Eco-friendly ways to decorate your home

When it comes to renovating a room or giving the whole house a makeover there are some steps you can take to ensure that it doesn’t have as big an impact on the environment as it could. Whether you choose to move forward with all these steps or just a few, you will reduce your carbon footprint and have a greener and more environmentally friendly place to live.

Firstly, think hard about whether you actually need to redecorate. There are so many ways you can spruce up a room without repainting or papering the walls. Here are just a few:

Rearrange the furniture.

This is as straightforward as it sounds; simply moving things around can make the space feel like a whole new room. Mixing things up and swapping locations of furniture can often make a lot more sense as well. Often when people move, they place their furniture with not much thought as they could, as they just want to get the unpacking out of the way.

Decorate those walls.

If your walls are looking a little tired or bare, why not jazz them up with some photos, art or wall stickers. By creating new focal point that draws the eye, it will help your room to appear as good as new with minimal effort.

Upcycle your furniture.

The same furnishings can grow a bit boring day in and day out. If you’re thinking of replacing, think about upcycling them instead. This alternative is not only cheaper but also more green as nothing is replacing it. No new trees need to be felled and nothing will have to be transported, transported or manufactured making reusing a lot more environmentally friendly.

There are some great upcycling ideas on Pinterest, or if you’re not feeling too creative, a simple lick of paint on a table or cupboard could make a world of difference. If you want something completely new, consider taking a trip to a thrift store and investing in something used but still great.

If an entire makeover is really what the room requires, then here are some things to bear in mind to ensure you do it the green way.

Paint

Make sure your paint is eco-friendly. Conventional paints contain formaldehyde, heavy metals and chemicals known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are emitted while paintingand for up to five years after brushes have dried. These compounds are harmful to the environment, as they react with the oxygen and form ‘bad’ ozone in the presence of sunlight.

Prolonged or high exposure to paint and paint fumes are known to cause headaches, trigger allergies and asthma and irritate eyes and airways. In fact, who have regular exposure to paint are likely to have a 20-40% increased risk of lung cancer.

Eco friendly paints are now widely available at similar prices to regular paints but are better for your own health and the environment’s. So if you’re thinking of repainting, the choose this.

Wallpaper

Make sure that the paper you choose for your home is free from chemicals, recycled if possible and is applied using eco-friendly paste. Look out for papers with water based paints and prints on cotton based fabric rather than PVC.

If you can, consider creating a feature wall so that minimal paper needs to be used in the room as you’re covering one wall instead of four.

Remember, every little positive thing that you do for the environment will help.