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Pottery Barn Green

October 11th, 2010 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

Pottery Barn Green

Reused Materials – A Bad Use Or Reuse, Or Smart Thinking?

We are not talking products that are recyclable here, nor are we discussing materials and products that contain recycled content (there is a difference!). Instead, I am talking about the world of down and dirty reuse. Reuse can be defined as taking a product, as is, and giving it another purpose. One of the best examples of this is “found art” – meaning taking a found object (aka garbage or waste) and mounting it and calling it art. I think that there is a chance to see the beauty in anything, but where do we draw the line?

I recently saw a video of green building initiatives in the city of Chicago. A few years back, the city funded a competition for creative sustainable housing. The video highlighted the most innovative house that was built and won the competition.

The house incorporated a mural wall of all clear glass bottles. These were used bottles that were identical, clean and (unexpectedly) filled with water. Due to the placement and orientation of the house, the wall was south facing and received the most natural light. The water is heated by the sun and then doubles as a passive heating system. Pretty cool.

So, in this instance, we have a reused product (bottle) that created a triple purpose of beauty (if you think so, I do), heating and reuse. After looking at the wall, it almost becomes a questions of why aren't we doing this more? The second question that comes to mind is…who cleans the water? That could get pretty nasty.

A less classy example of reuse I recently saw was old road signs that were transformed into end tables. Once again, could this become an attractive show piece, or does it make the space take on a “dorm room” feel? I think the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For how long have we all been purchasing jeans that already have holes manufactured into them? Why not buy old pants that get holes naturally?

So the next time you see brand new throw pillows for sale at Pottery Barn (or a store like it) at $50 a pop that are made from recycled potato sacks, think about this: are those pretty? Or are they a bad use of reuse?

About the Author

www.design-sherpa.com

Cute Furniture/decor/storage space for a teen/tween girl?

Hi I have an older bedset from target. I want to get new furniture/knobs/storage space/ plus a desk for a medium sized room WITH a Full bed. I need to keep the colors, Turquoise, Navy Blue, White and lime green. It is hawaiian themed so I dont wanna clash. I LOVE Pottery Barn's Storage Classic Bed but can't afford it.

JCPenny has a cute bed called the Mikah kids bed and I considered that.

I can't paint my room but I want to make it my own.

Thank You in advance! :D

IKEA has some great trendy looking pieces at low prices!

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