DAILY DANNY

Shot Glass Candles

A few months ago, I was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania giving a speech to members of the Urban Land Institute.     Since my flight got there rather early (I guess no one realized my flight from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh would take all but 30 minutes), I did what I do best: thrift store shop.

On the outskirts of Philly, I found a small junk/thrift/cafe store that was meant for rummaging.   I found a variety of glass shot glasses and thought they would make lovely tealight candles.   So, for the past few months, they sat stashed away in the craft shed.  Until this holiday break...

Start with clean shot glasses: scour Goodwill, Salvation Army, flea markets, your attic, whatever!  Just don't go run out and buy brand new ones... defeats the whole point of recycling!

You'll need some basic supplies: paper or newspaper to cover your work surface, some wicks, an old candle or two, and a large container to melt the wax in.    You can find everything at the craft store.   And look for an old pillar candles at home that--for some reason--you can't light anymore and could be melted down for the project.

Wicks go into the shot glasses.    They stand upright for now, but once the hot, melted wax is poured in, they'll fall over to the sides.  So be sure to have something on hand to keep them upright, like leftover Chinese Food takeout chopsticks.  They work really well.

Once the wax is poured into the shot glasses, steady the wicks with chopsticks or twigs.    Allow to cool completely before removing the chopsticks.     Trim the excess wicks.

Finished!   I placed them on an old hotel silver tray in the kitchen.    Light, enjoy, remake!

LED Nest

The holiday are over and I'm slacking on the "time to pack it all back up" department. 

On my front porch, I rolled up a bunch of energy-efficient LED string lights into tightly-wound balls.    Then I placed a power strip on the bench, put a green/mossy wreath on top of the strip, and then started to plug the balls into the strip and stack them on top of each other   It's like a nest full of soft, glowy LED lights.

I just love the look of this and I love the fact LED lights are very safe to work with.  I also love how these LED lights give off a soft, yellow-y glow; you wold have no idea they are actually totally different from the antiquated incandescent string lights.   I want to keep this out throughout the winter.   

Birch Boxes

Got the holiday blues yet?  Well, don't!   We still have New Year's Eve to celebrate!!!

At the Container Store in New York City, I was looking around with absolutely no plan of action. I came across these birch veneer wine holders and though they were really handsome, well-made and a great solution for those of you who aren't too keen on chopping off a shirt sleeve to wrap a bottle of wine.

The veneer is actually quite flexible and durable and this container can definitely be used over and over.

So, if you have a Container Store near you and you have to bring a bottle of wine to a New Year's Eve party, this might be your solution. 

Happy New Year!

The New (old) Kitchen

Here are some more "before" photos of the home I recently purchased.   

The kitchen is very typical mid-century modern, isn't it?   It's hard to tell from the photo, but the hardwood cabinets are absolutely gorgeous, well-made and---in my opinion---not going anywhere during the renovation.

What I plan on doing is installing all-new Energy Star rated appliances (while finding a local scrap metal dealer to recycle the old appliances), replace the flooring with durable and absorbent cork floor tiles, install some new energy efficient overhead lighting, create a hardworking laundry area and---finally---restore the overhead vent to work as well as it did on Day 1.

The mobile art piece was included in the sale of the house.  I really love it and will probably leave it right there.

In a few weeks, I'll be blogging weekly on The Huffington Post about the renovation, showing the process, giving you exact names of products and services used and the pros and cons of whatever methods I did on the house.  I have no idea what I'll be blogging about, but it'll be honest and to-the-point at least.   Should be interesting....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you!   

I'm taking this weekend, Christmas Eve and Christmas off from blogging.   

Here's a photo from my Christmas tree from last year: a live balled tree decorated with a tea party theme.   If you haven't decorated your tree yet, why not raid your pantry for tea bags, strainers, Chinese food fortune cookies and tea cups?   

Enjoy the time off and relish in every second of this greener, kinder holiday season!   Posts will begin December 26th.

-Danny Seo

Mimosa Kit

I recycled a Clementine box today into a mimosa kit.   In the box, I wrapped organic oranges in square sheets of newspaper, so they are all nestled inside like little citrus-y jewels.

Right on top, I anchored a big orange box of Veuve Cliquot champagne.  I don't like the fact you can't just buy the bottle anymore; everywhere I look it's packaged in this very glossy, shiny box.  Oh well...maybe I'll add that to my "to do" list for 2008: call Veuve Cliquot and complain about an orange box. 

Then I tied it all up with some vintage ribbon around the edge of the box.   I haven't decided who'll get this gift yet, but I'm sure it'll be enjoyed by the recipient.  They can squeeze fresh oranges, top it off with some champers, and have a fresh mimosa.  Cheers!

And the leftover oranges and some Clementine's are now sitting on the dining room table on a vintage hotel silver plater.  How festive!

Sneak Peek: My new home

Next month, I begin renovations on a mid-century modern home that I recently purchased.    As you may know, I put my country-style bungalow home on the Delaware River on the market, too.     Well, a bit of news: I am keeping that house AND the modern home.

I'm working on a new line of environmentally-friendly home products and will be using the smaller bungalow style home as a workshop of sorts to design product, do photo shoots and "live" with prototype bedding, furniture and accessories so I can tweak and perfect them.     And since the renovations to the new house will take some time, I'll be able to live in my current home as the work crews renovate and restore away.

I love both the country aesthetic and the clean modern style, so I feel very fortunate enough that I can keep both houses so I can experiment with both design and decorating styles.   

So, that's that for that one announcement.

Above is a photo I took of the new house.  Isn't the fireplace amazing? I plan on keeping it just the way it is, perhaps with a bit of elbow grease to clean up the stones and repoint the stones inside the fireplace.   But that's it.    The hardwood floors are extraordinary and will just get a good buff and wax.   I'm already shopping for new overhead light fixtures and I have the perfect vintage butterfly chairs for the fireplace.

The dining area really sold me on the house.   Aren't the windows amazing?   It's like living in a glass house in the middle of the woods!    I've been obsessed with this idea of "comfortable modern" and have lots of ideas on designing the space to be usable, comfy and very clean looking.      I really liked the existing Danish style dining room chairs and table, so I made an offer to the homeowner for them.   

More photos tomorrow....

Greener Christmas

More shots from the recent satellite media tour.   My friend and prop stylist Vanessa Boer did such a wonderful job taking projects from my book "Simply Green Giving" and created props for the set that really took my breath away.     If you read this blog often, you know I've talked about chopping a sleeve off an old workshirt and using it to wrap a bottle of wine.    How gorgeous are these shirt-sleeve wrapped bottles of wine that Vanessa did?

And here Vanessa took my idea of reusing an Altoid mint tin into a gift card holder and used very intricate and Japanese-looking paper to cover the boxes.    It's hard to tell from the photos, but if you look closely at the boxes, she did a careful and exquisitely perfect job covering the top, sides and bottom of the tins.  They look like shiny jewelry boxes instead.     If I received one of these boxes with the gift card inside, I may be tempted to like the gift box better!

Kraft Paper Wrapped Gifts

Gift wrapping is one of these things that people either A: Dread or B: feel bad about.    It's never positive, is it?   

So, here's something that's quick, eco-friendly, festive and fun!   

Rip open a grocery store brown paper bag (let's face it: even I forget to bring my own bag to the store sometimes) and wrap a gift so the unprinted side shows on the outside of the box.

Then cover the package in office supply store stickers; I love the white reinforcement stickers. Isn't it fun how they swirl all around the box in this picture?   Tie it all up with wool yarn in festive colors and you're done.

This is something even children can help with.    Have fun, wrap away and be creative!

Rethinking Carpet

Here's a photo of the hallway in my new home that I'll be renovating in a few weeks.     I actually love the color of this wall-to-wall carpet in the hallway, but still, it needs to be replaced.    

I'm replacing the entire hallway with bamboo flooring, but I'm planning on doing something a bit more interesting than straightforward bamboo flooring.  Maybe it'll be a herringbone pattern.  Or I'll use different shades of bamboo to create stripes.    Or I'll have the planks go in a zig zag pattern. Who knows.  I just know I want to make my flooring guy hate me.  ha ha.  I kid.

But In the other parts of the house, I'm looking at some green options for carpet.   A while ago in one of my books, I wrote how I disliked carpet and wanted hardwood and bamboo flooring without.   Well, never say never.    Check out this blog post on carpeting I did to read how I am starting to rethink that philosophy.

http://www.rethinkwhatspossible.com/?p=71

Parade Pick!

How cool is this?  I woke up Sunday morning and flipped open Parade Magazine to see they named my new 2008 one-a-day calendar "Do Just One Thing" one of their Parade Picks for best calendars!

I worked really hard on this calendar to come up with 366 (leap year!) tips that were easy, unique and legitimate actions people could do each day of the year.     Instead of tips like "buy hybrid car" or "install solar panels," I wanted them to be things that you could do in the morning when you're drinking your cup of joe.

Anyway, thank you Parade!   I'm really thrilled.

Yarn Ornaments

I recently did a Satellite Media Tour in New York City to help get the word out about The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation's Call2Recycle campaign, which is basically a nonprofit program that collects old rechargeable batteries and old cell phones for recycling.  They have over 50,000 collection boxes in stores like Lowe's, Best Buy, and Radio Shack all over the country.

So, to dress up the TV studio, I had my trusty stylist extraordinare Vanessa Boer create a festive set that included a live evergreen tree covered in handmade ornaments.

She started by covering the tree in energy-efficient LED string lights from Gardener's Supply.    I love LED string lights; they are super energy efficient, last a long time and don't get hot...so unlike traditional incandescent string lights.

Then she went to town making ball ornaments out of yarn, just wrapping yarn into balls and creating a small loop.    Isn't it cozy and great all over the tree in these colors?

New Outdoor Light

I was so surprised to find this galvanized outdoor light fixture for under $20 at Lowe's.     It's so simple and straightforward in it's design: real metal in a simple shape that looks really nice and handsome against the painted wood outside the craft room.     The utilitarian look is really great and to buy it for less than twenty bucks?   That's the icing on the cake.

After I installed the light, I put in a yellow coated compact fluorescent lightbulb, the kind designed to not attract insects in the summer.   Even though it's below freezing here and bugs are nowhere to be seen, I still installed this light bulb in the fixture.

What I like about this yellow CFL bulb is that the yellow casing on it actually deflects the bright, white harsh light from the CFL; it's actually pleasant to look at when it's lit.    So at night when the light turns on, it casts a nice, soft yellow-y glow into the dark woods.   And with the energy-saving benefits of the CFL bulb, I feel better using it, too.    

So, to recap: $20 galvanized light fixture.  Score!     Yellow coated CFL bulb that looks pleasant when lit?  Score!

Everyday Art

My four-year-old nephew is quite the talented artist.      On a recent trip to Washington, DC to pay my family a visit, he gave me this unique and colorful collage of finger paint, crayon and construction paper.  I tend to think this is his interpretation of an autumnal scene...all from the viewpoint of a four-year-old.

I took the piece of art to a local gallery and had it professionally framed using a simple black frame with a grey mat.    I just love how the piece came out and now it proudly hangs in the kitchen of my bungalow home.

Lots of people go to stores and buy preframed art because they simply want something---anything--to hang on the walls.    And lots of people think artwork that's original will cost an arm and a leg.   

First, my pet peeve is pre-framed art.   It's mass-produced, it's unoriginal and I really do think it actually cheapens the look of a room.   But that doesn't mean you have to break the bank to put gallery-worthy art on the walls: just look around the house.

In addition to framing kid's artwork, you can press dried leaves you collect from the woods in between glass and use bulldog clips to keep the two panes of glass together.    You can also frame photos in simple black frames and use exaggerated mats on the insider to create small "windows" into the photos.    Or get a large black frame and put a flag on the inside and hang it... or just hang the flag up on the wall with no frame at all!

In my dining room, I framed a bunch of black and white photos that were used in my 2001 book "Conscious Style Home."  I love how they look and love how they were part of a book I wrote.

What have you framed and made into art?    Share your ideas here.

Return to Sender: Junk Mail Revenge

Junk mail is annoying, isn't it?    And even though you sign up for those "do not mail" lists and do everything possible to prevent junk mail, it still creeps up into our mailbox.

One thing I've noticed lately is a flood of credit card offers coming to my house.   So instead of calling each mailer up and asking them to stop sending me solicitations, I figure I'd give them a taste of their own medicine: make them pay for it.

Inside the junk mail packets, you'll usually find a Business Reply Mail envelope. These are postage-paid by the addressee, meaning when, say, the credit card company gets it in the mail, they have to pay the postage for it.

So, I figure if they are sending me these mailing unsolicited, then I can send it right back to them in their own envelope unsolicited, too.    I basically stuff those envelopes with everything they sent me and drop it in the mail.

If everyone did this, you can imagine this could stop junk mail altogether.    If it hits them in the wallet, it will stop....

Vintage Ornament Wreath

This morning, I'm in New York City doing something called a Satellite Media Tour.  Basically, it's me in a TV studio talking via satellite to lots of local TV stations all over the country.   Leave me a comment if you caught me this morning!! Would love to hear.    I basically do this tour every year with the non-profit Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation, asking people to remember to recycle their old cell phones and old rechargeable batteries during the holiday season.   I also am sharing my green holiday giving and decorating tips during the tour.

But that said, I wanted to post this photo of a holiday wreath I saw at a store in Lambertville, NJ called Monkey Hill.     I stopped by the store the other Sunday to pick up holiday gifts for my friends and left with lots of exquisite handmade soaps, candles and other gift sets.       This wreath really caught my eye.

This wreath is made entirely from vintage holiday ornaments of all types: glass balls, bells, even burnt-out vintage string lights.   They are all carefully hot glued together on a wood circular frame.  The whole thing is super light and very cool.

I'm going to attempt to make one of these with random bits of holiday stuff I have in storage and around the house.   I think I'll need quite a bit of hot glue sticks to finish this.

Marble Door Stop

A few weeks ago, I posted this post asking for help on ideas how to recycle a leftover bolt of hemp fabric and some leftover marble mosaic tile that was sitting in my craft room.   I got lots of great ideas (thank you!), but decided to try something else when I thought of it the other night.

The doors in my home have a tendency to close all on their own, which can be annoying when you're, say, carrying  a large basket full of laundry and a door closes right in front of you.    So I decided to make a marble door stop.   

First step!    I bought an unfinished wood block from the craft store, some mosaic adhesive and pre-mixed grout.  I also found a flat edge tool to spread everything evenly around:

Step Two: Glue the individual tiles to the square.   The adhesive sets up fast----which is great---so you can stick the tiles all over the block very quickly without having to wait for everything to dry on the other sides.

Spread the grout around.  It was like icing a cake, but not as sweet (ha ha).    It's a messy job, but the excess grout can be wiped off and sanded down later.

And there you have it: a marble door stop.    Could be a cool paperweight, but I really don't have a need for paperweights in my house.    I still have a good sheet of marble tile left, which will next become very cool magnets for the fridge.   Future post!

Old Clothing Wreath

Up on my holiday mantel I dug out these wreaths I had in storage.   I completely forgot about them and I'm so thrilled to find them at the bottom of the "Christmas" storage box in the craft room.

Last year, I went to Goodwill and fished through the bargain bin to fish out the tackiest, shiniest, more be-jeweled clothing I could find.     You can imagine the looks I got from the sales person when she saw me buy them all up.

Then I cut them into strips and pinned them around a circular wreath form.   A strip of rhinestoned sweater here...some batik fabric here...maybe a woolen sweater piece here.   Then I pinned sequins, beads and pom poms here and there for decorative effect.  I even silver leafed a wooden moose and pinned him onto one of them.

And there you have it: a cozy and totally handmade wreath.  No muss, no fuss.   Easy, cozy and fun.

Blast from the Past: Card Village

Last year, I blogged about this mini-village I displayed on my mantel that is made entirely out of holiday cards.       I thought it was such a timeless, fun idea that I wanted to re-post it make sure new folks to this blog could see the idea for this holiday season!

It's so easy to make these homes.   Just tape two cards that are the same size together at the open edges of the card to make a box.   Then find another card to the roof and attach.     Cut out windows, doors, fringe and other decorative touches to each house.   

As cards come to your home in the mail, your village can grow!   

If you want some "snow" on the mantel, too, just rip open an old bed pillow and use the polyester fill on the inside.  It helps to use small pieces here and there... looks all snowy and tranquil.

Bio Umbrella?

A fun new eco product came in the mail today for me try out and test.

It's called the BRELLI, and it's an "eco-chic umbrella that packs a style punch rain or shine."  In other words, it's the world's first 100% biodegradable umbrella.

The umbrella features a certified biodegradable "plastic" canopy.    The innovative new material has a unique composition which allows it to totally biodegrade in landfill environments.     Made from a bio-plastic that comes from renewable resources, the Brelli will breakdown in landfills in just 1 to 2 years (it takes hundreds of years for a traditional umbrella to breakdown).    And the rest of the umbrella is made from renewable and natural bamboo.

So, you might be wondering: will it degrade if it gets wet?   No, it won't.   In fact, it's quite strong and actually very large... so it does a good job at keeping you dry.

I'm going to test this out for a bit.   But given the fact so many umbrellas I have are either A: very cheap and flimsy when I bought them out of a desperation from a NYC street vendor or B: lost.... this might be a good eco-solution.     Plus, maybe because it's so unique and different, I won't lose it as quickly.

Well, we'll see.

www.thebrelli.com

Dining Hutch Linen Closet

There's a built-in dining room hutch in my house.     It was designed to hold dishes, cups, silverware and other items needed when throwing a dinner party.

But I keep all my dishes, cups, silverware and other items in my kitchen...where I use don't differentiate the "good" tableware from the "everyday."   I just use everything for everyone... anytime.

So with an empty dining room hutch, I decided to transform it into a "weekend guest" linen closet.   It's stocked with all the essentials I need when guests come to visit me.

I've got bamboo and organic cotton sheet sets stacked up, extra towels and washcloths, bars of soap and mini-bottles of shampoo I've swiped from hotel guest rooms, candles and tealights, bottles of wine, extra packets of tea and Emergen-C vitamin packs, and a few extra cups and glasses.   

I think it's a great to be prepared and makes great use of space that would otherwise go empty.

Fabric Wine Bottle

The holiday season is a time for giving, so this is something that can help solve a big problem most of us face: how to wrap a wine bottle.

Sure, you can buy one of those wine gift bag at the store, but it's rather wasteful both for environmental and economical reasons.     It's usually made from coated paper that can't be recycled (not to mention the fact it's usually not very pretty anyway) and it costs extra money.    After all, isn't the wine what really counts?

But you can't just show up with a bottle of wine in your hands, so when you need to wrap it, raid your closet.

Here I took an old work shirt and cut off the sleeve.  Then I just wrapped it around the bottle and pinned the bottom of the sleeve closed.   Tie a ribbon around the neck and voila!   Wrapped bottle.

Rethink Recycled Paper Products

I've been having a lot of fun blogging over at the website ReThink What's Possible about a variety of eco-friendly living ideas and solutions.     Check out the website for some of my past posts.

This week, I'm going back in time and remembering my field trip to the Marcal paper plant in New Jersey.   About 1 and 1/2 years ago, I taped a segment there for my TV show "Simply Green with Danny Seo."   It was fascinating---in a school field trip sorta way---to see how office paper become pulped and pressed into recycled paper towels and toilet tissue.  You can read more about my field trip here.

There's also a fun post on rethinking the way you decorate your own home.   I always say to people CURATE, CURATE, CURATE... like a museum curator.    If you're interested in curating your own home, then check out www.rethinkwhatspossible.com.

Basket Hamper

For a long time, I've been using a wooden bushel basket as a laundry basket in my house.  It was a great eco-solution because it was PVC free, made from all-natural materials (strips of wood with two sturdy wire handles), and was really strong and durable.

I gave that basket away when someone commented how much they loved the idea....soooo...I've been without a laundry basket for a while.   

This is my new wicker basket that I keep in the guest room.   It's very room and tall, so it holds lots and lots of laundry and conceals it nicely so it doesn't look like a giant mess of clothes, towels and sheets that need to be washed.

The two handles on the side make it very easy to carry to the laundry area of my house.   When the clothes are finished, I just fold them up, stack them in the basket, and carry it around the house refilling the linen closet, drawers and towel racks with fresh laundry.

It's from JC Penney and should be in stores near you.    If you can't find this exact one, you'll be able to find others.    I'm not sure it was designed to be a laundry hamper, but I sure think it's a pretty amazing one.

Altoid Organizers

Okay, so I am starting to grow a itsy bitsy obsession with figuring out ways to recycle empty Altoid mint tins into something else.

In the past, I've shared an idea to cover the tins with contact paper and use them as gift boxes for gift cards.  Such a simple idea for the holiday season!

Today, I bought a sheet of thin cork from the office supply store and cut out pieces to cover the lid.   Then I used the hot glue gun to adhere them on top.   With a set of alphabet stamps and an ink pad, I just marked each top with words like "paperclips" "rubberbands" and "thumbtacks." 

Now they sit on top of my desk keeping all the home office supplies neat and tidy.

Live or Fake Debate..

I've gotten lots of questions lately about whether it's a greener choice to buy a live or fake Christmas tree.   People seem torn between the two.   On one hand, a live tree is made from a renewable resource and can easily be recycled; but it's cutting down a tree that took years to grow.     On the other hand, a fake tree can be reused year after year, but it's made from petroleum-based materials and was probably shipped from overseas.

The verdict?

Choose a live tree.    Believe it or not, I lived on a Christmas tree farm for three years of my life.    Even though I didn’t work on the farm, I did learn more about evergreen trees than any person should ever really know.     The greenest choice when it comes to real vs. fake is choose a live tree.     You see, these farms are using land that’s unsuitable for most crops, except hardy trees.  So they’re saving land from development.   Plus the trees provide habitat for wildlife and help combat global warming while looking all so charming and idyllic.  And unlike a fake tree which is made from petroleum based materials and shipped from overseas, these trees are renewable and easily recyclable.    And for those of you say fake trees can last forever, I ask this: if that really is the case, then why do they keep making artificial trees?   If they really, truly did last forever, they still wouldn't be making them.   

Above is a photo from the Dec/January issue of Country Home magazine that I did a few years ago.    It has two examples of even GREENER ways to decorate a tree: a burlaped balled tree that can be replanted (so it's left decorated on the front porch of my old home) and one that is decorated right in the field with oranges, apples, pears and a garland of frozen grapes.