While bringing the natural world into your home is not for everyone, the number of options literally and figuratively sprouting up recently is amazing. Just about everyone can be eco-chic when it comes to their interior decor these days.
Eco-style is about bringing the "green" inside. It can be something as simple as a stool made from a tree stump, a table fashioned from scrap wood, or a living wall. Organic, sustainable, indigenous, recycled, support the local economy, and community made are some of the buzz words to look for when buying green furnishings and accessories.
Living Walls
If you love gardens and being surrounded by greenery, then you're going to love the green living wall from ETL Easy Green Living Wall Systems. Available in a home kit, these walls are of modular construction and easy to install. They can be pre-planted or you can plant your own herbs, flowers, or low growing vegetables.
Another nifty idea is the Eco Wall made by the company in South Africa, Rentokil Initial, which is the largest interior landscaping company in the world. Touted as the "21st Century development of Victorian terrariums and Ewardian cases", each wall panel features a miniature ecosystem of living plants.
Furnishings
ABC Carpet & Home has a selection of eco-friendly furniture including tree root coffee tables and stools made from tree roots and stumps. They even sell petrified wood stumps that double as stools.
The Sushi Daybed from Brooklyn, NY based Vivavi is made from tightly woven water hyacinth plants wrapped around a rattan frame. Water hyacinth is an Asiatic species of water plant that is extremely fast-growing and considered a nuisance species. This is a great use for it.
If you want to start out small, the Ecosphere Collection at Brookstone might be your best bet. These miniature seawater ecosystems feature tiny red shrimp, algae, and their associated microorganisms.
