6 Tips for Eco-Friendly Home Decorating

We are living in times where it is increasingly important to mind the way our lifestyles affect our planet. It is, however, a topic that may be difficult even for adults to wrap their minds around. Therefore, it is imperative that we teach our children early about the importance of conservation of the ecosystem.

Children learn best by doing. When they are young, they learn even better by observing their surroundings at home and at school. Small changes to our daily lives can make significant and lasting impressions. Let us take a look at some minor things that we can change in our home décor to create a charming space in an “eco-friendly” way.

1. Make use of Mother Nature

Depending on the surroundings of your home, you can think of various ways to make use of mother nature to help you modify your home décor and help conserve energy at the same time. Consider replacing heavy drapes with sheer curtains to help you get more light later into the day.

Image from Ultimate Home Ideas

Try to minimize the usage of air conditioning. It may be a good idea to invest in a few ceiling fans matching the décor of your rooms. They use less energy than your air conditioner, and by facilitating a little cross ventilation across your home, you will be surprised with the cooling results. Besides, the perfect ceiling fan for your room can also help you spruce up its look. This Victorian ceiling fan works wonderfully with this living room:

Image from Zillow

2. Have an outdoor kitchen

It is becoming increasingly popular these days to have an outdoor kitchen. While many people may do it to enjoy the advantages of socializing and entertaining on holidays, there are several underlying energy benefits from cooking outside. Tell your children about how your air conditioner isn’t having to work overtime to cool the house from all the grilling heat, as you treat them to barbecued chicken on your patio on a Friday night.

Image from House Beautiful

3. Create ‘innovative’ interior décor

We love this “grocery store décor” idea: use the colors and shapes of fruits and vegetables to accentuate your dining table or coffee table décor. It can encourage your kids to help you get your design inspiration from the produce aisle the next time you go grocery shopping! Imagine the possibilities with dragon fruit, lychee, purple and green grapes, and those multi-colored organic cauliflowers that you can pick up at Sprouts!

Image from Honestly

4. Recycle!

There are many fun ‘recycle projects’ that you can engage in with your children to create eco-friendly home décor ideas. Don’t just stow away the ladder in your garage. Use it as a magazine rack!

Image from Honestly

Use an old colorful scarf or saree to brighten up a corner in your living room. See how a colorful saree underneath the ottoman adds a sparkle to the seating area.

Image from HGTV

You can create very cool DIY fountains for your patio from recycled material. Check out this beautiful water wall built from a recycled glass table top.

Image from Central Texas Gardener

5. Energy-friendly lighting

It is incredible what a massive reduction we can make to our carbon footprint simply by replacing the lights in our home with LED bulbs. Compared to an incandescent bulb, an LED bulb lasts 12 years longer on average, and each bulb can save us over $260 every 50k hours of use. How many incandescent bulbs do you currently use in your home? What are your potential savings from making the switch to LED? Do the Math with your children, teaching them in the process.

6. Use indoor plants

It has been studied that indoor plants clean the air inside our living spaces, which can lead to health benefits. You can spend some time with your children researching at your local nursery about the best indoor plants to share your home with. Here is our pick from the Internet to get you started.

https://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/garden/7-plants-purify-indoor-air

https://www.cocoweb.com/blog/5-indoor-plants-we-love/

With these tips and a little thinking outside the box, you can revamp our space to support a brighter future. Go green and happy redecorating!