Bring some life into your lifeless places

We got this great little terrarium from one of our favorite new providers: Uncommon Goods (disclaimer: for free, though we got to pick what we wanted from their online store). What we liked about it was that (a) it was essentially an old wine bottle with the top whacked off (not bar-room fight style, but cleanly lasered), and (b) it seemed like the perfect way to get a little green into our office without a lot of work (or, ahem, maintenance requirements like watering). Turns out (no surprise to us of course), that we were right. (again)

The entire thing was cleverly packaged – basically a bottle with dirt, moss and a set of chopsticks. It was a little messy getting all the dirt into the bottle (best to remove keyboards, etc when doing so), but the chopsticks helped to get the right placement (these eventually become the stand to keep the bottle from rolling around). And in just a few minutes we had what you see in the picture. The packaging suggests putting in other little tchochkies like plastic dwarves or mini ewoks (your own personal Endor!), but we decided to pass.

In the end it’s a simple little thing – but it really is great for adding some green to an un-green area (like a cube or office, or even a dresser). A little piece of earth to keep us grounded.

Uncommon Goods also has a number of other green and plant-related and gardening supplies like air plant vases, herb garden kits, bansai kits and all kinds of great stuff:

cool gifts for gardeners
plant gifts

As to the terrarium – it’s $38.

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Filament Bulbs

While there is some debate about these types of bulbs, especially in regards to their use of trendy restaurants coast-to-coast, it is true that they look pretty damn cool. But what about their energy consumption?

These particular bulbs from Roost burn at Euro 60w, which is only 15w American. This means they don’t actually use that much energy and because of the nature of the filament last longer than a typical 60w bulb.

It also means they aren’t as bright…but great lighting for a “candle”-lit dinner or to set the mood.

These bulbs come in a few styles:

Small ($9)

Tube ($13)

Large ($26)

Real vintage speaker horn, wireless in the OLD sense...

This is cool: an old-school record-player-like dock for your iPad. What’s even cooler is how it works. You don’t plug in your iPad, you simply set it in the dock. The iVictrola will channel the sound from the iPad’s speakers and amplify it using a real speaker horn from an old turntable. So cool. It’s available in limited production by the designer Matt Richards.

The base is solid walnut and apparently this little baby can broadcast the sound loud enough to fill the room.

It is not, however, cheap.

$985

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Bring the woods into your house

I can’t imagine anything more sublime than a lovely venison meal served up on these moss placemats. How woodsy! Or, apologies to vegans out there, how about a nice saute of hen-of-the-woods with caramlized onions floating on a bed of rice, floating on a plate, floating on these wonderful mossy mats?

They’re pretty simple: preserved mosses fastened to bamboo placemats. Not sure how to clean or preserve them, but they’ll be fun while they last. The only thing that could make this better would be a pine needle rug. Will have to check Etsy for that…

Check it out: made to order.

$40 for a set of 4

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Healthy subscription for yourself and the environment

Now this is smart: you sign up, pay in advance, then leave it to Preserve to send you a toothbrush every couple or few months. What’s even cooler is that when you get your new brush, you can send back your old one which will then be further recycled into a park bench. Or something.

If you’re not familiar with Preserve, they are our toothbrush of choice – let’s be honest here, what much can be said about a toothbrush. But these have a nice little curve, are easy to hold and are made from old yogurt cups, which let’s us feel better about throwing them out every couple months.

The subscription is for 4 brushes, the first comes with a travel case, the others in a mail back pack so you can send back your used ones. They also have a subscription for kids brushes.

$15

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Warm vintage glow

I don’t know what it is about jars that attracts us so. Perhaps it’s the age old human behavior of always wanting to compartmentalize everything. Perhaps it is that the contents are invariably the result of warm summer sun, that in each jar we release the fresh bounty – berry jams, heirloom tomatoes, or just peaches in syrup.

And these old jars bring us back to a simpler time. A time when all those things really mattered. A time when it was more important to spend a day making pickles from all the cucumbers in the garden than it was to download the latest iPad app. I don’t mean to say they were better times, just different ones. And important ones for us to remember; to not forget that the bounty of our gardens is not to be taken for granted, that winter is, indeed, coming.

These pendant lights from Terrain are made from vintage canning jars, oiled bronze hardware and are hardwired and ready for professional installation in your home.

We think they bring a special warmth.

$400

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Recycled PET Bottles + good design

The Restore Basket is made by Finnish designer, Miva Tolvanen (don’t you just love Finnish names?). It’s super simple and clean, yet strong and good for holding newspapers or magazines, your craft goods, firewood or whatever else. The felt finish ensures that wherever you drag it, it won’t scratch.

We love the eco-friendly nature of it and think it might even be good for last minute Christmas gifts.

$100

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Floral structures (sorry, we can't call them frogs, it makes no sense)

We’re not sure why, exactly, they call these frogs as they bear little resemblance to the amphibious beings. We suspect it is a florist’s term for the structural elements often hidden in vases but that keep a bouquet in the correct shape. We are, however, not florists. But we do think these are pretty cool.

What are they, you ask? They’re basically structures that you can use to display floral or other similar things (user your imagination people). What is fun about these is that they seem to be artwork in and of themselves. You can put them in handblown (mouth blown?) or other glass vases and use them to hold your (imagination) in place. Or you can throw out the vase entirely and stick a bunch of (imagination)s in there. They are made from iron with zinc plating and come in grids, totems and truss configurations in different sizes.

Fun gift for the crafty people in your life. Especially the ones with lots of (imagination)s lying around.

Also, these are from Roost, who we love and they are designed to work perfectly in their mouth blown vases.

They range from $20 – $40

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Kit to make your own bonsai: a rare deciduous mini conifer.

This little bonsai kit will allow you (or a green-thumbed friend/family member) to create their own miniature forest using this kit. It gets cooler: these trees are actually a descendent of the California Redwoods (yeah, the HUGE ones) that they thought to be extinct until someone actually found one growing in a rice paddy in China!

This is a rare deciduous conifer (so I guess it’s not, technically speaking, an evergreen), so it’s needles shed every fall. There is only one other deciduous conifer.

That’s some serious bragging rights – if you can pull off growing these suckers (pictured are 3 years old). Comes with 3 little pots, seeds (in starting “wafers”), growing medium, bonsai scissors, a rake/spade, moss seed, river stone, a cool tin to plant it in (also is a nice gift box), and of course instructions. All the plastic and steel are recycled, too.

$50

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Gerber Daisies for NWF

It’s the holiday season, and we like to send flowers sometimes. We recently discovered Organic Bouquet, a florist that sends organic flowers…but what’s even better, they have a special program of pre-designed bouquets that all include a donation to your favorite charities – 45 charities in total.

We love that there’s a lot of wins in this formula: we can feel good about giving a gift, feel good about how the flowers were grown (organically) and feel good about the donation we are giving to [your favorite charity here]. Some of the charities include: Peta, Amnesty International, National Wildlife Federation, Green America, American Lung Association, BreastCancer.org, Women for Women, Rainforest Foundation, Audubon Society, Project Hope and many more.

That’s the kind of business model we like. mmm. Goodness.

Bouquets range from $40 to $70.

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