Going Green on a Dime

Going Green on A Dime
Redecorating usually means throwing out the old and buying new; however, for the environmentally aware decorator, the rules have changed.

Instead of throwing out the old, refurbish, refinish, or re-purpose what is already there, and if the items can’t be used, then salvage yards, thrift stores, and resale shops are good suppliers for the new additions. The green approach benefits the environment, enhances the home, keeps the dollars in the wallet and starves the landfills. There are no losers here.

Reuse and Repurpose

With the increasing popularity of open floor plans, decorators often widen or eliminate doorways. Keep the door and repurpose it into a coffee table by cutting it down, adding molding and legs, and repainting it to match the new look. Take the doors off old kitchen cabinets and turn them into open cubbies in a mudroom where the clutter is contained and easy to access. Turn old fence sections into headboards for kids’ rooms or as wainscoting for a room with country décor or build a surround for the garbage cans outdoors—saving money and the earth.

New and Renewable

When purchasing new materials for redecorating, choosing products made from easily renewable sources are not only the best choice for up-to-date décor, but also for earth-conscious living. Bamboo has become the new trend in decorating. It is useful in most every room of the home: flooring, kitchen equipment, as well as bed sheets. Because bamboo grows so quickly, it is a much better choice than hardwoods.

Efficient Ambience

The most versatile choices in lighting are also the most efficient. LED lighting is becoming the choice of homeowners and decorators because of its low wattage to lumens ration, which far exceeds that of compact fluorescent bulbs, and that means less money spent on electricity. There is a steady growth of choices in LED of lighting and the smaller bulbs make it easier to the fixtures into tricky areas.

Green Outdoors

Green doesn’t have to be only on the grass when decorating outdoors. Turn unused pots and planters into fountains by plugging the drain holes with epoxy and set a small pump in the bottom. Relax to gentle gurgles of water and keep the landfill hungry. Broken pots make terrific toad houses. Just make sure there is enough space for them to get in and out. The toads are happy, the garden has a new bright spot, and there is no waste.

One of the best ways to keep outdoor landscaping lovely and environmentally friendly is to use indigenous plants. They look lovely because they will grow well without excess watering or fertilizing, and they conserve the gardener’s time and energy. In fact, using a hedge fence of zone-friendly plants instead of a wooden or metal fence looks much softer in the landscape and doesn’t require anything other than renewable resources to build and maintain. It’s easy to redecorate a tired old beige room into a green room—as in save-the-planet green—even if the room is painted red.

It isn’t difficult to re-design your home to go green. It does take patience and little by little you will find that everything you pick for your home and your life becomes more and more green.

Janice Oliver is a home decor consultant and content contributor for candleluxury.com, an <a
href="http://www.candleluxury.com/archipelago-candles.html">Archipelago Candles Website</a> specializing in hundreds of <a href="http://www.candleluxury.com/">Scented Candles</a> and accessories.