Refashion+Refurb – Fabulously Green

Category archives: Refashion+Refurb

DESIGN BY RESCUE | Newsworthy Wallpaper

28Feb08

This fabulous DIY wallpaper treatment came from a high-end Italian furniture catalog of all places. A $6,000 plus Italian-crafted bed set against a wallpaper of newspaper that costs–if recycled, almost nothing.

How to Fab Your Walls

It’s all about experimenting with what you’ve got. Look around your space, or a friend’s. You can use almost anything:

Pages from an old book: I couldn’t sell back my outdated Norton Anthologies, so I’m prepping those wafer thin pages to cover a column in 17th century poetry. There’s like, 2000 pages in all.
Postcards from the edge: If you’re someone whose friends and family travel to ooh-la-la places and send good pics, use them.
Greeting cards: Sort them by dominant color, (cut them up if you’re not sentimental) and create your own David Hockney-esque masterpiece
CDs/DVDs: You don’t really need that outdated Windows Install CD do you? Declutter as you design by taking those cast-off CDs from home and the office and paint them to create a geometric border or wall treatment. It will look like, totally groovy.
Sheet music: So lyrical and artsy
Office swag: If you’re the type to bring work home, why not do something cathartic with those oh-so-colorful TPS reports? Or try the Business Card Art Wall idea we posted earlier.

How to Make it Removable

If you’re a renter or a design chameleon it’s easy to make this treatment lease-friendly by using double-sided tape. Elmer’s Glue mixed with water is earth-friendly to boot because it’s non-toxic, removable with sponge and water and biodegradable.

Show Off Your Inner Warhol

Weekend warriors: e-mail us your photos of your fabulous wall makeover. If we like it, we’ll make you famous. Or at least give you kudos!

Filed under Budget Decor, Interior Design, Refashion+Refurb, Small Space Style, Wallcoverings| Tagged creative wallpaper ideas, newspaper wallpaper | 17 Comments

FASHION | Form & Fauna's Racy Shoes

27Feb08

For three years, I’ve patiently hunted for a pair of sexy, sustainable knee-high boots and it’s worth the wait. Form & Fauna’s sporty, sexy look speaks to my inner-tomboy. Sleek racing stripes are a signature in this freshman collection of flats, boots and pumps. Even though they hail from the Fall 2007 collection — they are perfectly wearable for spring. Skinny Bitches and compassionate fashionistas take note: Form & Fauna just may become the “It” label to wear.

Fabulousness Kicked Up a Notch

Inside and out they’re made sans leather, opting instead for high quality Italian-made synthetics. Heels are crafted from bamboo or renewable plywood, while the insoles and cushions are crafted from recycled yoga mats (can you say Ohm?).

Bay Bertea, the designer behind the Form & Fauna label, found the inspiration for her collection from her days as a yoga instructor. Imagine how comfy it must feel to step out (and onto) a yoga mat every day.

Form & Fauna shoes are good for your health. Fume-free with the help of biodegradable materials, and non-toxic, water-based glues and dyes. They’re made in the good, old, USA (how many things can you say that about these days).

Good karma and style? A great way to kick your fabulousness up a notch.

Check out the Form & Fauna website for stockists and stay tuned to Fabulously Green for sneak peeks into the Spring ‘08 Collection.

Filed under Eco Glam, Fashion - Women, Indie, Refashion+Refurb, Shoes, Urban Style, Vintage| Tagged Biodegradable, cruelty-free shoes, Eco-friendly, Form & Fauna, Indie, Non-toxic, Skinny Bitch, Sweatshop-free, Vegan, vegan fashion | No Comments

SHOPPING | Transportation Doggie Style

24Feb08

FLASHBACK | Project Runway, Season 3 — The Dog Challenge. Heidi Klum tells the show’s designers they will be designing for one of fashion’s hottest accessories. The designers (and viewers like me) try to predict “said accessory,” but it’s not until we see the inimitable Tim Gunn walking awkwardly over a knoll in Central Park with thirteen little dogs in tow that we suddenly get it.

Call it Paris Hilton’s contribution to the world: doggie chic.

I don’t own a dog, but I love animals, dogs especially. I get that owners love and spoil their dogs and style mavens in particular would like to their puppies to show a little style. So you might as well be a smart puppy and choose something more fashion conscious like the doggie sac by the mother/daughter design team Rebe, made predominantly from vintage fabrics and wire mesh.

Okay, these pups aren’t real but you get the concept. We love the fact that Rebe gives cast-off fabrics a second shot at love.

Doggie Sacs are available directly through the Rebe website for $198.

Filed under Bags, Eco Glam, Indie, Refashion+Refurb, Vintage| Tagged doggie sac, Indie, indie fashion, pet style, Rebe | No Comments

DESIGN BY RESCUE | Refabulous Cushions

23Feb08

Looking for a quick style fix this weekend? Give any chair a fresh faced look by sewing a simple cushion. Sure you could upholster them in any fabric, but a rescued, vintage print injects an extra je ne sais quoi. Take this pair of cushions for example by Kim of Desire to Inspire:

[I] found two scarves at a cheesy store – they were $7.50 each. Not so sure about the left one, but I love the pattern on the right one. It’s ok that they don’t really match each other because they’re going on opposite sides of the bed.

Where to Score Fabrics

Your local Goodwill or thrift shop: a surprising treasure trove of fabrics for the sewing novice (like me). Keep your eye out for dresses, skirts, scarves in bold prints or sophisticated colors.

Local vintage fabric sources: check your city’s “Best of” Magazine for names. Like Best of Philly winner Pamela Simon Vintage Fabrics. Tip: Show the store a photo of a desired look and let the shop find you a similar alternative.

Revival Fabrics: Hollywood costume designers hit up Revival for its large inventory of mint condition fabrics from the 20s to 50s. They sell online and stock many indie designers as well.

ebay: The online “it” source for that hard-to-find Marimekko print and other collectibles.

How Make the Stuffing

Rescue those oh-so-old pillows, sofa cushions, comforters. They make perfect cushion stuffers — and they’re free.

Sewing It Up

Upholster.com offers some basic tips to pillow making. Or take it to an upholsterer. For modern, high style patterns and tips give these books a try: Simple Sewing with a French Twist and Amy Butler’s In Stitches.

Filed under Interior Design, Refashion+Refurb, Textiles+Fabrics, Vintage| Tagged cushions, ebay, Pamela Simon Vintage Fabrics, Revival Fabrics, Sewing Tips | No Comments

DESIGN | Falling for A Hot Rocker

22Feb08

The rocking chair is one piece of furniture with a bad rap. Instead of being seen as dynamic and fun, it harkens associations of aging, stodginess, a bygone era that was soooo last century. Enter the Gotham Rocker.

I’m in love. Just look at it. It’s gorgeous and sculpturally interesting from all sides.

Designed by J. Persing Company (formerly Danko Persing), the Gotham Chair is actually made from surplus automotive seat belts, dyed with non-toxic water-based inks. Its lightweight form is intentional: great design with minimal material. It’s available in a wide selection of belt colors and wood stains. It makes a greener design alternative to fans of the iconic Risom Chair, and it’s more fun.

Interested in a little rocking chair trivia? Here’s what wikipedia says:

According to an american legend, the rocking chair was purportedly invented by Ben Franklin by simply taking a standard chair and adding rockers to it. Cabinetmakers began producing rocking chairs in the early nineteenth century, and many examples from that era still survive today. Their popularity has only increased, and antique rockers of many varieties are highly collectible today.

The Gotham Rocker retails around $1000 and was spotted at Vivavi.

Filed under Furniture, Interior Design, Refashion+Refurb| Tagged chairs, Eco-friendly, Furniture, J. Persing, Non-toxic, seating, vivavi | No Comments

DIY Style File | Not Your Grandma's Sewing Patterns

12Feb08

Has Project Runway Season sparked a sudden pang to learn to sew? Whether you’re a maven with an overlock machine or a fashionable first-timer learning the difference between a needle and thread, you can find some au courant patterns that reflect your chic modern style and creative spirit. Burdastyle is an open-source pattern and how-to site featuring easy to difficult projects that are oh-so wearable.

Sew Many Goodies:

Free instructions and downloadable pdf patterns ranging from a gorgeous Garbo Skirt to a gaga grocery bag like this one below
A visual feast of end results (called “creations“) showing members’ takes on a pattern
A sewpedia with pictures to help you learn lingo, styles, fabrics and more
A forum to share tips, sewing Rx questions and offer mutual inspiration

Make it Fabulous: Style by Rescue

Raid the Goodwill or your local thrift store for your blank canvas. Gives you the freedom to experiment, goof up without guilt.
Raid your closet for cast-offs begging for a makeover.
Raid your boyfriend or S.O.’s closet for neglected tees, shirts, denim. You can dye them a radical color and transform them into a to-die-for outfit.

Editor’s Note: I’ve been MIA of late I know. It started with throwing out my back and subsequent physical therapy (good God am I at that age where I tell everyone and the postman about my back ailments? Stop me now.) Between designing my client’s residence, launching a job search and gluing myself to CNN like a election junkie, while doing my physical therapy program I’ve had little desire to string words together to make a sentence. Many of you have sent me some fabulous finds and I thank you for continuing the hunt for fab green ideas! Slowly catching up so stay tuned…

Filed under Budget Fashion, DIY Style, Fashion - Women, Refashion+Refurb| Tagged Burdastyle, design-it-yourself, DIY Style, sewing patterns | 2 Comments

Optical Chandelier by Stuart Haygarth

04Dec07

Optical Chandlier by Stuart Haygarth

Here’s a new one from British designer and Fab Green favorite Stuart Haygarth whom I love for his ability to transform castoff objects like plastic wine glasses and plastic containers into high style lighting here and here. This time he’s used old prescription lenses to create an enchanted chandelier called Optical.

Closeup of Optical Chandelier

The 1.5m diameter chandelier, which contains 3,000 lenses from unwanted eyeglasses, was premiered at the Trash Luxe exhibition at Liberty in London last month.

Haygarth has dabbled with recycled eyeglasses before — as seen in the above 2006 stunner that used both frames and lenses.

According to dezeen, Haygarth gets his lenses from from a charity that ships used spectacles to the developing world. I’m hoping this means these are cast-offs of the cast-offs, otherwise it sounds a little odd to take lenses away from the needy to design a high-end light fixture. Note to self to write the ingenious Haygarth myself.

Note: According to the January 2008 issue of Metropolis Magazine, the glasses were those deemed unusable by the charity.

Spotted at curbly via dezeen

Filed under Interior Design, Lighting, Refashion+Refurb| Tagged chandelier, modern lighting, Recycled, Stuart Haygarth | 8 Comments

Holiday Style File | Getting Ornamental

14Nov07

Photo courtesy of splityarn

Here’s an easy idea for tree ornaments. Make them for you or send them as gifts.

Design it yourself:

1. Get your blank canvas: a package of class glass ornaments from a crafts store (I get mine at Michaels).
2. Be innovative: use whatever lovely leftovers you can find. This is the fun part. Consider it your own designer’s challenge. Channel your inner Martha. In the famous words of Project Runway’s Tim Gunn: make it work.

Odds and ends or unexpected textures work best and can even tell a story. Yarns from knitting projects, ribbons from birthday parties, confetti in your hole puncher, toothpicks, rubber bands, scotch tape (sculptor Tara Donovan’s work might inspire some out-of-the-ball thinking here). Or use your hole puncher to make confetti. If you have a paper shredder, you can create ribbons from virtually any paper source like magazine ads, old photos, etc. The more your reuse, the greener it is.

3. Fill ‘em up and you’re done!

Variation: Wishful Thinking
I made these five years ago for family and in-laws from used leftover vellum. Three different colors. I composed a one sentence wish for each member. Then I cut them into ribbons placing each person’s wish into the respective family ornament. People loved them and spent an hour shaking them up and reading their individual wishes. Martha would have been proud.

Big design day ahead. Until tomorrow!

Filed under Gifts+Gifting, Handmade, Refashion+Refurb| Tagged Christmas, DIY Style, Eco-friendly, Handmade, Holiday Style, make your own ornaments, Ornaments, Recyclable, Recycled | 5 Comments

Tara Donovan | From Banal to Beautiful

05Nov07

I can hardly contain myself — one of my favorite contemporary artists Tara Donovan is exhibiting again. Her latest work Colony, an undulating carpet of no. 2 graphite pencils (18,000 used in all) has joined other installations at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, CA — revealing the artistic possibilities of the prosaic pencil. Fab Green plans on being there over Thanksgiving.

I first saw Donovan’s work three years ago at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and have been captivated and inspired ever since. Donovan’s inspiration comes from mundane, everyday materials such as scotch tape, drinking straws, paper plates, and fishing wire, from which she molds and teases out sensual, abstracted landscapes and forms: be it pencils forming a haunting terrain of golden majesty or styrofoam cups congealing to create billowy, luminescent “clouds” overhead.

Filed under Art+Graphics, Handmade, Refashion+Refurb, Unique| Tagged Art+Graphics, Bedford Gallery, design inspiration, Handmade, Met, modern art, sculpture, Tara Donovan | 5 Comments

Ask Fab Green: Hot Shops in D.C.?

09Aug07

Dear Fab Green,
I live in Washington DC and recently bought a new condo which I’m interested in furnishing with green furniture and accessories (most of what I have now is of the college junk variety, so in a lot of ways I’m starting over). Do you have any suggestions (besides “Come to LA, and bring a truck”)?
Thanks very much, Jenny

Hi Jenny,
I’ve enlisted the help of DC-based gal pal and fellow designer Nicole Foley for suggestions. For home furnishings she recommends two spots:

For style mongers, D.C.’s Craiglist is a treasure trove for mid-century modern finds, and Domino-inspired revival pieces. In fact, Nicole says it’s often easier to snag a deal on modern furniture in D.C. over L.A. since the demand for and knowledge of mid-century design is less developed. Maybe I should rent a truck and swing out your way!

Case in point: $299 chair by Brocade Home (left). A set of four selling for $100 total in Arlington (right)

For new, eco-friendly furnishings Nicole recommends:
Eco-Green Living.
1469 Church Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20005
Mon – Sat, 11am – 7pm
Tel: 202.234.7110

What you’ll find: an organic coffee/tea bar, corn-silk carpet tiles, low-odor and no-odor paints (many of them milk-based), organic tees, and solar-powered radios.

Thanks for writing Jenny!

Filed under Budget Decor, Furniture, Interior Design, Refashion+Refurb, Small Space Style, Vintage| Tagged Eco-friendly, Furniture, shopping, Vintage, washington dc | No Comments

Fabulously Green