Decorate Your Home In A More Environmentally Friendly Way
Want to decorate your home and make it a pleasant and functional space for you and your family to live? Want to do all this without contributing to global warming and ecological disaster? It can be done. Just read on to find out how in our clever, eco-friendly decorating guide below.
Use eco paints.
First of all, if you want to decorate your home in an environmentally friendly way, you will need to choose eco paints. Eco paints are house paints that do not contain VOC or volatile organic compounds. Volatile organic compounds are chemicals that are released into the atmosphere they are used in at room temperature, and they can be very bad both for the Environment and your home environment too.
The good news is that there are some paints on the market now that are being especially crafted without VOCS. Such paints will have labels like ‘low VOC, zero VOC, or no VOC’ on them. Although if you are unsure, ask the assistant at your local hardware store to help.
Upcycle old items instead of buying new.
Decorating your home often means buying new furniture items. However, buying new items can result in a lot of pollution and energy usage, which can further damage the environment. There are other options to consider instead of buying brand new furniture items, though.
The first of these is to upcycle old items, making them into the pieces you need. Yes, you will need some basic DIY skills for this and some specialist equipment like a woodworking jointer which can help you reclaim even warped wood for your project. However, the little extra effort needed is well worth it when the result is a custom piece you have handmade, and that is good for the environment.
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The other option is to invest in furniture pieces that are already made and have been owned by someone else. These are usually referred to as preloved or secondhand pieces, and they are much better for the environment because no new resources need to be used up, and no new pollution is created as they are already made. The great thing about preloved pieces is that you can get items in fantastic condition that still look new for a fraction of their original cost. This means you can not only make sure that you do your bit for the environment by buying preloved, but that you get the most bang for your buck as well.
Choose LED lighting.
Another smart way to make your home more eco-friendly as you decorate is to replace old traditional style light bulbs with LED ones. LED bulbs run much less hot that traditional bulbs which means they waste a great deal less energy as they are used.
You can even get special LED bulbs where you can change the brightness and colours of the lights in your home with ease. This can contribute to a more pleasant and functional living space as you won’t have to install dimmer switches but just use the app that these lights come with on your smartphone instead.
