HAPPY "GREEN" VALENTINE'S DAY | HOLIDAY

HAPPY GREEN VALENTINE'S DAY !!

It is possible to enjoy an Eco Friendly Valentine's Day to show your love ones that you care while being kind to your planet at the same time. 

Valentine's Day ranks very, very high up there with Christmas for extreme consumerism. Gifts, gifts and more gifts = lots and lots of garbage and lots and lots of emissions polluting the air from all the trucks delivering those gifts.

Eons prior to Valentine's arrival, tv commercials bombard us with commercials about cut flowers, chocolates, dinner reservations, lingerie, perfume etc. The store shelves have been packed with Valentine cards, balloons, gifts~in non recyclable paper, I might add, heart-shaped boxed chocolates and stuffed teddy bears for the past weeks and weeks! We are all being prompted to purchase, purchase, purchase all this STUFF! 

Not to rain on your parade and as lovely as all this gift giving is, Valentine's Day further exhausts our Earths dwindling resources.  I recently read that it is estimated that over 1 billion Valentine Cards are mailed out all around the world.  

Wow, isn't that incredible! It is just really too bad that most end up in landfills with all the other piles of waste already there.

As a society we  need to become more conscious consumers and really stop and think, " hummmm, so many trees were destroyed making these cards and boxed goodies" and then consider an environmentally kinder alternative.  

Cut red roses-eco friendly?  Think again.  One of the least actually. Those red roses had quite a journey getting to your local supermarket.  They most likely were grown in Ecuador or Columbia due to the perfect year-round climate. However, they are drenched with fungicides, insecticides and herbicides to keep away the critters. Unfortunately, the workers are unprotected mostly women and children and ultimately end up with a multitude of health issues ranging from respiratory to neurological. Once the roses are harvested then they begin their very long voyage in a refrigerated, emissions pumping truck to your local supermarket where they sit in an energy sucking refrigerated cooler waiting for your purchase. 

Hey, I know it appears that I am turning what is supposed to be a day of love and romance into a day of doom and gloom. 

That is definitely not my MO.

My intention and my gift to you on this Valentine's Day 2019 is to get you to step back for just a moment. Step back from getting sucked into the pressures of the overwhelming consumerist vortex and the feelings of duty, guilt and obligation that you absolutely must buy gifts this day. Because we sometimes loose sight of this, I also want to gently remind you that the greatest gift that you could possibly give to your love ones and them to you, is love and affection year-round, spending valuable uninterrupted time, creating wonderful memories together and showing true appreciation for each other.  Just speaking the words I LOVE YOU is a symphony to the ears! NO card can ever replace that.

On a personal note, I feel so very blessed as this is how my husband and I live our life each and every day. 

It really doesn't get much better than that does it??

Now, if you are looking for a few fun ideas to make today extra special, try some of these easy on the pocketbook, earth-friendly ideas. 

Mother Earth will truly thank you.

Photo - courtesy of  Jaymi Heimbuch

Ditch the box of truffles this year and spend time making this yummy fondue for the two of you to enjoy using Fair Trade Extra Dark Chocolate. The recipe includes some interesting ingredients such as a little chili powder, cayenne pepper, dark rum and cinnamon. Marry it with your favourite fruit!

  

 Photo - Courtesy of Heirloom Flower Seeds

If you really still want to give the gift of flowers, how about giving some heirloom flower seed packets to be planted in the garden. Flowers are beautiful, very eco-friendly as they feed the birds, the bees and other important insects in the garden. If you plant perennials you can enjoy their beauty for years to come.

Dinner, Movie, Candles + Wine are always a nice way to spend the evening especially when it is in the comfort and privacy of your own home. Staying at home translates into not having to deal with or waste time on the crowded roads, at the restaurants or movie theatres, your evening is on your schedule and keeping your car put in the driveway means that there are no car emission contributions by you.  Bonus!! It's a win, win evening. Flickering candles - healthy bees wax only please, some organic wine from a local winery, a lovely home cooked meal, a Romantic Comedy on the big screen and voila ~ you have the perfect ambiance for a romantic Valentine's date with that very special person in your life.

And REMEMBER

LOVE .... knows no age

Enjoy!

Pictures courtesy of Google

Soulier Design Studio specializes in sustainability, eco-friendly design, products + lifestyle

http://www.soulierdesignstudio.com

LINDAL CEDAR HOMES FEATURED IN THE DWELL COLLECTION

Due to the overwhelming response to this post, I am re-posting this again.

This house is JUST incredible and is the highlight/focus of my personal vision board!  This is my absolute favorite house style; so architecturally exquisite in my eyes.  The warmth and livability of these homes come from clean, uncluttered lines and the inspired use of natural materials in the Lindal building system. (Lindal Cedar Homes)

TURKEL DESIGN - The house, an original design created by Turkel Design for Lindal as part of the Dwell Homes Collection, is adaptable to multiple site conditions and opens to views simultaneously in several directions. These attributes led the design team to select this plan as the starting point for the unique conditions of this steep site. Turkel Design collaborated with the local independent Lindal Cedar Homes dealer, My House Design/Build, and positioned the house to open into a stand of old-growth cedars and out through the treetops to the opposite shoreline.

The TD3 2490 collects its own rainwater, uses passive methods to self-ventilate, and can be delivered and constructed in almost any location worldwide. 

Please visit http://www.turkeldesign.com to see what other amazing projects they have completed.

Photos Courtesy of Turkel Design

Here is a video walk through of this beautiful home.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

ENJOY!!

Soulier Design Studio specializes in Sustainability, Eco Friendly Design, Products and Lifestyle.

http://www.soulierdesignstudio.com

TRANSFORMING A SCHOOL BUS INTO AN RV | PART ll

One of my most popular posts, with several thousands views, is on TRANSFORMING A SCHOOL BUS INTO AN RV.  People find this subject so fascinating!

What my husband and I learned when we were considering this project was that school buses are a wonderfully safe vehicle to convert. They are kept in optimal maintenance condition because they are transporting children to and from school each and every day. The side metal panels are also heavily re-enforced in the event of a collision.

If travelling is something your family likes to do, converting a school bus into an RV, may be a fantastic DIY project that the entire family can enjoy. 

We were very fortunate, when we purchased our bus (for $500.00) what a deal, that all the seats had already been removed. Yeah!!  This is one of the most labour intensive jobs of this entire project.

Just like designing a space in your home you should plan the layout carefully dividing the space into various sections.  Our bus was 40' long and our layout plan included a sleeping area in the rear of the bus, a bathroom area, a kitchen/eating area, a living area and the driver area at the front of the bus. 

We didn't install or wire an electrical source for our bus since it was parked at our property and not used for travel. Our bus was used as a safe way to camp and sleep without having to worry about bears having us for dinner.  However, if you are travelling with your bus, you will need an electrical source to power appliances.  Other necessities include a stove, sink and refrigerator and of course a sleeping area.

Installing solar panels on the roof to power the bus and appliances is definitely the way to go to create an eco-friendly bus.

Converting another school bus or possibly an Airstream, I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them, is definitely a project that we would like to tackle again in the future.  We certainly learned a lot from our first fantastic experience and really had a blast!  

Here are a few fabulous school bus and Airstream interiors with some great ideas to get you started just in case you are thinking about trying this fun project.

If this is camping, I'm in!!

Airstream Interiors by Christopher Deam  

  

  

Rachel Horn and husband renovated this Airstream with Style   

photo - Pinterest

photo - Pinterest

photo - Pinterest

photo - Pinterest Architecture student converts bus into cabin

How about you. Is this something that you might consider trying?

If you would like to read Part 1 of TRANSFORMING A SCHOOLBUS INTO AN RV you can find it here.

Soulier Design Studio specializes in Sustainability and Eco Friendly Design and Products http://www.soulierdesignstudio.com   

WHAT IS YOUR LEVEL OF GREEN COMMITMENT?? | GLOBAL WARMING

GLOBAL WARMING.........

This is not a new term. We hear it almost everyday, on the news, weather stations, radio, newspapers. What does it mean? 

These photographs tell the whole story really don't they? 

A recent study in the U.S and Canada clearly indicates that the polar bear population in Canada's northwestern Arctic has declined by almost half in the last ten years. 

Pic - Climate News Network

Photo - Courtesy of Shia Wisdom

Wikipedia tells us that, "Global warming is the current rise in the average temperature of Earth's oceans and atmosphere and its projected continuation. The scientific consensus is that global warming is occurring and was initiated by human activities, especially those that increase concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as deforestation and burning of fossil fuels"

Over the next few posts we will discuss various levels of green living to learn how we can reduce our environmental impact on a day-to-day basis. We will begin with the most simple ways to incorporate some "GREEN INTO YOUR LIFE" right up to full blown commitment.  As we discuss each level, I invite you to share some of the ways that you have added that element of green into your life!!!

 REDUCE, RE-USE, RE-CYCLE, RECLAIM

    

REDUCE - This is the first level, the most simple/important and the easiest way to begin your journey toward incorporating some green into your life. We live in a very wasteful society and to support a greener and sustainable tomorrow we must all do our part to reduce consumption, reduce waste and reduce pollution as well as conserve energy, water and other natural resources.  

RE-USE -  Re-use items that we have to keep them out of our already overstuffed landfills.

RE-CYCLE - Probably the most widely used term in the sustainability world. It simply means to treat or reprocess a material/product back into a RAW material to be used in the production of a new product.

RE-CLAIM - Very similar to reuse, items can be used for alternate purposes. 

What are you doing to bring some Green into your life, help foster a better tomorrow and protect our environment for years to come? 

We would love to hear from you!!!!                   

Soulier Design Studio specializes in Sustainability, Eco Friendly Design, Products and Lifestyle

http://www.soulierdesignstudio.com

HOW TO TRANSFORM A SCHOOL BUS INTO AN RV

Bears became an issue at our vacant 5 1/2 acre property that we owned in Haliburton.  We just loved to spend weekends up there and had been roughing it in a tent.  I actually couldn't believe that I (I am a city girl to the core, high heels and all) actually stayed in a tent.  Roughing it to me is a black and white TV while staying at a Holiday Inn.  Anyway, we started looking at used RV's, trailers etc. to stay in during our weekend sleepovers and they were all filthy, rotting, moldy and just plain disgusting to be blunt.

My husband Joe suggested that we convert a school bus into an RV.  I initially thought that he was out of his mind but after some research discovered that this is quite a common project.  We started looking on Kijiji and Craigslist and alas found our RV in the rough and boy oh boy was it rough.

Here is an Exterior before picture

And Interior

Hey I wasn't kidding was I??????

We worked each evening for about a month and a half and finally finished our new safe from bears condo on wheels to place on our little piece of paradise.  Oddly enough our street name was Shangri-La and was it ever an oasis !!!!!! So pristine as is the rest of Haliburton and the Kawarthas. For those of you not from my area this is a very popular cottage area. We used all recycled materials that we found on Craigslist or garage sales with the exception of the kitchen tiles which we purchased quite inexpensively. 

Due to the Ministry of Transportations guidelines, we had to change the exterior colour from yellow as this was exclusive to School Buses. We decided on green to blend in nicely with the greenery of the trees on our property and after all this was a GREEN project.

Here is the interior very close to completion. For privacy we installed mini blinds for the windows.  This queen sized pull out couch is for overnight guests with our bedroom located at the rear of the bus.  The room directly behind the wall of the banquette is the bathroom with an envirolet toilet, sink and recycled dresser used as the vanity.  The kitchen is just opposite to the banquette.  

We would bring our laptop to watch DVD's or listen to music for those rainy days and for evenings. A propane bbq was used to prepare meals.

Many glasses of wine were enjoyed just sitting outside by the roaring fire enjoying life!!!!

WOULDN'T YOU AGREE, this is RE-TREASURING AT ITS ABSOLUTE FINEST? !!!!

This is a condensed version of our adventure, but if you are interested in the longer version please visit http://www.freewebs.com/lovebugproject  a website I created to document our Bus Conversion.

Soulier Design Studio specializes in Sustainability and Eco Friendly Design, Products and Lifestyle.  

http://www.soulierdesignstudio.com

WALTER WHITE ~ FROM BREAKING BAD TO BREAKING GOOD!

WHO KNEW???? 

Who knew that Walter White a chemist and drug lord, who cooked crystal meth on the hit TV series Breaking Bad cared about the environment????

After doing some research, I found an article on Treehugger which states the following, 

" Methamphetamines a Clear Danger to the Environment Illicit methamphetamine dumping has killed livestock.  A group of forestry workers were taken ill when they came in contact with a meth dump. A meth lab that had been operating for several years produced so many toxic fumes that the surrounding trees, 150-year-old ponderosa pines, had died. Tree kills around meth labs are not rare occurrences. In fact, 26,000 acres of Tahoma State Forest were closed because of meth pollution. "

A little background info for those of you not familiar with the series; "Walt" found out he had terminal lung cancer and started manufacturing meth to help pay for his Cancer treatments and to provide for his wife and children should he die.  He made quite a lot of money.

Now Walt aka Bryan Cranston is living responsibly and saving fists full of dollars with his Eco-Friendly, Platinum LEED certified and very green beach house just outside of Los Angeles California. This home is truly gentle on the environment.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. 

There are four levels of certification - Platinum is the highest level that can be achieved. 

Some of the Eco Friendly features that this home is equipped with are photovoltaic and water heating solar panels, rain water collection, recycled materials, LED lighting,  Energy Star appliances, radiant floor heating, triple pane windows, ceiling fans to circulate the air. The list is endless!! 

This home is also the first Passive home to be built in the county. Passive solar homes do not use active mechanical systems/ furnaces, but instead are constructed to allow sunlight to be absorbed by windows and stored in walls and floors to be distributed in the form of usable heat in the winter and to reflect or reject solar heat in the summer.

I would like to share a few photos of this amazing home with you

Enjoy!

  Photos - Courtesy of Dwell

This home is an inspiration example for anyone interested in green building or living an eco-friendly, and sustainable lifestyle.

Soulier Design Studio specializes in Sustainability, Eco-Friendly Design, Products and Lifestyle.

Please visit us at 

https://www.soulierdesignstudio.com

ECO-FRIENDLY WARM, WONDERFUL, WOOL

I love, love, love Wool. Probably has to do with the fact that I am always freezing.  Basically, it's the time of year when all I want is to curl up by the fire with a warm wool blanket and wait out the winter.

Pure, natural wool has been used for centuries for it's warmth and comfort in both hot and cold climates. For snugly warmth and long-lasting durability, you simply can’t beat pure wool. 

Contemporary or traditional wool is timeless.
 

Did you know that wool has natural air filtering properties and is naturally non-allergenic?? Wool does not provide nutrients for bacteria or dust mites or promote mold growth.

Due to it's many unique attributes, wool gives superior performance to man made fibres, making it the perfect Eco-friendly choice.

Wool is a renewable fiber and grows continuously on a sheep's back all year round. During summer, the wool from New Zealand sheep is removed and the sheep return to their pasture.

Under the right conditions, wool is totally biodegradable. If returned to the ground or landfill, a wool blanket will decompose leaving no harmful residues.

Here are some beautifully made luxurious throws and blankets.  As you can see, they come in a wide array of styles and patterns.

  

 

photos - courtesy of Fine Textures

An easy way to add some Eco-Friendly luxury to your home

Soulier Design Studio specializes in Sustainability, Eco Friendly Design, Products and Lifestyle http://www.soulierdesignstudio.com