I had so much fun at the Northridge JCPenney store last weekend to introduce the Linden Street line to the associates and customers.   I couldn't help myself but do a little shopping myself, so here I am buying lots of beautiful bedding, towels and other home accessories for some friends of mine.  

You might notice that the shopping bags are cloth bags.  Good eye!   They are the new Simply Green designated reusable tote bags from JCPenney and I absolutely adore them.   They have a flat bottom on the bags with a hard insert so they stand upright even when totally empty.  And the 100% cotton fabric (unbleached of course) is super strong and soft to the touch.  And I love the field grass pattern all over the tote.   Plus, they are just $1.99 (hello!  Eco bargain!) with proceeds going to the After School Fund at JCPenney helping kids across America.   So, each bag helps the environment and kids, too.

Here's a close-up of the tote bags all lined up by the cash register.   I saw lots of people buying them when I was there!  I also bought a bunch and gave them away for free to some lucky customers.

And here's the little information sign about the totes.  Can you believe they are only $1.99?

Okay, so I have a bunch to give away.   You know the drill:  Leave a comment why you need a reusable tote bag.   Five lucky random winners will be chosen by early next week.   And please be sure to leave a way I can contact you via email or your personal blog.   I'll email you directly from AOL account: dannyblog@aol.com…. so if you hear from anyone else, you know it's not legit.

Good luck!  And enjoy the totes.  Hope you like 'em as much as I do!

I had some carpet torn up in my client's house in Los Angeles recently.  It's a home makeover story I'm doing for a really great magazine (all I can say for now!) that will be out later this year.

But one great thing I found was the Carpet America Recovery Effort website that helps you find collection sites around the United States that will take old carpet and padding for recycling.

Here I am hauling rolled up carpet to a site I found in Los Angeles.  All I had to do was show up and drop it off.   How funny is it that I'm bringing just a few rolls of carpet to add to this mountain of old carpet!

And here's Jules Moore, my favorite stylist/designer in Los Angeles who is helping me with the makeover.   We couldn't believe how much old carpet was there.  It was like being an amusement park!

The old carpet is bound together and sent to a factory for processing, where it becomes little nylon pellets which gets spun into new nylon.  That recycled nylon string is then made into new carpet!   Carpet to carpet!  

More on the carpet recycling process in a future blog all about the home makeover when the magazine comes out….

I've been in Los Angeles for a while working on a big (and fun) home makeover project and I've gotten used to the idea of hotel living.   When I say that I've gotten used to it, I don't mean that I've grown to love it.  I mean, I am starting to accept the fact I have to live in hotel rooms as part of my job.   I digress…

I've blogged about using newspaper around the house to detox things.  You can stuff shoes with newspaper to absorb odor.   You see, newspaper is designed to absorb ink, so it'll absorb other things, too.  So, after I go running in the morning, I stuff them with sheets of newspaper to keep them smelling as fresh as possible.

Today, after running with my baseball cap on, I realized how sweaty it was when I took it off.   Since I can't wash it at the hotel (meaning, I can't put it in the dishwasher to clean it like I blogged about earlier), I stuffed the cap with three sheets of newspaper.   It wicked the moisture away and kept it smelling clean.

So easy!

I've gone through three picks—way too many picks–for my outdoor table.  But I think I have settled on a winner.   What do you think?

I spotted this when I was in Los Angeles at HD Buttercup and liked the fact it had a sustainability message with it.   The wood is from sustainably harvested wood sources and the metal framing is all aluminum, making it easily recyclable, too.   I love the length and look of it, too with the green antique chairs I picked up a few months ago.

Speaking of new things, I saw these lights at Smith and Hawken in Beverly Hills.    They are orchid pots recycled into hanging lights!    I love it.   Usually, the holes in the pots are designed to aerate the potting mix/roots, but here it lets the light glow right through.   How cool is this?   It would be great to have a whole collection of these hanging in a row on a porch.

Simple idea today.   At my small cottage on the river, I do have gutters with spouts that lead directly to barrels to collect the rain water.   In theory, I use the collected water to keep plants hydrated…but seeing all the plants are wild and don't need my help being watered, these barrels have been sitting there full for quite some time.

So, here's another idea: A softening rain chain.

Just connect a chain to the downspout of your gutters and let the rain slowly and gently trickle all the way down the chain.  You might be able to lead the chain to some plates for water, but on the plus side, you won't have water rushing out of the downspout too quickly.   I'm running to the store now to see if this works at my other house.  Could be fun!