Vacations should be full of relaxation, a chance to get away from the demands of everyday life and let the weight of the world fall from your shoulders. Ideally, a vacation residence should facilitate that sort of mood – as this Swedish house, featured on Home Design Find, does.

It’s not large, and it’s not fancy, but it is well-designed and achieves its purpose: to blend in with its surroundings and offer a calming, water-centered retreat.  The “Swedish Mill House,” designed by Wingardhs, combines the warmth of Scandinavian design with the cool aesthetic of Japanese Zen.

The main feature is an outdoor pool that looks like a pond, with rocks and greenery surrounding it.  It is right off the deck of the house, so it’s easy to jump in after a sauna.  The pool and sauna are the focal point of the Swedish Mill House.  Of course, you can’t spend all your time sweating and swimming, so this vacation home also has facilities for cooking and sleeping.  But in keeping with the philosophy behind the design, the space devoted to these functions is minimal.

Blonde wood, stone and a wall made of glass emphasize the site’s natural beauty and look modern, yet warm.  Cool water surrounding the house relaxes the senses and lets life’s worries slip away.

Photos are courtesy of James Silverman.

Cleaning: some of us like to do it more than others. It’s not just the time and labor spent that can make a person eager to put it off until tomorrow, but also the harsh chemicals and fumes used in most cleaning products.

There has been a recent interest in environmentally-friendly cleaning products, and the “green” section of the drugstore cleaning aisle continues to grow.  Brands such as Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day and Seventh Generation have many loyal fans and many traditional cleaning product brands are dipping their toes into the world of green cleaning.

Along with the interest in finding cleaning products that are gentle on the earth, many consumers are now faced with tighter budgets.  So what’s the best way to combine effective cleaning, green dreams and newfound frugality? Make your own cleaning products, of course!

Mary Hunt, who has a well-known syndicated column called “Everyday Cheapskate” and a website called Debt-Proof Living, is a proponent of making your own cleaning products.  Not only will you save lots of money (her main concern), but you’ll also be helping the planet.  Most homemade cleaning solutions use products found around your house like: soap or detergent, baking soda, vinegar or lemon juice.

Here are some tips to make your own cleaning agents. For more tips, visit the Debt-Proof Living website and learn more about making your own cleaners.

To clean pretty much everything, combine ½ cup ammonia, ½ cup vinegar and ¼ cup baking soda in a gallon of warm water.  This would work especially well for cleaning countertops since the baking soda helps get rid of any food odors that might be lingering.

Need to remove some tough stains from glass? In a spray bottle, mix together ammonia and rubbing alcohol in equal parts.

Mary offers a couple recipes for bathroom cleaning. For bathtubs and shower tiles, mix together 1 2/3 cups baking soda, ½ cup liquid soap (no detergent!), ½ cup water and two tablespoons white vinegar.  For cleaning toilets, a green way is to brush baking soda and vinegar around the bowl.

It is worth pointing out that none of these recipes contain bleach. Remember that it can be deadly to mix bleach with ammonia, vinegar or another acid-producing substance.

Be safe, be green, be cheap and be clean!

Photo Courtesy of The Healthy Shoppers on Flickr

Summer is the season of bites and burns. Mosquitoes, fire ants, plants, large stars around which the earth orbits — all trouble-makers when it comes to our delicate skin.

People (and probably lots of animals, too) have been fighting against these bites and burns since, I presume, the dawn of human existence. Like most things, we seem to be slowly getting better at accomplishing our goal.

A company called Coastal Solutions has developed a product called Bite Blaster, a bite-burn-and-itch remedy it describes as “military strength.” The manufacturers claim “Bite Blaster contains the maximum over-the-counter dose of lidocaine, the medicine that hospital burn units use. It instantly ends sting or bite pain, and also stops itching and irritation like nothing else.”

Sounds awesome. And as if that weren’t enough, there’s a whole line of other similar products, including Jellyfish Squish, Fire Ant Coolant and Chigger Chaser.

Additionally, this article from Natural Health Web shares a pile of natural remedies for sunburn, poison ivy and bug bites. Some of the more interesting suggestions: amino acids in Brazil nuts can help alleviate damage caused by sunburn and rubbing fresh basil leaves helps ease the burn of a bee sting.

Photo courtesy of James Jordon on Flickr

As we survive through “allergy season,” outdoor air issues may fill the headlines as we hear about allergens and the latest medication, but poor indoor air is just as dangerous.

According to the EPA, the air in our homes is often two to five times more poisonous than the air outside. Toxic indoor air has been linked to anything from chronic respiratory diseases to cancer.

Improving indoor air quality isn’t hard to do. Following are some easy, adaptable tips to improve your home’s air flow.

• Ventilate, ventilate, ventilate. Open windows and doors and run window or attic fans to circulate in fresh air. It dilutes your home of toxins and chemicals that may be trapped inside.
• Don’t use chemical air fresheners or toxic cleaning products. Anyone can attest to the pungent smell that comes from these cleaners. But while many of us think the fumes disappear after a while, the chemical residues are left behind. There are plenty of products on the market that are non-toxic, or you can use lemons, water and vinegar to freshen your indoor air.
• Purchase natural carpet or get rid of it all together. Carpeting can be one of the biggest air-quality culprits in your home: Most carpets are treated with chemicals that give off toxic gas. Carpet also traps dirt, allergens, mold and other nasty items. If possible, take out the carpet all together. If you need carpet, consider purchasing a natural fiber carpet or area rugs.
• Make your home smoke-free. This isn’t just good for your indoor air quality. Quitting smoking improves your overall health and that of your family.
• Bring in the green. Certain plants such as spider plants, peace lilies, mums and philodendron remove dangerous toxins from your indoor air.
• Remove vinyls from your home. Vinyls, such as a shower curtain or a vinyl window frame, actually release toxic gas into your home. It is the second most common plastic, so ridding your home of it may be difficult. It’s recommended to begin by removing the easiest (shower curtains, for example) and the largest (construction supplies such as windows) sources.

Resources: Charity Guide, BabyCenter.com, Healthy Child Healthy World, EPA, LowImpactLiving.com, Washington Toxics Coalition

Photo via Flickr

Do you feel rushed in the morning? Are you a night owl who finds it hard to believe waking up earlier might be easier than staying in bed? If you answered yes to either of those questions, then we’re here to encourage you to start your day off right by giving yourself more “me time” every morning. Consider a trial run for 30 days and we predict that you’ll learn to appreciate it. Here’s how to get the most out of it:

• Set an earlier wake-up time — maybe 30 to 45 minutes earlier than usual — and get up at that time. No hitting the snooze button.
• Create a special sitting area by a window with a small table and a chair. Add a clean white tablecloth and some fresh flowers in a vase to create a calming atmosphere.
• Read the paper, catch up on your favorite magazine, enjoy some coffee or tea, or just daydream.
• Avoid using your computer or mobile device right away.
• Most important: Eat breakfast. When you skip the most important meal of the day, you’re likely to be less productive, less efficient and have less endurance.

By choosing an earlier wake-up time; not hitting the snooze button; setting up your sitting area by a window; and picking your “me time” newspaper, magazine or silence, you’ll forget that you slept for half an hour less. Try it for a month or so. Don’t be surprised if by actually getting less sleep, you feel more energized and are tempted to maybe even wake up earlier to squeeze in a jog or do Pilates. Photo courtesy of laffy4k on Flickr

Check out this statistic from the Chicago Tribune: “If each household in Chicago switched to cleaning products that contain low levels of volatile organic compounds, it would remove as many hydrocarbons as taking 28,793 cars off the road.”

Wow. It’s the type of stat that makes you want to start using these type of cleaning products, isn’t it? Lucky for us, the same story, written by Julie Deardorff, provides some natural household cleaning tips. Among the claimed benefits of the products listed are less air pollution and no skin irritation. Try these items for cleaning around your house:

• White vinegar: use for cleaning windows, counter tops, chrome, greasy surfaces and floors; cuts greasy residue
• Baking soda: can be placed in small bowls around the home to absorb odors, and can be used to clean sinks or for laundry
• Salt: sprinkle on pots or pans to loosen stuck-on food: add cool water, leave for one hour and then wipe clean
• Vegetable oil: two parts of any vegetable oil and one part lemon juice makes for a nifty furniture polish mixture

These natural cleaning supplies are environmentally conscious, healthy, practical and can save you money. And here’s a recipe for the almighty, all-purpose cleaner:

• 4 teaspoons Borax
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid soap or detergent
• 2 cups hot water
• Put it a spray bottle and go

Happy green cleaning!

With more Americans than ever suffering from allergies, the Healthy House Institute offers some simple steps you can take to keep your family as allergen-free as possible — without giving up fine decorating.

• Window treatments should be simple, writes the institute’s Lynn Marie Bower. Metal or wood blinds will hold the least dust, while 100 percent cotton blinds or linen curtains are the easiest to wash regularly.
• All soft furniture items covered in leather can and should be wiped clean often. It’s an easy step and it’s a place where a lot of dust resides. For fabric upholstery, choose removable and washable covers.
• Centralize your tchotchkes. Those small, decorative pieces are huge dust-catchers. Bower suggests putting them in a glass-fronted cabinet to keep them clean while still allowing them to be enjoyed.
• If you’re allergic, it might be better for you to keep plants and flowers outside. The pollen in flowers is very allergenic, while mold can build up over time in the soil of potted plants.

Photo courtesy of Brooke Novak via Flickr