Birch and Willow Handmade Lamps and Sconces

Want to bring the forest into your home? Artist and designer Katherine Ahern of Birch and Willow here in Boston makes one-of-a-kind pendants, sconces, and lamps from bittersweet vines, grapevines, reeds, sea grass, and stones.

The lamps are positively gorgeous, and create almost magical shadows and reflections. Pictured here are Ahern's Roost Pendant Lamp (above) and her Cairn Table Lamp.

Ahern explains Birch and Willow's mission as "Nature illuminated." Her philosophy carries over to an eco-friendly manufacturing process, outlined on the Environment page of the Birch and Willow website.

Continue reading: "Birch and Willow Handmade Lamps and Sconces"

Sweet Dreams: Shawn Lovell Tree Bed

The Treehugger green gift guide led me to Wists, a social shopping site. While there, I came across a picture of Shawn Lovell's breathtakingly beautiful tree bed. Lovell is a metalworker from Oakland, CA who creates magical metalwork - trellises, tables and chairs, gates and doors.

Available at Shawn Lowell Metalworks.

Natural Salt Lamps Cure Allergies?

My husband and I traveled to Chile a few years ago and brought back a natural salt lamp because we thought it looked really cool. (Confession: He's a total Star Trek fan, and I think he thought it looked like something out of Quark's bar.) We spent a couple of Saturday's retrofitting it so it would work with U.S. electrical outlets. And voila: a lighting unit you won't find in the Pottery Barn catalog. Want one? Sorry, you'll have to travel to Patagonia, my friend. And just try explaining it to the folks at Homeland Security.

But wait! Isabella Samovsky from Natural Salt Lamps just wrote to introduce herself. Turns out, she sells a whole range of salt lamps just like the one we carted back from Chile, and she'll save you the trip. Samovsky travels the world to find her Solay Salt Crystal Lamps - bringing back lamps from the Himalayas, Persia and Poland.

In addition to looking cool - and adding some definite zen to your living room, the lamps act as natural ionizers, great news for folks with allergies. Isabella explains:

Remember the feeling of breathing clean, fresh crisp air in nature? environments like mountains, springs, water falls and forests. Those natural places have an abundance of electrically charged negative (healthy happy ions). Salt crystal lamps by attracting moisture from the air, release those negative healthy ions. Those healthy ions gently purify the air by neutralizing bacteria, allergens, dust, so you experience healthier , cleaner air. No ozone, no noise and no filters to replace. They last indefinitely for your well-being.

Not sure I completely understand the science of it. All I know is we love 'em.

Available at Natural Salt Lamps.

Kitchen Scraps: Scrapile Dining Table

At least as interesting as the materials used to make the Glidehouse for The Green House exhibit were the furnishings found inside it. One of my favorites was the SCRAPILE dining table.

Brooklyn designers Carlos Salgado and Bart Bettencourt have developed a unique method of collecting and repurposing discarded scraps of wood from New York's woodworking industry, and created a furniture line as funky looking as it is ecologically sound.

Available at Vivavi.

Bike Chairs and Other Green Ideas

These are some of the coolest chairs we've seen in a while. Andy Gregg of Bike Furniture Design gives old bikes new life as chairs, tables, stools and loveseats. Via A Green Idea, a great site for, well, green ideas.