Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only - not the street or sidewalk.
Use the microwave to cook small meals. (It uses less power than an oven.)
Purchase "Green Power" for your home's electricity. (Contact your power supplier to see where and if it is available.)
Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash only full loads.
Cut back on air conditioning and heating use if you can.
Turn off appliances and lights when you leave the room.
Some aficionados chuckle at the notion of calling recycled wood an emerging trend. After all, it's been around since the first time someone picked up a fallen branch and made something out of it. But reusing old wood in new ways — whether fashioning railroad ties into flooring or old pickle barrels into a bed — is enjoying a renewed vogue among homeowners weary of generic looks and worried about the environment.
Many "start out to be funky, and then it goes green on them, and that speaks to them," says Mark Nash, a Chicago real estate agent, author and promulgator of a popular annual "What's In, What's Out with Homebuyers" survey. "It's one of the small things people can do and be proud of."
Reclaimed wood, as industry insiders call it, can offer other advantages besides quirky charm and planet-friendliness points. A weathered plank from an old bridge isn't likely to shrink and settle in today's floor. A century-old warehouse beam was probably cut from an old-growth tree, harder and tighter-grained than modern forestry can match. And when the coffee table proudly displays the gnarls and wrinkles of the barn board it once was, what's a little household wear and tear?
"It's become the antique of the future," says Annette K. Stelmack, a Louisville, Colo.-based interior designer and a co-author of "Sustainable Residential Interiors" (John Wiley & Sons, 2006).
Some examples:
— Timber block stool from VivaTerra ($369 each, $725 for 2); http://www.vivaterra.com
— Pig platters from NapaStyle (prices start at $69.99); http://www.napastyle.com
— Hand-painted barn wood table from Cottage Home ($1,025); http://www.cottagehomemaine.com
— Celtic spirals shield from Celtic Viking Furniture (price on request); http://www.celticvikingfurniture.com/
— Jungle mix flooring from TerraMai (prices start at $14.50 per square foot);http://www.terramai.com/
— Root of the earth bowl from VivaTerra (prices start at $35); http://www.vivaterra.com
— Rd stool from SMC Furnishings ($500 each); http://www.spacemfrs.com/
— Recycled pickle barrel bed from Sundance Catalog (prices start at $1,995); http://www.sundancecatalog.com
— Rattan stackable cabinets from Tucker Robbins (prices start at $1,500); http://www.tuckerrobins.com
— Gable end mirror from Sundance Catalog ($145); http://www.sundancecatalog.com
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