- Gaiam Organic Home: luxury linens that are all organic. Their main page has really amazing home goods (a little washing machine for clothes! fabulous!). They also offer gift registries (I’ve gone crazy with mine password:alexthegirl).

- Lifekind: the best organic beds around. These have been highly recommended from all over. Not only do they customise a bed, but they offer a 30 day exchange and a 20 year warrenty.

- AFM Safecoat: Safe paint

- White Lotus: organic futons and frames. I’ve never liked futons but after seeing some of these frames, I’m reconsidering.

- Vivaterra: wonderful home goods from spa to kitchen (beautiful recycled glass glass. I’m eyeing the contour dinnerwear).

As mentioned, I’m starting small, one room at a time, with going organic. It’s an investment and I don’t want to be overwhelmed with doing everything, so here I start.

My goal is to get an organic wool or rubber mattress, wooden slat bedframe (I currently have one, but it’s rather crap after 5 years of good use. Time for new!), cotton sheets, wool duvet, new pillows, organic rug and depending how the new flat goes, some organic paint for the walls.

The next step will be the lounge (a couch, a table), kitchen/work space (table, chairs, rugs) and that’s as far as I’m going with the exception of new linens (towels, bedding). I’m not going to do everything organic (for instance, I don’t care so much where my cookwear comes from as long as it’s stainless and affordable. Plates? Don’t care as I like to mix and match older styles and other bits will come from whereever).

Because I live simply, don’t like clutter or things, and because I’m selling off every bit of furniture I currently have, I can really start new. New without going crazy. It’s interesting and I have to say, rather exciting.

So while I poured over the magazine last night before bed, I started to think about what it’d be like to once again have a cosy space with fresh air coming through a window, a duvet that is light yet warm and sheets that are the softest things I’ve ever felt. And when I thought about it like that, the cost, the effort, and the learning curve didn’t seem to be such an issue.

Quality over quantity. Health over convience. Totally.

(PS: I’ve been overloaded with rec’s for organic living and I’d kindly ask if you have one to make, to please hold off. As mentioned, I know how to do the organic living as far as food, health, home care. I’m now going for the bedroom and furniture and that I’ve got under control at the moment. Thanks!)

It’s no secret that I am a huge believer in organic products; I buy all of my food from Whole Foods and do not eat meat with antibiotics, diary that uses hormones and other foods that have lots of chemicals in them.

When cleaning my home, I use organic products – no Lysol, bleach or Mr. Clean. I am a firm believer that inhaling these chemicals is bad for you and the environment. Who wants to spray their kitchen counter with chemicals then plop some food on it? Not I. My skin is sensitive enough without having to worry about what my washing up liquid is doing.

I’m no hippy or new age girl but a believer in good, clean, preventive health. The extra cost for natural products is worth it to me; I’ve saved so much in healthcare and just feel so much better. In fact, in the three years Chris and I have lived this way we’ve had neither colds, headaches or any other typical ailments (my hospital stay had to do with genetics).

But food and cleaning materials is all I’ve done thus far. I’ve never really thought much about other things such as furniture, linens, paint, and where things were made. And I thought, if I’m eating and cleaning well, paying attention to those labels, why stop there?

One of the areas of health that has eluded us is sleep. After several moves in a couple of years our once nice bed has become broken. The room we’re in now isn’t the healthiest nor the nicest and our bedding has begun to suck. Chris has sleep issues which cause me sleep issues and in desperation, I picked up a wonderful book for information on how to create a better bedroom. It gave me ideas not just about the bedroom, but also how to make my home a little more healthy.

We’ve both realised that without sleep, everything suffers and we had already vowed that our number one priority in the new flat was to invest in an excellent bed with a fabulous duvet, linens, frame and paint. This book helped me to realise that I want a natural wood frame, a great mattress, organic cotton and linen sheets and milk paint for the walls instead of regular latex (when I painted the walls in my last bedroom, the paint smell kept us up for weeks).

I’ve been surfing through one of my favourite companies, Gaiam, and have found natural bedding from mattress, recycled wood frames, pillows, duvets and sheets. I’m going organic.

Sometimes people do not see the value of things, just the cost. Why spend so much on a bed when you can get it all for $5 at Wallmart? First, for my health and second for the environment. I want to do my part so that buying organic is normal, healthy living is normal instead of it being some crazy persons’ kick.

It’s my goal over the next several months (December through March) to chronicle the creation of a home, from scratch, in a healthy, organic, pretty way. I’ll try to share purchases (like another great book on healthy home living from Jane Alexander), information and ideas because generally when I’ve looked for this information, it’s always been by people with lots of money and way out there ideas (I’m not into crystals, hanging symbols all over or chanting). I want to show it in a more real way, for every day.

Link One: Lifekind for wool and rubber mattresses and bed frames.