Good morning! Just bounced out of the wonderful world of Twitter to bring you another one of my musings from Behnd the Green Scenes! By now you all know how much I adore Twittering, and I simply had to tell you about a cool new Twitterpal I met yesterday. His name is Brian Parker, and he runs a wonderful organization called ecoshare. He started following me on Twitter, and through that introduction I checked out his website and was blown away! ecoshare is a virtual community that shares all sorts of ideas, products and resources on everything and anything GREEN. It's Totally COOL, and a perfect partner for us to help spread the word about the CharityWorks Green House. The funny thing is that once we had exchanged numbers and actually had a conversation, I found out that he was a passionate golfer and was totally digging my Virtual Golf Room for the Green House! Bonus!
Anyhoo, I always get a little flustered when I talk with a REAL Green person...after all as you know I am a new disciple, trying to figure out the best way to recycle my lip gloss and hairspray containers when they're empty, but as usual I digress. Brian is the REAL DEAL, and his enthusiasm for both GOLF and GREEN really broke the ice. We ended up having a great conversation about Virtual Golf vs. Real Golf, and it turns out that Bryan has an entire group of green buddies who are also passionate golfers, but their love of the game holds a double edged sword. You see, I found out that there is such a thing as GOLFERS GUILT in the green community. These guys (and gals) who love the game are also wrestling with their consciences when they are out on the links. These eco-minded people realize just how much water waste there is when it comes to keeping the course green, and of course the fertilizers and pesticides that are used in parts of the country to keep those fairways fab, not drab are also a worry to them as well. To be honest, I never really thought about it that way, because as you all know by now I'm not a golfer by any means, but even to me this train of thought makes perfect sense. You can love the game but hate what maintaining the courses does to our Mother Earth. So when I explained further to Bryan about the concept of creating a Virtual Golf Room for the CharityWorks Green House, he was totally digging it: It's Golf without the Guilt!
Brian had played Virtual Golf Simulators before at places like Dave and Busters and really liked the concept, but when I told him that my system was actually in High Definition and he would be able to see every blade of (virtual green) grass, and every grain of (virtual, hazardous) sand on a 12' wide by 9' high screen he was blown away. Add in the fact that I told him that I can create an entire High Definition Virtual Golf Room IN HIS HOME...well, suffice it to say that I thought I would need to perform virtual CPR on the poor guy! Ha!
So, long story short, Brian is going to be doing a feature on my HD Virtual Golf Room coming up in the very near future on the ecoshare website (Yippee!) AND he was one of the first people I let in on a closely guarded secret! Here's the scoop: During the run of the CharityWorks Green House when it opens this October, I will be hosting private "Virtual Golf Cocktail Parties" and "Golf with a Pro" Events in my Virtual Golf Room, allowing your group to come in and have a private golf party playing my HD Golf Simulator. The cocktail parties will be held after hours for groups of 25 or less, and the Golf with a Pro events are limited to 10 people each. I'll be bringing in some of the best pros in the DC and surrounding areas who will give you tips on your game and just have fun hitting a couple of holes with you, and the cocktail parties are perfect for Corporate Groups to check out the ENTIRE Green House and play some Virtual Golf while nibbling and sipping the night away. How much fun will that be! To further ease your "Golf Guilt", you'll be happy to know that all proceeds from these events will benefit our CharityWorks partner, Friendship Public Charter Schools, helping the neediest children in the DC public school system. It's a triple win situation: Enjoy playing golf, Give poor Mother Nature a Break AND help some very deserving children who desperately need our help.
I'm still working on the final details of the events now, but suffice it to say Brian has already told me he's bringing up a group of friends from Virginia Beach who can't wait to see the ENTIRE Green House and play golf with me! If you want more information about these private events, or want me to plan one for your group please leave your information below in the comments section, or send me an e-mail at Lynni@Lynni.net. Be sure to click "Follow this Blog" on the right side of this page so I can keep you up to date with new scoop as it happens, and please continue to help me spread the word about this wonderful Green House project!
See you on the Virtual Links! No water needed!
xoxoxo,
Lynni
Keeping it real, one Green Link at a time!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Greenie, Meenie, Miney...GO!
Hello from rainy, dismal Maryland on what is usually my FAVORITE day of the week, but it looks like my Happy Hour will be turning into a Crappy Hour if this rain doesn't stop! Yikes, good thing I'm wearing my high heeled rubber boots! Ha!
It's hard to believe that one week ago at this very moment I was sitting by the pool at the uberchic Naples Grande Resort in SUNNY Naples, FL. Talk about a gorgeously green resort! Any of you who have the chance to scoot down there (but not on your private jet...pesky fossil fuels you know) will fall in love with the resort as I did. Now that I'm becoming such a fan of all things green, it's pretty cool to report that even the 5/8 of a mile walkway to the beach was made out of 100% recycled plastic milk jugs. I would be lying if I didn't add that the HEAT OF THE PLASTIC PLANKS BURNED THE CRAP OUT OF THE BOTTOMS OF MY FEET, but, hey, I digress. When I think about the discomfort our poor little earth faces every day, a couple of third degree burns are worth it. Earth, you can thank me later.
Anyhoo, I told you in the last post that while I was at the ART Conference (an amazing organization dedicated to the Home Accessories Industry) we had an awesome speaker named Jeff Hiller come and dazzle us with his take on what we should all be doing to be "green". Jeff is the president of the Sustainable Furnishings Council, as well as a pal of mine, and when I wasn't laughing hysterically at his humorous approach to being sustainably responsible I really learned some interesting things from him I'd like to pass along to you. Since as you all know by now that this blog is leading up to the opening of the CharityWorks Green House, you'll see from Jeff's tips what all of the designers who are participating in the house are doing when it comes to researching products for their rooms, and making selections that are stylish AND eco friendly. There's a lot more to being green than just pulling your recycling bins down to the sidewalk once a week (as I have been duly chastised for thinking) so if you're like me a little knowledge can go a long way. With that, drumroll please.........
Jeff Hiller's Top 10 things we can all do to be green (paraphrased by yours truly!)
1. When shopping for furniture, ask your designer (or sales person) if the product is made of certified wood, especially if the product is imported.
2. Favor using products made out of Rapid Renewable or Plantation Grown Wood. I didn't realize that many of the trees that are used to build furniture only have a life of 12 years or so, and when they are plantation grown they are constantly being replanted, thus bringing more trees to the earth that help us reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Even rubberwood trees are rapidly renewable, and that's where we get natural latex from. (And on a personal note, I'd like to now remind my high school science teacher that I really should have gotten an "A" in that class...)
3. Ask for low VOC paints and stains where you can. In fact, both Benjamin Moore and Farrow and Ball are providing the low VOC paints for the CharityWorks Green House that all of the designers will be using, so you can check out some of the great colors and finishes available. (Oh, and by the way, VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds. Because it has the word "volatile" in it, suffice it to say it's a bad thing. Yuk.)
4. Look for high recycled content in your products. A perfect example is Kravet's new line of KravetGreen products, where each fabric is made of eco-friendly or renewable resources. I mean, how cool is it to have a fabric made out of recycled water bottles? You'll see some Kravet Fabrics in our room at the GreenHouse, as well as in other designer's rooms I'm sure!
5. Avoid composite board when possible. Oopsie, sorry IKEA, but it's a fact: particle board and MDF (that's medium density fiberboard for you and me) are basically just hardpacked sawdust and glue pressed together to make these common building materials. Sure, there's the argument that "well, if you're using every single scrap of wood and renewing it, isn't it green?" but according to Jeff these polymers used to make the boards are pretty nasty little buggers, wreaking havoc with the environment.
6. Encourage recycling, especially when it comes to your home furnishings. Antiques are a perfect example of eco-friendly furnishings, as they are passed down through the years and cherished, not just tossed to the curb when we're done with them. Case in point, my pal Skip Sroka, who is a member of the CharityWorks Design Committee as well as a designer in the house, is actually going to recycle some old chairs and give them a facelift for the GreenHouse. Finding something old and reinventing it is all part of being green, and finding homes for what you no longer need can be green too. Look into local Furniture Banks in your area and help others while helping our environment.
7. And speaking of recycling furniture, if you're planning to redo a piece of upholstery, make sure you investigate bio-based cushioning alternatives. You can choose down wrapping as opposed to dacron wrapping, and use bio-hybrid foam vs. polyurethane. Um, just so you know even though the bio-foam is made of SOYBEANS it won't feel like you're sitting in a bowl of edamame. Trust me.
8. Replace all overhead track lighting and lamp bulbs with the new fluorescent or LED bulbs. Now, there was some heated argument in the room when this topic came up, because many of the lighting designers and manufacturers at the conference said the technology is not quite up to speed yet, but if you do your research you may find that in little used rooms the flourescent is the way to go. I'm sorry earth, but even though I love you I don't want to be cast in a ghastly blue glow when hosting my dinner parties. However, my laundry room, guest rooms and non-formal areas will be lit in a rocking eco-friendly way!
9. Stop using water bottles. Yep, you heard me right! The amount of bottled water consumed by Americans is out of control, and many sources of the "designer water" you're drinking is right out of someone's tap anyway! Sheesh, talk about stealth marketing. Instead, Jeff suggests just using a refillable container and using a Brita water filter instead.
10. Jeff wants EVERYONE IN THE WORLD to visit the CharityWorks Green House. Hahahahahaha...I had to slip that one in. Seriously, though, as Skip Sroka so eloquently put it, this house will be an inspiration for us all to do a better good for the world, and show that you don't have to turn your world upside down to do it. Using our own good common sense, and making better choices for the earth will benefit our planet, our children, and our souls.
So with that, I'm off to Twitter World and Facebook to spread the word about this new blog post. Are you following me on Twitter yet? Just this week new peeps: The World Wide Federation, Green Climate, CNN, and the executive producer of Curb your Enthusiasm. I don't know how green the last one is, but it's cool nonetheless! Check out the links at the right to find out more about the fun peeps I've been tweeting about, and I'll see you here next week!
Have a superbly GREEN weekend!
xoxoxo,
Lynni
It's hard to believe that one week ago at this very moment I was sitting by the pool at the uberchic Naples Grande Resort in SUNNY Naples, FL. Talk about a gorgeously green resort! Any of you who have the chance to scoot down there (but not on your private jet...pesky fossil fuels you know) will fall in love with the resort as I did. Now that I'm becoming such a fan of all things green, it's pretty cool to report that even the 5/8 of a mile walkway to the beach was made out of 100% recycled plastic milk jugs. I would be lying if I didn't add that the HEAT OF THE PLASTIC PLANKS BURNED THE CRAP OUT OF THE BOTTOMS OF MY FEET, but, hey, I digress. When I think about the discomfort our poor little earth faces every day, a couple of third degree burns are worth it. Earth, you can thank me later.
Anyhoo, I told you in the last post that while I was at the ART Conference (an amazing organization dedicated to the Home Accessories Industry) we had an awesome speaker named Jeff Hiller come and dazzle us with his take on what we should all be doing to be "green". Jeff is the president of the Sustainable Furnishings Council, as well as a pal of mine, and when I wasn't laughing hysterically at his humorous approach to being sustainably responsible I really learned some interesting things from him I'd like to pass along to you. Since as you all know by now that this blog is leading up to the opening of the CharityWorks Green House, you'll see from Jeff's tips what all of the designers who are participating in the house are doing when it comes to researching products for their rooms, and making selections that are stylish AND eco friendly. There's a lot more to being green than just pulling your recycling bins down to the sidewalk once a week (as I have been duly chastised for thinking) so if you're like me a little knowledge can go a long way. With that, drumroll please.........
Jeff Hiller's Top 10 things we can all do to be green (paraphrased by yours truly!)
1. When shopping for furniture, ask your designer (or sales person) if the product is made of certified wood, especially if the product is imported.
2. Favor using products made out of Rapid Renewable or Plantation Grown Wood. I didn't realize that many of the trees that are used to build furniture only have a life of 12 years or so, and when they are plantation grown they are constantly being replanted, thus bringing more trees to the earth that help us reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Even rubberwood trees are rapidly renewable, and that's where we get natural latex from. (And on a personal note, I'd like to now remind my high school science teacher that I really should have gotten an "A" in that class...)
3. Ask for low VOC paints and stains where you can. In fact, both Benjamin Moore and Farrow and Ball are providing the low VOC paints for the CharityWorks Green House that all of the designers will be using, so you can check out some of the great colors and finishes available. (Oh, and by the way, VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds. Because it has the word "volatile" in it, suffice it to say it's a bad thing. Yuk.)
4. Look for high recycled content in your products. A perfect example is Kravet's new line of KravetGreen products, where each fabric is made of eco-friendly or renewable resources. I mean, how cool is it to have a fabric made out of recycled water bottles? You'll see some Kravet Fabrics in our room at the GreenHouse, as well as in other designer's rooms I'm sure!
5. Avoid composite board when possible. Oopsie, sorry IKEA, but it's a fact: particle board and MDF (that's medium density fiberboard for you and me) are basically just hardpacked sawdust and glue pressed together to make these common building materials. Sure, there's the argument that "well, if you're using every single scrap of wood and renewing it, isn't it green?" but according to Jeff these polymers used to make the boards are pretty nasty little buggers, wreaking havoc with the environment.
6. Encourage recycling, especially when it comes to your home furnishings. Antiques are a perfect example of eco-friendly furnishings, as they are passed down through the years and cherished, not just tossed to the curb when we're done with them. Case in point, my pal Skip Sroka, who is a member of the CharityWorks Design Committee as well as a designer in the house, is actually going to recycle some old chairs and give them a facelift for the GreenHouse. Finding something old and reinventing it is all part of being green, and finding homes for what you no longer need can be green too. Look into local Furniture Banks in your area and help others while helping our environment.
7. And speaking of recycling furniture, if you're planning to redo a piece of upholstery, make sure you investigate bio-based cushioning alternatives. You can choose down wrapping as opposed to dacron wrapping, and use bio-hybrid foam vs. polyurethane. Um, just so you know even though the bio-foam is made of SOYBEANS it won't feel like you're sitting in a bowl of edamame. Trust me.
8. Replace all overhead track lighting and lamp bulbs with the new fluorescent or LED bulbs. Now, there was some heated argument in the room when this topic came up, because many of the lighting designers and manufacturers at the conference said the technology is not quite up to speed yet, but if you do your research you may find that in little used rooms the flourescent is the way to go. I'm sorry earth, but even though I love you I don't want to be cast in a ghastly blue glow when hosting my dinner parties. However, my laundry room, guest rooms and non-formal areas will be lit in a rocking eco-friendly way!
9. Stop using water bottles. Yep, you heard me right! The amount of bottled water consumed by Americans is out of control, and many sources of the "designer water" you're drinking is right out of someone's tap anyway! Sheesh, talk about stealth marketing. Instead, Jeff suggests just using a refillable container and using a Brita water filter instead.
10. Jeff wants EVERYONE IN THE WORLD to visit the CharityWorks Green House. Hahahahahaha...I had to slip that one in. Seriously, though, as Skip Sroka so eloquently put it, this house will be an inspiration for us all to do a better good for the world, and show that you don't have to turn your world upside down to do it. Using our own good common sense, and making better choices for the earth will benefit our planet, our children, and our souls.
So with that, I'm off to Twitter World and Facebook to spread the word about this new blog post. Are you following me on Twitter yet? Just this week new peeps: The World Wide Federation, Green Climate, CNN, and the executive producer of Curb your Enthusiasm. I don't know how green the last one is, but it's cool nonetheless! Check out the links at the right to find out more about the fun peeps I've been tweeting about, and I'll see you here next week!
Have a superbly GREEN weekend!
xoxoxo,
Lynni
Monday, June 1, 2009
Yikes! Getting out of the Rough...
I think that good old Murphy, he of the 'Murphy's Law' fame, had something to do with bringing my glow from being in Naples, FL for the past week to a screeching halt this morning. Yes, that was me, oversized sunglasses and cold drink in hand by the pool just a scant 48 hours ago, and this is still me, freaking out because there is now a huge sewage pipe running across the wall where my High Definition Virtual Golf Simulator Screen is going to be mounted in the Green House.
Yes, I said sewage pipe.
And no, I can't believe I just typed this.
It's just like anything else, you think things are going just swimmingly, you head out on vacation, and then you're brought back to earth by a miserable length of PVC piping that was installed WHILE YOU WERE OUT OF TOWN and now is ensconced in lovely, sustainable wallboard so there's no changing it. For those of you who are just tuning into this blog, this is a diary of exactly what goes on behind "The Green Scenes" as I work valiantly toward creating a Virtual Golf Room in the Mid-Atlantic's first Carbon Neutral Decorator Showhouse. The screen is kind of key for my Virtual Golf Room, as I know the sewage pipe is for the rest of the house, but I digress. When I got an e-mail on my Blackberry from (the always adorable) Mark Turner of GreenSpur a few days ago letting me know that there were some "interesting bulkhead situations" in my room that I should "take a look at asap" I kind of blew it off. Because I was laying by the pool in Florida, you know?
A girl has to have priorities, right?
So, after a good night's sleep in my own bed after returning from FL last night, I cruised down to McLean, VA to check out the latest Green House progress this morning with Elyn Seaman, my trusty assistant, sidekick and friend. To say we were gobsmacked is the least of it. I mean, the house is looking AMAZING, and we're so excited about the progress and then we see it: The sewage pipe running through my room. I think the "let's pull a fast one on Lynni while she's out of town and can't throw a hissy fit about it" powers that be had a field day and are probably still laughing as I type this! I mean, how am I going to fix this one? A sewage pipe? Right behind my screen? Yikes! When I think of people hitting golf balls at my screen, and the soft spot that simply MUST exist in that piping...Good Grief! This is definitely one of those "keep your fingers crossed and tell no one" situations, huh?
So my first day back in town was spent measuring and remeasuring and then hunkered over my CAD program on my computer redrawing the room yet again so that Bob Beecroft from High Definition Golf and his team can create this product in Canada and make it fit perfectly in my room in Virginia. Without making the sewage pipe explode.
No pressure. At all.
It's funny, because when you're "Behind the Green Scenes" as I am, you have no idea how crazy it gets trying to pull every little last detail together, and usually the general public has no clue as to how many clumps of hair have been pulled out of my blonde head in the process. In addition to solving the sewage pipe issue today, my trusty Blackberry (that I have been ignoring for the past week) reminded me that our Final Design Proposal for the Green House, complete with color renderings of the room as well as why all of our products are green, was due. TODAY. Arrrrggghhhhh! So, poor Elyn's fingertips are stained purple and gray from her diligent artistic rendering skills, and I'm trying to wax poetic about the who, where, why and what of my room and why my products are acceptably green. In other words, vacation mode has come to a screeching HALT, but it's all part of being a Green Girl on the Go.
Is it wine time yet?
In my next update I'll share with you all of the great ideas my friend Jeff Hiller, president of the Sustainable Furnishings Council, shared with me when we both attended the ART Conference this past week in Naples, FL. Jeff was one of our featured speakers at the conference, and not only was he one of the nicest guys you'll meet, his humorous approach to Green Living made even me think twice about everything from bottled water to light bulbs. He assured me that smoking cigars with his pals Steve from Murray Feiss and Phil from the Las Vegas Market Center during our Pool Party at the Naples Grande Resort was a totally green activity, especially when coupled with a cold beer! Bada Bing! More on Jeff's insights in the next post, I promise!
For now, I'm signing off and going to head to Twitter and Facebook to let everyone know about this new "Behind the Green Scenes" post. Ain't social networking grand? I hope you'll continue to spread the word too.
Sustainable Luxury ROCKS...sewage pipe and all!
xoxoxo,
Lynni
Your "Still Mentally in Florida" Green Girl on the Go!
Yes, I said sewage pipe.
And no, I can't believe I just typed this.
It's just like anything else, you think things are going just swimmingly, you head out on vacation, and then you're brought back to earth by a miserable length of PVC piping that was installed WHILE YOU WERE OUT OF TOWN and now is ensconced in lovely, sustainable wallboard so there's no changing it. For those of you who are just tuning into this blog, this is a diary of exactly what goes on behind "The Green Scenes" as I work valiantly toward creating a Virtual Golf Room in the Mid-Atlantic's first Carbon Neutral Decorator Showhouse. The screen is kind of key for my Virtual Golf Room, as I know the sewage pipe is for the rest of the house, but I digress. When I got an e-mail on my Blackberry from (the always adorable) Mark Turner of GreenSpur a few days ago letting me know that there were some "interesting bulkhead situations" in my room that I should "take a look at asap" I kind of blew it off. Because I was laying by the pool in Florida, you know?
A girl has to have priorities, right?
So, after a good night's sleep in my own bed after returning from FL last night, I cruised down to McLean, VA to check out the latest Green House progress this morning with Elyn Seaman, my trusty assistant, sidekick and friend. To say we were gobsmacked is the least of it. I mean, the house is looking AMAZING, and we're so excited about the progress and then we see it: The sewage pipe running through my room. I think the "let's pull a fast one on Lynni while she's out of town and can't throw a hissy fit about it" powers that be had a field day and are probably still laughing as I type this! I mean, how am I going to fix this one? A sewage pipe? Right behind my screen? Yikes! When I think of people hitting golf balls at my screen, and the soft spot that simply MUST exist in that piping...Good Grief! This is definitely one of those "keep your fingers crossed and tell no one" situations, huh?
So my first day back in town was spent measuring and remeasuring and then hunkered over my CAD program on my computer redrawing the room yet again so that Bob Beecroft from High Definition Golf and his team can create this product in Canada and make it fit perfectly in my room in Virginia. Without making the sewage pipe explode.
No pressure. At all.
It's funny, because when you're "Behind the Green Scenes" as I am, you have no idea how crazy it gets trying to pull every little last detail together, and usually the general public has no clue as to how many clumps of hair have been pulled out of my blonde head in the process. In addition to solving the sewage pipe issue today, my trusty Blackberry (that I have been ignoring for the past week) reminded me that our Final Design Proposal for the Green House, complete with color renderings of the room as well as why all of our products are green, was due. TODAY. Arrrrggghhhhh! So, poor Elyn's fingertips are stained purple and gray from her diligent artistic rendering skills, and I'm trying to wax poetic about the who, where, why and what of my room and why my products are acceptably green. In other words, vacation mode has come to a screeching HALT, but it's all part of being a Green Girl on the Go.
Is it wine time yet?
In my next update I'll share with you all of the great ideas my friend Jeff Hiller, president of the Sustainable Furnishings Council, shared with me when we both attended the ART Conference this past week in Naples, FL. Jeff was one of our featured speakers at the conference, and not only was he one of the nicest guys you'll meet, his humorous approach to Green Living made even me think twice about everything from bottled water to light bulbs. He assured me that smoking cigars with his pals Steve from Murray Feiss and Phil from the Las Vegas Market Center during our Pool Party at the Naples Grande Resort was a totally green activity, especially when coupled with a cold beer! Bada Bing! More on Jeff's insights in the next post, I promise!
For now, I'm signing off and going to head to Twitter and Facebook to let everyone know about this new "Behind the Green Scenes" post. Ain't social networking grand? I hope you'll continue to spread the word too.
Sustainable Luxury ROCKS...sewage pipe and all!
xoxoxo,
Lynni
Your "Still Mentally in Florida" Green Girl on the Go!
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