The top stories of the week at EcoSalon.

This week, we’re fascinated by big, big furniture and the attraction of simple, hearty, unfussy one-pot meals. All we really want to be doing is warming our feet by the fire with a good book (maybe one of these). Oh, and reminding people that just because it’s cold it doesn’t mean global warming is nonsense. That, too.

We admired the beauty of the 11.6 million square miles of our planet called Africa, in 40 gorgeous photos.

We pondered some of history’s most famous quotes on living small.

Finally, since those posts probably kept you so busy that your Facebook Wall went to hell in a digital handbasket, our editor has a handy and completely sincere guide for turning your unacceptably messy real life into a cascade of Facebook likes. Tell your friends.

The new antiquarian tends to live in a world of mystical, sometimes macabre, always evocative objects from times long past.

This year saw the continued proliferation of the new antiquarian, a special breed of inquisitive human characterized by intense nostalgia, an appreciation for simple pleasures, and a preference for taxidermied animals. The new antiquarian reads Victorian literature while sipping on cocktails with bitters. The new antiquarian would never click through a Timeline to recall memories when there are precious keepsake boxes on hand for that task.

From the coffers of 2011, a review of some of the coverage that best exemplifies this aesthetic.

Anatomically correct décor

The design world’s love affair with sourcing inspiration from the mechanics of the human body was in full swing this year, as demonstrated by Scott Campbell’s upholstered armchair.

Strange taxidermy

Enrique Gomez de Molina is reinventing taxidermy as a surrealist art, mashing up insects, birds, animals, and found objects into quirky one-of-a-kind pieces.

Keepsake Boxes

Mementos deserve homes as precious as the memories they preserve. WE-ARE-FAMILIA has engaged cross-disciplinary artists from around the world to contribute found mementos to one-of-a-kind Keepsake Boxes that sell for up to $10,000.

Animal Farm glasses

Some glassware is definitely more equal than others, like these Orwell-inspired tumblers hand-sketched on glass from recycled wine bottles.

Typewriters

There’s nothing like the clickety tap tap of a vintage typewriter to make one feel like a modern-day Hemingway. Donna Brady and Brandi Kowalski restore classic typewriters like the Remington, the Corona, and the Royal Standard at their Brooklyn studio.

Antique sitting chairs

This 19th-century French sitting chair, made entirely of tree branches, is just one of many lustable antique objects available at Obsolete in Venice, California.

The good china

This hand-painted collection of bone china from New Orleans artist Shelley Hesse for Anthropologie is fit for formal dinners. You could even get away with using them year-round.

Sick street style, with a conscience.

Artist Jason Podlaski of deckstool sources shattered skateboards from skate shops and skate parks in the United States and Canada and turns them into functional pieces of furniture.

These benches are built to last, while nonetheless echoing the culture that busted up the material in the first place. Every dent and scar is preserved, as are the original graphics of the boards. Handcrafted and reinforced by skilled craftsmen in Pennsylvania, each stool is unique – with its own combination of colors and graffiti.

For just $199, available via the artist, you can straddle some serious deck without risking life and limb.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

EXCLUSIVEDon’t miss this sale!

VivaTerra, the chic eco home furnishings company, is having a warehouse sale this week in Marin County, Calif. If you’re planning to be in the San Francisco Bay Area, don’t miss the amazing deals.

This special sale runs from Tuesday, June 28  through Friday, July 1 (or while supplies last). This sale features mostly furniture and large decor pieces. All items are second quality or slightly (and sometimes not so slightly!) damaged. Prices are 75% or more off retail!

Here’s a sample of what’s on sale:

Recycled Metal Chairs – $25, reg. $169 (lots!)

Etched Silver Cabinets – $250, reg. $1095 (more than 10 available)

Convertible Cubes – $40, reg. $289 (many!)

Etched mirrored cabinet. I’ve got my eye on this number.

Convertible cubes. Multifunctional and modern.

There will also be shelving, coffee tables, wall art and other items. Visit the VivaTerra website to get a sense of the style if you’re new to the brand.

Details at a glance:

See you there!

VivaTerra is an EcoSalon sister company.

The Vidje lounge, created by Norwegian designer Iris Djupvik, is a study in contrasts.

The Vidje lounge chair is the work of Norwegian designer Iris Djupvik who was inspired by both the fine craft of crochet and the kind of dependable sturdiness only a simple wooden chair could provide. What the designer wanted to know was whether wood could be crocheted and to “investigate the contrasts that arise from the interaction” between the two.

She also sought to explore the contrasts between the feminine and the masculine, light and shade, positive and negative.

In essence, the Vidje (especially when illuminated), “interacts” with the room it is in. Djupvik constructed the chair, which was featured at the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2011, out of locally sourced laminated wood.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

A clever DIY idea for refreshing a chair with quirky charm.

Dipping in general is a good thing: skinny-dipping, ice cream cone chocolate-dipping, and now, chair-dipping. You won’t need to drain a hot tub and fill it with paint to dip your chair, of course. Just mask off your chair fittings with painter’s tape as deep as you want your dip, and paint. (Sand first, seal with a primer, and two coats recommended). White, black, teal, chartreuse, gold, plum, cherry red – and how fun would a low-VOC lacquer in this year’s Pantone color, Flamingo, be?

- Pinterest via Casey Bond via Brooke Shepard

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com.

A luscious, woven wood masterpiece made of FSC certified scraps.

The Weave Credenza from Structured Green would make a stylish statement in any room. Made entirely of FSC certified wood, the decorative door fronts of this gorgeous piece are made from leftover fragments of wood woven together. It’s worthy of lots of lust as well as an all out splurge ($3495 – $3995).

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

An architecturally stunning stool that stands in as a basket.

“Beautifully delicate in appearance, unfathomably strong in construction,” the Kaktus Stool ($250) from Artecnica is pretty much perfect. Use it as a stool, of course, or turn it upside down and it becomes a basket. Made from recycled aluminum, designer and Artecnica co-founder, Enrico Bressan, spent three years creating it.

The Kaktus Stool is currently in production and will be available in June at Artecnica.

Via Sara Ost.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

Rayan Turner explores the do-it-yourself movement.

The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) movement has made a grand entrance over the course of the last several years, making DIY an acronym everyone is familiar with.

The state of the economy has become the latest, and perhaps greatest, impetus for the DIY craze. Now more than ever, people are turning to a lifestyle that is not only within their control but is completely customizable according to their own needs, desires, and budget. Quite accidentally, the DIY movement has also become the harbinger of healthful living for the average person, drawing attention to the details of those things that surround us, forcing people to understand their environment from a different perspective and helping people make smart yet tough decisions about how their lives should be lived.

As this movement takes hold of more people, many changes are bound to occur. Paying retail will take on an entirely new meaning, and will come to represent the retail price of the parts, rather than the whole. How items are made – and how they should be made – is a topic of interest not only for those who have made a conscious decision to live a green lifestyle, but for everyone, because how something is made dictates its cost, availability, and safety.

Products with dual functionality will become the norm, rather than the pleasant exception. We will all begin to demand more from those who provide for us as their means of business, and in the process will find ourselves turning inward more and more frequently to meet the needs of our families and our lives.

From building your own furniture, to landscape gardening, and growing or raising your own food, the information is out there just begging for you to give it a try.

One aspect of DIY that may alone change the face of retail as we know it lies in the furniture-building industry. No longer are we subject to toxic finishing techniques and the pieces we live with having high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). No longer are we forced to purchase items that are not constructed from sustainable or renewable materials. You can take greater control of your life by deciding to build or rehabilitate your own furniture and in the process determine your own level of cost, the materials you feel comfortable incorporating into your life, and the level of output you may have with a new sense of organization and comfort. You can choose only those pieces that are absolutely necessary and that provide what you need – nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else will do.

Are you in need of furniture that is more fitting for your newly down-sized residence? Does that furniture need to serve multiple purposes to maximize your living space? Is $4000 for a dining table more than you care to spend? No problem. The DIY furniture building industry is flourishing, reverse engineering is prospering, and retail catalogs are increasingly becoming a source of inspiration. DIY is the new design style, and it is anything but generic in appearance or technique. Hello handmade, goodbye toxins.

Here’s a taste (including an estimated cost to build), of The Design Confidential projects you can do yourself: outdoor garden structures, indoor/outdoor furniture, storage and organization, dual functionality, space maximization, and (of course), they’re all budget friendly.

Mitchell Cubby Organizers, $25

Modern Classic Pergola, $250

Outdoor Furniture Plans, $10 – $100

Craft Space Collection,  $25 – $200

Kiddo Collection and Ann Marie Collection, $25 – $125

2 x 2 Collection of Pieces, $10 – $75

The DIY Movement has done nothing if not tear down the wall of carpentry mysticism by showing people they have the power and the skill-set necessary to build their own furniture. The customization possible is truly worthwhile for creating a healthful, and beautiful home.

Dive into DIY by shopping the Visual Plan Index or Project Catalog from The Design Confidential.

Guest author Rayan Turner is a self-proclaimed carpenter, goddess of handmade furniture, and the creative force behind The Design Confidential.

Be wooed by the smooth moves of the Kelly sofa.

At first sight, I fell for the Kelly sofa ($2,972 as shown above) and its subtle, svelte curves. Not voluptuous nor androgynous; just the perfect fit for any space. The yellow print upholstery adds a playful beat, but even in a solid hue the Kelly is a sofa ready for fun. Sustainable too, it’s made with forestry certified hardwood, eco plywood and CFC-free polyurethane foam. Jardan Australia warns us that Kelly is the “Casanova” of sofas. I could have told them that.

Editor’s note: We are proud to bring you original columns and feature editorials at EcoSalon on a daily basis. But sometimes, nothing’s more pleasurable than admiring a beautiful, innovative or special sustainable product or idea. Throughout each week, look for “lustables” in the mix here at EcoSalon. And if you have a product you think readers should see, drop us a line at tips@ecosalon.com.