Category: Uncategorized

Paring down your life to live a minimalist lifestyle can be a difficult but rewarding experience. One of the big challenges to tackle is paring down your wardrobe. How do you minimize but still remain fashionable? There are now services where you can rent designer clothes without having to actually shell out for those exorbitant prices. Companies that have began this service include Gwynnie Bee, Parcel 22, Le Tote, The Mr. Collection, and, the most popular, Rent the Runway. With Rent the Runway’s unlimited membership, a person pays one monthly fee for unlimited clothing and accessories rentals. You can basically “netflix” your clothing without adding clutter to your closet.

With fast fashion brands like H&M and Zara consistently producing mass amounts of cheaply made garments every season, consumers are literally buying into the trend of excess for the sake of fashion. This production requires tons of natural resources that lead to waste once these garments are deemed untrendy. As recent studies have shown, the washing of synthetic garments is also leading to the pollution of microplastic fibers in our oceans. Companies like Patagonia, Reformation and Noah are trying to work towards educating their customers of these environmental concerns as well as work towards practicing ethical ways of production. Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard, has went on to tell his customers in an advertisement to not buy his garments unless you really need it. Listen to his story on how living a simpler life is better life:

Check out the full article on the pros and cons of renting your clothes on Apartment Therapy.

Next time you’re hankering for a quick and cheap meal, you may want to revisit frozen food. With organic options and cleaner ways of eating as the growing trend, food companies are changing with the times to provide healthier alternatives. Frozen foods are becoming more robust by including simpler ingredients without the artificial flavorings and chemicals.

In addition to convenience, frozen foods also have a positive impact on the environment by producing less food waste. By freezing food, we can prolong the shelf life of produce without sending it to the landfill. About 40% of all food produced in the United States goes to waste.

“Whether it’s home cooks freezing excess ingredients of their own for use at a later time, or relying on frozen produce or fruit in order to avoid having things go bad in the fridge, freezing is very helpful. Consider, too, how much less waste is generated by cooking a frozen meal in a single container or bag, compared to the waste that accompanies most takeout meals — Styrofoam or plastic containers, disposable cutlery, condiment packages, paper napkins, and plastic bags.” -treehugger

As another positive for frozen food, most produce that has been frozen happens right after harvesting thereby maximizing their nutrients. People are now able to access rich and healthy vegetables whenever they need it without having a time limit on freshness. As the baby boomer generation once outsouced dining to eating out and restaurants, millenials are looking towards bringing meals back to clean and simple eating:

“They want to eat at home. They want a pathway to some form of purity in the quality of the food at home,” said David Portalatin, food industry adviser for The NPD Group. “But yet they still want convenience because we’re still busy, we’re still in the career and family formation life stage, and we still value convenience.”

Frozen foods may have once been justified as a thing of the past but times are showing that it is having a postive impact on the way we are eating for the future.

Read full frozen food article on Treehugger

Ana Rocha Architecture created a house that seeks to build up, not out. Their Slim Fit project in Almeere Port, Netherlands only has a footprint of 172 square feet but has all the amenities and comforts of a modern home. The space spans three levels; bottom floor for kitchen and dining, middle floor for the living room, and top floor is reserved for the bedroom and a tiny bathroom.

The project was developed with the intent to utilize the small, unused spaces in city blocks. In New York City, Famlab is trying to use these same spaces to help combat homelessness. With limited real estate and skyrocketing rental prices, going skinny is a viable option in new building construction. The skinny trend has already began to catch on in Japan as well.

Click the thumbnails below take a tour of the space efficient skinny home.

via Curbed

Sleep, bathe, breakfast, work, cook, dine, relax, entertain, store. These are the nine key scenarios what we think about when designing a small home or small apartment. So how to satisfy all of those scenarios in a small space? By having rooms that transform from one scenario to another. For instance, the bedrooms contribute to six of the nine scenarios. We design first for the primary scenario, in this case sleep. Then we design for the other scenarios, in this case work, dine, relax, entertain, store. It takes some pretty amazing products to make all of this work.

 

Resource Furniture – Transforming Murphy Beds, Capacious Storage

We’ve worked with Resource Furniture for nearly a decade now because they always have the highest quality space saving transforming furniture. We share the philosophy that every square foot should be awesome. The Ulisse Desk Wall Bed is a really comfortable bed by night and easily transforms to a desk by day. The Ulisse Wall Bed Dining Table is a bed by night and a dining table or workspace by day. The Kali Duo Bunk Bed Sofa sleeps two kids by night and is a sofa by day. In a small house, good storage is key. Resource Furniture’s storage cabinets perfectly match the beds and we frankly can store more stuff than we ever hope to have.

 

Modern Fan Company – Cirrus Flush Fans

It’s a modern house, so we need modern ceiling fans like the Cirrus Flush. LifeEdited Maui has no heating or cooling system, so ceiling fans are essential and all we really need. During construction, I slept in the house before the ceiling fans and after the ceiling fans – so much more comfortable with the ceiling fans. And it was wonderful to lie in bed and say “Hey Google, turn on the ceiling fan”.

 

Cali Bamboo – Bamboo Engineered Flooring

Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on Earth, so Cali Bamboo is an easy sustainable choice. Looks great. Feels great. Installs easily. And I like the origin story, “In 2004, two college friends Jeff Goldberg and Tanner Haigwood set off on a year-long surf trip in search of good waves, good times, and a plan to find an idea for a company that could make a difference. To help fund the adventure, they took up part-time work while living on Kauai, HI. One of the odd jobs was chopping down bamboo, leading to an epiphany: the realization that bamboo could and should be used as a building product in place of traditional trees.”

 

Andersen – 100 Series Windows

A good view deserves good windows like Andersen 100 series. 40% of the frame material is wood fiber reclaimed from Andersen’s other manufacturing processes. Andersen is an Energy Star Partner of the Year and a Green Builder’s Reader’s Choice.  The windows look great. They work exactly as expected. They’re just solid. It’s the kind of choice that you can feel good about for a very long time.

 

Airlite – Purelite Interior Paint

I never expected to be excited about paint. But I am. Purelite Interior Paint is pretty darn cool. Very green. Certified Zero VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds). Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. Known to greatly reduce bacteria formation via surface oxidation and high alkalinity. And of course it looks really good.

 

Tuft & Needle – Mattresses

Very well made. So comfortable! And we didn’t have to go to an uncomfortable mattress store. Tuft & Needle got it right. I love that that the two founders were frustrated by the traditional local mattress showrooms, “vast fields of mattresses neatly laid out under the buzz of fluorescent lights. Pushy salesmen pushed them to buy a fully loaded, feature-rich memory foam mattress. For $3,500 it should have been the pinnacle of comfort, but it wasn’t. To make matters worse…” Then the two founders decided to do something about it.

 

Boll & Branch – Organic Bedding

LifeEdited believes in having less stuff, but better stuff. Boll & Branch exemplifies this. Organic, fair trade, super comfortable, designed to last a lifetime. They say, “The Most Comfortable Sheets You’ll Ever Sleep On”. No argument here.

 

Oliver Yaphe – Pillows

Beautiful. Sustainable. We tried to say it better that Olive Yaphe, but we can’t, so here’s a quote: “A line of rugs and pillows made from new and unused fabric waste. Each piece is totally unique – since the look and feel depends on the amazing scraps that we can gather at any given time”.

 

Plumen – 003 Dimmable LED Pendant Set

The original Plumen is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art – it’s that elegant. We have the 003 Dimmable LED Pendant Set in many rooms of the house. Plumen believes that “it is possible to inspire the adoption of efficient lighting technologies by creating beautiful-to-behold and beautiful-to-use lighting products.” We agree!

 

Freitag – Bags, Clothing, and Headphones

Freitag makes stylish bags and clothing from truck tarps and compostable textiles. It’s another good origin story, “they developed a messenger bag from used truck tarpaulins, discarded bicycle inner tubes and car seat belts”. And with an amazing style. Also, the company has a great sense of humor – you’ll love their web site.

 

Meural Winslow – Wi-Fi-enabled Digital Canvas

The Meural Winslow is an art lover’s dream. It’s a smart digital art frame that displays artwork of your choosing. A casual observer will be fooled, in a good way, by this art frame as the rendered images are lifelike and textured. You can display your own photographs and artwork. You can display artwork from the free Meural Sampler, featuring classics that you’ll recognize such as Gauguin’s Still Life With Oranges.  And with a subscription you can display many works of the masters.

 

Richlite

We’re green. Richlite is 65% recycled paper and yet highly durable. And beautiful. And uniformly colored throughout, so we can cut or sand as needed. Need we say more? We fell in love with it and ended up using it all over the house – lanai railings, kitchen counter, table tops, shelving. It looks terrific and will last forever. We understand that you can also use it for furniture, millwork, musical instruments, aerospace applications, and even skateparks(!). It was a great discovery and we plan to use it in many future projects.

 

Ravensburger – Games

Apparently board games are trendy now. Ravensburger has been making them since 1883. And you can tell – excellent games. Labyrinth anyone?

 

Rowenta – Iron & Table Fans

We believe that you should have less stuff but better stuff. Like the Rowenta Eco Intelligence Iron and the Rowenta Turbo Silence Extreme 12-Inch Oscillating Table Fan with Remote Control. These are the kinds of things that you need to have, so we suggest buying the good stuff and keeping it forever.

 

Many Thanks

So many people to thank for their contributions. Ravensburger  Sean Sliger created the peg board system and framed the custom window seats. Mike Gagne crafted the ply cabinetry and table tops. Beth Elliott supplied and arranged the flowers. Raquel Zimmermann (RZ) made the ceramics. Yu-Yu supplied the rugs. Modecorarts supplied the baskets. Melissa Bruck made the napkins – from Home Depot drop-cloths. Michele Varian supplied the trivets. Maui Hands supplied the runners.

 

Want to know more about LifeEdited Maui? See the detailed description, subscribe to our newsletter, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Would you like a home, apartment, or apartment building like this? If so, read about our services And if you are interested in renting or owning LifeEdited Maui or the LE2 apartment in NYC, please contact us.

Please click on a thumbnail to see a slideshow. Bloggers and journalists are free to download the web resolution photos or the high resolution photos. It isn’t mandatory but it is much appreciated if you can credit Shawn Hannah for the photography.

This post is one in a series that describes LifeEdited Maui. LifeEdited Maui embodies our green, space efficient, and minimalist principles. We view it as a lab for experiencing things that are consistent with these principles. The products described in this post were given to us, which we appreciate, but we would not have accepted if we didn’t believe in them.

 

3D printing is the wave of the future and now Silicon Valley based startup, New Story, is using this technology to solve the housing problem in the developing world. They are able to construct concrete tiny homes in the span of a day. The company first began by tackling the housing crisis that befell Haiti after the big earthquake in 2010. Not enough homes were being built fast enough and efficiently to shelter the growing population in need. Since then, their goals for solving this problems became clear;

“The team laid out three goals. First, they wanted to significantly decrease the cost of building a house, though the homes they were currently building–with concrete walls and a simple design–were already very low-cost, at $6,500. They also wanted to make construction faster, while improving the quality of the final home.” – Fast Company

Their answer came in the form of a 3D printer. They named it the Vulcan which is able to efficiently produce homes much faster when compared to human built designs.  The team decided to make the structure out of concrete mortar, a widely available and affordable building material readily available around the world. They were able to get their construction costs at under their estimated goal to about $3500.

See construction unfold of their model home in Austin, Texas in the video below.

via Fast Company & Newswoof

 

 

A 323 square foot studio in Budapest utilizes many space saving techniques that make this tiny space feel airy. Designed by Position-Collective, they dubbed the project Air B N P to provide travelers with a stylish and comfy place to rest their heads. The use of plywood in its construction  brings warmth to the studio and makes use of a more sustainable building material. This tiny residence is perfect for short term stays because it provides all the amenities of a home and offers more than a hotel room. Take a tour of the space by clicking thumbnails below.

via Design Milk

Lighting. So important yet so often it seems like it was hardly considered…overly bright lights with cold, un-friendly blue light…too many lights…no dimming capabilities etc.

We wanted LifeEdited:Maui to have lighting that allowed us to do all the things we want to do in a house while also looking great. AND using minimal energy.

So we looked to a few companies to help us accomplish this: Plumen, Insteon and Rich, Brilliant and Willing (RBW). And boy did they deliver…

Rich Brilliant Willing – Seed, Crisp, and Monocle Dimmable LED Lighting

Remember when energy efficient lighting was ugly – compact fluorescents and LED bulbs with big cooling fins? Well, you can forget that now. Witness the gorgeous and energy-efficient Mori Seed lighting on the lanai and in the master bedroom. Simple, organic and woven, each Mori Seed emits a warm lantern-like light. We used the Mori Crisp Copper as our prime outdoor light. Its calming yellowish/orangeish glow on the facade is the perfect compliment to the blueish grey board and batten siding. Finally, the brilliantly named Monocle is a lovely piece of modern design that fit perfectly on the walls of our bedrooms, kitchen nook and even hallway ceiling. One of its wonderful attributes is that it rotates and hinges in order to place light exactly where you want it. RBW…beautiful, functional and low energy to top it off.

Plumen – 003 Dimmable LED Pendant Set

Almost a decade after their original bulb was made part of Moma’s collection, Plumen moved from strength to strength with its 003 bulb. Designed by a jeweler, the bulb looks fantastic before even adding a shade or lamp. It combines a directional spot (down) with an omni-directional glow (to the sides) such that the area below is highlighted but the stuff to the side is also bathed in a warm, yellow candlelight kind of light. It lasts 10,000 hours and is highly dimmable. Looks and substance. We put them all over the house and can’t wait to see what Plumen comes up with next!

Insteon – Dimmers & Smart Outlets

Look Modern, Work Modern. Insteon 2477dh Remote Control Dimmer, 2663-222 Remote Control Outlets, and 2245-222 Hub are more than just their pretty looks…they form the basis for a smart home. We’re able to adjust the default lighting level they come on at and command them via voice with our Google Home automation system. We can even remotely control every single light and switch in the house!! Insteon is perfect for the smart home…it works with all of the major home automation systems  e.g. Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Microsoft Cortana, Logitech Harmony and syncs seamlessly with a modern aesthetic.

Want to know more about LifeEdited Maui? See the detailed description, subscribe to our newsletter, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Would you like a home, apartment, or apartment building like this? If so, read about our services And if you are interested in renting or owning LifeEdited Maui or the LE2 apartment in NYC, please contact us.

Please click on a thumbnail to see a slideshow. Bloggers and journalists are free to download the web resolution photos or the high resolution photos. It isn’t mandatory but it is much appreciated if you can credit Shawn Hannah for the photography.

This post is one in a series that describes LifeEdited Maui. LifeEdited Maui embodies our green, space efficient, and minimalist principles. We view it as a lab for experiencing things that are consistent with these principles. The products described in this post were given to us, which we appreciate, but we would not have accepted if we didn’t believe in them.

 

Rent a tiny cabin that doesn’t divulge its exact location in order to help its visitors unplug from the real world. Slow Cabins is a fashionable way to relax in an off grid home. It contains a set of three cabins in the Belgium countryside. They are mobile and contain all the amenities a traveler needs to relax, and as a plus, they are off grid and eco friendly.

“The fully self-sufficient cabins boast solar panels for electricity, and collected rainwater is filtered to become drinkable. Eco-friendly dry toilets do not require sewerage—all adding up to Slow Cabin’s mission to reduce their environmental impact to zero. ”

The founder, Xavier Leclair, is putting an emphasis on taking time to slow down one’s lifestyle in this fast paced world of technology. Once the guest arrives, the home is stocked with a full tank of filtered rainwater and a charged battery to last for several days. A smart display is provided to show your water and energy use, giving you access to view how much consume throughout your stay. This awareness allows you to tailor your energy usage as well as estimate your ecological footprint.

Guests have two models to choose from. The 366 square foot “Time for Two” cabin is designed for couples. The larger, “Time for Family” model can sleep up to five people comfortably. And in the event that one of the previous travelers reveals the location of a cabin, they can be easily moved to another area leaving the secrecy intact.

via dwell

Work, dine, relax, entertain, listen to music, or just sip on a hot cup of local coffee. These are all things you can and should do on the lanai (porch). It’s Maui – outdoor living is part of the culture. But that’s a long list – how do you enable all of those things on one lanai? With smart design, good products, and transforming furnishings, that’s how!

Resource Furniture – Transforming Furnishings

We’ve worked with Resource Furniture for nearly a decade now because they always have the highest quality space saving transforming furniture. We share the philosophy that every square foot should be awesome. The Passo table lets you drink your coffee from a coffee table in the morning, rises up to let you do some work in the afternoon, and expands to serve dinner to all of your friends. You set the height anywhere between 9 and 32 inches. You set the length between 50 and 93 inches. The Flex Outdoor sofas are a great place to relax with a book, can be easily be adjusted for dining, and can be easily rearranged for a movie night. Their secret seems to be the combination of their generous depth and the easily movable yet solid backrest pillows (weighted with neoprene bases so they stay put).

 

Andersen – Multiglide Sliding Glass Door

Indoor outdoor living is part of Maui culture. But how do you really blend indoor and outdoor living? With the Andersen MultiGlide! It beautifully blurs the line between indoors and outdoors. When it’s open, you hardly notice it’s there. And it’s quite attractive when it’s closed. It not only creates a huge opening, its threshold detail allows the flooring to flow on one plane from inside to out…nothing to trip on or to ruin the beautiful transition. It’s a perfect fit for Maui.

 

Ann Sacks – Stampino and Savoy Tile

Beautiful, green, nearly indestructible, and seriously waterproof. An excellent combination. And a perfect choice for the lanai. The Savoy Collection has a wonderfully wide set of styles to choose from, including a nice assortment of artisan glazes. Made from 21% recycled content, including, “ceramic waste material from discarded clay and smashed tableware.” We love the colors, the textures, the durability and the ease of maintenance. We used Savoy penny round tiles in lotus for the bathroom floors, Savoy herringbone in lantern for the floors and walls of the outdoor bathing room and Stampino herringbone in black for the lanai and kitchen. It all looks, feels and works extremely well.

 

The Modern Fan Company – IC/Air3 Ceiling Fans

It’s a modern house, so we need modern ceiling fans. LifeEdited Maui has no heating or cooling system, so ceiling fans are essential and all we really need. On the lanai, it’s quite refreshing to make your own breeze with the IC/Air3 Ceiling Fans. You can feel the breeze, but you can’t hear the fans, which is great. The Modern Fan Company has a wide selection of fans, so we were able to get just what we wanted. Which is great as there are surprisingly few manufacturers that make good modern-style fans. You’ll see other fans Modern Fan inside the house. And they work with our home automation system, so we can say, “Hey Google, turn on the lanai fans”.

 

Richlite – Lanai Railing Tops

We’re green. Richlite is 65% recycled paper and yet highly durable. And beautiful. And uniformly colored throughout, so we can cut or sand as needed. Need we say more? We fell in love with it and ended up using it all over the house – lanai railings, kitchen counter, table tops, shelving. It looks terrific and will last forever. We understand that you can also use it for furniture, millwork, musical instruments, aerospace applications, and even skateparks(!). It was a great discovery and we plan to use it in many future projects.

 

Vanatoo – Transparent Zero Speakers

The Vanatoo Transparent Zero speakers are one of those rare pieces of smart technology that bring joy without any frustration. Joy from the music. It’s the kind of sound where you can *really* listen – on a comfortable couch, eyes closed, not thinking about anything else. Smart too. On the lanai, there’s an Apple TV (movies) and a Google Chromecast (music) connected to the speakers. The speakers always automatically choose the correct input.

 

Rich Brilliant Willing – Seed, Crisp, and Monocle Lighting

Remember when energy efficient lighting was ugly – compact fluorescents and LED bulbs with big cooling fins? Well, you can forget that now. Witness the gorgeous and energy-efficient Mori Seed lighting on the lanai. Simple, organic, woven. Each Mori Seed emits a warm lantern-like light. And unlike many LEDs, they work nicely with our dimmers. Rich Brilliant Willing makes other wonderful lighting products – you’ll see that we used the Mori Crisp Copper and the Monocle elsewhere in the house.

 

Meural Lenora – Wi-Fi-enabled Digital Canvas

The Meural Lenora Black is an art lover’s dream. It’s a smart digital art frame that displays artwork of your choosing. A casual observer will be fooled, in a good way, by this art frame as the rendered images are lifelike and textured. You can display your own photographs and artwork. You can display artwork from the Meural Sampler, featuring classics that you’ll recognize such as Gauguin’s Still Life With Oranges.  And with a subscription you can display many works of the masters. You’ll also see a Meural Winslow elsewhere in the house.

 

Oliver Yaphe – Pillows

Beautiful. Sustainable. We tried to say it better than Olive Yaphe, but we can’t, so here’s a quote: “A line of rugs and pillows made from new and unused fabric waste. Each piece is totally unique – since the look and feel depends on the amazing scraps that we can gather at any given time”. You’ll see other Oliver Yaphe items in the house.

 

Want to know more about LifeEdited Maui? See the detailed description, subscribe to our newsletter, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Would you like a home, apartment, or apartment building like this? If so, read about our services And if you are interested in renting or owning LifeEdited Maui or the LE2 apartment in NYC, please contact us.

Please click on a thumbnail to see a slideshow. Bloggers and journalists are free to download the web resolution photos or the high resolution photos. It isn’t mandatory but it is much appreciated if you can credit Shawn Hannah for the photography.

This post is one in a series that describes LifeEdited Maui. LifeEdited Maui embodies our green, space efficient, and minimalist principles. We view it as a lab for experiencing things that are consistent with these principles. The products described in this post were given to us, which we appreciate, but we would not have accepted if we didn’t believe in them.

 

 

Studio Bazi has created a storage solution that transforms to tuck away and reveal apartment functions. Alireza Nemati, founder of  Studio Bazi, incorporated a lot of built in furniture to make this 355 square foot apartment in Moscow run smoothly. It’s amazing how effective the kitchen and laundry hides away so seamlessly without sacrificing functionality. Watch it unfold in the video above and see the rest of the apartment by clicking the thumbnails below.

 

 

 

via The Organized Home