More photos of the crumbling remains of the Rothschild family chateau in my neighborhood. Every single zinc window casement on that upper floor would sell for around 1,000 euros at a brocante or antique fair in France or England.
The once-grand chateau in ruins, apparently due to years of legal wrangling over the property.
Faced with the twin issues of a weakened economy and the need to protect our environment, green home decor has achieved new importance. And what's the ultimate in recycling furniture? Why antiques and vintage furniture, of course! Julie Isore at Agape Deco in Paris and Di Overton at Ghost Furniture in the UK artfully take past-its-prime furniture and revamp it to blend with any decor. Because most of this furniture is well-made and sturdy, with a little attention and care, it will continue to stand the test of time. Sometimes all old furniture needs is a bit of freshening with paint or layers of beeswax.
Danny Seo's blog Daily Danny offers ideas and steps you can take every day to improve your home's "green" quotient. Did you know we can recycle wine corks?
The 78th Foire Natonale aux Antiquites a la Brocante et aux Jambons
My favourite French brocante - affectionately known as "The Ham Fair" - begins earlier than usual this year. It starts Friday, March 6 at 10 a.m. and continues daily until 7 p.m. through Sunday, March 15th. More than 800 dealers are participating. Stop by and visit my friend Blandine Bavoux's Jolietrouvaille stand at 10, rue de la Gaite.
Tickets are available at the gate. Take a taxi from Paris or the RER A1 train direction Saint-Germain-en-Laye to Rueil-Malmaison or Chatou-Croissy, then walk the short distance to Ile de la Chatou. But don't count on finding a taxi to take you back to Paris, unless you arrange your return in advance.
The Creative Entrepreneur giveaway
Leave a comment here about what you're doing to help make your home greener for a chance to win a copy of The Creative Entrepreneur. I'll draw the names from a hat on Monday, Feb. 23rd. Bonne chance!
Photo of my friend Gunnar's stand at a recent brocante at Bastille. I'll let you know if he'll be at Chatou.
Scroll down the page for a post about privacy issues at Facebook.
I am saving all my tuna, sardine and cat fish pans for use in art projects. I either cut them for pieces in jewelry or constructions of use them to hold objects and paints. They are a great size for so many things. I also found that when sardine cans, particularly, are placed in the remaining ash of grilling they turn a beautiful copper color.
Posted by: kris | 22 February 2009 at 03:57
For the past couple years I have taken my own bags to the grocery store as well as other stores and even if I don't bring a bag into a store, I often refuse bags - my motto is: if I can carry it to the register, I can carry it to my car. It drives me crazy to see somebody buy one little thing and let the clerk put it in a bag. I am sure I have refused hundreds of bags. Imagine if everyone did this how much less plastic there would be?
Posted by: BJ Lantz | 21 February 2009 at 17:20
My friend Jane (janeinthejungle.blogspot.com) is directing The Rothschilds at a local theatre here. I must share this with her. How it hurts me to see the graffiti and disrepair.
Posted by: jeanie | 20 February 2009 at 20:58
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Small curtsey!
Posted by: Di Overton | 20 February 2009 at 16:03
I am a relic. I went into recycling/green life style in the 70's and stayed there.
We recycle everything we can, use "green" or natural products, replaced the light bulbs years ago, do not eat meat and processed foods, yadda-yadda.
We have energy saver appliances but for 25 years I didn't own a clothes dryer. Unlike the previous poster, I do use one now in the winter. Have used cloth shopping/tote bags for about 30 years. Glass containers here for everything....used real diapers on my real babies... and then recycled those diapers, too.
There is an expression popular in New England, "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." This was mantra in my family of origin and many others I know.
That being said, every day gas guzzlers speed by me, "big box stores" blaze lights and use air conditioning 24/7, and trails of blue smoke billow out the huge trucks only a block away.
Not sure what else to do personally.....feel shabby and outdated at times... just as the way we live is becoming hip again! No, not a hippie here....just one of those people who believed in such archaic stuff as zero population growth, saving the environment, and energy conservation the first time around.
Posted by: Helen | 19 February 2009 at 17:27
.....well my kitchen is green! my garden is green and come to think of it so is my car!.....but on a more serious note.....apart from the usual recycling of as many items as the recycling centre will accept.....I have now taken to altering cards. I don't buy cards any more. Over the years I seem to have gathered quite a collection of cards that have gone unused. The idea came to me at Christmas time when I found some boxes of cards from previous years.
Sometimes I alter them and other times I just turn them inside out, paste the back to the front and use the card as a blank base and start from scratch.I have also saved my self some money as well as saving trees....and that way people get to receive an original card!
Posted by: Sandra | 19 February 2009 at 11:44
This property was obviously glorious before the grafitti and time took it's hold.
What silly laws are preventing the home from being loved~!
I'm desprately trying to be more "green" these days. Switching to a "boomerang" lunch for the children's school lunches...(no garbage, only reusable containers) and green cleaners. I walk when possible. I bring my own coffee cup to the coffee shop. (Did you know the plastic lids used for coffee take 500 years to break down back into soil?)
I buy organic.
Hey, I'm trying!!
xoxo
Posted by: Gillian daSilva | 19 February 2009 at 04:25
Will plant a veggie garden this spring. I make freezer jam using a low sugar pectin and reusing glass jars. I'm using vinegar for more cleaning around the house instead of a name brand cleaner. Grooming the poodles on my own instead of paying for a groomer. It saves money and is a learning experience. If a car is needed, doing all of the necessary car errands at one time, planning the route that uses gas the most efficiently. Otherwise errands are done on foot.
Posted by: martina | 19 February 2009 at 04:12
Oh, it makes me sad, sad, sad that this property is falling apart. It looks as though it were just amazing. I sit here reading and think, "My gosh! That's in her neighborhood. Her neighborhood!" I can barely imagine.
As to green living, I recyle everything everywhere. My husband gets frustrated with me for dragging soda cans back home from road trips so I can recycle them. Too bad! I tell him. I also recycle at school and teach my students to do so. We are starting a school-wide recycling project. The kids will do the gathering and help me load the recyclables into a borrowed van every three weeks. Pretty cool, hunh?
Posted by: Relyn | 19 February 2009 at 03:10
I've hung my clothes on the line for years--even in the winter when fingers and jeans tend to freeze. Very time consuming, and the neighbors haven't always been thrilled, but there's something meditative about it, and I love the way my animals gather around me, glad to see me sharing their world. During the past year when I haven' t been able to lift the heavy basket, I try to convince my family to do it--with varying degrees of success. Still, it kills me to use the dryer when there's all that free sun out there for the taking.
Great question!
Posted by: patry francis | 19 February 2009 at 02:46
This is such an interesting story about this chateau. It makes me sad.
We have started using cloth bags for our shopping, cutting the rings that are around the soda pack so no, animal will get caught in them. Also we have started freezing the stems of more veggies- broccoli, cauliflower ect. Makes great soup stock and less trash. : )
Posted by: Christina | 19 February 2009 at 00:46
Tara every since you have posted about this neglected property I have been in love with it. How I wish I were wealthy to bring it back to its old glory. It is stunning and it is so sad that it is wasting away.
I try very hard to live green. Even my coffee cans of expresso(Bustelo)gets recycled into planterns.
Posted by: Yoli | 18 February 2009 at 23:52
I shall collect winecorks in the hopes that I can find a place where they reuse them! Loved that link to Danny's, thank you!
Posted by: Merisi | 18 February 2009 at 23:29
I'm replacing more of my cleaning products with environmentally friendly products. I'm not buying as much stuff--using what I have and painting it and reupholstering older pieces rather than replacing. It's amazing what a new coat of paint can do. (Like your beautiful armoire recently.)
Posted by: RD | 18 February 2009 at 22:52
Very interesting views. We might need recycling alo the ideas, so as to get some fresh ones!
Posted by: Philip | 18 February 2009 at 20:25
Oooh ... reCorking America, now there's a project I can get behind with much enthusiasm ;) ;) ... I have a dish full of corks over there on the counter and I was thinking of heading to Whole Foods to get some more of this great wine, Chinon, from the Val de Loire, so I'll look into the recorking situation, too! Oh, this is so delicious! ...
After checking out the horribly over-priced goods of absolutely pitiful quality at EXPO (a div. of Home Depot which is being dumped) I have decided to redouble my efforts to find whatever furniture pieces I might need at antique or consignment places. I think it's cool that consignment places for furniture and home decor are popping up in places around the country.
Posted by: Barbara | 18 February 2009 at 17:45