The Geffrye museum is London’s ‘museum of the interior’ and features mocked up living rooms from houses picked from different eras over the last 400 years. Right now they also have a really well thought out exhibition on Eco homes running in the basement. It’s not huge, but it has been cleverly designed by eco designer Oliver Heath, and showcases all kinds of household gadgets and furniture which are pioneering ways to save electricity, gas and water around the home. There is also a plethora of information about recycled materials and products which will come in handy whether you are re-carpeting a room or buying a new rubber mat for the bathroom.
I was particularly intrigued by the section on toilets. Little did I realise that you can flush a toilet just by pouring water into the bowl. The water already in the bowl then flows into the ’siphon tube’, and the resulting suction drains it all away into the sewer. Brilliant. Consequently, as one of the beautifully printed exhibition boards told me, you can collect the water from your shower during the time it takes to heat up in the morning and use it to flush your toilet. All seems a bit organised to me, but I’ll give it a whirl.
They also have this amazing integrated toilet and sink, which drains the ‘grey water’ from washing your hands, brushing your teeth etc… directly into the cistern, so that every time you flush you’re already recycling the water. This is truly inspired, and also very useful if your bathroom is absolutely tiny, as ours is.
The free Eco Home exhibition runs until 7th Feb 2010, Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday and Bank Holiday Mons 12noon – 5pm. Talks, workshops and debates are also running on the theme of Eco homes throughout.
It’s 5.07am, and I’m sitting, bleary-eyed at my desk, preparing to start another day at work.

Notes on green living from the country kitchen of a first-floor flat in London, UK.