Goals at Home: 8 Easy Ways to Make Your Home Eco-Friendly
To achieve your health goals at home, check out these easy ways to make your home eco-friendly! These tips for an organic lifestyle are from Debbie Wiener, interior designer and author of Slob Proof! Real-Life Design Solutions.
“If you suffer from seasonal mood disorders including stress, anxiety or depression, bring full spectrum light fixtures and light bulbs into your home,” says Wiener.
And below she explains how easy it is! For more info about her book, click on Slob Proof! And, read on to achieve your goals at home and learn easy ways to make your home eco-friendly. Plus, these eco-friendly tips also lessen the effects of seasonal effective disorder and stress….
Goals at Home: 8 Easy Ways to Make Your Home Eco-Friendly
1. When painting, use specially formulated paints for low odor and low VOC (volatile organic compounds-the stuff EPA regulates to control air pollution) emission. These paints are available in latex flat, eggshell and semi-gloss finishes-so they’re also easy to apply and clean up. To make your home eco-friendly and achieve your healthy home goals, consider Benjamin Moore’s “Pristine EcoSpec” interior paints.
2. Limit household dust and improve indoor air quality by factoring in a sleek, new air purifier to your decorating budget. According to the EPA, indoor air quality is the worst environmental problem in the country-responsible for more respiratory problems than any other source. New air purifiers are made to blend in with your décor, run quietly and cost just pennies to operate a month. Beside the health benefits, a dust and odor free home will extend the life of your fabrics and soft furnishings. To make your home eco-friendly and achieve your healthy home goals, remember the importance of your air quality!
3. Soft Roman-fold shades made from inexpensive natural duck cloth (a heavy weight cotton), linen or woven reeds and grasses look good on windows and many styles provide ample light control and privacy. To make your home eco-friendly and achieve your healthy home goals, clean these natural window drapes with a vacuum attachment.
4. Be green - literally - with foliage and flower arrangements. They’re an economical way to add vibrant color, interest and texture to room décop. Choose plants and flowers with low allergy potential such as ivy, ferns, snap dragons, viola tricolour, pansies, impatiens, lobelia, petunia, periwinkle, alyssum, begonia, clematis, columbine, crocus, daffodil, daisy, dusty miller, geranium, hosta, iris, lily, narcissus, phlox, rose, salvia, sunflower, tulip, verbena and zinnia. An empty corner or table top filled with plants and flowers in decorative pots and baskets is not only pleasing to the eye, but provides an extra ration of beneficial oxygen.
5. Removing street shoes at the door keeps the petrochemicals in street tar and resurfacing materials from moving through your home. Purchase a large decorative basket with a washable cloth liner or purchase a wooden shoe tray to leave at the door and hold shoes. To make your home eco-friendly and achieve your healthy home goals, make sure your floors are “healthier”. Plus, they’ll last longer and look better!
6. Maximize storage space and increase the value of your home by installing cedar shelving in your closets. You’ll not only protect your wardrobe, but you’ll also eliminate the need for foul smelling, chemical laden mothballs. To make your home eco-friendly and achieve your healthy home goals, use these basic decluttering tips.
7. Light can drastically impact your mood and your health. If you suffer from seasonal mood disorders including stress, anxiety or depression, bring full spectrum light fixtures and light bulbs into your home. You’ll reduce fatigue and irritability because full spectrum light reduces levels of cortisol, the stress hormone secreted naturally in our bodies. Along with many other documented health benefits, full spectrum light slows the aging of eye retinas and promotes a feeling of well being. This is because, unlike conventional fluorescent and incandescent lighting, full spectrum light is like natural daylight-it has the same wavelengths of color, and in the same proportions, as a naturally occurring rainbow. Most indoor lighting is yellow/orange, from the narrowest part of the light spectrum. In addition, you should look for opportunities to maximize your exposure to natural light. Try moving a work area or breakfast table in front of a window to benefit from the natural light coming through.
8. Placing unscented pillar candles of varying heights on fireplace grates looks great in a woodburning fireplace that you don’t use. They create a warm and inviting atmosphere when lit. Today’s gas and electric fireplace inserts are also wonderful, clean burning alternatives- without the smoke and smell that wood fires generate- and can be outfitted in almost any conventional fireplace.
Debbie Wiener is an interior designer and the author of “Slob Proof! Real-Life Design Solutions” (October 2008, Penguin / Alpha Books). Her firm Designing Solutions is based in Silver Springs, Maryland, and she is a frequent guest on Martha Stewart Radio.
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