Changespotting: Recycle your way to a better life

This Missouri house is constructed from repurposed shipping containers. Photo / Flickr, homecontained

If you aspire to building your own home, but want to save money on materials, it could be worth taking a cue from Mattel industrial designer Debbie Glassberg. Using five former shipping containers, Glassberg has built an open-plan, modern home with vintage pieces adorning the interior.

How the mighty have fallen; these once glorious trees have been saved from a joyless fate and resurrected as rustic and bold furniture pieces. A Russian woodworker is converting trees that have fallen naturally into unique design statements that showcase the idiosyncrasies of the wood in the resulting chairs - and he makes rocking horses, too!

Collaborative consumption is just another set of buzz words for a simple new trend which can make a huge difference to your budget and the planet. Essentially, it's about swapping; swap parties for clothes have started popping up all over the place. Here's Inhabitat's top 10 collaborative consumption websites which take advantage of the geographical flexibility of the web.