Beautify Your Home with Stylish, Earth Friendly Décor
So, you’re interested in ‘going green’, and you’d like to bring that environmentally responsible way of thinking into your home – but you don’t want a bamboo and rattan old-school-Pier-1 decorating scheme. Thankfully, not all earth-friendly home décor has that beige burlap sack look of the early environmental movement. A lot of eco-friendly home furnishings are sleek, modern and every bit as stylish as those off-gassing, unsustainably made conventional versions.
Furniture made of sustainably harvested wood or recycled materials is now available in a wide range of styles to match nearly any type of décor. Whether your personal preference leans toward ultra-modern, mid-century modern, traditional, cottage or craftsman style, chances are you’ll be able to find the look you want in pieces that are earth-friendly. Check out the absolutely stunning sofas available at BestEcoStuff.com – besides being organic and natural, they’re totally drool-worthy.
Organic linens are the way to go for your kitchen, dining room, bath and bedroom. They’re soft, luxurious, and chemical-free. Who wants to breathe in pesticides while toweling off after a relaxing bath, or sliding in between the sheets at night? Organic textiles come in all kinds of materials, from cotton to bamboo, and an increasingly wide range of colors, prints and price points. You can gradually make the switch to eco-friendly versions of your rugs, dish towels, cloth napkins, tablecloths, bath towels, blankets, pillowcases and virtually every other textile item in your home. Take it one room at a time, and it’ll be a snap.
Choose soy candles instead of conventional ones, which are usually made of paraffin. Paraffin candles aren’t just made from petroleum, they also send puffs of toxins into the air as they burn. Soy candles burn clean, are non-toxic and last longer, too. They’re often scented with essential oils for an all-natural fragrance that won’t fill your home with noxious chemical smells.
Fair trade decorative items are where it’s at. You can find fair trade versions of virtually every knick-knack you could ever want in your home, from lighting and vases to sculptures for your curio cabinet. When you buy fair trade, you’re purchasing goods that were made by people receiving a fair wage for their efforts and working in humane, healthy environments. The money spent on fair trade goods ends up back in the communities where the items are made.
It won’t be long before BestEcoStuff.com has all the green gear you’re looking for, so be sure to check back with us!
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Great ideas. Love your graphics and constant idea generation.
A few points of clarification: Soy candles with “essential oils”still may contain toxins. Naming something an essential oil does not preclude the manufacturer from adding synthetic fragrance. Most natural essential oils are unstable, the scent doesn’t last. So to make customers happy with the smell, chemicals are added. These chemicals aggravate your respiratory system at best and can be carcinogenic at worst. Also watch for wicks containing lead. Just buying a soy candle won’t make it healthy. Labeling for “organic” is better, knowing how manufacturers cut costs and increase shelf life with chemicals is best.
And to my knowledge, Pier 1 has never sold green products. I realize you’re making a style reference, but even their “burlap” looking furnishings are far from green, the bamboo products are not sustainably harvested, the fabrics all contain toxic sizing and nearly all the furniture is made from MDF board (usually outgasses toxins like formaldehyde).
Hi there Ghermine,
Thanks for your comments! We actually don’t disagree with anything you said and appreciate you throwing your two cents in about essential oils and soy candles and green furniture.
Just to clarify further, the reference to Pier 1 WAS absolutely a style reference only (there’s nothing green about the company or the furniture) and when Stephanie was talking about burlap furniture she was looking to rid people of the notion that green furniture is ugly and unappealing.
The object, here, is to educate one another about the numerous factors and choices that can present themselves even in the greenest of products so we greatly appreciate any information and/or resources that help to empower and educate!