Anyone who has been paying attention to home decor trends has probably noticed that green design has become a hot topic. However, this trend also comes with the misconception that a green home is one full of high-end products made from FSC-certified wood and other sustainable (and expensive) materials.

And boy, is this idea wrong.

Simply put, a green home is one whose inhabitants are conscious of the things they consume. And the quickest way to achieve this is to work with the things you already have.

Reduce

Those marketing eco-friendly products would have you believe that you should go out and buy them all in order to be kind to the Earth. But this is the opposite of what green living is about. There’s a reason the first word in the 3 Rs is “reduce.” Green living in general means learning to reduce our consumption. Ie. Buying and using only what we need.

When it comes to the home, this can mean ignoring TV ads for a brand new plasma TV when your old tube model works just fine. It can mean being content with rearranging your furniture to change the look of a room instead of buying new ones. It means realizing that as beautiful as that new organic bedding may be, if you don’t really need it, it should stay in the store.

Reuse

I will make a confession. Every few months, I start to get the itch. I’ll look around a room that has been pretty much the same for a while, and I’ll want to change everything and start over. While my husband is easily content with moving furniture, it’s not always easy for me to take my own advice.

I’ll want to buy new throw pillows, change all the artwork and replace all our tchotchkes. But since I try my best to practice what I preach, I had to find new ways to make my home feel new without buying anything.

The concept is simple, really. I just look around my home for existing objects that can be used in new ways. When my husband and I decorated our daughter’s room a few months back, we did use new products to serve functions that didn’t exist before. But when we could, we reused stuff she already had, including her bedding and a thrift store lamp we had refurbished months before. I admit that I wasn’t a fan of the idea of putting the old lamp in her new room. I wanted a new one. Instead, I settled for putting a new shade on the old lamp, and it felt like a completely new piece. You can see the transformation above.

When we moved into our current apartment, we found that the laundry room had no door. Because I didn’t want to look at the washer, dryer, vacuum, etc. every time I walked into the kitchen, I knew I’d need an inexpensive way to cover it up. I used some fabric I already owned to create a simple curtain, attached to the rod with curtain clips I already had.

SOME IDEAS FOR CREATIVE REUSE:

• Have sheets that you love, but that have seen better days? Cut the parts of the fabric that are in good condition to make new covers for your throw pillows.
• Take a closer look at the side table in your living room. Could it work as a nightstand in your bedroom?
• Trim your existing curtains in contrasting ribbon.
• Paint all your mismatched picture frames in a single color and create a unique wall installation.
• Group empty glass bottles in various shapes, sizes and colors to create a centerpiece for your dining room.

Reuse at home requires a little creativity, but it can make a space look completely different, and you don’t have to spend a dime. And after you’ve done it enough, you’ll really begin to embrace the idea that you don’t have to shop when you decorate.

Recycle

Sometimes, the things that we love will simply outlive their usefulness. And there are a few things in our home that are best replaced with greener alternatives. For example, you will save money, water AND energy when you replace older appliances with newer, more energy- and water-efficient models. But that doesn’t mean the old ones should go to the landfill. Items that you no longer need could be a godsend to someone who needs them.

Before you throw anything away, seriously consider whether there is a way to give it a second life. Stores like Best Buy and Radio Shack will allow you to recycle electronics and cell phones, most housewares can be donated to charities Goodwill, the Salvation Army and other charities to be sold in their thrift stores. You can even start your search for a new use close to home. Ask friends and family members if they have a need for the item you’re getting rid of. And if all those options fails, you can always post an ad on sites like Craigslist or Freecycle for folks to come and pick them up.

The final point? Don’t be persuaded to make your home greener by shopping. Trust your own taste and find ways to be creative with the things you already own. You’ll be surprised at what you can create when you challenge yourself.

Written by Jennae Petersen. Jennae is Skimbaco’s Green Living & Decor Expert. She is a mother, a graphic artist, a connoisseur of beautiful interiors and a purveyor of all things design. She also believes it is her duty to strive toward sustainable living. This means being more conscious about every aspect of life. She is the founder and author of Green Your Decor and Green & Gorgeous blogs. She also runs Hibiscus Creative, a successful, full-service graphic design firm specializing in branding and Thesis theme customizations, and she also designed Skimbaco’s logo and the blogs.

Who loves HGTV’s home giveaways? Well, who doesn’t!

HGTV fans are offered something new this time, a new, contemporary residence with an amazing view of the New York City skyline awaits the winner of HGTV’s newest home giveaway, HGTV Urban Oasis 2010. The apartment is custom-designed by HGTV’s popular designer Vern Yip, and comes fully furnished and with an Acura ZDX. This HGTV Urban Oasis is located in The Residences at W New York Downtown at 123 Washington Street.

You can enter twice daily to win the HGTV Urban Oasis 2010, valued at approximately $1.5 million. Here are some sneak pictures of the house, but you are able to see an on-air tour of the home during the HGTV Urban Oasis 2010 special on Monday, September 6, 2010, at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.

The giveaway is up and running, go and enter daily at HGTV.com and Wednesday, October 20, fans can enter as often as they’d like by mail and online users can enter once per day via HGTV.com as well as once per day on HGTV’s FrontDoor.com.

One of my favorite family comfort brands, Hanes, hosted a party during BlogHer conference in New York City, and I attended with some of my favorite bloggers, like Monica of Mommy Brain Reports, Debba of Girlfriendology and Erika of Chic Shopper Chick. We were pampered with comfortinis and foot massages – I missed them both, I was too busy talking with friends!

I did get to meet the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’s Mike Moloney, and hear his tips for organizing your underwear drawer and the best tip that even I might have forgotten… Every time you buy and bring home new underwear, throw old ones away! Simple tip, yet most of us don’t do it.

I love how the party was decorated in the Hanes fashion. The sun umbrellas were made of t-shirts, and the lamp shades of underwear. My favorite of course: the Hanes catalog pictures on the walls, with the pictures of my children, the Hanes models.

I had an honor to meet Lisa Fontanarosa at the Vegas Market earlier in August, and get to see some work from the artists she represents. Lisa has an eye for unusual and curious mind for design not yet discovered, and she brings several artists to our attention.

One of the artists is Marie Christophe, whose whimsical wirework lamps and chandeliers are as light as air and as transparent as bubbles in a glass of champagne. Marie’s sculptures of wire, beads, and other materials are objects of beauty and centerpieces of any space they find their home in.

Marie Christophe lives and designs in Paris, France, and her sculptures and lamps are available in the US via Lisa Fontanarosa.

I’m going back to Finland in a week and hoping to get more Scandinavian design inspiration on my trip. Here are some photos of beautiful modern Scandinavian kitchens and great products you can bring the same look for your kitchen. Less is more in Scandinavian design, and the colors are neutral, lots of white, earth tones, stainless steel and selected items bringing a splash of color. The kitchen photos are all from Finland, and the styles and ideas here represent the Finnish kitchen styles. All of the following products are not from Scandinavia, but offer the same look and are easily available.

(picture: Irja Koivula)

My favorite feature of Finnish kitchens is a dish rack inside a cabinet, on the top of the sink, tiskikaappi. I have no idea why a brilliant invention like this hasn’t spread around the world, but maybe it is just us Finns that thinks it’s brilliant. The dish rack is just simple wire rack, with open bottom of the cabinet, and you can lift all the hand washed dishes inside the cabinet to drip down to the sink. This leaves more space to your counter and your dishes are hidden behind the cabinet. I have chosen the kitchen pictures in this blog post to include the tiskikaappi.

STORAGE

But if you find tiskikaappi a little odd or you don’t have a cabinet on the top of your sink that you could turn into one, here are a few Scandinavian style storage ideas for you.

1. Alessi Jasper Morrison Kitchen Utensils Set ($115) is Italian, but many Scandinavians love Alessi and this utensil rack is a common sight in modern Scandinavian kitchen. Sleek design, nice deco element, but something that is in use daily.

2. Grundtal wall rack from IKEA ($10.99) is a great small rack you can get the Finnish feel to your kitchen.

3. Domsjö chopping board ($14.99) isn’t really a storage element, but I love it and added it here for its multi-purpose. This chopping board fits perfectly on the top of your sink and you get more counter space – and you can hide dirty dishes under it!

4. Swedish Designs’, Horizontal Skillet Rack Beech ($62.00) is made for skillets of different sizes, but I love the look and have it on my countertop and storage plates on it. Beech always has a Scandinavian feel and if you add colorful plates or skillets to this one, it gives just the right about color to your kitchen.

5. Stainless steel bread box ($39.95) from Crate & Barrel looks something many Scandinavians have. Many Finnish kitchens are small, and extra storage is always welcome. This bread box style is a design element and very functional piece of modern Scandinavian kitchens.

Kitchen photo sources:
Plaza.fi
Sundsberg.fi
vaasa.tvtalo.fi

Originally posted at Skimbaco Lifestyle.

The experts say that buying your home is always a good investment, you will need a place to live anyway, you might as well gain equity by owning one. But I wanted to know more about the state of the real estate market today, and interviewed real estate, mortgage and family wealth planning experts and I put together a Special Feature: Is It Time To Buy A Home? 2010 Real Estate Market & What Moms Should Know About It at LifetimeMoms.com.

If you are thinking about purchasing a new home, read what the top realtors say about buying a home now. For those who would like to know more about improving credit scores, a family estate planning attorney Darlynn Morgan answers all of your questions. And when you are ready to jump in and buy your next house, mortgage consultant Ryann Thornton shares wealth of information about mortgages and what you should know about them.

Read today’s guest post at Skimbaco Lifestyle by Julie Ruble of Willow Bird Baking. Julie created an amazing surprise birthday party with the Secret Garden theme. You can also visit her blog where you can recipes and craft instructions from the Secret Garden Party. When is the last time you hosted a surprise party for someone?

Chelsea Clinton looked stunning in her Vera Wang wedding gown as her father Bill Clinton walked her down the aisle yesterday when she wed Marc Mezvinsky in the beautiful settings by Hudson river in Astor Courts in Rhinebeck, New York.

Astor Courts was designed by Stanford White and built in 1902 for John Jacob Astor IV and with its ballroom-size main hall, an indoor tennis court and an indoor swimming pool and playground of 50 acres around it was a majestic estate. However over the years, the estate was not only taken care of well, but almost completely abandoned, until Kathleen Hammer and her husband Arthur Seelbinder bought it in 2004 and completely restored it.

Pictures by Bruce Buck for New York Times

Three cool chairs for kids rooms. Colorful, bold, fun yet simple design.

Designer Oiva Toikka’s Dodo rocking chair puts fun in the funky. Totally fun rocking chair for kids’ rooms that also looks anything but boring.

Matteo Thun’s Tam Tam Sgabello Low Stool is based on African culture, and the very traditional African looking chair has gotten a new look with bold colors.

Italian Trioli chair by Magis is another fun and functional chair that has two different heights as a chair and turns into a fun rocker.

Immediately following “iGot a Hot Room,” episode on iCarly, all iCarly fans will have the opportunity to win items from Carly’s hot new bedroom at Nick.com/iWin. Nick’s site will also launch the iCarly Hot Room Boutique where club members can get exclusive accessories and skins based on the items in her sizzling bedroom for their avatar.