eco nursery style

It’s official - my baby’s bed is better than mine...

My favourite part is his lovingly handmade quilt, created by his great Aunt in Indiana. It’s just gorgeous - thank you Sharon!

Coming in a close second is his luxurious cot sheet set. Yes that’s right, luxurious. We were gifted a set of Elkie & Ark Fairtrade and organic cotton sheets, they are seriously silky smooth, and I will be buying myself a grown up set soon. See the following photos to see them without the quilt (though not too close up as they are slightly wrinkled from the laundry - busy Mama, not gonna iron sheets for an Instagram post 😂).

Of course he has a little lovey in his bed, also made with organic Fairtrade cotton, Kippins bunny named River - he was a lifesaver when we moved him into his own room a couple months ago!

Hidden from view is a wool mattress protector and a 100% natural latex mattress - both purchased from Nature Baby.

And you can see the top of his Oeuf cot, which will transform into a toddler bed, that I found secondhand from Gumtree. So great to be able to find sustainable wood  products secondhand.

I created the artwork on the walls, and framed them in frames made of reclaimed timber from Mulbury.

Oh yeah- and the paint on the walls is Bio Natural Paints that I bought from Eco at Home last year - the walls used to be a bright yellow - yikes! It’s now a soothing grey. I was so happy to be able to create exactly the colour I wanted from a natural, VOC-free paint, thanks to the colour-mixing experts at Eco at Home.

I did the best I could to create a sustainable nursery, this is just a snapshot from one corner. I’ll show you another corner another day, this nap time is almost over and I'll be chasing my little explorer all over the place before I know it!

Have a fabulous day!

xxLisa

trash to treasure

My longtime readers will know that I love fixing up old furniture, like this dresser I found on the street, and the bookshelf I write about in Sustainability with Style.

I've just had the pleasure of fixing up some bar stools - also found on the street. (What other cities do this as much as Sydney? Especially its seaside towns?!).

I had been keeping my eye out for some used barstools to put in our kitchen, which is galley-style and separate from where we eat, but inevitably gets crowded with people whenever we have guests over for a meal. Everyone loves to hang in the kitchen, am I right?

Then I spotted these beauties just a block from my home, and rushed home to get the assistance of my hubby to carry them both home before someone else got to them.

The stools had clearly been living an 'outdoor lifestyle' for awhile, there was even a mushroom growing out of one of them, but I knew I could give them a second life and a new home.

Two trips to Bunnings later, and the proud owner of primer, a carefully selected paint colour (with low VOCs, of course, although not as 'natural' a paint as I'd used on the abovementioned dresser), wood filler to deal with some wood rot, and felt tips to add to the bottom of the legs so we don't scratch the floors, I was ready to make the transformation.

Step 1
A good clean, including sanding back the paint on the wood, scraping away rust on the metalwork and dealing with the mushrooms.

Step 2
A good layer of primer.

Step 3
Apply wood filler to deal with gashes and rot - you can see the main problem area in the photo above.

Step 4
Realise I should have done the wood filler first, and do another quick layer of primer. (There are always a few extra steps in any DIY project, right?)

Step 5
Paint! It took three coats to get the depth of colour that I was seeking, but it was worth it in the end.

I tackled the bottoms first, after watching a few help videos on YouTube.

After two layers - still a bit showing through the paint.

Finished project! Here they are in the kitchen.

I've decided to keep one in the entry, both to keep the kitchen un-cluttered,
and also because the colour works well with our map and pillows, and adds
a nice splash of colour along that wall.

What do you think? I'm totally thrilled with this pop of colour, and happy to know my guests will have somewhere to rest while chatting with us in the kitchen.

Have you done any fun refurbs lately? I'd love to see your pics!

xxLisa

PS - I have a lot of this paint left, so let me know if you'd like it for one of your own projects.

a green gumtree garden fling

Last night I attended opening night of the Gumtree Garden in The Rocks, Sydney (by the way, how amazing are The Rocks?!).

This quirky pop up bar in Kendall Lane, squeezed between Pony Lounge and the Orient Hotel on Argyle St, was created in 48 hours using items found on Gumtree.

I am a massive fan of Gumtree. Australia's free classifieds website makes my sustainable lifestyle so doable. I've bought and sold many items over the years, everything from furniture to surfboards to bicycles, and even found people seeking household compost - so helpful for apartment-living composters with no gardens of their own!

I've spent a fair amount of time on Gumtree this month as I re-settle into Sydney and need to fill my home after selling nearly everything last May. The Gumtree Garden was the perfect excuse for me to raise my glass to an organisation that enables my sustainable lifestyle.

Designer Dana Tomic-Hughes created a whimsical wonderland with Gumtree goodies for the Garden. It is a fabulous showcase of on-trend, secondhand style, and a perfect Sydney summer pop up bar.

Lots of plants, umbrellas, and lampshade-lanterns.
Photo credit Twitter

This photo must've been taken before I arrived, the bar was always crowded!
Photo credit Twitter

 

Beautifully-styled vintage rooms with comfy seating.
Photo credit Twitter

How great are these chairs?! And gorgeous hydrangeas, too.
Photo credit Twitter

Plants, clocks, vintage furniture - what's not to love?

I spotted a couple rugs like the below one I just bought from EcoChic, they are made of recycled poly bags. I wonder if these were really found on Gumtree? Well done if they were secondhand, but no complaints from me if they weren't used, they are still eco-fabulous.

I'm in love with my yellow Granada rug!

 

You can enjoy the Garden today and tomorrow as well - open during the day to all ages, and 18 and over from 5pm onward. Enjoy!

a green moving fling

It's official, my hubby and I are moving back to the United States after nearly 9 years in our adopted home of Australia.

Watch out America!

Now, I know moving house is known to be one of life's most stressful events, right up there with death, divorce and starting a new job.I've moved a lot, and I'll admit it's more stressful the older I get, but I don't know if I'd rank it higher than getting married, writing my book or finishing my Master's degree.

But . . .

Moving overseas has ramped up the stress level. Add to that wanting to make the move as sustainable as possible, and stress levels may rise higher than a regular move across town.

As we enjoy our final week living in idyllic Manly Beach and soaking up as much time with our beloved friends as possible, we are also in the thick of the "Keep!" "Sell!" "Donate!" or "Toss!"game that comes with moving.

At first the idea of sending anything back to the US seemed ridiculous, but 9 years is a long time, and we have accumulated some sentimental stuff we'd like in our new home (like from aforementioned stressful wedding, for example). So, we are sending some things on a boat to America, but what to take?

I wasn't about to engage in a Life Cycle Analysis of sending each item on the boat (though I sure wish there was an app for that), so unless an item has high sentimental value, we have to decision to make.

1. Can we sell it?
2. Is it in good enough condition to donate?
3. Can it be recycled?
4. Is the only place for this landfill? 
5. Should it come on the boat?

Here are just some of the choices we've made so far . . .

Appliances
Anything with an Australian plug had to stay, so that was easy, and luckily I was able to sell all of our major appliances. So happy they will be reused!

This 4.5 Energy Star fridge was popular on Gumtree!

Furniture
Much of our furniture is in excellent condition, so I'm pleased so say we sold a number of items via Facebook and Gumtree and the remaining will be picked up by the Salvos next week.

Remember these chairs? I will be sad to part
with them after my handiwork!

This is coming with me - after my loving refurb
I can't bear parting with it!

 
Mattresses are understandably not an item you can donate, though can occasionally be refurbished and are recyclable. Ours is only two years old (and made with organic fabric!) and last year sat in storage unused for 6 months, but it's going to be recycled. There is even Mission Australia program run in the south of Sydney recycling and refurbishing mattresses as a social enterprise that provides and training in the Illawarra region called Soft Landings.

Small household items
Many small appliances and household goods are being 'gifted' to friends (blender! space heater! iron! microwave!), and the remainder will be donated. The idea of 'offloading' my cooking tools and laundry basket among other small items makes me cringe as I know many charity shops receive more donations than they know what to do with (for certain items, not furniture, though, they always need good furniture). The only thing making me feel better is the knowledge that I live in a transient neighbourhood of travelers so I feel confident most items will get a second life.

But I look around every day and see something else that I'm just not sure about, though. I mean, you can't really donate a toilet scrubber, can you? So inevitably some of these things will end up in the (ugh) landfill...

Clothing
Truthfully, for a so-called 'fashionista' my wardrobe has never been smaller. Thanks to cleaning out last year ahead of our travels and generally not over-purchasing, I don't have that many clothes. I'll do a final clean out and most items will come in my luggage wit large winter items winning a spot on the boat.

photo: The Guardian

 
Clothing is typically donated to charity shops in huge amounts, and in the US shops receive 5 times the amount of clothes than they can donate. So remember, buy fewer clothes, buy quality items, and when you do donate, make sure it's in the best condition.

Electronics
You know that drawer in your house filled with old electronics, wires, chargers, phones and laptops? Well now I really have to dispose of those items. I've been holding onto them, knowing they don't go into the landfill, but time is running out. I need to call TechCollect or take them to my local collection point at Kimbriki.

Globally we throw away anywhere from 20 million to 50 million metric tons of eWaste each year, with only 10-18% getting recycled.  Next time you upgrade your computer, television or mobile phone, first see if anyone else can use it, then make sure to recycle it safely.

Bits and pieces
Since I'm moving out for good, all the little things will need to be dealt with - lightbulbs, leftover laundry detergent, spices, dish soap - I've done the best I can to not over-purchase anything during the past few months, bu there will inevitably be a lot going into the bin unless I can offload it onto friends and neighbours. I think all the things that will be thrown away is the most stressful part of this move for me - so unsustainable! 

****

As I'm writing this and looking around my office, I see so many items I still need to make decisions on - sketchbooks with only 5 pages used, my stack of eco-magazines (Green Living, Peppermint, Green Lifestyle), pillows on the daybed, my stack of photos from those photography courses I took five years ago. And what about that cool free postcard I picked up to stick to my inspiration board? Has that earned a place on the boat?

I realise, perhaps more than most, how these things create our identity. We use items to portray ourselves a certain way, and a stack of partially used notebooks or old magazines may look like rubbish to an outsider, but they really contain pieces of me.

Right, this is why it's a stressful occasion.

At least I got the big things taken care of - I better get cracking on the rest.  If you have any tips (or are in the market for any household items!) please get in touch, I'll take all the help I can get right about now.

xxLisa

a green furniture fling

Don't tell my physio, but for the past couple months I've been alternating between a wooden folding chair (with a slight recline) and a metal kitchen chair as my office chair.  It's really no wonder I've been waking up with an aching back in the middle of the night.

Here you can see both of my backache-inducing *office* chairs.

Today I thought I'd check out the local Salvos just in case they had any desk chairs. Bingo! A fabulous hot pink number with my name on it. $20 for the chair, a quick GoGet booking for another $6, and the chair was mine.

Jan the i30 wagon.

I think pink will certainly inspire excellent writing, don't you?

Have you scored any amazing secondhand deals lately?

a green creativity fling: follow-up

You may recall from my visit to Reverse Garbage that I picked up two coffee hessian sacks for $6 to recover my shabby kitchen chairs.  I finally got around to borrowing a staple gun from a friend, bought some staples and got to work.

Tip - don't buy a tool you'll probably use for just for one project, borrow and reuse instead.  I'm lucky enough to have a great friend who owns every tool imaginable - if you don't have one of those friends, try the site Friends with Things.

After thoroughly washing the smelly sacks with soapnuts and hanging them in the fresh air and sun for a few days the sacks came out fresh and clean and chair-ready.  It took about an hour to cut the sacks into the shape and size I needed and recover two chairs (including convincing the hubby to do the stapling because anything with the word 'gun' in it frightens me).  So happy with my 'new' chairs!

By chair #3 I decided I was brave enough to wield the staple gun and promptly broke it, so the project is on hold.   I've yet to tell my friend I've broken his gun (hopefully he doesn't read this before I talk to him!), and it looks like I'll be buying a new staple gun after all.

Looking forward to completing my project this weekend!

Even with the added cost of a new staple gun, this project was very cost-effective and certainly cheaper than buying four new chairs.

What's the cheapest furniture refurbishment you've ever completed?

a green creativity fling

This weekend my green flinging took me to a shop I've been DYING to visit for months - Reverse Garbage (sounds sexy, doesn't it?).

This non-profit organisation has been around since the mid 1970s arranging 'resource re-use'.  They:

make available industrial and commercial discards, off-cuts and over-runs to creative and practical people, reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.  

Essentially the shops contain random, reasonably priced bits and pieces that would otherwise be thrown out that many people use in art, DIY and other creative projects. 

I've heard a lot of hype from fellow greenies about this amazing reuse shop, and headed there with a specific goal in mind - fabric to recover my kitchen chairs (bought secondhand from a coworker a couple years ago and looking more shabby than chic).  I've looked into eco-fabrics, but wanted to see what off-cuts were available before committing to purchasing lovely (but pricey) organic fabric I found at Thea and Sami.

Because of the nature of Reverse Garbage you never know what's going to be in stock, so I tried to manage my own expectations as I excitedly approached the Taylor Square shop (with mannequin legs appropriately sprawled in the arched window of the old T2 building).  My initial impression after stepping into to the shop was not good, and I felt it was more like a garage sale than art store.  The ground floor was dimly lit, smelled a bit musty and was filled with disparate piles of crayons, mannequin pieces, beads, mounting board off-cuts and even promotional notepads and toys. My senses quickly adjusted, though, and as I saw a method to the apparent madness I could also see why this place has been so popular with creatives for decades with its affordable and unexpected goodies stashed in every possible corner of the shop.

Then I wandered into the fabric room and my heart dropped - they certainly weren't making it easy for me! 

The huge pile of fabric rolls was quite difficult to look through, and at one stage I rolled one off the pile and it thudded quite loudly on the ground - luckily my hubby was there to help me pick it back up, it was really heavy! The pile contained a lot white and off white cotton, jersey and polyester blends, but nothing suitable for covering chairs, and the few rolls of upholstery-like material weren't really my taste (there were a few corduroy-like rolls in pale green, blue and golden shades if anyone's interested).  There were also hundreds of swatches hanging on a rack, but nothing large enough to cover my chairs.  Although I'd tried not to expect much, I was still disappointed after all the buzz I'd heard.

I headed up the stairs into the lofty-second floor just to have a peek, and the lovely light streaming through the windows perked my mood immediately.  There were Mardi Gras costume extras, dresses and belts, containers and art boards of all shapes and sizes, and cute wooden stencils with Aussie animals - the potential was amazing! 

Then I saw some hessian coffee sacks and my creative wheels started spinning - could these fun pieces of fabric be used to cover my chairs?  The sacks were not as scratchy as I thought they'd be, they need a bit of a wash and have potential to shed, but at $3 a piece it's a very low-risk investment - sold!

This green fling reminded me that when shopping sustainably, I'm not shopping conveniently. The shop will not always have exactly what I want when I want it, and I may have to change my expectations - like being open to the possibility of recovering kitchen chairs with coffee bags instead of fabric. Watch this space in the coming weeks as I recover the chairs with reused hessian coffee bags.

Thanks Reverse Garbage for this lesson, for my cool bags, for all your efforts in keeping rubbish out of landfill, for helping artists, teachers and other creative folks in the process and for really being the experts in reuse.  I do understand what the buzz is all about now.