At Last, Color Me Happy 

Here it is. Okay, these photos maybe don’t show the color as accurately as they could. It is a biscuity brown, soft, like a pale coffee ice cream. The detail at the back of the bookshelves was inspired! And was the brainchild of my painter, Paul Flessa. It’s a deep raiseny plum, almost like a rum raisin, so the whole living room is a little like a big bowl of ice cream, and what’s wrong with that? 

You’ll see, too, that I had the window leading painted black, which involved a great deal of sanding, priming, and other activities I don’t want to know about. All I know is the painter was here a lot. And now, it looks great and my bank account is further depleted.  

Next up: the hallway, the windows in the other rooms. I’ll let you know how it goes. 

But let’s not linger there; instead, let’s talk more about green giving, as the holiday season is now just about to swallow us whole. 

You can buy recycled holiday cards, and that doesn’t mean hoarding the ones you got last year and then scratching out the name of the person who sent them and writing in your own. That is known as recycling, but it’s also known as extremely tacky. Instead, check out the cards made from recycled materials at Holiday Classics.  

For a mind-boggling list of websites that sell eco-friendly gifts, go to Ecomall. 

And don’t forget that often a home-made gift is the best one to give, or to receive. If you’re artistically inclined, now’s the time to get to work on making a present, but remember too that you don’t have to be an artist to make a gift. A CD with favorite songs, a photo album with photos of the family, a box of cookies will all make the recipient happier, probably, than another plastic Santa Claus singing “Rock Around The Christmas Tree.”  All you have to do to step away from that Santa is think of a landfill towering with the things. 

And then for the person who has everything, there’s the gift of green. Yes, that green, as in greenbacks.  

Often people who don’t need any more stuff are thrilled to receive a donation to a worthy cause made in their name. Just make sure you match the cause to the person, so that you’re not giving Uncle Dave the Dog-hater a donation.

You won’t believe it, but I’m really making progress on the wall color situation. Look at this new color I found! It’s called “rich cream.” It’s made by Benjamin Moore, and no, they’re not paying me a cent to say that. 

I started putting it on the wall, and loved it so much I went out and bought two gallons, in the Aura paint, which is environmentally, you know, happy-making. Makes you happy as it doesn’t release toxins, makes the world happy because it’s harvested from organic paint-bushes or something. Plus, you need less of it, rather than more, so in an ironic, shocking twist, it actually costs less to do the right thing. 

I started putting it on, and just as I was hitting the wall of painting fatigue, wondering why I was doing this instead of doing my own work, the phone rang. It was a friend of a friend, saying he is a painter between jobs, and our mutual friend had said I may need someone…. 

So he’s coming today to finish it off. 

You can see here that I’m still somewhat undecided about the hallway.

Now, this Aura paint, combined with the Holiday Season which now has us in its grips, got me thinking about to do if you’re in a gift-giving, party-throwing, card-sending frame of mind and yet you quiver at the thought of those polar bears up north going without ice next winter? Yes, I’m talking climate change. And I’m talking waste.  

Becoming aware of these two things doesn’t mean you have to live in a state of deprivation. It’s been proven time and again that deprivation and negative reinforcement doesn’t work—you know that when you go on a diet that requires no sweets, the first thing you do is rush to the cookie box.  

And God knows I’m the last one to ban, for example, parties.

But the madness has to stop!  

And you can do this with a generous, positive outlook, by giving green—and no, I don’t mean doling out cash to everyone on your list. You can think about how you’re actually doing something to help stave off the utter destruction of the planet. And, like with buying Aura paint (really, they aren’t paying me to say that) it actually can save you money. 

One place to start would be with a new book on making wrappings that are environmentally friendly. In Simply Green Giving, Danny Seo offers suggestions that will soothe your soul while cutting down on wasteful paper use. 

For me, I find that just the good, old-fashioned method of wrapping gifts can work two ways: by reducing the tremendous wave of useless paper that washes into the house each day, and by not buying more paper with which to wrap gifts.  

Here’s an example: the calendar I just got in the mail from my bank. This isn’t the tacky bank calendar with bad photos of kittie cats and puppies, or static shots of barns and beaches.  This one has gorgeous photos from around the world. It’s really nice.  

But I don’t use a wall calendar. I use a desk calendar. And I don’t want this thing on my wall. I don’t really want it at all.  

But these photos would make terrific wrapping paper. 

So here is the calendar, before: 

And here it is, after, in its new life as wrapping paper: 

If you have any other bright ideas on how to green up the holiday, please write in. Those polar bears need all the help they can get. 

Everyone around has been pushing: conserve, conserve, conserve! Save the environment. Be green. And you probably have done your share - you recycle; you take public transportation; and you switched to compact fluorescents but now you’re stumped. What else can I do, you ask?

Well, Home Magazine has undertaken to answer just that in their Good & Green Show Home recently produced at Grand Central Station in New York City. The G&G Show Home displayed the latest in environmentally friendly building products and home appliances. So before you go out there and buy appliances or renovate your home – consider the following.

Besides buying those energy-efficient appliances with the Energy Star label on it – consider these types of appliances. The inductor cooktop by Kenmore uses electromagnetic energy – which allows faster heating while using less energy than the conventional gas or electric cooktop. Also look at single drawer dishwashers if you don’t wash too many dishes. Single drawer dishwashers use up less water and consume less electricity.

If you are thinking about redoing the walls of your kitchen, consider using recycled glass tiles instead of ceramic tiles. These translucent tiles by Crossville are a beautiful way to dress up your kitchen walls and earth-friendly too.

If you want to do your part in saving the earth’s forests, take a look at engineered wood floors. Pergo makes its wood floors from 80% recycled wood waste materials. The installation process is also environmentally safe – no toxic glue is used – instead interlocking wood panels are applied.

Home Magazine did not overlook your outdoor space too. If you are thinking about building an outdoor deck for your home, Trex has come out with deck wood made from reclaimed wood and recycled plastic grocery bags – yes, grocery bags! These deck planks never warp, rot, or splinter and they do not require sanding and staining maintenance.
Many of the products used at the G&G Show House were auctioned off to benefit the charity, Habitats for Humanity.