Are you transitioning to a green, eco-friendly home but don’t know where to start? From choosing the right building materials and insulation to decorating the home to environmentally-friendly standards, it can easily get overwhelming.
Hosting a succulent party is one of the easiest ways to add more greenery to your home. Invite your friends and family and have everyone bring a succulent plant or cutting to exchange. Not only will you end up with a variety of new plants, but you’ll also enjoy spending time with your loved ones. And best of all, succulents are very easy to care for, so even beginners can successfully grow them. So if you’re looking for a fun and easy way to add more greenery to your home, consider hosting a succulent party.
Even the curtains you choose can help make your home more eco-friendly by helping retain the heat in the winter and preventing the cold to escape in the summer.
Keep reading to discover 7 simple ways to spruce up your green home and make it even more beautiful and eco-friendly.
Table of Contents
1-) Add More Greenery To Your Home
Plants and flowers can make any space come to life and are the foundation of any interior decorating plan. Whether you love big plants like Monstera deliciosa or flower bouquets in a vase, plants are not only great for your home’s air quality but also for your mood.
Some of the best eco-friendly plants to consider for your green home include:
- Aloe Vera
- Succulents and Cacti
- Rubber Plant
- Peace Lily
- Snake Plant
- Chrysanthemums
- Chinese Evergreen
- Gerbera Daisy
Note that some of these plants might be toxic to pets, so make sure you’re careful when your pets are around them. You can also opt for pet-friendly houseplants such as Calathea Orbifolia, Ponytail Palm, African Violet, Bird’s Nest Fern, and Boston Fern.
2-) Choose the Right Candles
Scented candles are an affordable way to keep your home smelling nice and create a cozy atmosphere, but not all of them are good for green homes.
While burning, regular commercial candles release fumes that can be harmful to your health and pets. They contain chemicals, artificial scents, artificial colors, and other substances that can easily enter your lungs and cause health problems.
If you want to keep your home eco-friendly and protect your health, when buying candles, opt for non-toxic ingredients like natural soy wax, beeswax, tallow, and organic coconut wax. This way, you can rest assured your home smells lovely and you’re not inhaling any toxic chemicals.
3-) Opt for More Natural Furniture
The basis of every environmentally sustainable home is the furniture, especially things that you use every day like sofas, chairs, tables, and cabinets. Natural sustainable materials like wood, bamboo, rattan, and seagrass. You can also choose natural furniture fabrics like hemp, linen, bamboo fibers, organic cotton, jute, calico, and jute.
Some of the materials to avoid if you’re aiming for a fully green home include plastic, PVC, VOC paint, unsustainably sourced wood, and synthetic fibers.
4-) Install Solar Panels
Sustainable and renewable energy is a must for a green home. Solar energy will not only save you money by lowering your utility bills, but you’ll also help protect the environment by not relying on the public electricity supply system.
Before you install solar panels, make sure your roof and home are in great shape.
5-) Get Thermal Curtains
Thermal curtains are one of the best investments you can make in your green home. They can keep heat inside the room in the winter and prevent it from escaping in the summer. This feature makes them eco-friendly, but also budget-friendly because you’ll likely pay lower utility bills.
At the same time, not all thermal curtains are made of sustainable materials. In fact, you’ll find many made of synthetics and polyester. To make sure your thermal curtains are fully environmentally-friendly, opt for materials like linen, organic cotton, recycled cloths, and even hemp fibers.
You can also make your existing curtains thermal by adding a thermal layer behind the curtain. This way, you’ll still keep the look of your favorite curtains and make your home more eco-friendly in an affordable way.
6-) Use Natural Rugs
Rugs can give your sustainably built home warmth and a cozy feel, but most mass-produced carpets contain synthetic fibers, polyester, plastic, and nylon. Though these materials might be cheaper, they’re not sustainable in the long run. This is because natural materials like wool, jute, or cotton are able to absorb moisture, dust particles, and odors from the air.
As a result, they can reduce the number of allergens flying around, especially if you have pets. These materials are also less flammable than their synthetic counterparts.
At the same time, natural materials are easy to recycle if you want to change the rug in the future and offer better insulation than synthetic rugs. They’re also easy to clean and you can use eco-friendly cleaning products to keep them fresh and fluffy.
7-) Choose Eco-Friendly Paint
When choosing paint for your walls or furniture, make sure you go for low-VOC or no-VOC paint. VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds, which means harsh chemicals.
Inhaling paint fumes or even just handling paint with a high amount of VOC can be harmful to your health. It may irritate your skin and eyes, cause nausea, heavy breathing, cause headaches, damage to your pets’ health, and even cause long-term health issues.
For an eco-friendly home, the best solution is low-VOC paint or zero-VOC paint that is either water-based or milk-based. In fact, many natural, eco-friendly paint brands make their products using natural materials such as milk proteins, clay, minerals, lime, citrus, and water.
Note that some natural paint may not be suitable for painting exterior walls as weather conditions and rain can cause it to chip or erase faster. Always read the labels and consult the seller before buying eco-friendly paint to make sure it’s the right type for your needs.
Spruce up Your Green Home With These Amazing Tips
Whether you’re just starting the transition to a green home or have lived an eco-friendly lifestyle for a while, these tips will help you spruce up your home. From choosing more natural and sustainable materials to choosing eco-friendly non-toxic paint, a green home is good for your mental and physical health.
Want more home decor and home improvement tips? Head over to our blog where we share the latest trends and news from the interior design industry to help you create a home you’ll love to live in.
