July 4th in Houston

Happy July 4th from Furniture Fashion! It is very rainy here in Houston which is putting a damper on many celebrations. It's a good day to visit the movies or to do some work around the house.

Custom made metal furniture

Have you ever thought of having a custom metal furniture piece crafted for your office or home? Look no further. Iron Age Furniture in Brooklyn, New York may be just the place for you. Take for instance the flame table above. I love the style of this piece in any contemporary setting. The flow of the curves are sure to draw comments from your guests. If you enjoy doing your own designing, custom made furniture may deserve some consideration in your future decorating decisions.

Materials: steel
Dimensions: 15" h x 53"w x 23"d
Cost: $2200

Three ideas to make your home GREENER today

Many look at our home and wish we could do some things to make it greener and help the environment. However, once your home is built, there is not much you can do to change your home structurally without a large expenditure. My house falls under this rule as I moved into a house that was already constructed three years ago.

I can make a difference now by thinking of what I can do to contribute to helping the environment and bringing focus on this important issue. The first thing I thought about was what things do I have daily contact with that impact the environment. A few things that came to mind were energy consumption, water usage and garbage. We use these three all the time in our daily living.

1. A simple idea to help conserve water is to use more hand sanitizer instead of water. Cleanwell products offers a hand sanitizer that is alcohol free which is made of all natural plant products.

2. Reduced energy light bulbs conserve electricity. Most electricity today is generated by fossil fuels. Thus, reducing electrical consumption reduces pollution caused by electrical power generation. Reduced power light bulbs are very common in hardware stores and are relatively easy to find.

3. I love the Ecopod Home Recycling Center and its ability to recycle bottles, cans, paper and plastic bags. What a great idea! The challenge with recycling is the space required for storing the containers and recycled materials. If you live in a loft or smaller space, this can present a challenge. This product is fantastic. The ecopod compacts these products into capturing containers at the bottom of the unit. This product is small enough that it can fit into a pantry or a corner of the kitchen.Product dimensions: 31" tall x 16" wide x 21" deep Weight: Approx. 50 lbs. Price: $328.00

Murals Create Personalized Decor

Here is a great idea to make your home or office décor something really special from muralsyourway.com. With over 5000 choices there is something for everyone, and for every room in or out of the house, including the garage and patio areas. There are even options to personalize, and create your own mural from your own image. I have always wanted lake front property and now I can feel as if I have some. The images can be done on ceilings, stairways, bathrooms etc... This is a great way to complete a concept and compliment your furniture as well as faux painting for a dazzling look.

Leather Furniture Cleaning Product Leatherique

As discussed in an earlier article, how to ruin your leather furniture, you have to be careful about using oil based products (i.e. mink oil and saddle soap) since they can darken your leather furniture. Leatherique is a company that offers products free of oil to moisturize and clean leather.

Two products in particular are the Rejuvenator Oil and Pristine Clean. Rejuvenator oil retails for $31.95 for 16 oz. and Pristine Clean for $21.95 for 16 oz. Both of these products can be used to clean and enhance the longevity of your favorite leather sofa or club chair.