Since Thanksgiving is just a hop, skip and a jump around the corner, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to look at some lovely dining spaces. Feast your eyes on these beauties! (Get it?! Feast? hahahaha…. silly me).

The winner of Project Laundry List’s window display in downtown Concord is… Concord Camera!

Sincere thanks to the owner and staff of Concord Camera for their gracious cooperation.

Hold on to your delicates and your dryer sheets — today I’m going to talk about laundry. Did you know that 80% of households in America have a dryer whereas countries like Italy average only 3%? Air drying clothes can save money, reduce energy consumption, and even kill germs and bacteria thanks to the sun’s UV rays.

Project Laundry List is an event taking place in downtown Concord to promote the green advantages of using a clothesline. Creative displays have been hung at the Capital building and 13 businesses. In collaboration with Cyndi Rogers of Mariposa Designs, we worked on the design, construction, and installation of 5 displays: Bagel Works, Caffenio, Concord Camera, Gibson’s Bookstore, and Gondwana. Stay tuned to find out which window is the winner!

Bagel Works: Window on the left - your average plastic grocery bag… On the right - ANYTHING but ordinary bags woven from the plastic ones! Created by Crafty Kathy, these hardcore alternatives are available for purchase at KAZA.

Caffenio: Funky garland made of coffee filters and coffee mugs. A “tea” shirt is also shown hanging in the center.

Concord Camera: Jumbo clothespins hold slides, fantastic black and white photos (of clotheslines of course), and rolls of negatives to drying racks. Slides were also attached to a string of mini paper lanterns.

Gibson’s Bookstore: Folding the pages of a book goes against everything I was ever taught. I hate to even dog-ear a page to save my place! The end result, however, can be beautiful : )

Gondwana: Students from Rundlett Middle School gave us a hand with clothes cut from paper bags. Pictures and flags are also hung to represent the countries Gondwana practices Fair Trade with.

As a side note, holy window glare Batman!

Project Laundry List’s founder Alex Lee has been traveling to promote similar events in cities across America. For more information, visit www.laundrylist.org.

After what has been nearly a lifetime (I’ve been known to exaggerate), I am finally graduating! The past 4-years studying Interior Design at NH Institute of Art has been nothing less than sensational. My path to higher education took a slight detour before I realized the artistic direction I wanted to take in life. NHIA provided a challenging opportunity to study Interior Design in New Hampshire while continuing to work full-time. I encourage anyone and everyone to consider NHIA for pursuing their own creative interests.

For the “senior” project, we were given a general footprint of a house and required to either use Universal (handicap accessible) or Green design principles. Being the green enthusiast that I am, you can guess which option I went for.

My concept for the project was “A Walk In Nature”. Elements of nature and New England landscape served as inspiration for each room of the house. In other words, the living room used colors, textures, and patterns found in the forest. The kitchen, a field of tall grasses. The bathroom, a flowing stream. The bedroom, sunset in the mountains…

Visit www.nhia.edu for more information. (ID is available through the Continuing Education Dept).

There are numerous facets to working with green design - creating a healthy environment, reusing furniture and accessories to extend their lifecycle, and designing for longevity, to name a few. These techniques are also inherent qualities to my approach with interior design.

As I have mentioned before, it’s impossible to be 100% green. Each product has it’s green advantages and disadvantages. The trick is to find the best balance for each individual client. To complicate matters, rising awareness and preference for using green products has lead to “Green Washing”. This term describes false or exaggerated claims of environmental friendliness. So how do you make the best choices? Aside from hiring your’s truly, organizations such as USGBC (US Green Building Council) help by certifying fact from fiction. To learn more, I recommend GreenHomeGuide.com. Their article “Navigating the Flooring Thicket: Finding the Greenest Way to Meet Your Needs” is excellent.

Go Green!

Interview with Dan Barrick, Monitor Staff

The new year is a great time to redesign and rearrange your home. Aimee Leduc, owner of Lavender and Lotus Interior Design in Concord, which specializes in environmentally-friendly home design, offered some tips on how to make your house look good while also being green.

What are some simple ways people can change their homes to be more in tune with the environment?

It’s astounding to me how many people still do not recycle. And if you’re redesigning your kitchen, you should make sure to make the recycling area as easy to get to as possible. Put it in an accessible cabinet near the garbage, for example. Another easy thing to do is to start paying attention to how you’re using your products. Are you buying water bottles constantly and cycling through plastic?

Also, instead of buying a new piece to decorate a room, you can go to antique or consignment stores. Anything you can reuse or use in a different way is a good change.

What about a remodeling job?

It’s impossible to be 100 percent green, so people need to find out what their priorities are and figure how to make that balance.

With a kitchen renovation, you may not have to tear out all the cabinets and replace them. You can refinish them using low VOC materials. You may want to introduce high-efficiency appliances into your kitchen.

Think about the choices you’re making. For instance, a lot of people see granite countertops as a natural material, but they don’t see the bigger picture, which is the effort to take that granite out of the environment and the causing emissions. As an alternative, there are counterops made out of recycled materials and resin. When you’re done with that product it can be recycled further.

That bamboo is entirely green is another common misconception. People think of it as this fast growing grass, but we don’t harvest it in the U.S. so there’s a cost of bringing it here from China.

If you’re redoing the bathroom, look into some of the new models of toilets that use less water.

Also, you can think about how you can reuse water that would normally go right down the drain. It’s called gray water - water that runs out of the tap when you are waiting for it to get hot or cold. If you collect that water in another receptacle, that could go towards watering your plants, or a lot of different applications.

And if you’re building a new house, think about how you orient the house to take advantage of sunlight so you can cut down on your heating costs.

Lighting is a big area where design can be more environmentally-friendly. The compact fluorescent bulbs on the market are more expensive, but they last a lot longer. And there’s absolutely a difference in quality. All compact fluorescents are not the same.

Aimee Leduc can be reached through her website: [here!]

Believe it or not, there are tons of ways to be Green for the holidays. You may even be taking Green initiatives without recognizing it.

Decor - Use natural elements such as flowers, fruit, pine boughs, laurel, etc. Not only will you appreciate their fragrances (vs. the toxic fumes off gassing from their plastic counterparts), but these organic materials will break down completely without harming the environment. When shopping for a tree, look for one with roots so that it can be planted in the spring.

Lights - If you plan on purchasing new strings this season, opt for LED’s. Light Emitting Diodes require minimum watts for operation and can last 100,000 hours. In other words, while these may cost a bit more than the typical string, you will save in utility costs to run them and won’t have to replace them so soon.

Gifts - This is a great time to encourage the Green movement among friends and family. Check out stores that offer green, organic products. If you are in the Concord area, Main Street alone has lots of opportunities to buy green. Here are some to name a few:

• Real Green Goods;
• Your Home, Your World;
• Earth Made;
• KAZA; and
• Concord COOP.

Gift Wrapping - Depending on how crafty you are, give fabric a try. A dab of hot glue would be your best bet as an adhesive. If wrapping with paper is preferred, look for recycled or FSC certified products. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international agency that promotes sustainably harvested wood, gathered from well-managed forests.

Gift Receiving - Your Great Aunt Bessie has the right idea by opening her gift with incredible care. Try salvaging wrapping paper this year; done right, you could save money and a tree for next season. Gift bags, ribbon, and bows can also be reused. At the very least, PLEASE RECYCLE all that you can.