Live Green Live Smart to use Urban Eco Chic as a textbook!

The Minesota-based organization Live Green Live Smart Institute has decided to use Oliver Heath's Urban Eco Chic as a textbook for their green certificate program! They have also invited Oliver to blog on their Website, so check back for updates on when the blog will be published!

Greenthinkers.org recommends Urban Eco Chic

"Urban Eco Chic is packed full of ideas on how to make your home more eco-friendly, sustainable and stylish. For homeowners, interior designers, green builders, and anyone with an interest in eco-friendly and sustainable design, Oliver’s tips are affordable and accessible. It features over 100 photos that hope to show readers that creating eco interiors are more about using your imagination than your wallet." - greenthinkers.org. Click here to see the entire review.

Environmental consultant reviews Urban Eco Chic

"There is no way you can even pick this book up and still think that green design can only be "earthy" in its look. This book lays out the fundamentals of eco-conscious design for every style. This book explores the very realistic ways in which you can incorporate sustainable choices into the creation of an elegant, welcoming home. I love that the design concepts are simple, even though the research behind the ideas and the ultimate look they create are so sophisicated." -Nicole Galdieri, a Philadelphia-based environmental consultant who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in environmental studies

Publishers Weekly mentions Oliver Heath's "Urban Eco Chic" book

Publishers Weekly's feature "Gimme shelter," published on October 13, mentioned Urban Eco Chic:

"When it comes to things green, Quadrille Publishing offers Urban Eco Chic (Sept.) by noted eco-designer Oliver Heath, who wants to “create energy-efficient homes that are beautifully designed” and combine elements of “vintage, nature and technology.” In keeping with that goal, the book is printed with vegetable-based inks on FSC-certified paper and recyclable laminate."

Old furniture, new style: Oliver Heath's tips on refinishing furniture

One of my true pleasures is finding old pieces of furniture and giving it a new lease of life; it’s the excitement of the potential, the burst of creativity and finally it’s appreciating what you’ve made – knowing that its totally unique to you. Vintage furniture will add character and identity and it can help make your home feel more human – taking the harder edge off contemporary design.

I often scour markets and thrift stores for classic pieces such as chairs, bureaus or cupboards– older furniture won’t have any of the chemical nasties found in their modern counterparts and they are often built to last with solid timber – so all it takes area few ideas and a little work to give each piece a new lease of life.

Why not try a few of these:

Sand the piece down (to give it a key) then re-paint it using natural paints- which won't have toxins.

If the piece is covered in layers of paint, sand it down a little to give it a distressed look.

Or even create the distressed look yourself by adding layers of paint and gently removing them once dry– tonal shades of the same color work best.

Paint the interior drawers a vibrant – even shocking- color for a real burst of life.

Paint a section in natural paints to match your room, and then cover other areas in patterned wall paper, although wrapping paper or squares of origami paper will be cheaper as they are available in smaller amounts.

Apply gold or silver leaf over sections of the unit to give it a soft but rich reflective glow.

Replace the handles and legs with something more contemporary and if there is a lock with a key, fit a decorative tassel for a touch of glamour. These smaller details really work wonderfully.

Use stencils – such as flowers, leaves, or historic patterns to add color and texture. It could even have a graffiti feel for a children’s bedroom.

Cover the piece in blackboard paint and then use it as a memo board by writing on it with chalk – which can look fantastic although it’s best done over a solid floor as it can create dust.

Use a paper decoupage (cut out images or text from magazines) and cover the piece – choose similar colored images or even just black and white for the most coherent effect.

For chairs simply recover fabric sections in something retro, vintage or even really contemporary – the change will work wonderfully.

Outside spaces: Living close to nature

Exterior spaces should be treated with the same care and attention to detail as the interior of your home. They are a chance to get closer with nature which I believe has a calming and grounding effect on our lives.

In my own home I have created two outside spaces by building a structural glass balcony above a lower ground floor patio area. The upper space has a neat fold down picnic table and chairs made from reclaimed timber (which folds away when not in use, so it looks like a timber wall) and is perfect for alfresco breakfasts and growing tomatoes - see the picture for this years crop!

The lower space, which is partly covered over by the glass balcony above, has a number of functions. As the glass allows a maximum of light to filter down, it keeps the basement floor to stay light and airy. Being protected from rain, its good for drying washing (without the need for a dryer) – and it makes a perfect retreat space in the summer, staying cool and quiet. I’ve made the space feel more luxurious by the addition of 2 chaise lounges from reclaimed timber and filled the space with exotic market finds such as vintage mirrors, tables, chandeliers, and bird cages – all of which give it an air of grandeur. Even the floor is sustainable – the decking is made from reclaimed wood and plastic –it’s non slip and won't go green and moldy like timber – so it's very low maintenance.

But if you have the space there’s no reason why you can't do more to encourage wildlife and make your own home more sustainable. You may want to consider a home composting system, rainwater harvesting from the water collected by you roof, bird feeding areas, and encourage native plants and grasses to grow.

GREEN REVIVAL: Style and passion for the environment unite in new book that helps us combat green fatigue

Home decoration books aren’t usually emotional, but Oliver Heath’s passion for the environment makes Urban Eco Chic a thought-provoking book, one that subtly encourages all of us to reexamine the way we think of, shop for, and dispose of our home goods.

The book unveils Heath’s green home design style, called Urban Eco Chic, which “allows us to create energy-efficient homes that are beautifully designed and really stimulate and excite us by appealing to our emotional side.” To connect with our homes on an emotional level, Heath writes in the book, we should choose elements that balance vintage, nature, and technology:

Vintage: Treasured items and once-beloved collections that reflect our experiences, add a romantic quality, and create a sense of nostalgia.

Nature: The vibrant scent of freshly mown grass, the textual feel of tree bark, the flickering flames of a log fire - these all raise comforting emotional responses.

Technology. Technology is the key to how we can reduce our environmental impact and lower our carbon emissions. It is an exciting area, which is constantly developing.

Committed to reducing our eco-impact without compromising on style, Oliver Heath has applied this philosophy to this book as well. When published in September, the gorgeous, sustainably-produced book will be printed with vegetable-based inks on FSC-certified paper and coated with fully-recyclable laminate. Retailing for $29.95, this 176- page hardcover will feature more than 100 full color photographs and an eco resources section that lists green building supply companies, energy efficient retailers, green non-profits and more.

Don't want to use your A/C this summer? Urban Eco Chic author Oliver Heath offers up these no-sweat ideas to cool down your house.

• Close your curtains: Cover windows during the day with thick curtains to stop the suns heat soaking into the interior materials.

• Choose light-blocking blinds: Use black out blinds or silver backed blinds to reflect the suns rays back out from the window.
  
  
• Encourage a breeze: Allow cross ventilation

• Open skylights: If you have a skylight in the roof, open it to allow warm rising air out. This will be aided if you open a window or door lower down the building, allowing a chimney effect of warm air to be sucked out.

• Light colors: Use whiter, lighter surfaces for interior furnishings that won’t attract and soak up the heat from the sun as it pours through windows.
  
  
• Filter light: Venetian slatted blinds are a good way to filter light into a space without allowing in the suns rays – making them perfect for office spaces or those that are to be used in the daytime.

To keep your home cool this summer think outside the box - and outside your home.

• Install slatted screens: The best way to cool down your house from the outside is to stop the suns rays entering the building in the first place, as they transform from light energy to heat as they pass through glass. So use Brise Soleil (slatted screens) overhanging the window to stop the majority of the suns midday strength, from entering.
  
  
• Close your shutters: Stop the suns rays getting through the glass by using shutters fixed to the exterior of the building and keep them closed during the day.
  
  
• Plant trees: Use deciduous trees planted out side your home to cut down on sunlight penetration in the summer (when leaves are present and blocking it) but allow the suns warmth through in the winter when the leave s fall off.
  

• Grow vines: Do the same by using natural vegetation (such as climbing or trailing plants) grown over a pergola or similar structure, to cut down on summer sun but allow through warming winter rays.
  

• Upgrade to tinted glass: Use technologically advanced solar glass such as high performance tinted glass (which can be blue, grey or green in color) low-e reflective strip glass or reflective coatings to bounce the suns away from entering the building.

Urban Eco Chic author and green designer Oliver Heath traces his commitment to the environment back to childhood.

Growing up in Brighton (on the South Coast of England) meant that I spent a lot of time as a child at the beach, even though the sea is pretty cold over here. Seeing rubbish and pollution wash up on the shore was always upsetting for me and so stuck in my memory. As I grew up I became a fanatical sailor and windsurfer, and whilst at university studying architecture I spent my glorious summer vacations working as a windsurfing instructor in Brighton. I taught my students how to respect the sea, the weather, how to look after themselves and learn how to make the most of it all by windsurfing.

These important lessons combined with my studies of the built environment (all 6 years of them!) to create a fascination with architecture and design that works with the forces of nature rather than against it - trying to shut nature out.

As my career took on a media angle I felt it important to discuss the issues in design that were important to contemporary living – and in my mind this was to focus on sustainable design. Now more and more we are seeing the issue of sustainable architecture being brought to the fore and I felt it was important to show how interiors could reflect this shift- to do their bit to reduce our environmental foot print, through well considered design and behavioral change, without compromising on style – naturally! Now the many stands of my work focus on designing aspirational sustainability- to create spaces that are first and foremost, beautiful, functional and inherently green.