Last week I went down to Raleigh, North Carolina, to be a judge for the energy-efficient lighting design competition Lighting for Tomorrow. It was really interesting and kind of humorous, considering my lack of knowledge of the technical side of this business. Aside from one other magazine editor, most of the other judges were real lighting experts...not me. When they were talking about the mechanisms making a certain bulb work in a certain way, I was thinking “that one is pretty and really low energy!”. But the organizers want a broad range of judges for a reason—while the other judges were looking at these lights from an insider's perspective, my point of view was definitely closer to a potential customer's. 

I got to see a lot of interesting stuff while I was there. All the contestants were highly energy efficient (being Energy Star compliant is a minimum requirement for entry). There is a category for CFLs and a category for LEDs; some were dimmable and many could be made dimmable if installed properly. It was interesting that many of the fixtures were very conventional looking—very much your run-of-the-mill light. The manufacturers (well, the winners, at least) had worked hard to create lights with the tone and appearance of conventional lights. These lights didn’t look any different than the fixtures you’re accustomed to seeing for incandescent bulbs. And when they were on, they still didn’t look any different. A few still had the stereotypical poor qualities long (and somewhat falsely) associated with alternative light sources: glare, a blue or green cast, or low light output. But the majority looked great, showed colors clearly and were indistinguishable from their conventional counterparts. It really drove home the point that people no longer view the "energy efficient" category as a fringe or specialty subgroup. These are the lights that are going to be in Home Depot, in Lowe’s, in Target. And they’re using new forms of light that would have been considered revolutionary just a few years ago.

One thing was very disappointing, however: Not one single fixture used sustainable materials in the construction of the lamp and shade. They were all highly efficient, yes, but where were those lighting manufacturers creating gorgeous pieces with natural fibers, recycled materials, salvaged and reclaimed items? I was shocked not to find any, and all of the judges commented on it. A light that used sustainable materials would have been so over-and-above and garnered so many bonus points from the judges, it surely would have been a winner. So I encourage all of our eco-friendly lighting makers out there to enter this competition for next year and I encourage all of the more conventional companies to think outside the energy-efficiency box. Next year, if I’m lucky enough to participate again, I hope that amazing, contemporary-looking LED ceiling fan that we awarded this year is made with bamboo or SFC-certified wood. I hope those beautiful metal and glass indoor fixtures incorporate recycled materials. I will make sure to post the winners here when they are announced in a few months so you all can check them out. In the meantime, here are some efficient AND eco-friendly light makers for you to check out if you're in the market:

Rocky Mountain Hardware: fixtures made with 100 percent recycled bronze and sustainable business practices

Lightlink Lighting: artistic fixtures made with handmade Thai paper  

Eco-Lights: offers a wide variety of energy-efficient fixtures made with recycled, reused and sustainable materials

BuyGreen.com: offers a wide variety of fixtures, too. Check out this one made of recycled chopsticks!

It was another great weekend for my low-cost and eco-friendly decorating project. I went to our local antique mall on Saturday and found a retro white wicker elephant plant stand for $23...it is identical to the one featured in the May issue of Domino, which quotes a price of $75. Less than a third of that price works for me!

 While at the antique mall, I saw a sign for an estate auction happening Saturday evening. My boyfriend and I went, and it really paid off. For a total of $40, picked up an antique wood table with six chairs, a buffet side table, a set of 50s-style salad bowls, two chairs for our patio and a Chinese tea set. Great deal! We painted the buffet and table with black, zero-VOC paint we already had around the house and refinished the seat cushions on the chair with some white burlap. They have really tied the room together and we both agreed are probably now our nicest pieces of furniture, along with being some of our least expensive.

I also picked up a couple of frames for some handmade paper I purchased at Two Hands Paperie in Boulder, Colorado, last time I went there for an editorial meeting with our editor-in-chief, Robyn Griggs Lawrence, who lives there. This paper is inexpensive and supports local artisans. It’s a simple and elegant way to bring some unique art into our home.

Finally, we wanted to get some living things in our space, so we purchased a Mexican lime tree for the patio and a fern for the living room, both of which I repotted with organic potting mix. I am hoping to start growing some herbs and veggies out there, soon, too...and got the great suggestion from one of our reader comments to put a bucket out there to collect rainwater for the outdoor plants. More to come...

A lot has happened since my last blog. As I wrote before, my boyfriend and I were shopping for our first home to buy. Unfortunately, we got pretty far into the process with a house and then everything fell through because the owner and we couldn’t come to an agreement on how to fix some items discovered in the inspection. The main problem was that the home had an underground duct system—it was a 1950s California ranch and, because these homes have exposed ceilings and no space between the ceiling and the flat roof, builders often dug ductwork beneath the foundation. We now know that this is a bad idea; underground ductwork starts to crumble beneath the home and serves as a fantastic breeding grounds for mold. I got some great advice from our fabulous contributor and green-building pioneer David Johnston, but the fixes were outside our price range the homeowner wouldn’t pay to complete them. Ah, well, que sera sera.

Since, we have moved into a townhouse we’re renting to take a break from the house search. The place is great and offers a lot more space than we had before (we were living in a one-bedroom, one-bath apartment and now have two of each, though it's still not overly huge), plus it is on the second floor with ample windows for natural light, unlike our former first-floor apartment that became cavelike because of lack of sun. This alone will help reduce our energy bills and make me a lot happier. The new place also includes newer, energy-efficient appliances, so that’s a big plus. But the extra space meant our paltry amount of furniture wasn’t enough to fill the space and we didn’t have much to decorate with. So, here’s where the fun part comes in. We have been shopping around for stuff to fill our new home, and I’ve already found some great eco-friendly items that were inexpensive and beautiful. So, as so many readers have requested we include more suggestions for how to green a home you don’t own, my new blog focus will be ways to green my new apartment.

The first thing I found that I was thrilled about was a super cute welcome mat made from 100 percent recycled rubber—at Target, no less, and for only $12 (mine is a different design, but must be the same line as these). Then I visited an awesome store in downtown Lawrence, Kansas, (where I live) called Intrigue. The store features all-natural and eco-friendly products that are very reasonably priced. I got a beautiful, large vase made from recycled newsprint that was broken down, mixed with water and terra cotta to form a slurry, and molded. The vase is probably about 3 feet tall and only cost about $30—the same price I would expect to pay for something made in China and purchased from a big box store. To fill the vase, the store had some beautiful flower blossoms molded from untreated coconut leaves. You can actually soak the leaves in water until they soften up and mold the blossoms to any shape. Amazing! We also picked up a very inexpensive rug for our balcony made from untreated abaca plant fibers. The store also features custom-made bamboo furniture and some beautiful light fixtures. I’m still thinking about a hanging light fixture made from a used, old-fashioned bird cage with a CFL light socket inside.

I am employing some other easy tips to keep my apartment more eco-friendly: always shutting off all the lights not in use; not wearing shoes inside, thus reducing pollutants that are tracked in and, yay, my time spent cleaning; and replacing incandescent bulbs with CFLs (find more inexpensive tips). Lucky for me, I have a bunch of eco-friendly cleaners that we’ve received in the office recently. I’ve tested them out and they work great and leave the house smelling fresh—not chemical-y (see some of them here).

My next goal is to find some great, earth-friendly throw pillows (we got a new couch and the pillows that came with it are not bright enough for the living room, though we are using them in the bedroom). We spent the weekend hunting high and low but came up empty-handed. I’m thinking of getting some from one of the amazing organic textile companies featured in an upcoming article I wrote for our July/August issue. Looolo Textiles has some gorgeous cushions and so does Viva Terra—but I might have to save up. I will keep an eye out for some pretty, bright and priced-right accents and decorations and let you know what I come up with. I am also planning to find some organic cotton or other natural material and having a friend make curtains out of it. And I need some furniture for the balcony—I am hoping to find something secondhand at our downtown antique mall or a garage sale.

I would love to hear suggestions from those of you out there who are doing all you can to make whatever space you have green. Please e-mail me or comment and give me your suggestions and I’ll let you know what I come up with in my search.

Happy decorating!
Jessica