Making Your Home Green

A Room-by-Room Guide to Making Your Home Green

There are many ways you can make your home green, whether you are building a new house or looking to make changes to your current home. Going green is not only good for the environment, but it can also save you money. To go green, there are many items that you need to take into consideration. This involves determining whether you’re looking to build a new green home or make your existing one green by incorporating environmentally friendly tactics to each room.

Updating Your Current Home

Kitchen

The kitchen is the heart of the home - and it’s also a room in your house that can be eco-friendly. The appliance that uses the most energy in the house is your refrigerator, so consider looking into one that is Energy Star rated. Also, make sure your fridge is well-sealed and set at the right temperature to keep your food safe, while also using less energy.

Living Room

To best support the environment – and your wallet - in your living room, use second hand furniture that is made from sustainable wood or recycled materials. It takes less energy to manufacture goods from recycled materials than from scratch, so salvaged furniture is a great way to reduce energy consumption in the grand scheme of things.

You can also literally go green in the living room by incorporating some plants into your décor. These won’t only add a little bit of style and freshness to your interior, but they will also naturally purify the air, eliminating toxins and improving your indoor air quality.

Bedroom

Typically, the main focal point in your bedroom is the bed itself, so make sure it’s environmentally friendly. With so many factors that you should consider in a mattress to ensure you’re consistently getting a good night’s sleep – environmental sustainability should be one of them.

Bathroom

If you’re using the bathroom toilet, showers, or sinks (which, of course, we all are), this would be a great place to start when thinking about going green in the bathroom. Some of the easiest steps to becoming more environmentally (and economically) friendly, is to cut down the amount of time spent taking showers and letting the faucet run. Instead, try a 5-minute shower, or even low-flow water heads that restrict the amount of water being used up.

Building a New Home

Although it is important to design your home for the size of your family, it’s no secret that a smaller home with the same energy-efficient construction techniques will have a smaller environmental footprint. This is not to say that you should restrict yourself from building your dream home but be mindful of the potential costs to both your wallet and the environment during the design phases.

When building a new green home, consider going solar – the ultimate source of clean, low-cost energy. Another great green design option for the home is to use sustainable materials. From the flooring to the foundations of the home, there are always environmentally friendly choices that are great for home insulation and climate control efficiencies. And if you’re having a hard time deciding what is best for your home, contact the professionals who can make this decision easy for you.

With so many different options to consider during the design stages and renovation phases of making your home green, it can be difficult to know where to start. Keep in mind that going green is a process – it’s not all going to happen at once. But do know that with every step you make towards greener living, the better off our planet, our children, and our ecosystems will be in the future.

Written by Elise Morgan