michelle kaufmann designs

I just returned from a very relaxing getaway with Kevin and some friends of ours. During our stay, I was reminded of how much I love outdoor showers. It actually amazes me how much I love them. So imagine my delight when I discovered that the house we rented had one just outside our door! Taking a shower in an outdoor environment is so peaceful and makes me feel incredibly connected to the landscape. The only downside is that it’s something I have only ever experienced while on holiday, but I am beginning to think that an outdoor shower is something I would like to have at home.

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You know you’ve got a creative person on your hands when she can take somethings like an old bowling ball or layers of old car paint and turn it into a piece of refined, elegant jewelry. By that standard, Kirsten Muenster is definitely a creative person. She is also a very socially and environmental conscious person, which she again demonstrates through her absolutely beautiful jewelry designs.

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Photo by Anne Rashford

For weeks you have been watching the progress going on in Chicago and Indiana on the mkSoliare™ Smart Home that will be on display at the Museum of Science and Industry beginning May 8th. But in all that time you haven’t seen any pictures of the Smart Home’s garage so you may be scratching your head, wondering, “Is this home so green that it doesn’t even have a garage?” Well, no. The Smart Home does have a garage, which you can see now in the photo above, but, like the home, this is a smart garage!

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Photo from All American Homes

This is one of the things that’s so amazing about modular technology: in about a month and a half, an almost complete home can be born. What you see in the photo above is the fruit of all the hard work that the amazing crew at All American Homes has been putting into building the mkSolaire™ Smart Home that will be on exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry this spring. It seems incredible that in less than two months we have gone from nothing to a nearly finished home. All of these photos are from this week’s “soft set” of the Smart Home, which was basically a practice setting meant to assure the quality of the construction. It also allows us to attach siding in a setting that makes it easy to perfectly align it between the different stories. The modules were all driven to the staging area and then hoisted by crane onto a mock foundation. Don’t worry about any of the guys you see standing below, though, because the modules were lifted using the super sturdy metal straps you see in all these pictures. Read on to see the rest of these exciting photos.

So what’s next? Just a little more button up work and then…the actual setting at the Museum itself! It’s set to go up in early March so stay tuned to find out the actual date once it’s announced. If you’re going to be in the Chicago area then you should definitely come see it for yourself. If not, watch our blog that day to see some of the great photos that are sure come out of it!

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Happy Valentine’s Day! Today we wanted to show you one last great gift idea for your valentine that’s very eco-friendly. These “Lovestones” from Bedrock Industries are handmade from 100% recycled glass and nothing more; there isn’t even any pigment thrown into the mix. These colorful hearts come in 2.5″, 4″, and 6.5″ sizes and can be made into decorative charms, wind chimes, and beautiful mobiles, all of which you can buy from from Bedrock’s website or, if you are the DIY type, you might even try making your own! Use them to weigh down glass vases, fill a bowl for display, or in some creative, romantic art project you two could do together.

What’s also great about these sweet glass hearts is the people they come from. Since its beginning, Bedrock Industries, which makes all its tile from 100% recycled glass, has recycled literally hundreds of tons of material that would otherwise have gone into landfills, but that’s not all. They also use 100% recyclable materials for product packaging and shipping. Best of all, they have established and continue to operate several community-based programs including a bottle drive, student tours of their plant, and a special bottle drive for the parents and students of a local elementary school. The earnings from the drive have helped to pay for student field trips and other educational activities.

One more thing we ♥ about Bedrock Industries: their BlazeStone tile will be going up on the walls of every bathroom in the mkSolaire™ Smart Home exhibit opening this spring at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. So come visit the exhibit and see for yourself just how beautiful this sustainable tile really is. And don’t forget to get a few of these Earth-loving hearts for your Earth-loving sweetheart!

One of our favorite artists, Brian Andreas of StoryPeople, recently did a “scientific poll” on what people want for Valentine’s Day, as you can see above. At least in terms of what women would like for Valentine’s Day, time was the big winner. What’s great about giving plain old time as a gift on February 14th (perhaps in the form of a quiet dinner, a stroll through the park, maybe even a game of poker) is that it’s cheap, it’s meaningful, and it’s not going to end up in a landfill (unless you two have some weird preferences for how you spend time together). Plus science has obviously proven its worth in the above poll results. Perhaps time spent shopping for a bandsaw would be the perfect Valentine for you both!

Instead of emitting a bunch of carbon driving out to a romantic dinner for two on Valentine’s Day where the ingredients for your feast may have traveled from the other side of the country or even the planet, why not make dinner yourselves using locally, organically produced ingredients? That way you can enjoy each other’s company while you cook and save some money, too. To make this and all your culinary adventures even more eco-friendly, prepare them using Bialetti’s Green Planet cookware collection. This cookware is perfect for any green-minded gastronome: the pans are 50% recycled aluminum, the handles are made from bamboo, and all packaging is produced from 100% recycled paper. The company itself scores green points for being a member of the Italian environmental organization, Legambiente, which focuses on eco campaigns, such as protecting Italian coastal areas and safeguarding the ecosystems of the Alps as well as those of rivers, forests, parks and the protected marine areas.

Even if you aren’t too crazy about the idea of cooking your own dinner for Valentine’s Day you should still check out this fantastic sustainable cookware, especially if you’re still looking for the perfect present for your epicurean honey. With such a fantastic gift, you might cook up something more than just a Valentine’s Day dinner this February 14th!

Photo by J Jeffery Johnson

The foundation of the Smart Home has been poured amidst freezing temperatures in Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry where this mkSolaire™ will be on exhibit this spring, when it will, hopefully, be a lot warmer than it looks in this photo! The raised foundation that you see front and center in this photo is for the Smart Home’s garage. In back of it is the foundation of the home itself, set below the frost line and into the ground. While the foundation of the home will keep it dry from below by sealing off the ground underneath it, the TPO, or ThermoPlastic Olefin that, as you can see below, has been set on top of the uppermost modules, will keep the home dry from above. Read on to see more great pictures from the site and the factory.

Photo from All American Homes

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