After a short weekend in one of Europe's biggest capital cities, I stopped to wonder how a person living in such a city can "fight" the grey surrounding, can make their life more peaceful and green. Luckily, today, while browsing for "cool new it-things" and "designer-gadgets", I stumbled upon a really interesting website called CoolThings, from which I am now sharing some ideas:
1. Aquaponics Fish Garden (pictures 1-3) is a combination of a mini indoor-garden with a mini self-cleaning fish-tank. Ideal for someone who needs a green spot and a relaxation-spot, but does not have all that time for cleaning, nor doesn't want to take the effort. This solution comes at ThinkGeek for the price of $59.99.
2. The table lamp incorporating a terrarium/garden/display case is a place efficient use of the table-lamp and is also very decorative. You can use it to create a terrarium for a small lizard - although I am sure it will not be as easy to maintain as the fish-tank above, You can also just put in some plants who don't need a lot of watering...or simply use it as a display case for whatever you find interesting enough to put in there. I suppose while cleaning/watering, you have to remove the upper part - I did not find the exact description for this. All in all - I find this lamp a superb design piece - which does come at a price - to be found on Etsy for $210.
3. The Mono Hanging Bowls are also in the range of designer-items - I would see them hanging above a dinner table - my ideal place for them, just below the hanging lamp - so that they are beautifully displayed and so they can ad an extra touch of green to your dinners. These are also not cheap, having a starting price of 102 Euros.
4. Now this is an option for something I thing should not be missing from any kitchen - a herb garden. Fresh basil, rosemary, sage, thyme, mint...picked directly from your small kitchen garden - always add an extra freshness flavour to your food and/or cocktails. The problem with the flower pots is mostly a storage problem - many have a small kitchen in their flats - so here I stumbled upon 2 options - one being #4 of the green-makers: the freestanding wall garden - a vertical garden with 40 separate planting cells. You can put it up just like in the picture below, on a separation wall to you dining area - or on your balcony wall. Available at Williams-Sonoma for $499.95.
5. If you want a smaller vertical garden, with blackboard included, to name/label the different plants you have in your apartment garden, Willians-Sonoma have another option for you, called GroVert Chalkboard Wall Planter, priced at $129.95.
6. Last, but not least, you can make your own small apartment green-house, by buying this cheaper Ikea Socker, priced at $19.99.
All in all, there are a lot of options for making your life more green - while being limited to a small flat. You can always make your life better - all you need is to be a bit creative.
(Picture source: http://www.coolthings.com)
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