Make Good Places
Welcome to the Make Good Places community. I'm so glad you're here. Whether you're a renter, a homebuyer, a homeowner, a parent, or a professional interior designer, Make Good Places is here to provide you with the resources and support you need to create intentional spaces that nurture well-being, minimize the impact of your home on the environment, and foster sustainable living.
The Make Good Places subscription is comprised of four complementary components:
- The Guidelines: actionable design strategies grounded in scientific research that you can implement to foster well-being and environmental action.
- The Library: a network of vintage vendors and sustainable products that help you shop locally, sustainably, ethically, and with your health in mind.
- The Writing: free articles about sustainable living, ethical consumption, and healthy interior design.
- Consulting: personalized design strategy and product recommendations based on your unique needs for when DIY isn't enough.
Make Good Places offers independent and transparent research and recommendations. It is not affiliated with any of the products or companies included in The Library, nor does Make Good Places ever participate in any sponsorships or paid advertisements.
Why a subscription model? Because Make Good Places evolves with the changing landscape of sustainable design. The Library is a dynamic, living database that meets the market where it's at. Vintage vendors and sustainable products are added as new companies emerge and, conversely, removed as businesses close and sustainability standards improve.
While The Guidelines are updated less frequently than The Library, they change over time to reflect our increasingly advanced understanding of what it means to live well and within our planetary boundaries.
Here's a comprehensive guide to using The Library and The Guidelines tools so that you can get the most out of your subscription.
The Guidelines
The Guidelines focus on actionable ways of improving your quality of life and the health of your home through interior design, even if you're not in the midst of purchasing, building, or renovating a space.
Generally, The Guidelines are room-specific, and there are seven "rooms" included in The Guidelines:
- Bedroom
- Clean Home
- Kitchen
- Living Room
- Office
- Outdoor
- Refuge
The two exceptions to this are the Refuge and Clean Home guidelines. Clean Home takes a holistic, non-toxic, and whole-home approach to maintaining a clean space, which is critical for human health. The strategies in the Refuge guidelines are not specific to a particular type of room, and they can be implemented in many different spaces within your home. The Refuge guidelines are based on a concept in biophilic design in which humans have positive responses to spaces that offer protection overhead and behind, especially when paired with longer-distance views outward. Throughout evolution, protection overhead and behind us, as well as views outward, promised safety and ensured survival; those same biochemical responses remain coded in our DNA, even today.
Click on any room to see each set of design guidelines.
Each page will start with clear goals for the space in question, followed by the guidelines. Not every guideline will apply to every home, but these design strategies are typically more impactful when multiple design strategies are implemented together.
Click on each icon to read a brief explanation of each guideline.
Each page, or room, of guidelines will have anywhere from 7-10 different design strategies. You can find suitable products to implement these guidelines in The Library.
The Library
Whether you're focused on implementing The Guidelines or just searching for something in particular, The Library is designed to help you make a safer, healthier, and more sustainable choice.
The introduction to The Library explains the basics of sustainable consumption and the sustainability and/or human health standards for different categories of products.
Click on each box to read more about each type of product.
The Library is searchable by product category (left) and location (right). Generally, the location function can be filtered by state. Some products have broader locations, including Canada, Mexico, India, Europe, or Global. The category search bar on the left consists of 7 categories, each with its own subcategories (listed below).
The location function is beneficial when shopping for vintage items since these companies often offer free local pick-up/delivery and in-store shopping, and shipping can be more complex and costly for vintage goods.
Categories
- Vintage
- Architectural Salvage
- Furniture & Decor
- Lighting
- Rugs
- Furniture
- Accessory Tables
- Beds
- Benches & Stools
- Chairs & Ottomans
- Coffee Tables
- Dining Chairs
- Dining Tables
- Kids Design
- Office
- Outdoor
- Sofas & Sectionals
- Storage & Shelving
- Finishes and Flooring
- Flooring
- Kids Design
- Paint
- Rugs
- Tile
- Wall Hanging
- Wallcovering
- Lighting
- Ceiling
- Circadian
- Floor
- Outdoor
- Table
- Task
- Wall
- Textiles
- Fabric By The Yard
- Responsibly Ownership
- Deconstruction
- Donate
- Repair
- Resell
- Accessories
- Air Purifiers & Monitors
- Bedding & Throws
- Cleaning
- Composting
- Decorative Pillows & Cushions
- Exercise
- Greenery
- Growing
- Kitchen & Table Accessories
- Mattresses & Bed Pillows
- Outdoor
- Pet
- Candles & Diffusers
- Clotheslines & Drying Racks
- Entry Mats
- Water Filter
- Laundry Filter
- Zero Waste Stores
The Library will evolve over time, with new vendors being added monthly and old vendors being removed as companies close or sustainability standards improve.
Concluding Thoughts
Make Good Places is an invitation to buy fewer but higher quality and more meaningful things, to treasure and care for what you already own, to live slowly but more thoughtfully, to embrace our role as stewards of the living world, and to make one good choice at a time.
You can always reach me via email if you have additional questions about The Make Good Places resources: deedeebirch2@gmail.com