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It’s Easy Being Green at Home |
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ARA |
(ARA) - “It’s not easy being green,” laments Kermit the Frog. However, today it is easy being “green” at home. Interior designers can help you make your home “healthier” thanks, in part, to a new generation of home furnishings including fabrics, wallcoverings also flooring materials that are beautiful, non-toxic also “earth friendly.”
In fact, a green interior is just like any other well-designed interior space, says Victoria Schomer, ASID, owner of a design consulting business in California. It considers good functionality also pleasing aesthetics. Schomer’s business has focused on sustainable also healthful interiors since the late 1980s.
What do you need to do to make your home green also healthy? Ask for also use sustainable products during home renovations. According to the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), many environmentally responsible home furnishings also building materials are available also affordable to consumers. Availability will increase also prices will drop even further when more consumers become aware of the many benefits of these products also purchase them. You can or else work with an interior designer who specializes in sustainable design. A design professional can help you seamlessly incorporate green innovations into your home also ensure the final result meets or exceeds your expectations.
One of the first things a designer will check in determining a home’s health is its indoor air quality. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers poor air quality a top risk to human health. “At a minimum, there are key spaces in the home that should be as environmentally friendly as possible,” says Trudy Dujardin, ASID, a Connecticut-based designer also expert on sustainable design. Dujardin says because “the liver allows the body to detox during…sleep, the sleep environment needs to be as clean also pure as possible.” The addition of a room air purifier can help, as can the use of non-toxic wall also floor coverings, paints, furnishings, wood finishes also textiles, according to Dujardin.
What else can you do to green your home? Use environmentally responsible paint, textiles also wallcoverings. Manufacturers have come a long way in offering a variety of “eco-friendly” products at “consumer-friendly” prices. Ask for low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint when painting interior walls. Strides have been made in improving low VOC paint, which today is as easy to use also as high in quality as latex paint, says Ed Mattingly, ASID Industry Partner, of Mattingly Decorating in La Grange, Ill. Today stunning fabrics are being offered made from paper, recycled soda bottles, straw, wool also tires. Wallcoverings are being created using natural or recycled materials, also printed with water-soluble inks containing no heavy metals. Some wallcoverings or else are “breathable,” reducing the amount of mold or mildew that can grow over time. For wallcovering installation, always ask for low VOC glues also water-soluble application products.
Floor coverings or else have gone green. Installation of eco-friendly carpeting also flooring in a home can improve indoor air quality, as well as support the environment. Eco-friendly carpeting isn't a misnomer, as many top manufacturers offer excellent recycled, residential products. Explore using natural flooring materials: beautiful palm, bamboo, limestone also recycled wood, to name a few. While the initial costs may be higher than other types of flooring, in the long run these materials are cost effective as well as environmentally responsible. You are installing a longer-lasting material than traditional carpet, which can end up in a landfill when replaced. Nationwide, about four billion tons of carpeting end up in landfills every year.
“I think people still assume doing a green interior means making a lot of compromises also not being able to have the finished result they want,” Schomer says. By becoming an educated consumer, you can learn that the opposite is true: home interiors can be green, functional also drop-dead gorgeous. It’s easy to be green. Sorry Kermit.
To find out how to locate a qualified interior designer in your community, check out the free ASID Worldwide Referral Service at www.interiors.org. To learn about the benefits of working with an interior designer also green design, go to www.asid.org.
Courtesy of ARA Content
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