Green Your Home With DIY Projects
Oakland, California-based architect Michelle Kaufmann has made a career of promoting green homes and green communities through her company, Michelle Kaufmann Designs. But if you’re not in the market for a new house, she still has some pretty cool tips for greening your home on the cheap.
On her blog, Kaufmann features do-it-yourself videos for a neat variety of eco-projects that let you reduce energy costs, recycle objects into useful items and add elements of clean, green living to your home.
The one that caught my eye in particular was a DIY WaterWall, which uses old water bottles or Mason jars to create a heat-absorbing, light-filtering inset to a problem window. Kaufmann walks you through the steps to create the WaterWall, then suggests cool modifications to beautify the project even more: adding sprigs of green or flowers in varying amounts to block even more light and add elements of nature to your window.
Kaufmann’s blog also features videos on how to make a unique and clever EcoBirdfeeder with used chopsticks, how to make plantable cards from waste paper, how to make a case for your iPod or iPhone from old denim jeans and lots more. She also sends out an e-newsletter, so you can learn when new projects are posted.
If you’re interested in learning more about Kaufmann and her work, you can find her at several coming events across the country, including the Gravity Free Design Innovation Conference in Chicago (May 13), the Dwell on Design Conference in Los Angeles (June 6) and Built Green Santa Barbara (June 13).
Hey! Thanks for all the great info. I was browsing through a bunch of green websites and blogs and I came across yours and found it very interesting. There are a bunch of others I like too, like the daily green, ecorazzi and earthlab.com. I especially like EarthLab.com’s carbon calculator (http://www.earthlab.com/signupprofile/). I find it really easy to use (it doesn’t make me feel guilty after I take it). Are there any others you would recommend? Can you drop me a link to your favorites (let me know if they are the same as mine).