I never thought I’d say, “hey, have you seen that cool IKEA ad?” But here I am.

The ad is for IKEA’s simple, at-home hydroponic kit. While it is pretty cute it also is quite interesting. I mean, who knew becoming a hydroponic farmer could be so easy?!

Related on EcoSalon

How Women Farmers Use Potlucks to Come Together

4 Sustainably-Minded Food Startups to Watch on Foodstand, the App for Foodies

FarmedHere: Zero-Waste Organic Farming Of The Future

The post You Can be a Hydroponic Farmer, too [Video] appeared first on EcoSalon.

This week’s Link Love is all about things we have a love/hate relationship with. From Ikea to energy bars and soda, coffee pods, cleaning out our closets for spring, and oh yes, vaccines.

Have a love/hate relationship with Ikea? Who doesn’t. But their new space-saving line might lean you more towards love. [via Inhabitat]

Speaking of love/hate…nutrition bar, anyone? We eat ’em because they’re easy But some are way better than others. [via Well+Good NYC]

Your coffee pod’s dirty secret. [via Mother Jones]

Finally (we hope!), the time has come to ditch the sweaters and salt-stained boots and make way for a whole new season. [via Elle]

SodaStream International has entered into an unfortunate strategic alliance with Bethenny Frankel’s Skinnygirl brand. [via Eat Drink Better]

Vaccines by the numbers. [via Mommy Greenest]

Related on EcoSalon

Link Love: Are You a Closet Diet Coke Drinker? + How to Quit Your Job + CA Stepping Up for Orcas

Link Love: Fast Food as Art + Another Reason to Love Cameron Diaz + Paris Fashion Week

Link Love: The Food Porn Index + Carol Alt’s Raw Secret + Why Women Fake Orgasms

Image via Elle

The post Link Love: Ikea Saves Space + Secrets of Coffee Pods + Vaccines by the Numbers appeared first on EcoSalon.

When one thinks of Scandinavian design and style the first thing that comes to mind is probably IKEA.

Although the big box store has done a great job at helping it become more mainstream, Scandinavian design is much more than just what one finds at IKEA.

Scandinavian design and style are a form of modernism. At the core of the Scandinavian design movement are the concepts of minimalism, functionalism and simplicity. The idea is incorporate both form and function for a marriage of beautiful home decor that is affordable and attainable.

There is also a focus on do-it-yourself ideas, and techniques for using natural materials, like wood, wool, linen and cotton. Patterns are important in Scandinavian design and often reference the natural world as well as ancient Nordic design motifs. It’s easy to see why people equate Scandinavian design with IKEA, because that all sounded like a description from an IKEA catalog!

Do-it-Yourself Scandinavian Design Projects

1.  Painted Dresser – take an old piece of wood furniture and some geometric painted accents to add some Scandinavian design to your home.
2. Minimalist Cube Shelf – make your Scandinavian style floating shelf on which to store your most prized tiny knickknacks to really show them off.
3. Paper Garland “Curtains” – use this tutorial to use hanging paper garlands as curtains to add some pretty and simple style to your windows.
4. DIY Balsa Wood Heart – just in time for Valentine’s Day, make your own simple heart decoration to spread the love around your home. This is so simple, it’s stunning!
5. Simple Stitched Table Runner – add some cross stitching to a table runner for a simple project to create a starry night table runner.
6. Colorful Stenciled Wall – this great project utilizes a stencil from Royal Design Studio to create a colorful and gorgeous random herringbone accent wall.
7. Paint by Number Wood Coasters – this project features Pennsylvania Dutch designs, but they are so reminiscent of Scandinavian motifs that they would work in your Scandinavian styled home as well.
8. DIY Pallet Bed – a pallet bed combines the simplicity, affordable and resourceful of Scandinavian design perfectly. Reuse and reduce!
9. Dip Dyed Baskets – dip dying baskets will add a bit of that rustic charm that is part of Scandinavian design. It’s also a really easy and inexpensive way to add some color to your decor.

Related on Ecosalon

Adding Folkloric Flourishes to Your Home Decor

Style Clash: Country Comfort Meets Simple Scandinavian

IKEA’s Glass Houses

Top Image: IKEA

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Corporations are criticized for putting the pursuit of profit above all else (and most do). But being a slave to the bottom line can also boost clean energy technologies that are as business-smart as they are planet-friendly.

Let’s get one thing straight: no matter what you’ve heard, corporations are not job creators. Big companies do not exist to make sure everyone makes a living wage or that our economy is progressing in the right direction. By law, the sole duty of a corporation is to make as much money as possible for its shareholders–a duty that is best achieved when overhead costs like labor are tightly controlled.

Although there are a thousand examples of how this mentality has harmed our culture and planet, I’ll save them for another time. Multinational corporations are here, most likely to stay, so why not focus on ways they can help?

Even though it’s still motivated by a desire to reduce costs and up profit, many of today’s most well-known brands are embracing clean energy technologies in a big way. While the powers that be remain remain handcuffed to fossil fuels, these bastions of capitalism are voluntarily making the switch to solar, wind, and more. Why? Because it’s cheaper, more efficient, and better for their bottom line.

1. Starbucks – Wind Energy

In 2008, the Frappucino giant set a goal to purchase renewable energy credits certificates (RECs) equivalent to 50 percent of the electricity used in its U.S. and Canada company-owned stores by 2010. While RECs aren’t the same as solar panels on the roof, their cost funds renewable energy projects pumping clean energy into the national grid. Encouraged by their early success, Starbucks set a new goal in 2011: to purchase the RECs equivalent to 100 percent of the energy electricity used in our company-owned stores globally by 2015. As of 2012, they were already more than 50 percent of the way there, making Starbucks one of the nation’s largest purchasers of American wind energy.

2. IKEA – Solar Energy

In 2012, this Swedish furniture powerhouse release its “People & Planet Positive” long-term sustainability strategy. Among other things, the plan revealed Ikea’s ambitious goal of relying on only the sun and wind to produce all the power it uses at its stores and buildings by 2020. Unlike others who’ve made big claims only to backpedal later, Ikea set about achieving its goal almost immediately. In the US, Ikea has increased the number of solar installations to 34 stores and distribution centers, with five more underway. Many of these arrays, like the ones in Maryland and Florida, are the largest in their states.

3. Apple – Fuel Cell/Biogas

As the unofficial brand of technology-savvy hipsters the world over, Apple knows cool. But hipsters are also concerned about the environment, and don’t want their iProducts with a side of eco-guilt. According to a 2012 EPA survey of companies that use the most renewable energy, Apple came in at a safe number 10, producing an impressive 537.4GWh, or 85 percent of its requirements through clean technologies. The company’s newest data center in Maiden, North Carolina, features the nation’s largest end user–owned, onsite solar photovoltaic array. The maiden campus also boasts an onsite 10-MW fuel cell installation that uses directed biogas to provide more than 83 million kWh of 24/7 baseload renewable energy annually — making it the largest non-utility fuel cell installation operating anywhere in the country.

Image: Thin film solar panels being installed on a Wal-Mart in Mountain View, Calif.

The post 3 Trendy Brands Embracing Clean Energy in a Big Way appeared first on EcoSalon.

Walmart? It’s complicated.

As we noted yesterday, privately-owned solar panels are hot right now – and since they’re as cost-saving as they are trendy, you’d expect big business to be falling over itself to use them. You’d be right, too. A report from the Solar Energy Industries Association lists the top 20 companies by solar power capacity – and right at the top? Walmart.

Hmm.

Here’s an example of why lists never tell the full story. We’ve been keeping an eye on the mixed grocery bag that is Walmart for a number of years now – for example, wrinkling our brows over its patchy record on supporting and promoting women in business (Externally? Yup. Internally? Not so much). Grist, Treehugger and Mother Jones have all uncovered causes for deep, deep concern amidst the sustainability rhetoric. Walmart: it’s complicated.

The company’s success since 1960 is astonishing to behold, and it’s smart enough to know that being vocal about improving is the way to keep the critics under control. Topping a list of solar-powered companies won’t hurt their credibility by any means.  But does this list indicate they’re the greenest of them all? Alas, it’s not that simple. As Ariel Schwartz notes at Fast Co.EXIST, Walmart is at the top because it’s the largest retailer in the world, and consequently has more roof-space & more money to spend on cost-saving photovoltaic technology. A better way to spot the real top dog is to look at proportions. In terms of solar power units per store, IKEA wipes the shop floor with the competition with a whopping 79%.

Walmart currently generates just 2% of its power needs through renewable sources. Thanks to its size, that’s still a huge amount of power not coming from conventional supplies, and that’s a very good thing indeed. It’s also a showcase for the commercial viability of solar technology – even if Walmart were doing it just to save money. Whatever their motivations, they’re championing private solar power on a whopping scale, and we’ll certainly raise a glass to that.

Image: Roof of Las Vegas Walmart (Walmart Stores).

The post Walmart Collects More Solar Power Than Anyone Else – Why? appeared first on EcoSalon.

The terrarium goes mainstream with IKEA’s mini-greenhouses.

Lately we’ve featured a number of table-top mini-environments for the keen urban green-fingered, particularly for those with more enthusiasm than outdoor space. There’s the lawn table, felt plant pods, DIY terrariums and now this latest offering from none other than IKEA, at whom we’ve admittedly thrown some proverbial rocks.

Made from steel, this clever little hothouse provides the perfect environment for delicate seedlings to sprout and for bijou plants to flourish. It measures 35x45x22 cm and weighs less than 4kg.

The simple, flexible design allows you to open the roof so that air can circulate, when the summer heat is making your greenery sweat. The price, on the other hand, won’t: $19.99.

The post IKEA’s Glass Houses appeared first on EcoSalon.

A round-up of what we’re reading right now. 

IKEA addict? Maybe you should put all those blue bags with yellow lettered handles to good use. Like in a dress. [Via Inhabitat]

What is the definition of a “Real Woman”? Whatever it is, please stop calling me one. [Via Thought Catalog]

Haven’t joined a CSA yet? You should, and if you’re wondering how to go about it, here’s a great guide to help you navigate.  [Via Small Kitchen College]

Keeping an eye on the indie designer scene in Beijing? Here are nine to pay attention to. [Via Afar]

McMansions out and tiny homes in; we approve of this minimalist trend and will always take more micro-home eye candy like this one. [Via Curbed]

Finally someone has a good recipe for making gluten free sandwich bread at home. [Via Saveur]

Outdoor backyard movie night? There really can’t be a better way to spend a late summer evening. [Via CasaSugar]

The U.S. has no national vacation policy, how is this affecting productivity and why are we so bad at checking out? [Via The Atlantic]

A diet that’s high in sugar can lead to memory loss. [Via Organic Authority]

Image: Gewerbemuseum

The post Link Love: Making Dresses Out of IKEA Bags and How the Lack of U.S. National Vacation Policy Affects Productivity appeared first on EcoSalon.

Renting? We’ve got 5 ways to help you decorate without pounding a single nail or changing a wall color.

There are many terrible problems with the global economic crisis, not least that the fragile grasp we’ve been precariously maintaining on a flawed system is rapidly weakening and the whole thing is threatening to collapse and when the entire system goes down there is only three days worth of food in the shops and two days worth of fuel at the pumps and we’re gleefully piling headlong into a zombie apocalypse but with bankers instead of zombies and we’re going to need some tins of food and guns…do you own a gun? I don’t own a gun. There’s a can of chickpeas in the cupboard though.

Worse than all of that, however, is the whole mess means nice middle class people like my good self are suddenly unable to buy the house of their dreams. So I’m sitting here in my perfectly pleasant rental complaining about feeling like a student and talking about Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreements because it makes me feel a tiny bit closer to those dreary conversations over a nice Malbec about mortgage rates and isn’t something shocking and something else is a scandal and oh by the way look at our lovely new dado rail.

Owing to a glut of shallowness, the big problem I find with renting is it’s hard to make a house that someone else owns feel like home. I mean, really like home. We can’t decorate (I’ve lived with magnolia walls for so long now that I genuinely believe it is the only color paint available). We can’t knock out the horrific 70s stone fireplace. We can’t even arrange the kitchen so it makes sense (Why is the fridge in a whole other room? Why is there no space by the sink to put washing up? Why is there no work surface next to the stove?)

Still, if there’s one thing ahem-ahem years of renting has taught me, it’s that you can stamp your stamp on a place without drilling holes, knocking down walls or refitting the bathroom. Try these for size:

Peelable wall stickers

Vinyl wall stickers can distract from the fact that your walls are so bland it’s almost like they don’t exist. Actually, walls that only look like they exist might be quite cool in a secret-lair-hiding-behind-them way. Although I guess your neighbors would have something to say about their place being turned into a secret lair, so you’ll have to go with the decals. PVC-free and totally recyclable, they can also be peeled off when you move and transferred to your new pad.

Plants

It’s cheap, it’s easy, it’s oh so eco-friendly. A good bunch of plant friends scattered liberally around your house really can turn a pile of bricks into a welcoming home. Little Kokedama string gardens make a beautiful little design feature, or ridiculously outsized plants, like towering umbrella trees, distract from the bland wonderland of blank, off-white walls.
Alternatively, just find some plants you like, stick them on a shelf and talk to them every now and then.

Storage

You can’t put shelves up and you’re sick to death of bloody IKEA Billy bookcases. The only solution: get yourself to a yard sale and go on a rampage. Pick up battered vintage suitcases and use them to store clothes, stationary or miscellaneous stuff, like this or this, and old glasses or vases can be used to hold kitchen utensils or make-up. If you’ve got a fruit and veggie wholesaler nearby, old wooden apple crates are your storage-based best friend.

Flea Market Furniture

Jo-ann Fortune from vintagebrighton.com says: “If you’re on a budget and have only a small amount of space to play with, look out for mid-century pieces. Built for the smaller living spaces that were becoming more common in 1950s and 60s, mass production techniques made quality materials and innovative design affordable and second-hand pieces remain so. Look for sleek sideboards with sliding doors, extendable tables and stackable chairs, all of which combine the form and function for which mid-century design is celebrated.”

Photos

Nothing says home like that really awkward photo of you in your graduation gown or the picture of your family in complimenting wardrobe colors. Spurn those and get that stuff printed on actual photo paper with actual ink. Use a temporary glue spray to affix them to your wall montage style, or arrange them in one big frame and hope the landlord doesn’t notice one teeny tiny nail hole when you’ve gone.

Love It
Ultimately, home isn’t about a dual aspect lounge or a hand-made Italian kitchen (although we wouldn’t say no), it’s about how you feel. Take time to fall in love with your rental as the place you live right now, as one more rung on your ladder. No matter how frustrating, you’ll probably look back with fondness on the weird tap that needs jiggling to turn off properly or the socket that trips a fuse if you plug your cell phone and laptop in at the same time, so don’t wait, look on them with fondness now.

Most importantly, invite people over as soon as possible. Cook foodie-focused dinners, picnic on the living room floor, lean out of the window drinking wine and watch people walk past. Build a stock of happy memories to revisit and realize it’s not that home but the people inside the home that really make it a great place to be.

Top image: Apartment Therapy, Angrylambie1

The post 5 Ways to Overcome Rental Decor Fatigue appeared first on EcoSalon.

A weekly look at sex and culture, by the numbers.

$900k: Amount awarded to a woman in Oregon after suing her partner for lying about condom use and giving her a case of genital herpes

$29: Cost of a 50 Shades of Grey book-and-bondage set at Babeland in NYC

1: Number of “love days” allotted to Germany’s national soccer team players during this month’s Euro 2012 competition, a non-practice day in which players are allowed to spend time with their wives and partners

7: Years between Wade Davis’ retirement from the NFL and his coming out

4: Years a group of translators spent checking IKEA product names for sexual innuendo before the furniture chain opened a store in Bangkok

6: Countries that have reported cases of newly drug-resistant gonorrhea in the last few years

2006: Year Sister Margaret Farley’s Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics was published; it was condemned by the Vatican this week as causing “grave harm” to readers for discussing masturbation and homosexuality in a positive light

16: Age of Aparna Bhola, a teenage sex educator who works with former sex workers in Mumbai

The post Sex by Numbers: An Ounce of Prevention appeared first on EcoSalon.

If it’s fast and stackable, it’s hackable. That includes IKEA and West Elm, too.

It’s been a good week for hackers. The internet collective known as Anonymous hacked some 70 law enforcement websites and the Syrian Defense Ministry. Even the New York Times Op-Ed page was kinda sorta (but not really) hacked.

It is in the same cyber spirit – interestingly its own branch of DIY – that we investigated some design hacks, namely fast furniture getting a slow upgrade.

Like this find from Green Upgrader, IKEA legs strapped to a scavenged wood pallet.

Nice.

It turns out that there’s an entire blog dedicated to IKEA hacks called IKEA Hackers. Very search engine friendly. Like Anonymous, their modus is to crowd source their hacks from all over the web rather than go it alone out of a dark living room in Encino.

So goes their mission statement: “We hack, personalize, repurpose IKEA products into the very thing we want.”

This bench is made entirely out of LACK coffee tables sourced from Craigslist.

The hacker, who goes by the name Charles Crawford of San Diego, CA (an alias?), built the bench by cutting each LACK in two, filling them with expanding insulation foam, and coating the whole thing in paint for waterproofing.

A designer who calls himself Andrew Riiska, also of California (coincidence?) hacked four laminated IKEA legs with two seats from antique banker’s chairs.

I am reserving opinion on the widely blogged about treadmill desk because I do believe a healthy and active lifestyle is not that hard to come by, though I can appreciate the JERKER desk/treadmill combo by hacker John of Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

An interesting twist on the fast furniture hacking trend on the web is the scavenged hacking scene out of Tel Aviv. A duo known as Godspeed, comprised of Joy van Erven of Holland and Finn Ahlgren of Sweden, skip the design phase entirely and construct furniture out of raw and scrap materials.

Their M.O.: they hack each piece in an hour or less.

Images: IKEA Hackers; Godspeed

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