I’m so happy this article is up online from Sunset. It’s an inspiring story about a family (The Johnsons) who cut out so much of their stuff and try hard to live the Zero Waste life. A commenter on their site named Stephanie summed it up pretty well “This article has stuck with me, challenged me, frustrated me, and inspired me.” Seriously, you cannot win; I remember reading about their compostable toothbrushes being sent from Australia and thinking “well, shipping from Australia kind of cancels out the fact that they are compostable.” Also, the wife mentions that she sends the little sticky strip from Netflix back to Netflix so it won’t go in her own trash. O.K., but you haven’t eliminated it. But these are the words of a cynic. The greater point is that these people are trying very hard to live smaller, produce as little waste as possible, and spend less. Their tips regarding toys, food, and wardrobes is great, and overall, if you can pick up just one good tip from the Johnsons then it was worth reading.

Speaking of working with a small budgets and small wardrobes, here is another article that will help you cut down from The New York Times this year. It’s about going a month on just six pieces of clothing and includes links to some fun blogs where people share what they come up with.

image by Thomas J. Story for Sunset Magazine

I was in Portland Maine last weekend and I saw the most fabulous re-use of old tires:

I just wonder what will happen to them once the windows change? Perhaps a funny planter that matches some pink flamingos?

We here at Design Public feel that the Earth deserves more than just a day of celebration. So we’ve extended our Earth Day EcoTots sale to a full week! Now through the 27th at midnight, save 10% on all EcoTots items by using the coupon code EARTHDAY.

EcoTots designs and manufactures a high-quality, full-line of environmentally friendly, real wood modern furniture and furnishings for kids which assemble quickly and easily without any tools or hardware. All EcoTots products are made from renewable FSC Certified Smart Wood®, and are available in a variety of eco-friendly, UV finishes.

Shop EcoTots and save!

I am suffering from holiday A.D.D. I’m surfing around from twitter to a Scrabble game (“Porcinis” – 95 points!); from tumblr to Houzz, from Garnet Hill Orla Keily bargains ($49 bags!!!) to Remodelista, etc. etc.! I figured I’d share some of my favorites throughout the day as I go along.

So, a little known fact about people who don’t have kids is that we don’t care about nurseries. We avoid ToysRUs, we send Pottery Barn Kids catalogs straight to the recycling bin and we think finding poop on an upholstered chair in the living room on Christmas morning is disgusting (true story). So it takes an extra special, truly bedazzling nursery for us to give it a second look, and a total superstar for us to actually like it. I present this nursery by Insidesign that I just spied over at Remodelista. OF COURSE it is Dutch. It almost makes me believe I could live with all the poop:

If this got you in the mood to shop for modern nursery goods, this is what Design Public has for your hip baby.

photo via Remodelista, though I think they may have found it via desiretoinspire

Two years ago I lamented that I wanted to know more about this neighbor’s house in Maine but didn’t want to bother the people who lived there. Luckily, The Boston Globe Magazine did, so I was able to learn all about it and get some great peeks inside here. I knew that house was special, it even made the cover! I just wonder how the heck The Boston Globe managed to find our tiny little island of Spruce Head.

photos by James R. Salomon for The Boston Globe