a bit of green

We can almost see you sitting in your house, wondering how to make it more environmentally friendly. Going green will be good both for you and the environment, since you’ll get a healthier life style and long term savings while taking a little step in helping our planet. Supposing you’re not building your house from the ground up, you probably want to improve a house that’s already done: what you need is green interior design methods. Since green products are getting more mainstream attention lately, they have also become a lot cheaper. It is fairly easy and not very expensive to do some green remodeling to your home’s interior to improve its greenness. We will talk a little bit about little changes here, along with some major changes which require a bit more effort and money but they are really worth your while.

Major Changes

If you’re willing to do some major changes to your home, you could consider changing your house flooring and repainting your walls. This will, of course, require resources, money and time (unless you’re outsourcing your painting) as it is a rather radical change. Here are some quick tips in case you decide to pursue this green interior design road.

Flooring

Reconsider the type of flooring you currently have. Carpets are often treated with toxic chemicals to repel soil and moisture; also, installing a new chemically treated carpet can fill the air with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), like formaldehyde and benzene, associated with respiratory, allergic or immune effects. These chemicals can be emitted from your carpets for as long as 5 years. What you can do: Replace your chemically treated floor carpets or linoleum floors with sustainable carpets and rugs. Look for carpets made from natural fibers with no chemical treatment. If you want a low-budget solution, you could consider applying a nontoxic green carpet finish like SafeChoice Carpet Seal on your current carpet, which prevents outgassing chemicals for up to five cleanings or one year. You can also consider replacing your floor carpet with a wooden or bamboo floor, as long as these are treated with non-toxic, eco friendly products.

Painting

Conventional interior paint, just like chemically treated carpets, contains volatile organic compounds that spread as soon as you open the can and start painting. That dizzy feeling you get when you enter a room that’s been recently painted? It’s probably the VOCs. Green remodeling approach: Most paint manufacturers are producing interior painting that is less toxic than the ones used in the past. Even among so called ‘eco’ or ‘natural’ paints, the description isn’t that clear. Some of the paints use synthetic, petrochemical-based ingredients, just in lower amounts than usual; some others are made with natural solvents, which still contain VOCs. In general, plant based, water-borne paints like wall paint satin from Bioshield are the best -and safest- choice. In order to make your rooms look brighter you should choose light colors. This will save you some energy by not needing to turn on the lights in the mornings and late afternoons.

Minor Changes

These smaller changes require less planning and money than the major changes addressed above. They provide easy solutions to some green interior design problems you might not even be aware of.

Ventilation

Try not to block the breezes naturally occurring in your home. Let the fresh air from outside replace the carbon dioxide and toxin rich air inside your home. Use ceiling fans to enhance air recycling instead of isolating and drying the air with power hungry air conditioners.

Use eco friendly products

Find and use eco friendly and non-toxic glues, finishes, cleaners, polishers, etc. This will not only make what you throw down your drain after having cleaned up a lot less toxic, but it will also help keep the air inside your home a lot cleaner as the usual versions of these products tend to release loads of toxic fumes. Don’t restrain yourself to cleaning and household products, try to choose green products for all your tasks. Always choose products which use the least possible packaging material and always make sure that the products you choose are certified by some trustworthy organization.

Lighting and appliances

One of the most common green interior design practices when it comes to lighting is replacing all your light bulbs with energy efficient LED lights. The initial cost will soon be turned into savings due to the reduced electricity bills. You can move in the same general green remodeling direction by replacing your old electrical appliances with newer, energy efficient ones. In this case the initial overhead in terms of money is a bit larger, but it is guaranteed to pay out in the long run, especially if you replace really old devices with new A-rated energy efficient appliances.

Furniture

When it comes to furniture, bamboo is the king of green interior design materials. It’s very sturdy and cheap, and can be regrown very easily in special plantations, so by using it the effect on the environment is minimal to zero. Before buying bamboo furniture, you should make sure that has not been treated with toxic finishes, polishes and paint. Another good choice is furniture made from recycled metal. Metal, along with some other materials such as glass, retains its quality even when it is recycled. Recycled glass should also be at the top of your list when choosing furniture or decorative stuff. Try to pick furniture which is of good quality so it will have a longer life cycle. If you absolutely must buy something wooden, you can find furniture which is made from local wood, saving the energy needed to transfer wood from remote locations.

Use plants

Not only do they look pretty, but many of them are exceptionally good at clearing toxins from the air. Some of the best air cleaning plants are English Ivy (Hedera helix), Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum), Devil’s ivy (Epipremnum aureum) and Peace lily (Spathiphyllum ‘Mauna Loa’). For a fuller list check out this post at treehugger.com.

Conclusion

We hope you got some useful ideas for your green interior design campaign from reading this post. Now you should go out and start applying them. You’ll see that your life quality will be increased and that you will definitely save money in the long run. You just have to be a little bit patient and wait for all the benefits to kick in after a while. Enjoy!

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