One of our absolute favorite designers, Lori Dennis, wants to give you a sneak peak of her new book. Lori is an expert on executing green design that’s smart and chic. Green Interior Design is her easy-to-use, inspirational manual for creating a beautifully designed home that focuses on reducing waste and pollution, as well as protecting the health of those living in it.
This Allworth Press release is available in stores later this month, but I’ve got an advance copy with your name on it. Simply answer this week’s question before 12/11c Monday, Nov. 8. to win. And check out Lori Dennis on HGTV’s Designers’ Portfolio.
This week’s question: What ways have you gone green in your home?
PS If you’re coming here from Facebook.com/HGTV, you’ll need to answer the question in the comments below for it to count. Questions answered on the Facebook site aren’t entered into the contest.
I live in a small studio…so I transformed my recycle bin into a coffee table/ottomen. Works great!
During the day I open the curtains and turn down or the propane depending on the weather if it's too cold then I just turn it down if it is warm enough I turn it off. I also use shopping bags and always recycle my recycleables, just makes good sense. I also use the green house cleaning products. I have planned a green funeral.
Buying organic vegetables from local farmers and re-purposing just about everything…
We’re about to move into a mid-century modern house, so we’ll have lots of opportunities to green! We already recycle and compost, and once we move in, we plan on replacing the windows and sliding doors with energy-efficient vinyl, replacing the faucets, shower heads, and toilets with low water use ones, adding more insulation to the roof… The list goes on!
I buy recycled and green products that are available here in a small town. I'm always on the outlook for more.
We use the energy-efficient light bulbs and we have started recycling.
Replacing old window treatment with new energy efficient shades, recycling (of course), wash laundry in cold water, lightbulbs replaced with florescent, and as appliances wear out/break down, always replace them with the most energy effecient appliances. Can always do more.
I recycle, reuse. My window treatments help control temperature in the house
Have not started, yet. Have been reading up on composting.
By moving slowly and keeping mindful of small changes along the way we have been able to take small green steps toward making a beautiful healthy environment. My family has practiced green home living for many years in reusing and recycling most everything! Our goal has been to live more simply in a small home surrounded by food-bearing plants. We have worked our way now to reducing our carbon footprint by moving into a small garden cottage on our property which incorporated reclaimed materials everywhere- from repurposed lumber to even the plumbing fixtures. The finishes include clay on the walls, stained concrete floors and countertops and even reused 100 yr old fir flooring which was planed and stained beautifully for all the trim. Doing things this way has taken a commitment of time and effort, but the results are very satisying!
We are senior citizens that composts, mulch, use gray water to water plants, recycle aluminum, glass, plastic and paper. Grow our own tomatoes and herbs. We use cloth bags for shopping, instead of the merchants plastic or brown paper. Use the computer to pay bills as much as possible, relieving the use of mail & postage as well as bank statements. We have replaced all our bulbs with low wattage fluorescent and our appliances with Energy Star rated ones (as the old ones fail). We also plan our shopping trips to use as little gasoline as possible. Wear clothes longer, then recycle those we are weary of wearing and often buy used, rather than new, to replace them. I also cut my husband's hair (for over 30 years) saving scads of money!
Things I've done to be a bit "greener":
1) narrowed my household cleaners down to three, predominantly non-polluting products.
2) recycle and never buy any processed, packaged foods. (If I could get rid of ONE THING – it would be the incredible amount of packaging in products!)
3) was raised on the reuse-until-there-is-nothing-left way of my great grandparents – being frugal and prudent is a "good thing".
4) repurpose my clothing to the best of my ability. The goal is to not look like I just crawled out of the dumpster! If my own old clothes and accessories aren't coming together, I go to garage sales, Goodwill and consignment stores.
I still buy new things and try very hard to buy US made. (hard to find that anymore) I also try to use mostly natural fiber products: cotton, wool, ramie, etc. These items endure wear so much better.
5) Turn off lights when leaving a room and be aware of energy sappers in the home.
6) Lower the house temperature for the winter. Raise the house temperature for the summer.
"Green" also means to me "being economical". Certainly, the state of our country and economy today will help many of us come up with more ways to save, "be green" and be more aware of our actions.
Ways our household has gone Green:
1) Switching all regular light bulbs to energy efficient bulbs, both interior and exterior lights.
2) All our outdoor landscape lighting is solar powered. We use rainbarrels for watering the plants and the yard.
3) All the plants in the landscape are hardy native plants and perennials, and we don't use chemicals
4) HE Washer and Dryer for energy and water conservation
5) Low VOC paints to paint the interior walls
6) Use cloth napkins and kitchen towels for cleaning and drying dishes
7) Recycle all items allowed by our municipality
8) Turning the water off when brushing our teeth
We are always looking for ways that we can make our home more energy efficient, we have many more to adopt, but these were all gradual improvements we made over time and lifestyle changes we have made together as a family.
We've installed solar panels to heat water. We use a programmable thermostat for more efficiency with cooling and heating. We've switched to energy saving light bulbs. We use a front load washer to save water.
The first thing I. Changed were the types of cleaners I used. Not only to help the environment, but also to help control my asthma. The fumes would make it difficult for me to breathe and I worried about my dogs health as well.
Not only are we have we seen our waste reduced to less than 1/2 of what it was by recycling, we've been able to get a few friends to do the same. We recycle all the plastic that we can and clean and even clean and reuse our friends plastic ware. We also use all cooking water to water both indoor and outdoor plants. Our latest endeavor is to re-purpose old clothing for art projects, pillows, purses, etc…
I can not believe Scripps is unfairly haggling over price with AT&T Verse for HGTV and its sister channels. Please put pressure on Scripps to be reasonable – I don't think you want to lose so many viewers.
I do composting and recycling, AM repacing wood windows with insulated ones and doors, also. Am putting down bamboo flooring in spring'
More recycling, try to buy more green friendly cleaning supplies.
We recycle, purchase groceries or products with little or no unnecessary packaging, use heavy thermal room darkening drapes that hold the heat in at winter time and hold the heat out during the summer months. Also, we changed almost all of our lightbulbs to the energy efficient ones, only do full loads of laundry or using the dishwasher. Use a energy efficient shower head, water filtering pitchers and have bottles for each member of our house to put water into. We also have insulated coffee mugs and place our hot beverages in those. We try to use basic cleaning material like clorox and use natural cleaning products that are safe for the environment. We walk when we can to local stores and I walk to work most days. We take clothing that is no longer correct sizes or of interest to us to the community thrift store or donate it to another organization that could recycle it. Most shopping trips I use cloth bags (I do forget once in a while),
Besides everything I mentioned before, I also have a solar water heater for my pool, a programmable thermostat for my HVAC, I'll drive my vehicle to over 200,000 miles. repair instead of replace as much as possible. Mantra followed is: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Re-Purpose so you Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do or Do Without.
Thanks for the opportunity, really awesome.
we turn off the water while brushing our teeth . We also climb the stair instead of using the elevator to help save electricity.
I recycle everything I can and have changed all light bulbs to the efficient kind. I also try to teach my grandchildren the importance of being green. Try to be a good role model for them and others.
We recycle and/or compost almost everything. We don’t even have trash pickup here.
Recyle newspapers, reduce water usage as much as possible.
I now only clean with steam, vinegar and baking soda no more chemicals on anything!!!
recycle, clean with vinegar, baking soda, buy used, thrift stores, bike or walk to work once a week, walk whenever i can rather than take the car, multi-stops when i do take car, use rain water in buckets to water plants
Of course recycling everything and anything possible. Reusing material for crafts or upcycling. Composing for my garden, growing food, using reusable bags for shopping, purchasing recycled products and much much more!! Plus help teach other how easy it is to do the same…
Recycling of everything we possibly can (which is a feat since we don't have curbside recycling and I have to take a load every week to the landfill!) We also use energy-saving light bulbs and I use a crockpot almost exclusively for cooking dinner! BUT the best is that my hubby and I are having a blast re-purposing furniture and other items in our home!!!
We recycle, use CFL light bulbs, open windows so that we don't have to use the AC as much. Keep blinds closed on the south side of the house during the summer and open during the winter. Last month our electrice bill was $89 for one month.
I am remodeling a bathroom and have gone to our local Habitat for Humanity and bought vanity, sink, medicine cabinet, counter top and tub all recycled and in excellent condition.
As an artist and teacher (aside from the usual ways of recycling)I use plastic items such as bottles and other containers and make bracelets with old fabric or yarn. I also use coffee cans for planting, palnts and other sewing or art and craft supplies or other storage.They even make great containers for homemade edible gifts.Why not be creative,and save the planet!
We have bins in the garage to recycle newspaper/magazines,plastic (any kind), soda cans, cardboard of all kinds, have energy star appliances, unplug coffee pot, etc when not in use, turn lights off when room not in use, close blinds/curtains to help house stay warm in winter and cool in summer, keep thermostat low in winter and warm in summer, use florescent bulbs, wash clothes in cold water and take lots of items out of dryer before they completely dry and put on hangers to dry completely.
We recycle everything possible in our area, use a mulching lawnmower and rain barrels, and basically just try to reduce the amount of "stuff" we buy on a daily basis.
I compost,recycle all I can and have had a tankless water heater for 9 years.
I hope this designer gets her own show.
I've changed out all of the lightbulbs to energy savers. I also unplug everything I can think of when it's not in use. Instead of using air conditioning I use fans whenever possible and open the windows and doors to let the fresh air come in. I recycle paper, metal, glass, plastic and clothing and try to reuse as much as I can to save the planet. I filter water at home rather than buy it in plastic bottles.
I installed a tankless water heater, have high efficiency (Energy Star) appliances, installed real linoleum (not vinyl, the linseed oil product) in the kitchen. I take canvass bags and used paper bags to do grocery shopping. I use blinds to control the light/heat coming into the house. And although I'm (slowly) renovating my little 1937 abode, I have as much as possible either re-used or refurbished what's here or bought someone else's cast offs (like these great french doors I got on Craig's list that match the scale of my double hung windows perfectly).
I started a recycling plan at work for soda pop and water, etc and clean them out each week and store them in the back warehouse area where it does not violate safety codes. Then just before Thanksgiving we (office staff) go through all the bottles and cans and separate them into bags and take to a recycling company where we get the money. Last year we received $134 which we split among all 4 of us and used it to buy turkeys or hams.
My thermostat is set down to come on less often, new efficientcy light bulbs, composting, planting state native plants that require less water, keeping the lights off, buying from second hand stores instead of buying new, planning all errands so the car is parked more…when the hot water tank expires it will definetly be replaced with a tankless water heater.
To make our home more Green, we have gotten an electric lawn mower (we had a push mower, but we are just too old to get that done) a sistern to collect rain water from the downspouts, replaced almost all of our incandescent bulbs with CFLs, bring our own bags to shop, and replaced our ancient washer/dryer. Our electric bills just keep going down! Next thing is to replace the inefficient water heater with a new on-demand one.
When our electric water heater broke this year, we replaced it with a Rinnai tankless gas water heater. Our electric bill went down a lot and it feels good knowing that we're only heating the water as we need it. Besides the water heater, we've also made sure all of the appliances we've purchased are EnergyStar. The freezer, dishwasher and HE washer and dryer that we purchased since moving into our house are all energy efficient. We also have been installing bamboo flooring throughout the house. It looks great, wasn't expensive, and it's a renewable resource. Another way we're saving energy is by replacing bulbs that burn out with compact flourescent bulbs. They're definitely worth the extra couple dollars because they use less energy and last so much longer than regular bulbs. Our most recent energy-saving purchase was an LED tv. The picture quality is amazing and the tv is as thin as my cell phone.
We recycle nearly everything.
We use compact fluorescents instead of incandescent light bulbs.
I opted for a retro look in my kitchen instead of ripping out the older cabinets-I used a product called Restorz-It to clean and refinish the cabinets.
We switched to compact flourescent light bulbs in all our fixtures and lamps, we used low VOC paint in our remodel projects (3 rooms so far), we donate our recyclables to the local senior center so they can turn them in for cash, we change our air filters every three months and we upgraded the appliances we replaced with energy star rated appliances.
I started making quilts using recycled men's shirts (via quilt designer Bonnie Hunter.)
MY mom was the "original" green lady!! For years friends and family made fun of!! I have happily carried on her "traditions" for 40 years!
Clean foil never goes in the trash; plastic containers are ALWAYS recycled, and we use paper products for a number of projects, from burning to mulching!!
I recycle all beverage containers; turn down the thermostat; recycle paper, cans, plastic containers; take the transi;, whatever I can to reduce my carbon footprint.
We are recycle, reuse, and repurpose and have been doing it better all the time. We have composted for 2 years now and it is second nature to us all now. There are 6 of us in this small house and we are learning more all the time. We consider our life to be increasingly green and quite thrifty. It is a good journey and we look forward to this publication for our further edification.
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