Happy Floors, Make Happy People!

Happy Floors wants to make happy people stay happy or make sad people more happy with eco friendly tile! Did you know that ceramic and porcelain are naturally "green" because they don't contain VOC's (a bad chemical that's not good for anyone or the earth!) plus they are easy to care for and have a long life cycle! Win all around! These tiles are extra special because they're made in Italy...oh la la... Italians are known for their eco friendliness because they go to the greatest measures to make their tiles as "green" as they can be. That being said, Happy Floors make 95% of their tiles in Italy!

So go on, be happy with some Happy Floors tiles! Of course, we are dealers of Happy Floors tile, so we highly encourage you to contact us about questions about these great tiles! Check their site out and see what a great selection they have!

Http://www.happy-floors.com/welcome.htm

What's all the Buzzzzz about??

We are sure you've heard all of the hype about bees and how they are becoming a rarity these days. The problem, they are finding, is the pesticides in the country that are beeing used. Our poor little bumbley friends aren't used to all those chemicals and just can't take it. So, they're dying. These are country bees though, what about city bees? City bees, specifically New York City bees, well they're doing great still! They've got a tougher skin, they know how to look pollution and pesticides in the face say "Ay, you, yeah you, I'm talkin' to you! Yeah, you don't scare me, uhhuh, 'cause I'm bee, dats right, a bee. So, buzz off!" Or something to that effect. The reality is that less pesticides are used in the city then in the country. Also, city bees are exposed to more varieties of bee species in the city then in the country.

Anyways, New York City has recently lifted the ban on beekeeping! This is great news! Bees are on their way to the top again! Bringing with them that sweet nectar we call honey, the only food that will never go bad (seriously, they've found honey in the pyramids in Egypt and it was still good to eat).

Now that you're all Buzzzzzed about bees, we bet you want to help them, right?? Well you can, and with style of course. Erica Schwartz, a local artist in New York City designs hive cuffs inspired by, you guessed it, honey combs! We just think these cuffs are, well, the bees knees in jewelry! Not only that but, 20% of your purchase will go towards helping New York City bees! Check them out on our website and have your own piece of buzz worthy wrist wear!

http://www.villacollectionsdesign.com/content/design-erica-hive-cuff

We're Sorry!!!

Are you mad? ...... Do you hate us? .... Do you...hate.....me? I'm sorry!! I've just been so busy, ya know? With the updating to website, and the new products, and the looking for new products... I'm sorry. Can you forgive us? Can you forgive...me? What if I told you about the cool stuff we have now? Maybe then? I'll try real real hard. I promise!

Shiraleah. Maybe not a household name, but you should totally make her your friend. Why? Well, her purses, awesome. Her dishware, awesome. Affordability, amazing. Most importantly, her take on the environment, totally awesome. This company takes a non-nonsense stance on their products about being earth friendly, which in turn, is YOU friendly! Their goal is to to combine renewable natural resources, reclaimed materials, environmentally friendly technologies and traditional techniques to produce home and fashion goods to show how much they care. For example, their purses are made of polyurethane. So, what's polyurethane you ask? Well, polyurethane material is safer to produce and healthier for you to carry. Thanks to technological improvements, there is a minimal toxic output during production compared to leather tanning. Not only that but it's biodegradable, which means it will decompose in 10 years. This not only ensures that it's eco-friendly, but it ensures you getting a new bag in 10 years that's totally in with the times. In practical terms, these polyurethane bags hold everything you need and can be easily wiped clean. These vegan leather bags are perfect for everyone who is concerned about the social and environmental impact of the products they buy. And ya know, it's prefect for anyone that just wants a cute bag!!

Additionally, we'll be carrying one of their fabric clutches. 3% of the proceeds from the purchase of this fabulous clutch goes to a center for disabled children in Hanoi, Vietnam. Their funds target improving the children's diets and health care options, including supplementing the daily food budget and purchasing rehabilitation machines. Pretty cool, huh?

Here's a picture of that cute clutch and if you want to check out what else we're carrying by Shiraleah, check out our website!

www.villacollectionsdesign.com

Let's Give It Up for Shaw!!!!!! *clap clap clap*

We want to make Shaw your new best friend, just like you are our new best friend :D Shaw does amazing things for the environment, and since we know you love it like your own child, we thought you might be interested to know that Shaw does too. Now, where to begin.... To help us stay on track we're going to focus on carpeting. Have no fear, we won't be trying to sell you straw carpeting! No, no this carpeting is pretty, soft, and has s-t-y-l-e...style. How about sustainability? Well, Shaw uses a great little method called cradle-to-cradle meaning they take used products, make them into pretty carpet products, recycle it, and use it all over again. It goes round and round! Most place however use a yucky cradle-to-grave method where they take down poor trees to make materials and then throw out whatever is left over. Poor little wasted green buddies... If we haven't convinced you yet that Shaw's a great guy, then how about this, he's going to do your recycling FOR YOU!!! Yep! Once you've ripped that shag carpeting up from your disco days, you can drop it off at any one of Shaw's carpet collection spots. This includes one in Columbus! Well we could just go on and on and on and on...and on about Shaw, but you should just check him out for yourself:

http://www.shawfloors.com/CMS/.aspx?DN=1311,1307,4,Documents

If you want to know how you can get some of this great "foot warmer" for your floor, hit us up and we'll hook you up!

Hey! You! Put a cork in it!

You ever walking around your house and think "Gee, I really need to remember to do XYZ, I wish I could make a note and pin it to the floor." Well, this is kinda like that, but not really at all. It's cork, on the floor, in fact, it is the floor!! Cork flooring is so awesome even Frank Lloyd Wright used it in his houses! He used this stuff all over the place. He used it for the floors, the walls, even IN the bathroom. If it's in the bathroom, you know what that means? It's water proof! You can even have it in the kitchen and drop dishes on it without them breaking. You can put it in the kids room, let them romp around on it with the dog, no problem. It's softer then tile but hard enough to handle high heels. This stuff even feels warm during those cold winter mornings! Best of all, it has a super low impact on the environment!! With sustainable harvesting and near zero by product waste, it's the perfect flooring for those feeling boring. It even comes in nifty colors/patterns/designs like burnt orange, ocean blue, whiskey brown, emerald green and much more! Have we reeled you in yet? Message us and we'll point you in the right direction.

Whoa...whoa... What's with all the Snow?

Where have you been all our life?!? So, we took a bit of a break. We're sorry!! Can you forgive us... Our blogger (namely myself) was off galavanting in far away lands. No fear though my lovelies, I am back with vengeance! I promise to tell you if it's ever going to happen again.

So, "the time has come the walrus said, to talk of many things..." Let's talk of summer nights and pretty lights and whatever that path brings. We know it feels like the sun may never show it's bright, shiny, orbital head again, but just as the world turns, so do seasons change. As spring and then soon summer start to poke their heads, we start to remember what it feels like to be warm in both our hearts and in our fingers and toes. As we think of those warm summer nights spent in the back yard with the kids running around, hot dogs and marshmallows sprawled about, what a better way to remember these moments then by seeing it! This is where these totally awesome and totally blue sky friendly, sun bricks come in. These guys will lead you not only up your driveway (because they're so sturdy they can hold the weight of your car), but also lead you down the path to those giggly kiddies with chocolate in their hair. By using solar power, these golden bricks can light up your night for up to 8 hours of fun! They're also easy to instal with the ol' switch a roo with your ordinary bricks. So Dorothy, if we've got your attention, message us and we'll help you make your own yellow brick road!

Let's talk dirty...

Dirt dirty, not that kind of dirty. Gees. You know how we've learned that mulch = making your garden look neat and pretty? Well let's keep doing that, but let's add color and awesomeness! A company called EviroGLAS makes this awesome glass mulch! Can you believe it?! Instead of chopping down more trees they figured, why not use recycled glass? The glass comes from bottles, mirrors, and windows. They also have solid white made of porcelain which comes from recycled toilet bowls. Glasses and porcelain actually makes more sense then mulch anyways as far as water distribution goes. Since glass is well, glass, it doesn't soak up water the way mulch does. Therefore, the water goes to where it needs to go, to the plants. If you're excited like we are about this, email us and we'll let you know how you too can have a blue garden!

Babies....

it's cold outside! We know, we know, but we hardly had a summer! We're just as bummed about that as you. But! We won't let this slow us down. Time to strap on our bunny slippers, throw some tea in the kettle, and get ready for what's to come. While preparing for the winter you might be thinking about reinsulating or even first time insulating. Well, no more using that pink, fiber glass, bad for you and the environment non-sense that everyone seems to think is the only option. There are in fact other options out there! Great ones! Exhibit A, Bounded Logic. Bounded Logic is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) approved, which is a voluntary national green building standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Their insulation is made of cotton, it's fire/smoke/mold/corrosion resistant, there's no harmful chemicals to work with (Heck, it's so safe they have kids hugging it on the packaging! See for yourself above!) and of course it works just as well as the pink stuff as far as insulation goes. So, check these guys out or ask us about helping you line your attic with some awesome cotton for the ceiling to wear.

Flush, Flush Brush, Brush

What's all the fuss? Bathrooms, that's what. Here's how you can make the home of your porcelain goddess, green. Speaking of which, let's start there. You ever sit there, doing your business and think "Gee, I bet there's gotta be a way to make a toilet without water, that doesn't smell, and maybe I could even use the out come in my garden." Ha Ha! Alas! There is! Sun-Mar makes a composting toilet that does just that, no water, no smell and the remains become compost for the garden!

What of sinks? Gore Design Co makes some crafty and earth friendly sinks that we'd be honored to call our own. Not only do they not use plastic, use a water based concealer, they cut down their need for new materials, and much more, but they also come in designs like we've never seen before! You can check them out above.

And shower heads? Shower heads come with a low flow option now too. Delta makes a great one called Fluidics H2OKinetics that lets you choose to low flow or not. From reviews we hear you can't tell the difference. So why not save some water, your hair won't mind, we promise.

So, there's a taste of some ways to design your bathroom with the you and the planet in mind. Have some ideas of your own? Let us know! Want more ideas? Let us know!

Sliding panels with a Punch!

Check these out! These panels are some of the coolest kids we know! They come in unique shapes, patterns, colors, and sizes. And of course, *dund didd dund!!*, it's made from recycled materials! They also come as sliding walls or doors! There are three types of recycled products that you can get in a sliding form. Varia, Chroma and 100 Percent are our three green players. Varia and Chroma are both made of 40% post-consumer recycled materials and 100 Percent is, you guessed it, made of 100% pre-consumer recycled materials. Not only that but 3Form, the geniuses that make these products, are on their way to zero materials (zero, zilch, none, nada, you heard it right) going to landfills, and they are doing amazing things to be energy efficient. For example, they car-pool or bike, have incentives for the employees who use hybrid vehicles, use renewable energy sources, and more. Swoon...our heros... If you want to hear more about 3Form or you would like to see some 3Form in your home, contact us and we'll help you get there.