Celebrating Earth Day with Interiors

Did you celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd? Did you do anything to make your home interior environmentally friendly? Here are some questions to ask yourself when considering a home improvement project or purchase.

1. Have you switched all your incandescent bulbs out for compact fluorescent light bulbs? If not, next time you are in your local hardware store, pick some up. You will have them ready when that next light bulb burns out.
2. Do you really need your heat or air set at the same temperature when you are out of the home or sleeping? Consider installing a programmable thermostat? It will save you money and help save the earth.
3. Is air flowing into your home under doors and windows? Plug them up! Air leaks allow air and heat to sneak outside, making it more difficult for us to control the air in our home. In turn, this makes the air conditioner or furnace work harder. It ends up costing you more money and wasting precious resources.
4. Buy local products. Products made overseas require tons and tons of fuel.
5. Buy items with post-consumer recycled content. This can range from clothes to fabrics, plastic containers to furniture, even coffee mugs.
6. Do you reuse? Reusing ensures less waste goes into landfills. Can you reuse that old piece of furniture? Can you reuse paint you already have in your basement? How about shopping at a thrift or antique store? It’s amazing what your mind can come up with when given the opportunity to save money and make something beautiful for your home!
7. Buy Energy Star Appliances. Replace old appliances with Energy Star models when they break. Your appliances will run more efficiently and can save you money in the long run. Remember to unplug your small appliances when they are not in use because they can still suck up energy.
8. Don’t forget to ask the experts. Decide if buying a sustainable product is an option for you before you buy anything for your home. If so, just ask the expert for more information. I bet you learn something interesting.

Celebrate Earth Day all 365 days in your home! How have you made the Earth better today?

How to Setup an Attractive Recycling Area

Are you into the sustainable movement at home? Recycling is a big part of the future; many items are made from recycled products already, such as fabrics, bottles, outdoor furniture, even some clothes! Imagine what the inventors and designers will think of next!

Honestly, I believe that the only way to make sure that we have a future with more “stuff” is to recycle. I know this involves time and storage space, but I promise we can make it as mindless and as attractive as possible.

First of all, find out if your waste management company allows single stream recycling. If so, this is great news because you don’t have to sort any of your recycled products! But sometimes we aren’t lucky enough to live in these areas.

So, maybe you live in a nice big house in the suburbs with a three car garage. This is perfect – you have all the room in the world (just kidding)! But at least you may be able to find room for attractive plastic bins to separate recycling into. I suggest getting containers that are similar to garbage cans and have lids; you may even be able to get color coded lids that have slots made for each item. Imagine how much this helps take the thinking part away from the process!

Now, maybe you aren’t fortunate enough to have this as your living situation, which may require a little bit more space inside your home. But don’t worry, we can make this work. Several suggestions would be to head up to your local home store and purchase a “recycling” can that has two separate plastic containers that can easily be removed. If you buy two of these cans, you will be able to separate the main recycling groups; plastic, paper, glass and cardboard.

But maybe this isn’t quite what you are looking for; did you know you can buy units to mount onto your wall? The doors can be pulled forward and reveal separate plastic color coded containers to sort recycling into. Wow! I guarantee that with this one, you will have everyone asking you what this item is on your wall. Imagine all the people you can get to join the recycling movement with a container like this!

Do you recycle? What other things do you do to save the earth?