More Ideas on How To Decorate A House Simply Using Natural Materials

In my last post How to decorate a house using simple natural materials I mentioned a few really common materials to furnish houses.  Seeing the wide response to my last post I have decided to do a follow up on it.  In this post I will provide a few more such exciting ideas some of which have been lying around our back yards for ages and yet haven't yet got the artistic value they deserve.

ROCK

Nature's most simple and beautiful formation is perhaps the best on this list. They come in various shapes and sizes. If it's a day out on the beach or hiking near a valley you can land up with some really cool stuff. Sea glass that collects down at the beach can be used to festoon a house specially when gearing up for a tight-budget party. You may even mix and match common pebbles with just a couple of exotic pieces to give a rustic sparkle to the whole place.

SHELLS

Sea shells for ages have fascinated man. Being available in all shapes, colors and sizes their myriad variety can be used to form a medley that resonates through the feel of your home. Beach side homes can use them to give that extra airy beach feel to in mates as well as visitors. You could use them to form wall paintings,  table pieces, art works, curtains/dividers, candle decor, you name it. All one needs is some good glue and a few ribbons.

EGG SHELLS

These little dainty things find their way into the garbage without a second thought. But there is more you could do to them than just break their err ... shells. A little paint maybe water color, or poster color if you like a better thicker sheen, can change the whole look of a shell. They make excellent little plantlet pots. An added advantage is that you could use them to fill up little spaces and dispose them off when the plants grow out.

PAPER

When the Chinese invented it they perhaps knew that it would one day be an extremely important testament of simple living. From Chinese lanterns to writing master pieces paper has proved its paper ...I mean metal..Newspaper collected over time make an excellent source for attractive collages, and other paper art. The best part is they are recyclable, free and easy to dispose. Old papers can add character and a certain rustic feel to a laid back home.

PINE CONES

For those of  you who think pine is just for Christmas, think again. They are another way to easily decorate your homes if you have a little color or varnish, and particularly if you are from the colder parts of the world. Now you will think again as you walk by pine woods on holiday.

COMBINATIONS

Or perhaps a combination of these would work best for your home. You never know. Just feel free to mix and match and don't be shy to try out new combinations.

Hope this post opened your eyes to the infinite possibilities that mother nature provides mankind with to not just use but also reuse and recycle that too in style!

Till then remember it's REUSE AND RECYCLE ;)

Natural Decorations For the Home: HOW TO MAKE AN ALGAE LAMP

Did you know that there are algae (those tiny green floating stuff in your lakes and lagoons) that radiate light. They are bio-luminescent just like glowing jelly fish!

Now you could use these little plants/ microbes ...(whatever.. I am no microbiologist) to make little energy saving lamps! They are perfect home decors too as they glow in blue to green colors! Just fill them in transparent bottles of different shapes, colors and sizes!

Wondering how to make these brilliant eco-friendly lamps?

 YOU WILL NEED :
The algae: Any bio luminescent algae. Look up online what suits you.
Pyrosystis Fusiformis is preferred as its harder and easily grown.
You will order it online from culture repositories like EMPCO , or Institutes like Institute of Oceanography in Goa. Alternatively you could contact researchers to get inoculums. Or if you are a botany student collect it from a suitable water source like lagoon,canal/ the Indian Ocean during summer monsoons in Kerala.

A nutrient solution - Buy from a local medical store and if you are familiar with algal culturing prepare using...well you know what the ingredients are (just Google it up if you have forgotten; there are tons of info on how to prepare algae nutrient medium). Or make a  natural solution made with seawater. Growth solutions are available online or at aquatic supply stores.

A clear container of  glass or clear plastic. It must have a lid. Clear because you want the light and because the algae needs light to grow.




A suitable place- Keep in a place where there is adequate light & a moderate temperature (8 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit (22 - 25 degrees Celsius). Or a regular 40-watt light bulb in a household lamp can be used too.  




How To Make The Algae Lamp 

1. Prepare the container- sterilize by heating if container is heat-able, else wash with detergent thoroughly.

2. Let both the inoculum and the nutrient solution  Pour about 20 ml of nutrient solution.



3. Add algae culture into the container.

4. Place the lid to prevent evaporation & to keep contaminants out.

5.  Incubate under mentioned conditions. It may take a few days to months depending on how well your solutions works or how well you have tended to it.

6. Do not expose to direct sunlight. Else temperature control will not be possible. Algae need twelve hours of light and twelve hours of dark.
Please note that if using a lamp, it should be placed about three feet from the container. Do not place the light directly over the container; as the heat may/can kill the organisms inside.

Now just switch on !!

 Gently swirl/agitate. Bioluminescent algae detect movement when its cell walls are hit by other algae, making it glow. Thus shaking your bio lamp switches it on! No switch, no complicated engineering involved!

But, do not shake the container too hard or too often.

Algae are fast growing organisms. So you might need to keep changing containers or better still inoculate a number of other containers…to get a whole lighting decor arrangement.…!!

PS: It is possible to grow algae in the container it was shipped in, which is usually a plastic beaker. Simply pour a few inches of the culture out, and add a few inches of growth solution.

Expected Cost:

 The inoculum can cost  ~24$ = ~1467 Rs if you are shipping it down from a culture repository. Sounds expensive for a little light bulb, but  if you get one of these systems going efficiently at home you will never have to complain about your electricity bills again!

Happy lighting!!

Flora at MG University, Kottayam.

The Mahatma Gandhi University is located in the forests of the Priyadarshini Hills that surround the Kottayam Medical College & Carithas, the cancer wing. People have built homes & commercial establishments within the precincts & collection of firewood/grass is a frequent sight. Yet for the most part the area is left undisturbed.

As the university has also tried to keep its surroundings as unchanged as possible most of the area within & around it are still densely forested. 

Below are a few plants I found growing extensively in the outgrowths. Also are included a few others that the university has tried to grow painstakingly.

  

  

  

  

The Indian Laburnum

    

                 

      

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 The University has in the long run striven hard to preserve the indigenous flora of the forests. Its recent endeavor has been to  name and label the taxonomic classification of plants within the university campus. 

Visitors to the campus have appreciated the idea but it's hoped that these in addition to educating the students & visitors, it will help preserve these forests.

How energy efficient are we really???

Most often I have come upon certain unfortunate sights. Road side lamps & lights in the verandas of houses left on the entire day! One may advocate for these slips by saying that people tend to forget in the morning rush to schools & offices. Others may take an empathetic note that lights in daylight are easily missed.
I have tried taking that outlook. But what makes these careless acts unacceptable is that they recur on a regular basis. I have seen them repeated with infuriating nonchalance.
And the buildings that bear witness to such discrepancies most are government run institutions, public roads & even private homes.
                                        

The common attitude that dictates such outrageous acts is that the wallet belongs to the government. But where does the money in the government treasury come from? Oh! No, No No! If you are thinking that the treasury gets filled because the mint is 'owned' by the government you have your bears grossly miscalculated. They are filled by the taxes that the common man -you-paid for turning his blood into sweat. And NO ONE, not even the head of the state has got the right to throw it down the drain.
 I have seen offices in Kottayam a district in Kerala, and even teachers cabins in my own university show such indifference. Kottayam famous as 'the district of letters' is known for its high literacy & number of colleges offering higher education. If, with all the education & awareness even such places of learning exhibit such non-holistic behavior how is one to blame the ignorant layman?
And if that isn't reason enough think about all the new interiors you could have bought with that money you saved on the electricity bill! Or for those lovers of gardening, the new vases you wanted at the nursery last Christmas!
But like it or not everyone is bound to do his part in saving up all that electricity that we generated midst the Uttarakhand & Idukki floods, the hullabaloo surrounding near-parturition dams, electricity shortage and the global climate change concerns that for ever hangs above us like the sword of Damocles.