Book Review: The Craft & Art of Bamboo

Bamboo is a very versatile and green material. It is therefore very popular with eco-conscious people and builders. It has a wide variety of different uses, from clothing, to paper, furniture, flooring, and much more.

Cover via Amazon

The Craft & Art of Bamboo, by Carol Stangler, provides fantastic bamboo projects to beautify your home and garden. The projects come with detailed instructions about tools and materials required as well as techniques on how best to work with bamboo. You will learn how to flatten, bend, attach and preserve the bamboo to keep the finished bamboo designs looking beautiful for a long time to come.

Here are just a few examples to give you an idea of some of the stunning projects you can make yourself to accent your backyard: Bamboo Mosaic Gate, Bamboo Brush Fence and an outdoor trellis for your climbing plants.

Overall, this is a beautifully designed book with spectacular photographs on creating unique pieces of art with bamboo. If you are handy and crafty and would like to experience working with this sustainable and green material, the book offers good and detailed advice and instructions, as well as great project ideas.

Buy on Amazon: The Craft & Art of Bamboo, Revised & Updated: 30 Eco-Friendly Projects to Make for Home & Garden

Bamboo Flooring – An Eco (And Economical) Alternative

This week we are sharing some environmentally friendly (and affordable) options for your home. Today let's discuss bamboo flooring as an alternative to traditional hardwood. There’s no doubt that hardwood floors are both beautiful and functional. Unlike carpet, hardwood floors do not collect dust and dander so they’re great for people with allergies.  They’re durable and can last for decades and they make any home design look professional and polished.  When it comes to hardwood floors, you can’t do better than bamboo. It’s durable, gorgeous and a safe and eco-friendly alternative.

Bamboo flooring(http://www.floorproducer.com). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Think about this: to produce an oak floor it takes several trees. Other trees used to make hardwood floors take upwards 15 to 100 years to grow to maturity.  Bamboo takes 6 years. By choosing bamboo flooring, you’re choosing an incredibly sustainable resource. 

Bamboo is also just as durable, if not more so than many other types of wood used to create hardwood flooring.  In fact, horizontal or vertical bamboo flooring is harder than oak, which is the most popular material used for hardwood floors, and strand woven bamboo flooring is harder than the most expensive hardwood, Brazilian Walnut.

Bamboo flooring is also the most economical type of hardwood flooring options available.  And those who do not want the typical light color associated with bamboo flooring will be happy to learn that bamboo actually can come in a variety of colors from a light honey to a dark amber.

However, it should be noted that all bamboo flooring products are not created equal.  Both vertical and horizontal grain bamboo flooring may contain urea formaldehyde as a binder, which can emit toxic substances, and some engineered bamboo may not be really made from bamboo at all.  Grainless or strand bamboo may use a low emitting phenol-formaldehyde binder.  When purchasing bamboo simply ask how the boards are bound to find out if you’re bringing a potentially toxic substance into your home.  Not all manufacturers use this type of binding and there are safer options. (Formaldehyde-free versions are even widely available online nowadays, through companies like Plyboo.)

Bamboo 2 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Additionally, for the most environmentally friendly bamboo you may want to choose flooring that comes from a bamboo farm where it is raised specifically for this purpose rather than to choose bamboo which is cut down in the forest.

Bamboo starts around $2.00 per square foot, which makes it an extremely affordable option.  Bamboo is perhaps the single best material for hardwood flooring available.  It is sustainable, durable, beautiful and will last you and your family for as long as you live in your home. 

A Few Bamboo Flooring Color Options:
   

How to Design an Eco-Friendly and Stress-Free Home

Our priorities are changing.  More and more, people are looking for simpler and conscientious solutions, while at the same time wanting to live in a home that is a sanctuary.  If you’re looking for eco-friendly design ideas to improve your home and reduce your carbon emissions, you’ve come to the right place.  This week we will cover a few of the available options for environmentally friendly (and often quite affordable) modifications to your home. This article looks at 5 quick, easy and economical eco-friendly design options.

Passive solar heating illustration. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

#1  Use passive solar.  The sun has tremendous capabilities to warm our homes.  Take advantage of the sun’s solar rays in the winter and open curtains and drapes.  Ideally, you’ll have an abundance of natural light on the side of your home facing the south.  If not, consider adding windows, and in the meantime take advantage of the eastern and western-facing windows. 

#2  Install thermal shades.  Keep the cool air in your home in the summertime and the warm air in during the winter with thermal cell window blinds and/or curtains with thermal backing.

#3  Add plants to your home to purify the air you and your family breathe.  Spider plants are ideal for cleaning your air, but any plant serves as a great filter - plus they look pretty, and help reduce stress.

#4  When repainting your home, choose low VOC or VOC free paints. These are paints that have little or no toxic emissions.  Lowering your exposure to these chemicals will not only help your health, it’ll also help the environment.

#5  Replace your old thermostat with a programmable thermostat and lower your utility bills, while at the same time making your life a bit easier.  Programmable thermostats enable you to set it and forget about it.

#6  Attach low-flow faucets or aerators into your kitchen and bathroom to reduce the amount of water you consume.  You’ll lower your water bills and conserve water, and some of the new low-flow showerheads offer superior pressure (mine uses half the water my old conventional showerhead did, but it feels way better and the flow feels awesome).

#7  Utilize restored or reclaimed wood or purchase used furniture.  There’s just something beautiful about old wood.  It has an earthy yet lovely appeal.  And you can buy reclaimed or restored pieces for much less than you can buy the same quality pieces for new.  A little extra money in your pocket, beautiful furniture and sustainable practices - that's a win-win-win.

#8  Embrace soy and beeswax candles to create a stress-free zone.  Paraffin candles emit toxic fumes and lead - however, soy and beeswax candles are natural, emission free, and a great way to de-stress. 

#9  Invest in organic bedding.  100% organic cotton is a luxury, no doubt about it, but it’s environmentally friendly and a great way to add those small luxurious touches that make a big difference. Newer bamboo memory foam mattresses can also be low in emissions and extremely comfortable.

Bamboo Flooring Continued (Photo credit: super-structure)

#10  Replace carpet with sustainable flooring like bamboo or cork. These are both environmentally sound flooring choices that are totally gorgeous at the same time.  They’re also economical and easy to maintain. (Be sure to check Wednesday's post for more about bamboo flooring options.)

Environmentally friendly design does more than help the planet, though that is certainly a great perk.  It can also enhance your lifestyle and make your home the sanctuary you desire - often at a financial savings as well.