Estimates vary as to how many microbreweries dot the Greater St. Louis region. Some go as high as 50, with more springing up all the time. That doesn’t count the number of home brewers, who painstakingly create masterful beer in their basements using endless variations of the standard grain, yeast, water and hops.

Full disclosure: I don’t have children and I don’t have cats, but man oh man do I have some plants. They’ve been purchased at nurseries and farmer’s markets with my equally plant-obsessed father, brought in from alleyway trashcans and given by friends moving away. They’ve been major investments—a foot-tall Saguaro cactus—and they’ve been grocery store buys after long weeks at work. I’m a plant lover, in part, because they make every room in my home appear more intentional. But mostly, I’m a plant lover because plants make me happy.

The old adage that life imitates art could not be truer than in this transitional, casual family room. Found by the husband, the Alex Katz painting hanging above the mantel struck his eye because “it’s an amalgamation of our four daughters who were all blonde tow heads as children.” The meaningfulness of the painting coupled with its color palette launched a total redesign of the space with designers Kim Taylor West and Leah Jarrell of K. Taylor Design Group.

You spend a large amount of your day snoozing away in bed, so why not make your haven healthy in 

addition to comfortable? Eco-friendly bedding made from organic materials is not only good for you, but for the environment, too!

1. Organic mosaic tile duvet and shams, available at West Elm.

2. Organic diamond stripe sheet set, available at West Elm.

3. Adele coverlet and deluxe shams in mineral, by Bella Notte, available at Amelia’s.

Urban Harvest, St. Louis, MO
Photography by Urban Harvest STL
Urban Harvest STL is inspiring communities to develop access to healthy, sustainably grown food to enhance biodiversity in cities. Their site includes the FOOD ROOF Farm, the first rooftop farm in St. Louis, that models sustainable building, storm water management, community development and urban agriculture. Elements of the roof include a shaded community hub space, state-of-the-art greenhouse, chicken house, living wall and hydroponic towers.

For our May Earth issue, we asked local design professionals if bamboo materials in the house are a classic or a craze. Here is what they had to say.