R3project round-up 5: the Office

The next room in our tour around the R3project is the studio, or office. Here we were able to restore the original floor tiles as they were in a much better shape as those in the rest of the flat, where we put down a cork floor and locally produced tiles. The proudest piece of furniture in the studio is no doubt the Steelcase Think chair, a masterpiece of Cradle to Cradle design, fully recyclable and very comfortable. We constructed the desk from a big piece of plastic and trestles we salvaged from the trash after a trade fair. The built-in cupboard is made from chipboard and has a wooden Venetian blind to close it. The ceiling lamp is a variation of our Bidon Lamp, made from a used jerry can. To not loose the overview, we use strips of natural cork to pin whatever projects we are working on.

Of the smaller gadgets we like the Voltaic solar bag which we use to charge our mobile phones and other small electronic objects. Of course we only use 100% recycled paper in our printer, and go to Cartridge World to have the cartridges refilled instead of buying new ones. This saves us money and waste. The stapless stapler is also a cool thing that every eco-conscious office should have. It staples sheets of paper together without staplers; watch a video of how it works here. This eliminates the metal staples that don’t do well in the paper recycling process.

For more ideas, check out the Planet Green Guide "How to be Green at Work".

Also check out the R3project round-ups for kitchen, bedroom, living room and general installations around the apartment.

The Bidon Lamp

You have probably seen the Bidon Lamp (“bidón” meaning “barrel” or “can” in Spanish) in photos and videos of the R3project. Here is how you can make your own.

You need:

-a used translucent plastic container
-a CFL bulb
-a bulb fitting with plug
-a sharp Stanley knife

In Barcelona, you can easily find these vessels near the plastic recycling containers or unfortunately just dumped in the streets. They are normally made from HDPE (High-density polyethylene), a recyclable plastic (number 2 recycling symbol) but we prefer to reuse it as a lamp before recycling it.


First, you need to give it a thorough wash, inside and outside. We recommend you wear gloves as some may have contained toxic products, like photo-chemicals, or just cooking oil.

Then you unscrew the lid and mark the diameter of your bulb fitting on the inside of the lid. With a sharp Stanley knife cut out the circle. Then you screw the light fitting to the lid so that the cable is on the outside of it. The energy efficient light bulb is to be screwed on the inside of the lid just before you put it back on. It is important that you use a CFL light bulb because incandescent light bulbs give off too much heat and would cause a hazard with this design. Et voilà, plug in the bulb and enjoy!

Here a few different versions of the Bidon Lamp:

As a ceiling lamp:

A cut-up wall lamp:


As a seat…


The Bidon Lamp has been designed by Petz Scholtus, but is open source design, for all of you who like DIY.

Petz likes to thank Julien Gressier, her ex-flatmate when she used to live in London, who made a similar lamp back then that was used as stool or low table depending on what was needed.

Wooden Board Upon the Wall, Who is the Greenest Green of All?

After we wrote about our FSC-certified MDF shelf ‘Never Empty’, we had quite a few readers contacting us about more eco-friendly alternatives. To close of some storage space and to build more shelves in the studio, we went out hunting again for the greenest engineered wood options, the disadvantage of which is mainly the high amount of toxic resins they contain.

OSB (Oriented Strand Board), as suggested by Terra Foundation, ended up being the best material for us to build some sliding doors in order to close of a storage area on top of the bathroom (see photo). We like the visual effect of the unevenly layered flakes of wood and appreciate its strength. An environmental advantage of this board is that any kind of tree and even the smallest branches of a tree, can be shredded and used. The amount of resin in OSB is very low (less than 5%) compared to other engineered woods (up to 85% in MDF). However, we recommend you check that they don’t contain formaldehyde. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get this kind of information from your regular wood dealer. In fact, we found it almost impossible to have our order cut to size and delivered due to the small amount we needed. In the end we obtained everything at Servei Estaciò in Barcelona, who do free deliveries in the city centre and are willing to cut any given amount. The price per m2 is 26,90€ for 10mm thick boards. For more information and the technical specifications of OSB, click here.


A cheaper option is chipboard at 13,80€ / m2, which we used for the shelves in the studio (see photo). This is one of the weakest fibreboards (hence cheaper) and, unlike OSB, is not recommended for outdoors use or in moist areas like kitchens. Due to the larger pieces of wood shavings used to make chipboard, it’s not as attractive-looking as other fibreboards. You can however paint it afterwards. Most of the wood particles used to make chipboard are recycled (75% in Canada and the US) and the amount of resin used during the manufacturing is also low (between 4 and 10%). At Servei Estaciò they even assured us their chipboard didn’t contain any resin- but we don’t quite believe them…

When you are looking for boards, make sure you use formaldehyde-free chipboard and preferably made of 100% recycled or recovered wood fibres.

Real Eco Oils & Paints

After painting the walls with Lepanto paint that bares the EU eco label, two of our readers pointed out (comments in Spanish here) that even though they are labelled as such, the paint is really not that ecological. No wonder, because as we checked out the pain we discovered the paint is fossil fuel based. I guess it would have been too easy to get away with just buying an eco product in your local shop!
So, for our wood finish, we researched a little better and found the sustainable options we were looking for in Germany at the company Livos. Livos produce all-natural wood treatment products (like sealers, stains, finishes, thinners, etc.) that are based on renewable raw plant materials. All their products are harmless to humans, animals and plants which to me is proven by the fact that the oil we used, doesn’t hurt your hands at all. In fact, the oils smell so nice, you almost want to eat them. If you don’t believe me, read the ingredients of one of the products and you find things like orange oil or rhubarb roots. In fact, Livos have all the raw materials they use listed on their web site for total transparency. The products are environmentally friendly and completely recyclable. For the interior carpentry like doors and beams we used a transparent oil called Kaldet and for the outdoor balcony doors we used a chocolate-coloured (typical for Barcelona's fincas) natural gloss paint Vindo. To give you an idea about pricing, 2.5 litres of Vindo cost €76,98 but the application is really efficient and one thin coating is more than enough. For the exposed brick wall we used the transparent oil Dubno for absorbent bricks, which costs €14 for 0.75 litres.
All the oils were very easy and quick to apply and left us with a great finish and without a nasty smell in the house. In Barcelona, Livos products are available from ProyectoBio (contact Cristina Rueda +34 934516927) and other international distributors are listed online.