The Salvage Studio : Sustainable Home Comforts to Organize, Entertain and Inspire

With the increasing popularity of eco-lifestyles, people are hungry for ideas to live more easily with the earth. Using "reduce, reuse, and recycle" as their mantra, the Salvage Studio ladies show how simple it is to have a green and comfortable daily life. The ideas and projects presented in their book use the most common of materials, items that people often throw away: tarnished silver plate, chipped china, Junior's old baby crib, a broken lamp, unread books, and more. The craft projects range from birdbaths and garden trellises to chandeliers, pillows, buffet servers, and jewelry, and suit a variety of decorating styles from modern to classic, rustic to romantic.

With a fresh eye, a bit of glue, and a sturdy power drill, the Salvage Studio trio shows that everyone has the capacity to be creative-they just need a nudge to get going. Their motto is, "If we can do it, you can do it." Additional smaller projects and advice on organizing and reducing excess are sprinkled throughout.

AMY DUNCAN has a long history of artistic and ecological endeavors. While studying economics and natural resource management at the University of Wisconsinâ "Stevens Point, she dismantled everything from one wall of her dorm room to create an 8x7-foot collage, comprised entirely of magazine ads. She has taught the skills of one-match fire building and the strength of self-reliance from Wisconsin to Wyoming to Germany and, over the years, has indulged her artistic tendencies by tackling basket weaving, papermaking, textile construction, dressmaking, and vegetarian cooking. Eighteen years spent in non-profit management helped hone her resourcefulness as she developed programs for children and adults on a shoestring budget, making the best use of materials at hand, cultivating available community resources, and mixing in no small amount of ingenuity.

In an effort to blend her ecological concern with her artistic flair, in 1999 she started Four Corners Design, a handcrafted greeting card and dÃ(c)cor company; many of her products use recycled materials, combined in simple collage designs. Her hunt for interesting bits of flotsam from other's castoffs led her to meet Beth Evans-Ramos at an estate sale, which eventually led to the creation of The Salvage Studio.

BETH EVANS-RAMOS loves to reinvent things -- her life, her clothes, and found objects she finds in her travels. In her late 50's she proclaims that, "I'm on a journey to live a simpler life. Easier said than done.

She says that she finds so many things darn interesting, and her list of places she hopes to travel just keeps growing. She constantly meets fascinating new people she want to know better. Beth enjoys the hunt and thrill of finding vintage stuff. And then keeping it! She says that she is working particularly hard on not hoarding. Living a greener life is the road she's on. Selling ideas (instead of stuff) through public speaking, workshops and consulting is her current focus.

Previously, she co-owned Salvage Studio. Did the retail thing. Did the book thing. Did the filling my house and garage to over-flowing with really good junk thing. Currently, she is a wife, mother and grandma. She lives in the Seattle, Washington area, and has recently moved into a small eco village of green-built homes.

Get tips on crafting, living green and follow along with Beth's latest musings on her blog, Beth Evans-Ramos.

LISA HILDERBRAND is a garden designer and educator, with an emphasis on earth-friendly gardening practices and low-maintenance, year-round interest gardens. Raised in Eastern Washington in a very creative and resourceful family, Lisa learned at an early age to make do with what you have, which helped shape her ability to see objects in a new light. Addicted to free piles and garage sales, she finds treasures in others' trash and loves to decorate her home and garden with found objects. She is past editor of The Perennial Post, a quarterly publication for the Northwest Perennial Alliance, as well as The Puget Daylily, a quarterly publication for the Puget Sound Daylily Club. In addition to being an elected Board Member for the Alderwood Garden Club, she also supports Plant Amnesty, Seattle Tilth, and the Northwest Horticultural Society.

Lisa enjoys cooking and has been a member of The Root Connection (a CSA in Woodinville) for eight years and was a cooking assistant for the Puget Consumer's Co-op Food Works Program for two years. Four cats and four chickens share her Lynnwood home, along with her husband Doug.