What's new

This is sustainable gardening with class.

TerraCycle Inc. is recycling Kendall-Jackson wine barrels into composters and rain barrels. The oak barrels are clean and safe for outdoor household use, the winemaker says.

The rotary composter holds grass clippings, leaves and other yard waste while they decompose into nutrient-rich compost. A roller system makes it easy to load and rotate the barrel, speeding up the composting process.

The TerraCycle rain barrel captures roof runoff from a downspout for use in the garden.

Each product has a suggested retail price of $99. They're sold at some Sam's Clubs and some garden centers.

On the shelf

Eco-friendly housing used to be thought of as expensive, ugly or just plain weird. Now it's becoming common.

David Johnston and Scott Gibson offer guidance on environmentally sensitive home building in "Green from the Ground Up: Sustainable, Healthy, and Energy-Efficient Home Construction."

The book helps builders and homeowners create houses that conserve natural resources and are energy-efficient and healthful. It's packed with information, tips, illustrations and case studies that offer wisdom earned from experience.

"Green from the Ground Up" is published by the Taunton Press and sells for $24.95 in paperback.

Shower safety

Q: I saw a news report that warned that plastic shower curtain liners are very toxic and people should avoid them, especially the really cheap ones. They certainly do retain that smell for a few weeks. Is there another product that can be used?

A: You're referring to a study of shower curtains made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), released earlier this month by the Center for Health, Environment & Justice. It tested curtains sold at five big-box retailers and called on the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban their sale because of the gases they emit. The commission disputes the severity of the problem.

Nevertheless, many people are trying to limit vinyl in their homes. A waterproof alternative to a vinyl shower liner is nylon. Bed Bath & Beyond and Restoration Hardware are among retailers that carry nylon liners, but I'd call the store first to make sure they're stocked where you shop. A quick Google search for "nylon shower curtain" turned up several online retailers.

On the Web

If home listings are all you're looking for, you won't be disappointed by Propsmart.com.

The independent real-estate search engine compounds more than a million property listings from online sources and private sellers and makes them searchable with a Google Map-based visual interface. Listings in the top 25 U.S. metropolitan areas are indexed.

The site has an online community of buyers, sellers and service providers that share their information, which gives them more exposure and increases traffic to the site.

Want an update of new listings? Sign up to receive RSS feeds.

Book report

When it comes to home-design solutions, you can probably learn more from the success stories of ordinary people than from the rich and famous.

That's the idea behind "Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Real Design Solutions" (Chronicle Books; $27.50; hardcover) by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan with Jill Slater and Janel Laban.

Illustrated with more than 400 photos, the book features 40 homes, all decorated by real people living from Brooklyn to San Diego to Miami.

Each chapter includes an introduction of the home dweller and overview of the home; home profile with floor plans; detailed resource lists; and "how I did it" explanations from the subjects.

-- McClatchy Newspapers