By Trish Holder

If I known about FLOR carpet design squares when I was building the Greenspiration Home I would have seriously considering using them in our bonus room. I say that now, since shortly after we moved in, my daughter’s birthday sleepover party resulted in a green paint stain on my brand new, wall-to-wall carpet in the bonus room.  If I had FLOR carpet tiles, I’d have simply popped up the tile with the stain and put another in its place.  As it is, that stain now resides under a floor cloth I made specifically to cover it.   Live and learn.

Life’s little mishaps aside, how fun are these carpet tiles!  Using the impressive selection of colors, textures and designs from FLOR, you can mix and match your way to a one-of-a-kind floor covering masterpiece.  And the names of the design squares are as fun as the idea itself! FLOR staffers must have a ball coming up with names like  Made You Look^TM and Heavy Petal^TM for their designs. Continue reading ›

"Surf-rider" sofa table from Architectural Detail Group

By Trish Holder

We love a great story and this “Surf-rider” sofa table, designed by Gerald Olesker of Architectural Detail Group (ADG), has one.

The original design was commissioned by an unnamed film industry professional in Malibu, California.  ADG had designed some exterior lanterns for the client’s beachfront home (using reclaimed rusted lanterns), which prompted the client to invite the ADG team inside.  Before long they were collaborating on sofa table design….and the “Surf-rider” table quickly came to life on paper.  Continue reading ›

Upcycled Chandelier from Born Again Wood Works

By Trish Holder

At Greenspiration Home, we don’t discriminate based on size.  It doesn’t matter if you are a small or large US manufacturer, we simply love featuring interesting and beautiful American made décor – even if your store resides only on ETSY.com.  Case-in-point is this upcycled wood chandelier with cage lighting made with reclaimed wood by Born Again Wood Works.

Amber and Dustin Schumacher started building home décor items using reclaimed materials several years ago when Dustin’s carpentry business slowed along with the construction market in southern California. Continue reading ›

Ilsa Counter Stool from Hickory Chair

By Trish Holder

One of the highlights of my fall Furniture Market experience was touring the Hickory Chair showroom. And while my American Made Décor Pick-of-the Week is in fact a chair, I found so much more to appreciate about this company besides its distinctively sleek approach to classic furniture design.

Personally, I experienced a lot of “I want this and I want that” while walking the 25,000 sq. ft. showroom in High Point, NC. From dining tables to upholstered dressers (yes, I said upholstered dressers), there was a lot of visual intrigue. But Hickory Chair Furniture Co., founded in 1911, is a special company for reasons besides its furniture, 90% of which is made in Hickory, NC. Continue reading ›

Kim Salmela daybed/sofa

By Trish Holder

Where did you put all of your overnight guests for the holiday?

Most of us would like to comfortably accommodate overnight guests without building and furnishing an unnecessarily large home or having to carpet random floor space with air mattresses.  That’s why I’m always drawn to fashionable seating that doubles as bedding like this Birger sofa from the Kim Salmela Atelier collection, which I encountered at the fall High Point Furniture Market. Like all of Kim Salmela’s upholstered pieces, it is made in Las Angeles, California. It’s stylish, practical, and it is our American Made Pick-of-the-Week. Continue reading ›

By Trish Holder

If you are like me, you get your best holiday gift ideas either too late or too early.  However, in the case of these three American made gifts, your timing might be just right.  These aren’t items that you can necessarily order at the last minute, but worth keeping in mind for next year.

I like these American made décor items because they have “family gift giving” written all over them.   I’m talking about those occasions where you need to lump all the members of a family into one gift because buying for every single person is too expensive and/or so stressful you’ll whip yourself into an anxiety attack just thinking about it.  Believe me, I’ve been there.

None of these are “throwaway” gifts.  They either serve a long-term purpose or, in the case of the wreath, are ultimately biodegradable.  Plus, they are all 100% made in the USA! In fact they are all made in my home state of North Carolina.

Southern magnolia wreath from Weston Farms

Grown AND Made in Wake County NC!

This Classic Parris Southern Magnolia Wreath is a mainstay item for Weston Farms.  The company CEO, Erin Weston, specializes in growing rare but hardy magnolia trees on a family farm, which she inherited a few years back.  She uses the green and velvety brown magnolia leaves to create wreaths, topiaries, and garlands, which can actually last several years.  She uses other plant species in her creations as well, including boxwood, cotton, conifers, and more to create natural seasonal décor.  The wreaths are so much more alluring than the artificial ones that most of us pull out and dust off each year.

Weston Farms has a great story, too.  Erin, the daughter of a North Carolina horticulturist, was living in New York, believing she was about to land her dream job as a gardening editor with Martha Stewart.  But the position was unexpectedly frozen which led Erin back to the family farm in Wake County where an inborn creativity and a love for growing things led her into this very unique niche. Continue reading ›

Acanthus Bed from Amy Howard Collection

By Trish Holder

Don’t ever underestimate the South – not when it comes to artists, musical or otherwise. The South it seems never runs dry of creative talent. That is certainly true of Amy Howard, the Memphis-based designer of this lovely “Acanthus Bed,” one of the best selling items in the Amy Howard Collection and the Greenspiration Home American Made Pick-of-the-Week.

We think the bed looks outstanding in this antique black “Toscana” finish with gold accents, which, like all of Amy Howard’s Toscana paint finishes, is of “food grade quality.” Don’t eat it though – sleep in it, and when you’re not doing that, show it off to your friends. All you need is 4-6 weeks lead-time and this exquisite bed could be making a 17th century Renaissance statement in your home. Continue reading ›

Hydrangeas made of sea shells

By Trish Holder

Artisanal spirit is something we truly celebrate at Greenspiration Home.  Fireworks explode when we find that spirit in products crafted by American artisans using American resources.  The Shellatier^TM Collection from Karen Robertson has all that and more.  This line home accessories and art is made entirely of shells, most of which come from the eastern seaboard of the United States.

It Really IS Made of Shells

Now, we admit, shell art is not new, nor is it typically very exciting.  But imagine delicately handcrafted flora that looks so real you practically have to touch it before you realize it is made of shells.  And even then you’re not quite ready to believe.  That’s exactly how I felt staring at the succulents, hydrangeas, and other replicas in this collection. Continue reading ›

Driftwood Lamp from Lowcountry Originals

By Trish Holder

“The only difference between us and the animals is our ability to accessorize.”

Olympia Dukakis – From the film “Steel Magnolias”

Ms. Dukakis may have had a point, but the fact is if you are trying to accessorize your home with American made products, it’s not as simple as it may sound.  Inexpensive (cheap?) imports make it all too tempting to fill our homes with baubles that give us instant gratification (until it breaks) at the expense of our own economy.

That’s the first reason we chose Lowcountry Originals and this gorgeous driftwood lamp for our American Made “Pick-of-the-Week.”  Not only does the lamp have style and originality, it is totally American made.  Even the driftwood was plucked from a low country shore.  The second reason we like this company so much is their answer to our question, “What do you do to stay competitive with Asian imports?” Continue reading ›