eco-friendly news you can useSWEET DREAMSClean lines, the warmth of wood, and free-form hand-carving across the head-board’s top lend this Preston Upholstered Bed from Harden Furniture an organic Contemporary feel.
Part of the company’s new Artistry collection, the bed is crafted of quarter-sawn white ash, a Sustainable Forestry Initiative-certified wood that comes from managed forests.
Upholstered panels in the headboard and footboard can be customized with hundreds of fabric and leather choices, many of them eco-friendly. The bed can be ordered in queen, Eastern king and California king sizes; finish choices include Cocoa (pictured), Spice, Flannel and Shell. It also comes in non-upholstered wood-panel and platform versions.
Harden Furniture is available through Robb & Stucky, (480) 922-0011. Visit
harden.com for more information and to view the entire Artistry collection.
PAST REFLECTIONS Maison au Naturel, a West Los Angeles shop, has looked to the past with these eco-chic Cog Mirrors.
The three are framed in vintage wooden cogs that once were used as molds for making industrial equipment, says store owner Dan Marty. While the largest framed mirror shown here is 22" wide, sizes vary due to the multiple dimensions of reclaimed cogs, he points out.
Below the mirror, above left, is a pre-Industrial Revolution wood foundry mold that Marty says pattern-maker craftsmen created for the production of cast-iron parts for machines. “Once used, they were considered junk to some and thrown away.” He uses it as a base for a globe.
The Cog Mirrors can be ordered by phone at (310) 657-1002.
TOP TABLE Standing 36" high, 18" deep and 80" wide, this comely commode from Urban Southwest in Phoenix is oh, so green and utterly unique.
“It’s one-of-a-kind,” says the store’s owner, Nick Colamartini. That’s because the piece is made entirely from reclaimed wood and metal—material he says would have ended up in an already overburdened landfill.
Crafted on the premises of his business, the trim-looking table has a rusted-steel base and legs made with “leftovers from a carport job,” says Colamartini. The top, composed of wood laid in a parquet-like pattern, came from recycled wooden pallets and from boards obtained at an abandoned house being torn down.
“Even the sub-surface, used to give the top strength, is wood from a house that was being remodeled,” he notes. “I was passing by and asked if I could have it.”
Urban Southwest, located at 1016 E. Camelback Road, is chock-full of one-of-a-kind cabinets, tables of various styles and heights, benches, mirror frames and more, all made from salvaged “stuff.” The store is open Monday through Saturday. Call (602) 266-3311 for hours of operation and other information.
WORDS OF WISDOMRethink, reduce and repurpose is the mantra author Emily Anderson follows. She advises asking oneself three questions when buying something new: “Where did it come from? What is it made of? Where will it end up when I’m done with it?” She explains how to use and reuse materials in an environmentally friendly way in her book Eco-Chic Home: Rethink, Reuse & Remake Your Way To Sustainable Style (Skipstone).
The concept behind the book’s projects is to change how one relates to materials that are considered disposable; its how-to ideas make it easy to repurpose old dress shirts, hangers, magazines, sweaters and many other household objects into new items.
Included in the text are green tips for such chores as removing watermarks from a wood table, whitening clothes organically, and making nontoxic paint with milk. The back of the book is a resource guide of Web sites to help one live an environmentally friendly life.
—Taylor Rose