Tableware

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If you’ve been reading the Dreaming of a Green Christmas series, you should be well on your way to having a well-decorated, eco-friendly holiday season. Except for one little thing: the gifts.This week, I’m going to help you find great, sustainable gifts for everyone on your list.

First, don’t feel obigated to spend loads of money on gifts simply because its Christmas. If you are going to give, stick with thoughtful, useful gifts that are handmade, made of recycled or sustainable materials and that serve a purpose or have value beneath the surface.

Lately, my household has been focused on our water consumption. Our bill jumped up significantly this month, with no obvious culprit. We only use the dishwasher every other day, use bath and cooking water to give our plants a drink and do our laundry in larger loads. So we’ve decided to try finding all the small ways we can conserve water.

This is also motivated by the fact that we live in the metro Atlanta area, and most of our water comes from Lake Lanier. The lake’s levels have been extremely low for more than a year, prompting water restrictions in some counties.

I love dark wood furniture. What I don’t love is the dust, scratches and stains seem to be magnetically attracted to it. I learned the hard way about the toll cup rings can have on quality wood pieces.  Most people keep coasters in their dining room, kitchen or living room. But I have a habit of taking glasses and cups into the bedroom. The first real bedroom set my husband and I ever owned was so spotted with moisture rings you may have thought the pattern was intentional.

When it comes to dressing up the dinner table, it’s easy to go for a great looking tablecloth or placemats, a few stylish cloth napkins or some awesome recycled glass dinnerware. But when it comes to the silverware, it can be almost an afterthought. We could dress it up with some strands of twine or organic cotton ribbon, but that can be a bit frilly and cumbersome. So what to do when you want stylish, no-fuss flatware?

In spite of a finely-honed disdain for anything cute or frilly when I was a little girl, as I have grown as a decorator, I have learned to love a little girly glam every now and then. You’d still have to pull teeth to make me like traditional floral patterns or ever decorate my home in “cottage chic” style, but I can definitely stand feminine touches that will remind visitors who put her final stamp of approval on a room — because there’s no way my husband would pick these coasters.

My husband thinks I’m crazy, but I mean it when I say you can find a greener alternative to almost any product on the market — from underwear to light bulbs and everything in between. So I try my best not to buy any new products without first investigating whether I can find one that is easier on the Earth.

As much as I love bamboo for its sustainable qualities, if you look at it as often as I do, it tends to lose its luster. So many bamboo products look the same. The same colors, the same standard bamboo grain — it can get a bit tiring. So its great to find a company that is making bamboo products that are different.

It can be very easy to become bored with the look of your dining room. After all, you’re not going to shop for a new table and chairs every day, or even every year. Luckily for all of us (especially me, since I tend to get bored with decor very quickly), in decorating, its the little things that come together to make a room feel the way it does. Change the color of one wall, add or remove a rug or hang a new piece of art, and your room will feel dramatically different.

I admit that I’ve never been big on tablecloths. I’ve always thought they are more trouble than they’re worth, especially with a toddler at home. I do love placemats because they confine messes to a small, easier-to-clean area — unlike having to wash an entire tablecloth for one unfortunate stain.

That said, I may have to rethink my position with the discovery of these beautiful linens. The Helsinki Organic Tablecloths are absolutely beautiful and feature a lovely damask pattern — and I love damask.  In fact, damask is one of the few “traditional” patterns I’d ever let anywhere near my home.

We’ve never been the type of family that has “good” dishes. You know what I mean. They’re the ones you only pull out when its a very special occasion, or when you have guests coming over. As far as I’m concerned, dishes are bought to be used, so all the plates in our cabinets are fair game when its time to eat. I won’t be handing off my favorites to my toddler, of course. But for hubby and I, every day is a special occasion.