This card table and four matching chairs are $165 in Sterling. The seller says the set is vintage, made in the 1940s. The table top is covered in a dry-lacquered fabric and has a painted Chinese dragon. The Asian motif continues on the chairs, which are painted green and feature gold and blue Asian designs. The chairs and table fold up for easy storage.

Other good finds:

• Dining table with seven newly reupholstered chairs for $300.
• Corner curio cabinet with shelf and cabinet space for $300.
• Brown leather couch for $950; matching club chair with ottoman for $850.
• A pair of black lacquered sidetables with two drawers and brass pulls for $225.

Thanks, Craig!

 
More>> Open House Blog | Homes | Real Estate

Employees gather 'round this TV to play Guitar Hero at work.

Real-estate marketing firm Delucchi Plus moved into a new office at 1828 L Street, NW, in DC—just down the hall from The Washingtonian—in February. The newly renovated, ultra-modern space received a silver LEED rating, proving it’s not just well-designed but also environmentally-friendly.

Green features include:
• Desks made from recycled materials
• Insulation made of recycled cotton
• Low mercury lighting with motion sensors that turn lights on and off
• Energy Star appliances
• Concrete floors with nontoxic sealants

But perhaps the coolest feature is the flat-screen TV in the lounge where employees play Guitar Hero.

“The staff is really excited,” says company president Christine Delucchi. “They take pride in their space, and it translates when they’re working with clients.” A future project on Delucchi’s wish list is a green rooftop garden, a clean and relaxing place away from the office. “It would be like a zen, meditation room—a quiet place for people to go.”

 What do you think? Would working in a beautiful office like this make you more productive?

Check out our full slideshow of Delucchi's office below.

Four years ago Loren LaVoy founded Green Clean, an environmentally friendly home- and business-cleaning service. LaVoy, who grew up in New York’s Adirondack Mountains, loves spending time outdoors: “I’ve always been very green-oriented—it makes sense and it’s better for everyone’s health,” he says.

The company only uses cleaning products that are certified by the nonprofit Green Seal. “Most of our cleaning products are hydrogen peroxide-based and are hospital quality,” says LaVoy.  Many are also unscented, so don’t be alarmed if the “fresh and clean” smell is absent after the crew leaves.

A typical cleaning costs between $100 and $130 and takes a little more than an hour. Green Clean offers services in Maryland, DC, and Virginia and does a lot of business for new mothers: “We’ve had many people call us from the hospital and say they are having a baby today and would like us to clean their home.”

Green Clean’s office uses recycled paper, soy-based ink, and powers itself with solar and wind power. Crew members wear uniforms made of organic cotton and soy-based dies. The company also tracks the carbon emissions of its vehicles and offsets them by donating money to organizations like Planktose, which releases carbon-eating plankton into the ocean.

Want to clean green on your own? MOM’s (My Organic Market) and Whole Foods Market sell green cleaning products. LaVoy says most need time to work; spray several items, he says, then go back and wipe them down.

Christmas trees have a predictable lifespan: After about five weeks, they kick the bucket (or the tree stand) . Often, the trees that inspire so much happiness end up in the trash. This year you may want to consider recycling. Ground into mulch and used as fertilizer, old trees help new ones grow.

Many local governments collect and recycle trees in early January. If you use a private trash service, call and ask to have your tree picked up. If you live in DC, set your tree out wherever your trash is usually collected between  January 2 and 19, and the Department of Public Works will recycle it for you. More details here.

If you miss the dates for local government pick up, you can buy a chipper from a hardware store and grind your own mulch. If that’s too pricey—chippers are priced as much as $500 at Home Depot—there are also commercial and government-run pickup sites. Plug your Zip code into the Earth911 Web site to find nearby tree-recycling services.

Check out these pictures of the second private home in Virginia to receive LEED certification, the national standard for high performance green buildings. The 753-square-foot house was built in the Shenandoah Valley by a Washington couple who wanted a weekend retreat in the mountains.


The home’s energy-efficient features include a green roof, which absorbs 70 percent of storm-water runoff, a geothermal heating system, and several energy-efficient appliances including a drawer refrigerator and convection microwave oven.

They’re eco-friendly, shapely, relatively cheap, and vanishing like a delicious Chinese take-out meal. They’re Kwytza (pronounced KWAI-DZA) Kraft’s lamps from Bryan Parks, an American who spent three years in Kunming, a city in the south of China. Fashioned from sanitized bamboo chopsticks used in restaurants in China, the lamps are a stylish addition to any home, green or not.

Parks, who owns a workshop in China, had the lamps made in a different Chinese workshop until he grew uncomfortable with labor practices there. Though he’s bringing production to his workshop and introducing a new line, he’s sold out of the original lamps.

A limited number are available from retailers. We headed online to see where we could scoop up the leftovers and fell in love with the clean, curvey look of the “Mey” lamp, pictured above. The cheapest “Mey” lamp we could find was at bluehouse, a Baltimore store with an online shop, where it goes for $29 plus shipping.  We also found it for $65 at the Art Institute of Chicago and for $68 at Green Home Environmental Designs.

“The Green House” at the National Building Museum is an exhibit with a mission. Through photographs, drawings, and a life-size replica of an ecologically friendly home, the exhibit introduces visitors to the world of green design and architecture.