the bottles is getting the labels off. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, that depends on what kind of adhesive was used to apply the labels in the first place. To find out, fill the bottles with hot water. Then fill the sink (or a bucket or some other container) with enough warm water to cover the bottles and submerge them. Let them soak for an hour or two, then check the labels. If they’re starting to come off on their own, or move easily when you start pushing at the corner, they’re probably applied with water-based adhesive. Leave them for a few more hours. Then watch in awe as the labels come off like magic with very little effort.

If, however, the labels do not come off easily, that means they were applied with oil-based adhesive. Commence teeth gnashing. Grab any kind of oil you have in your kitchen. I used some basic, inexpensive cooking oil. Slather it all around the edges of the label, then use a stiff plastic card to gently scrape it off a little at a time. I used an old, expired Borders book store card. I wouldn’t recommend using a current card that you have to swipe, since you’ll get oil all over it that could ruin the magnetic strip. If you get to a point when the label is difficult to remove, even with the card, simply slather more oil around the edges and wait for a few minutes. Eventually, you’ll be able to get the rest of the label off.

Now, you can move on.

Thoroughly wash and dry the bottles. Next, simply spray paint them in the color of your choice. When spray painting glass, be sure to keep the spray can about 8-10 inches away while spraying and move your hand continuously in even strokes. This will help prevent unsightly drips and clumps of paint. I did 2 coats, allowing the bottles to dry for about 2 hours each time.

Side note: While I usually use the low-VOC Krylon H20 when I do spraypainting projects, it is water-based and not recommended for painting glass. As you can imagine, it probably would have slid right off. So I used traditional Krylon spray paint outdoors with the bottles somewhat cocooned inside a dropcloth to minimize the amount of fumes released into the atmosphere. (aff)

Back to the steps. Once you’ve achieved the coverage you want and the paint is dry, it’s time to embellish. Print out the words you’d like to see on your bottles in  font you like. I chose three simple words: Live. Love. Give. Also seen here. I thoroughly believe in doing all of these things, and i really wanted words that worked well in  a group, but could also stand alone if need be.

Cut out the words into small strips of paper. Then flip it over and use a pencil to darkly color the back side of the paper.

Flip it back over and place it on the glass where you want the word to go and hold it in place with your free hand. Use something with a relatively pointed edge to trace the edge of the letters on to the bottle. I used the stylus from my daughter’s Nintendo DS, but a bamboo skewer, a paper clip, or any number of other things could work as well.

Tracing will transfer pencil marks to the paint on the bottle. Great, right?

Next, use a small detail paintbrush to fill the letters with the color of your choosing. I chose turquoise, which I’ve recently realized is indeed my favorite color. Once the lettering is dry, spray over the entire bottle with clear coat to seal the paint and letters.

Group the bottles together and enjoy!

Next, I’ll reveal part 2 of my recycled spring table, another toilet paper roll project (see the first one here) that will cost you less than $10 to complete!

Disclosure: I am a member of the Walmart Moms program. I was provided with compensation for my time and effort in sharing craft projects with you. Participation is voluntary and as usual, all opinions are my own.

© 2008-2011 Green Your Decor. Do not republish any items from this feed without permission.

Yes, this post title is a bit provocative, but no, I did not recently give birth. The baby which I’m referring is King, the yorkie we recently adopted:

Want to learn more, or just see more pics of that gorgeous mug? Head over to Green & Gorgeous!

© 2008-2011 Green Your Decor. Do not republish any items from this feed without permission.

Last year, my husband and I put down an outdoor rug on our patio, added a couple of chairs, and planted some strawberries in a Topsy Turvy planter. Well, let’s just say we hadn’t done much out there since — except let the strawberries die. I know. Sad.

Well, that was then, and this is now. With spring — and all its pollen — in full swing, we wanted to add some life and color to the space. We started with a few hanging flowers, a couple of ledge boxes and a basket of strawberries. We also grabbed a beautiful rosemary plant, which has already added some great flavor to our meals.

But while the flowers gave the fat bumblebees a reason to come around, we wanted some treats for ourselves too that would go beyond just the visual. Thanks to the Walmart Moms, I had the opportunity to try out my green thumb with some USDA certified organic seeds and Herb Starter Kit from Seeds of Change.

It only makes sense that I’d want to grow my own food, because that’s the easiest way to know exactly where it comes from and how it was grown. However, being a renter means I have a very limited outdoor space in which to do this and that everything must be in a container.

The company provided an herb kit containing basil and cilantro seeds, as well as a few other seeds of my choice: onions, sweet peppers, okra, lettuce and more. I will be a few weeks before anything comes of our planting efforts, but I am genuinely looking forward to using fresh herbs and veggies in my cooking.

First, we started with the herb kit, designed to be planted on a warm windowsill that gets great sunlight. We placed it on a shelf in the office right in front of the window.

Thankfully, the kit came with simple instructions for getting started (hence the title “Starter Kit”, right?) I’m really interested to see how quickly these tiny seeds, shown below, will sprout. I admit my impatience is part of the reason I completely lack a green thumb, but luckily, my husband is better at keeping plants alive than I am.

For that reason, he tackled the other seeds. We decided to start with tomatoes, sweet peppers and red onions. Except right before he planted the onions, a quick Google search revealed that they’re not recommended for growing in Georgia. Bummer, but there’s still peppers and tomatoes.

We bought another seed starter kit and soil in hopes that we’d be able to do a better job if we could at least get the plants to sprout first.

So my hubby filled up the starter grid with soil, added the seeds, covered them with about 1/4″ of soil, and watered them thoroughly so the biodegradable pots would also be saturated.

And now, we wait.

In a few weeks, I’ll share what has become of our attempt at growing the things that will go into our food. Have you tried growing anything this spring? How has it turned out for you thus far?

Disclosure: I am a member of the Walmart Moms program. I was provided with compensation for my time and effort in sharing an my planting experience with you. Participation is voluntary and as usual, all opinions are my own.

© 2008-2011 Green Your Decor. Do not republish any items from this feed without permission.

If there’s one thing I’ve been needing lately, it’s inspiration. Work has left me with little time to actually do anything with said inspiration, so I’ve been spending a lot of time on Pinterest ogling other people’s work Whenever I find a green idea that I think is really awesome, I’ll share it with you.

My first Pinspiration comes in the form of this beautifully unique bottlecap backsplash, shown above. In my kitchen right now, I have a pile of plastic bottlecaps, which we keep because they can’t be recycled in our community. While I don’t think this would work with plastic caps, I can easily imagine collecting metal caps from glass bottles for something like this.

I can only chance a guess at how much time it must have taken to place each of those caps individually, but the finished look is beautiful! For a more modern take on it, I think it would be awesome to use bottlecaps in shades of a single color, like green or blue.

I’m having the hardest time tracking down the original source of this image (Pinterest strikes again), but it is was pinned from Travel Obsession.

What about you? Would you make a kitchen backsplash from bottlecaps? If you’re looking for more Green inspiration, follow me on Pinterest and check out my Green Design pinboard.

© 2008-2011 Green Your Decor. Do not republish any items from this feed without permission.

I’ve been needing some simple crafts to get my creativity back on track. Somehow, the idea of dragging my desk down 3 flights of stairs so I can sand and re-paint it hasn’t been high on my to do list.  But dyeing eggs with stuff I can get at the grocery store? That’s a lot more palatable. Not to mention I wanted to find out just how well natural, homemade egg dyes would work.

I set out to create eggs in the three primary colors — red, yellow and blue — thinking I’d be able to mix those colors to get a bunch of other colors. I also wanted to try dyeing the eggs with onion skins for a tie-dyed sort of look. I set out to Walmart to purchase my supplies.

What you’ll need:

• Beets (red dye)
• Turmeric (yellow dye)
• Red cabbage (blue dye, believe it or not)
• Onions (or at least their skins)
• Vinegar
• Salt
• Water
• Cheesecloth or similar fabric
• Thin twine or yarn

Looks like a lot of red stuff, right? Well, if you notice the photo above, red is about the only color I didn’t achieve. I’ll start with the methods that worked well.

ONION SKINS

This is the only dye method for which you want to start with raw, unboiled eggs. The skin of one onion will cover about 1-2 eggs. Place the egg on top of a piece of cheesecloth or cotton. Begin covering a raw egg with onion skins.

Once covered, wrap the cloth around the egg and secure it with twine. Try to make this pretty snug, but remember that these eggs are uncooked, so they’ll break if handled too roughly.

Boil the cloth-covered eggs for about 30 minutes, then allow them to cool.

Unwrap the cloth and admire the beautiful patterns on your eggs. I expected the red onion skins to produce red staining, but I was just as happy with the moddled, yellowish look I actually wound up with.

YELLOW

We cook with curry a lot, so I know how quickly turmeric will stain anything in its path. This was a great chance to use those quick-staining properties as an advantage. Put about a quart of water in a small saucepan. Add 4-6 tablespoons of turmeric, a tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of vinegar. Boil until the turmeric dissolves. I found it was almost impossible to get it to dissolve completely, but do your best.

Let the mixture cool a bit, and start dipping your hard-boiled eggs. Don’t be alarmed if you find there are bits of turmeric on your eggs. Just let them soak in the turmeric for about an hour, mixing occasionally to minimize the spotting. I wound up with a beautiful, rich golden color.

This was, by far, the fastest color to take.

BLUE

I was in a bit of disbelief the red cabbage could result in blue eggs, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this was true.  Cut up half a head of red cabbage, and put it in a pot with enough water to cover it. You can use a whole head of cabbage if you need a lot of blue eggs, but I only wanted a few. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of salt. Bring it all to a boil, then cover the pot and it let it simmer for about 30 minutes.

Strain the cabbage and set the liquid aside for dyeing. Let it cool. Submerge your eggs in the dye, and get ready for a long wait.

The blue eggs were beautiful and my uncontested favorite, but I had to let them soak overnight to achieve that color. Still, it was totally worth the wait to pull blue eggs out of the purplish liquid that came from the cabbage. I felt like a magician

And now for what didn’t work for me…

RED (gray?)

I was totally expecting the beets to be the easiest, since beet juice is a notorious stainer. In fact, I got so cocky that I decided to buy canned beets instead of fresh beets, thinking I’d save myself some time. Apparently, this was a bad idea. I warmed 2 cans of beets with a tablespoon each of salt and vinegar.

Then I strained the liquid and submerged my hardboiled eggs. I knew something was wrong when the color seemed to be rolling off the eggs instead of adhering to it. But I figured if I left them overnight, I’d get a deep stained color.

I didn’t.

The eggs came out of the liquid in a disappointing shade of light lavender. Even worse, when I set them on a rack to dry, all the color drained off, so I wound up with an even more disappointing gray, as shown above.

Next time, I’ll stick to fresh beets.

Overall, I loved the experience of creating my own egg dyes. While my daughter wasn’t very hands-on in this project, I could easily imagine her helping a lot more. She did think the resulting, colored eggs were awesome, though

Have any of you ever tried dyeing Easter eggs naturally? I’d love to hear if you had more success than I did!

I did have more success with my other project, though. I made a super simple, DIY Easter dress for my daughter! And get this. It’s reversible! Here’s a sneak peek:

Want to see more? Head over to Green & Gorgeous for the details!

Disclosure: I am a member of the Walmart Moms program. I was provided with compensation for my time and effort in sharing an eco-friendly Easter project with you. Participation is voluntary and as usual, all opinions are my own.

© 2008-2011 Green Your Decor. Do not republish any items from this feed without permission.

At this very second, I have at least folders between my computer and my external hard drive dedicated to our dream home and all the things we want to put in it. When we started thinking about this a few years ago, my taste was super modern, with very little room for anything “old” or traditional.

Over the years, the tastes of my husband and I have evolved. With the help of Pinterest, I’ve been able to save pictures that appeal to me, and when I look at them collectively, I’ve seen a pattern emerge: While we do want a very modern, modular home — the RK1 home by Living Homes shown above is the one we have on the vision board in our current master bedroom — we’d likely fill it with things that are a combination of:

• Eco-friendly
• Sleek & modern
• Vintage
• Handmade
• Slightly rustic & unfinished
• A little Hollywood Regency

In other words, I love clean lines and glam finishes, but not to the point where our home would feel like a museum rather than a place where we could kick off our shoes and get comfortable.

We might use Graham & Brown’s Mode Darcy wallpaper (shown below) with a couple of Emeco Kong chairs in one room, but have a reclaimed wood wall installation in another. And there’s no hard and fast rule of design that says we can’t have both.

Design Public wants to know what your dream home looks like. And by telling them, you can enter their new “Pin It to Win It Contest”:

1. Create a new pinboard on Pinterest titled “Dream Home with Design Public”.
2. Pin at least 10 things to your board that you’d love to have in your dream home.
3. At least 5 of the items on your board be pinned directly from the Design Public site, but the rest can come from anywhere you’d like.
4. When you’re done with your board, fill out this short form to submit a link to your board, and you will be entered to win $250 gift card for Design Public.

Simple!

Need some inspiration to get started? Check out my own “Dream Home” board, plus Design Public’s own board to get your wheels turning.

Disclosure: I was compensated by Design Public for sharing my dream home ideas with you. All opinions (of course) are my own. And yes…that really is my dream home.

© 2008-2011 Green Your Decor. Do not republish any items from this feed without permission.

Just when my husband and I have decided to move away from the wall flats we used for the headboard in our previous master bedroom, I discover that Inhabit has released new wall flat designs that make my heart go pitter patter. I MUST find another place to use these:

Luna

This is easily my favorite of the new designs. I love the graphic, geometric shapes, and I imagine they’d be gorgeous if painted in a bold color.

Drift

If you’ve ever tried to imagine how the wall flats would look painted, just check out this gorgeous gray! There’s a reason gray is my favorite neutral. This looks like a high-end boutique hotel — not a bad look for a bedroom.

Hive

This pattern is…interesting…but not one of my favorites. It reads a little like cardboard when painted in the color shown above. This is one case where I think the flats would work best in white to add some texture. Color is just too much on such a busy pattern.

In case you haven’t seen or heard of Inhabit’s wall flats before, they are lightweight tiles that can be used to create large-scale dimensional walls of any size and shape. You can use them to create an uninterrupted sculptural wall, or you can do what my husband and I did, and use it on a smaller scale as a headboard or a piece of art. While they used to be made of bamboo pulp, it appears the wall panels are now made of bagasse, an incredibly renewable resource that is a byproduct of the process used to extract juice from sugarcane or sorghum stalks. This means the tiles are biodegradable, compostable and recyclable with your other paper products.

Why It’s Green:

• Made from material that would otherwise become waste
• Biodegradable, compostable and recyclable

Price: $80/box of 10 tiles, or $4.50/tile for second quality flats in the outlet(aff)
NOTE: I used the latter, and the quality was perfect, in my opinion

© 2008-2011 Green Your Decor. Do not republish any items from this feed without permission.

It’s February, and FINALLY, I’m feeling somewhat like myself again. It felt like I started 2012 trying to wade through quicksand — just not getting anywhere and getting mired deeper and deeper into the muck with every step. So something had to give, and unfortunately, for the past month, that something was Green Your Decor. But I’ve never been one to give up that easy, so I figure the best way to get myself back on track is to find something — anything — to do around my home to build some inspiration. Even my husband has said “you need a project.” But once I started looking around, I realized there are a LOT of somethings that I need to get done.

So here is a list, with photographic evidence in some cases, of things I really want/need to handle around here:

1. Find or build a console table for the living room. As you can see in the photo below, our living room lamp is currently living on a table that is entirely too small for the space. I’d like to find a used, solid wood console table to refinish or use as is — preferably with some closed storage. We’re also considering building a table ourselves, since my husband said the other day that he “wants to build something.”

2. Purchase a rug for the living room. For an apartment, we have a reasonably large living room. And to me, it just doesn’t feel complete without a rug. A 5 x 8 rug would just be too small, particularly in comparison to the sectional. So I need to find an affordable, natural fiber, 8″ x 10″ rug. Wish me luck!

3. Buy or make thermal curtains for the living room. I can only guess how much heat we lose through our glass door, but I know how cold it feels right in front of the door during the winter, and how hot it gets during the summer. Not to mention how unfinished the living room looks without any curtains. So it’s time to get some stylish thermal window treatments for that door.

4. Make a headboard for the master bedroom. As much as my husband and I loved our previous headboard made from Inhabit’s bamboo wall flats, we decided not to use them in this apartment, just because we didn’t feel like mounting anything on the wall this time. I have a couple ideas for a headboard, but I’m really thinking about trying to replicate the woven headboard shown below, from West Elm (though it’s no longer available). I have a pretty good idea of how it would work. Now, to try it.

5. Buy a rug for the master bedroom. We been planning to do this since our last apartment. I think it’s about time to tick it off the list.

6. Have my Freecycle chair reupholstered. Finally. Remember Grace? It’s only been…oh…almost 2 years since I first got her. Since its become painfully obvious to me that I am too much of a coward to attempt reupholstering my free barrel back chair myself, we’re just going to pay a professional to do it. Does anyone know of any good upholstery shops in the North Atlanta area?

7. Paint a wall in the master? I have a question mark next to this one because I’m just not sure if we want to paint again. In the end, I know myself, and we probably will. Especially because we’ve had an unopened gallon of deep, charcoal gray for about 2 years (yeah…that long), and I’m dying to use it.

8. Find a desk for my husband. He’s back in school pursuing his bachelor’s degree in project management, and he really needs a proper desk. Right now, he’s using a cheap fold-out table that just isn’t working.

9. Refinish my own desk. Remember the Mid-century Hooker mainline desk I painted a while back? Well, as you can see, the paint job didn’t hold up so well. Plus, I’d like to change the color to a rich turquoise — a few shades darker than the walls in my daughter’s room. I already have a quart of paint waiting for this job.

10. Clean up & decorate the office. We are buried under paper. As usual. But lately, I’ve been much worse at actually sorting through that paper. I’ve been lazy. And it’s a mess. Now that I’m sharing the office space with my husband, we really need a clean, efficient space so we both can focus. For me, that means not just cleaning up, but also prettifying the space a bit. Some art on the walls, maybe some tone-on-tone stripes on the walls? A nice mirror and desk lamp? We shall soon see

11. Decorate our third bedroom. Betcha didn’t know we have a third bedroom, right? Well, that’s because I rarely talk about it. When we rented this apartment, we got it specifically for the office-ready space (which is really supposed to be a breakfast nook) and the third bedroom. Now, when my stepsons are with us, they have their own room. And when they’re not here, it serves as an awesome guest room. But other than buying a bunk bed and some organic bedding, I’ve done nothing in that room. It’s time to do something about that.

12. Reupholster my $7 cane chair. Finally. I’ve had the fabric for this project for a long, long time. I have no idea why I haven’t done it yet, but it’s time to change that.

13. Redesign Green Your Decor. It’s been 2 years since I launched this site design. As much as I love it, it’s time for a change.

Like I said, there is a lot I could be doing around here. Which makes me wonder why I’ve been in such a rut with “nothing to do.” We’ll, there’s nothing like a big, fat list (and a great Spotify playlist) to kick my butt into gear. So over the next few weeks/months, I imagine there will be a lot of sanding, priming, painting, building, obsessing, wrapping, upholstering, sewing and ironing around here.

Who’s with me?

Crickets?

Ok. But I’m going to get on all this anyway. I think.

© 2008-2011 Green Your Decor. Do not republish any items from this feed without permission.

It’s probably seemed quiet around here for the past few weeks. That’s because I have hit what I call my after-Christmas crash. Basically, the month of December is one of my busiest, meaning that I’m usually going and going, right up until Christmas. Or until I just can’t go any more. So instead of starting the new year full of energy and resolve to make this year better than last, I started it exhausted and unable to focus. However, I promise this is only temporary, and I’ll be back to “myself” in time.

In all of this, though, the one thing I’ve been able count on is getting a good night’s sleep. Really.

I made the mistake of falling asleep on our sofa late one afternoon. Boy, did I regret it. When I woke up, everything hurt, from the arm I had fallen asleep on to my back, neck, shoulders and hips. I seriously felt like I’d been hit by a truck. Or at least a small car. Not a good look.

When I was able to drag my aching body off the sectional and get into bed, it felt like a cloud by comparison. Instead of being contorted into an uncomfortable position, my back was supported and aligned. In our new bed, I can lay on either side, or sleep on my back or stomach, and still be comfortable. Really, the Oyasumi organic mattress from The Clean Bedroom has been a godsend.

Particularly during the winter, I appreciate the fact that this mattress tends to stay warmer than a traditional mattress. This is probably because of a combination of the latex and the thick organic cotton cover. In any case, during the winter it’s a welcome change from our old innerspring mattress, which would get cold if you were out of the bed for more than 2 minutes. This added warmth is a real blessing when we wake up to 27 degree weather and have to take my daughter out to catch the bus. I couldn’t ask for a better winter bed. In the summer time, though, the extra warmth means we eliminate a few layers from the bed and sleep with just a lightweight comforter (instead of a comforter, a flat sheet, and sometimes a thin throw blanket).

So although my new year has gotten offer to an incredibly slow start, it’s definitely not from lack of sleep. I’m doing just fine in that department. Now if someone can just give me a few shots of energy to use for everything else, I’ll be back on track.

Learn more about The Clean Bedroom on Facebook and Twitter.

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I had to save the best for (almost) last. I have had my eye on Jo Totes for a long time. If you (or a woman you know) own a DSLR camera, or really any quality camera that you use all the time, you will L-O-V-E these bags.

I’ve had my Nikon D40 for a few years now, and I learn something new about it every day. Wen I bought it, I also bought an ugly, but functional, boxy Nikon camera bag. I hate it. It is big and clunky, and I only use it for storage or traveling when absolutely necessary. Most of the time, I just stick my DSLR in my purse. But it’s not a very good idea to have an expensive camera jostling around inside a bag full of keys, pens and Lord knows what else. (aff)

Imagine my glee when I discovered Jo Totes, a company that clearly felt my pain and decided to make fabulous camera-ready purses to ease it. Wait. You mean that’s not why the company started? Well, that’s how it feels to me!

So what’s the green part? These bags are made of vegan leather. Ie. No animals were killed in the making of these bags. On top of that, they are very affordable for bags of such awesome quality. Plus, they are available in several gorgeous styles and beautiful colors — including turquoise (swoon) and yellow. That was all the information I needed to become a fan from afar. But the up-close and personal experience? Much, much better!

I received the Rose bag in Pewter, and boy, am I smitten! I have a habit of carrying large purses, so this sizable bag felt right at home on my shoulder. It also has an optional longer strap so you can wear it as a crossbody bag if you choose. However, the magic happens inside the bag. Rose comes with 5 detachable padded partitions that can be arranged as needed to fit your camera and accessories.

There was more than enough space to hold my camera, charger and extra memory cards, and since I put a new lens on my Christmas list, I left some space for that too After all that, there was still ample space for my iPhone, wallet, checkbook, keys and a couple of reusable shopping bags that I always keep in my purse. If I did have one complaint, it would be that there is no space for my iPad. But of course, Jo Totes has already thought of that too. Their newest bag style, the Betsy (shown below in Mustard), features a rear pocket that is large enough for an iPad. Problem solved!

Seriously, I couldn’t love Rose more. She makes me happy. And I know you want to feel the love too

Why It’s Green:

• Made of vegan leather.

Price: $84-90

Want to Win?

Jo Totes is going to make one camera owner of the female variety very happy. One lucky reader is going to take home a Jo Totes bag in the style and color of your choice! Just use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Javascript must be enabled to to see the Rafflecopter. If you still cannot see it, wait for the page to load completely, or refresh the page. U.S. mailing addresses only! Entry period ends at 12:01 a.m. 12/27/11. Please note that this giveaway ends AFTER Christmas.

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I always have the best intentions when it comes to setting my table. I will pin photos of lavish table settings on Pinterest, and promise myself that for the next holiday, I’ll make my table look just like them — or better. Needless to say, it usually doesn’t work out that way. After spending all day in the kitchen on Thanksgiving or Christmas or whatever, the last thing I’m interested in doing in making the table look great. Jennifer Nelson of Home Sweet understands that, and she has created a product that will let you give your table a little something extra without all the fuss.

Her “chopped” table runner is just 24″ long — big enough to make the table look fancy, but small enough to avoid getting in the way while you’re eating. While having the place settings at the ends of the table on top of a traditional table runner looks nice, the ends of the runner always end up requiring more cleaning than the middle — because the person seated there is likely to spill something on it. This “chopped” runner is a great solution.

Like all of Home Sweet’s other sustainable home textiles, the table runner in block-printed by hand with water-based inks. The table runners are printed on a gray recycled hemp/organic cotton blend fabric that has a cool, slubby appearance — sort of like linen. I personally love the texture of it, and the gray and navy color scheme is perfect for my dining room — a great complement to our ikat dinnerware.

Why It’s Green:

• Hand-printed with water-based inks
• Made of a recycled hemp/organic cotton blend fabric

Price: $28/ea.

Want to Win?

Home Sweet is offer a chopped runner to one lucky reader. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Javascript must be enabled to to see the Rafflecopter. If you still cannot see it, wait for the page to load completely, or refresh the page. Entry period ends at 12:01 a.m. 12/27/11. Please note that this giveaway ends AFTER Christmas!

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I’ve been a little lazy with my gift wrapping this year, and I’ve used more paper than I’d like. So for the rest of my wrapping, I’m determined to get creative and reuse gift bags, boxes, fabric and anything else I can find. Here are some of my favorite green gift wrapping ideas:

Use boxes and bags from last year

My family has been reusing the same gift bags and boxes for years now. As we unwrap (or inbox or unbag) gifts on Christmas morning, I neatly fold them up and put them in a stack. I also save bags and boxes from birthdays, Valentine’s Day, etc., all in my gift wrap bin. As a result, we are able to use the same gently used bags and boxes over and over. We simply replace the tags, or use the same bag for the same person so the existing tag still applies

Use what you already have

Before you purchase another roll of wrapping paper, look around the house to see what you already have. Chances are, you’ve ordered some gifts online and had them shipped to you. I’ve personally received a LOT of boxes over the past month or two. Many of them came stuffed with paper instead of packing peanuts. I’ve been reusing a lot of that paper to wrap gifts.

To wrap the gift above, I reused two sheets of crinkled brown paper from a package I had received (and I actually like the crinkled look). Then I used some tulle that I had leftover from a tutu a made my niece for Christmas. I simply wrapped two colors of tulle around the package and tied them in bows. Easy, and beautiful! (NOTE: Please ignore the extremely blue coloring of these photos. I forgot to change the white balance on my camera when I was taking them )

There are other ways to reuse that brown paper, though. I used it to wrap another gift, then used a couple of craft sponges to paint circles on it in our chosen Christmas color scheme (turquoise, gold and lime green). I also used those colors to paint a gift tag that I printed for free! Looking for more free printable gift tags? Click here or scroll down. The finished look is handmade and luxe at the same time. And it took only a few minutes.

You can also take a cue from green guru Danny Seo and use newspaper to wrap gifts. Believe it or not, it will curl much like ribbon. This is a great way to wrap a bottle of wine. Simply put the bottle in the middle and fold the newspaper up around it, then secure it at the top with a rubber band. Cut the excess into strips and use scissors to curl it just like you would curl ribbon. Makes a really festive host gift! I would show you the video, but it looks like Danny has removed it.

Lastly, you know all those tote bags and shoe boxes you have in your closet that you never use? They make great gift packaging

Wrap a gift in a gift

See that gift above? It’s not wrapped in just any piece of fabric. That’s actually a pillow cover. I put the other gifts inside it, then carefully folded and wrapped it with ribbon. Of course, this works best when the other gifts are small, but it can work in other situations as well.

For example, I put together a personalized gift basket for someone using a $2 basket from Goodwill. I was trying to figure out how to conceal the items in the basket, and I remembered that the recipient has been wearing a lot of scarves lately. Inspiration! I made her the circle scarf that you’ll find on the DIY gift ideas page in the Green Gift Guide. I then used the scarf to enclose the gifts inside the basket, then tied it all up with a stray piece of tulle (see below). Easy peasy, and she’s getting 2 gifts in one!

This can work with sooooo many gifts: A recipe book wrapped in a tea towel. A pair of earrings inside a decorative, lacquered box that the recipient could display on their dresser or a bookshelf. Candles wrapped inside fabric napkins. An organic stuffed animal wrapped inside a baby blanket. Anything at all inside a reusable shopping bag (like a ChicoBag, Envirosax or RuMe bag). The possibilities are endless. (aff)

Use paper just for the kids

Let’s be honest — part of the Christmas magic for kids is tearing their gifts open with wild abandon. It’s just not the same with a gift bag, or if they have to carefully untie a piece of fabric. Adults and teens will be better equipped with the patience required to open a carefully wrapped gift.

So if you’re going to use paper for wrapping, use it just for the kids — and make sure that paper is either made of recycled materials or at least recyclable. Even Walmart, Target and Dollar Tree offer recycled wrapping paper if you take the time to look. And please stay away from shiny foil, velvet flocked, or glitter-covered paper, because it is generally not recyclable. Simple printed paper is best.

What are you doing to make your gift wrapping more eco-friendly this year? Share your ideas in the comments below!

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