I’ve decided the place I live in is eco chic. I’m crunchy in that I cloth diaper, I own a myriad of baby sling carriers (two in silk duppioni), I have large urban raised bed gardens in my yard, I use cloth napkins, buy secondhand for my children and myself, sew whenever possible, upcycle as much as I can, clean with Shaklee cleaners (eco friendly) and buy organic whenever possible. I used reusable grocery bags long before they were fashionable, and I dry clothes on a line in my yard in the nice weather where possible.
But I still love great shoes, a great bag (might have sewn it myself!) and jewelry. I think being crunchy means I care about the world, and I think, too, if I look nice, that tells the world that I care about myself and about being pleasing for others to look at. Just my way of spreading the chic love.
Oh I’m not super trendy, more of a modern classics kind of gal, but that fits well with being eco-chic, you can buy secondhand if you’re classic in style.
This summer my eco chic is going to be making my yard, deck and home a beautiful place to be – cleaning, organizing, staining our deck again (water based deck stain), making covers and/or pillows for our curbide-shopped plastic chairs, and setting out a couple of hurricane candles for evenings outside. I’m using a very old card table for a dining table (it folds up, we set it against the house in a dry spot), and I put tablecloths on it, it’s very bring the indoors out style, and it’s also very thrifty. Our table broke a few years ago after 15 years of service; we have never replaced it. We bought hanging baskets from a local roadside farm, and hung them by our deck benches, so there’s color there now. It’s all about not acquiring more, using what we have and upcycling.
I’m looking to inspiration in BurdaStyle’s home sections from the last few years – there a number of summer issues that feature cushions, pillows, glass candle jars (upcycled from Bonne Maman jelly jars that we use a lot of). I’m inspired by beach cottages. Any good patterns I should take inspiration from?