Boxsal cardboard picnic box complete with compostable eating tools.

The Boxsal Today’s Date Box ($25) is an afternoon date of conscious whimsy. The cardboard container is creatively designed to host the perfect picnic ingredients and comes stocked with compostable trays, bowls, cups, and utensils. All this afternoon romance is wrapped up in a cardboard paint-by-numbers canvas to cap your edible date with artistic sparks.

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

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Four materials fit seamlessly with the 2011 slant toward honesty and green accountability – concrete, bamboo, cardboard, and exaggerated wood grain. Look for these surfaces in 2011 because they’ll be showing up everywhere.

CONCRETE: Watch for concrete’s mixture of cement and sand to bring porous grey surfaces into interior spaces. Counters, furniture, tile, lampshades, pendant lighting, floors, and planters will boast an honest, raw industrial aesthetic.

BAMBOO: Last year was crowded with bamboo furniture, flooring, clothing, and even electronics. This fast growing member of the grass family is set to take the stage again in 2011, and will be sprinkled throughout the industry in both wooden and fabric form.

CARDBOARD: Recycled cardboard will be present in large doses of corrugated whimsy. Everything from grandfather clocks to rocking chairs will be created from the fibrous form of cardboard. The malleable material will be a strong presence in lighting and accessories, too.

EXAGGERATED WOOD GRAIN: Exaggerated wood grain will lend itself to furniture, wallpaper, and accessories. The celebration of nature’s intricacies within different wood species will usher in an age of acclaim for imperfect wooden goods. Acacia and olive tree wood are two examples of woods beautifully wrought with inconsistent growth patterns.

Keep an eye out for these materials in 2011 along with the rest of the 2011 shelter trends.

(Images from the portfolio of photographer Ditte Isager.)

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Ever been smitten with corrugated cardboard? You’re about to be absolutely taken with recycled and scrap corrugation.

The creative gentlemen at Graypants have molded cardboard scraps into an irresistible collection of lights; some are modeled after the four largest moons of Jupiter, some are shaped like beans or bells, some resemble discs, but all are a gorgeous vehicle to cast graphic corrugated shadows across your space.

Desire the exotic allure of a rustic mount, but don’t desire blood on your hands? Hello Cardboard Safari. These elegant contortions of cardboard still require some (simple) assembly, so you will still feel like you earned the pleasure of inviting Billy, Buck, Fred, Eyan, or Robbie to take a perch on your wall (and with lovable names like that – who wouldn’t want to invite these gorgeous gentlemen over?!).

If you prefer the look of cardboard, but with the softness of two hundred thread count cotton and a sweet donation to charity, check this out.

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If run-of-the-mill gargantuan, carpet-covered cat scratch posts go against your green ethics and design aesthetics, SmartyKat’s new CatChaise is a must for your feline. The modern-style scratcher is made from recycled corrugated cardboard, which SmartyKat says is a favorite of cats because the honeycomb-like grooves closely resemble tree bark, a natural scratching post fave.

To entice your pet to get clawing, sprinkle some SmartyKat 100 percent certified organic catnip or home-grown catnip over the scratcher and let it fall between the cracks. Your cat should go crazy for the scent. If all the action tires out your fur ball, she can take a snooze on the CatChaise since it doubles as a lounger, too.

Another problem with traditional carpet-covered cat scratch posts is that once your cat claws one to shreds, it’ll end up going to a landfill where it will never biodegrade. The lightweight CatChaise on the other hand is recyclable, biodegradable and compostable – making it an eco-friendly cat toy in more ways than one. And if the CatChaise isn’t for you, you can always make your own scratching post, too!

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Don’t be pining away for the disposable tree when you can conceive a brilliant alternative, like Tara and Thyme’s rendition carved of recycled wood and copper pipe. How lively are their branches! Even the star is close to the spirit of the nativity, made from the siding of an old barn. Other stamps of creativity are the gold leaf garland and laser cut ornaments.

The drying rack may not have that evergreen scent but it is something that endures long after New Year’s day. Just locate that collection of ornaments form the basement and have at it. Yes, this inspiration from Re-Nest grows on you.

Cozy up to felt this year with this soft and clean option from cb2. It’s the Coneheads’ fave.

The Cardboard Christmas Tree is a real seasonal cut-up, destined to have you playing workshop elf for hours, adding your own personal touch to the sustainable alternative. Another paper option is the modern and minimal Pop-Up Tabletop Holiday Tree from the MoMA Store.

Prune a yuletide tune, drying out your winter flowers and shaping like a tree. Follow the steps on Ehow with a hydrangea arrangement. Prop it in your entryway to set the seasonal tone.

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It’s not your grandmother’s wine box!

This 3-liter tube contains a premium, rich and structured California Cab – the first release by winemaker Barry Gnekow, who went looking for a way to drink outside the box and to entertain without the waste.

“My goal was to produce the equivalent of a $25 bottle of wine that could be delivered to the consumer at under $10 per bottle,” he says.

At $40 a tube, The FOUR Cabernet scores many eco points. It eliminates expensive traditional glass-and-cork packaging, cutting wine bottle landfill waste by 85%. The vino package is 100% recyclable and the label is produced by windpower. The cardboard tubes weigh 20% less than glass and can be transported using less gas.

And it’s not just the package that defies the throw-away mentality. The wine, itself, also endures until all 24 glasses are poured.

“The great thing is that it holds about four bottles worth and stays fresh up to 4 weeks after opening,” explains James Robinson of WineStyles, a retail wine store and tasting club in San Francisco. “Often with red wine, people toss out what they don’t drink after a day or two, because it goes bad.”

Robinson poured me a taste out of the spout, and I found it to be delicious, medium-bodied, plummy and lightly oaked, even on its last legs, about two weeks opened.

The wine maker also promises to deliver white wine in a tube, including Chardonnays, at some point this year.

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Whistle while you work on these very cool cardboard speakers. Designed as an eco-friendly kit with six colored pencils to get you on the road to doodle heaven, the DIY speaker boxes are made with 70% recycled materials that wipe clean when you have completed your masterpiece. They feature a plug and play design and universal compatibility and are among the clever green gadgets from Merkury’s Eco Nation line of products. $18 at Urban Outfitters.

Bet your talent and imagination could outdo the example below! Perhaps not, but give it a try just the same.

Before And After

The same company also makes the little cuties below from recycled materials. The pink Neo Speakers or the Eco Speakers, $14.95, are said to sound pretty great. Each speaker folds flat for convenient storage and batteries required. Both can be ordered at Merkury’s Fashionnation.

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