Redecorating your house is an exciting project and the perfect opportunity to put your stamp on your home. Being able to redesign your décor scheme and introduce your style and favorite colors is guaranteed to make your new house feel like home in no time. But, while it can be a lot of fun to make over your home, you may be concerned about the environmental impact of your redecoration project.
Clearing a room and starting again with decorating and furnishing can generate a lot of waste. But thankfully, there are ways that you can minimize waste without needing to compromise on making your space look beautiful.
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If you are keen to makeover your home but want to ensure that it has minimal impact on the planet, the following tips should help:
Choose Reclaimed Furniture
Good quality furniture is designed to last a lifetime, so it is worth choosing carefully when selecting furniture for your new home. Shopping for reclaimed wooden furniture is an excellent way to ensure you make sustainable choices when redecorating. Buying a Wooden Bed or other furniture items that you will use for many years made from reclaimed timber will ensure that you play your part in reducing waste and protecting the planet.
Lots of furniture manufactured nowadays is mass-produced. Just as fast fashion is detrimental to the environment, the emergence of ‘fast furniture’ has a similar impact. By opting for handmade furniture made from reclaimed timber, you help to reduce the need for more trees to be chopped down and minimize your carbon footprint. But, choosing reclaimed wooden furniture has an additional benefit; you will also be getting unique and stylish furniture.
Upcycle Where Possible
Using existing materials by buying furniture made from reclaimed wood is an excellent starting point for your eco-friendly decorating project. Selecting upcycled items is another great way to utilize existing materials.
Opting to upcycle items that you already have or buying second-hand items and repurposing them is a great way to make your home both unique and environmentally friendly. There are many ways to upcycle items from around your home. From soft furnishings to bookcases, there are endless opportunities to breathe new life into unloved objects and make them beautiful again.
Letting your creativity wander and thinking about how you could reuse existing items and give them a new purpose will ensure that you save money on your decorating project and create some beautiful, unique items.
Select Your Paint Carefully
When trying to redecorate in an environmentally-friendly way, you may focus on reducing waste. However, it is possible to go further than this to further protect the environment. Your choice of paint can influence the eco-friendliness of your property.
Many of the big manufacturers now make ‘green’ versions of their paints, so looking out for these at the DIY store is a good idea.
‘Greener’ paint products have either zero or minimal volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which makes them better for your health and the environment. These eco-friendly paints are often typically water-based and also have low odor. This means that you won’t get the strong smell from them that many paints produce when you decorate.
Choosing eco paint for your walls is only a small change, but it can really make a significant difference to the eco credentials of your new home.
Recycle What You Cannot Reuse
When you first move into your new home, you will likely find that many parts of it are not suited to your taste. But before you start throwing items from the previous owners into the dumpster, it is crucial to pause. Thinking about whether someone else could make use of these items either as they are or by repurposing them is a great way to reduce waste.
Arranging to donate unwanted items to a local good cause, organizing a yard sale, or listing them online as free to collect will ensure that all the items go to a good home and nothing goes to waste.
Final Thoughts
Redecorating your new home can be a big project and involve a lot of work. But taking your time to redecorate your new home in an eco-friendly way is well worth the effort. Knowing that you have not only created a beautiful home but have also had minimal impact on the environment is a fantastic feeling. As well as ensuring that your home has impressive eco credentials, decorating in an environmentally friendly way is also an excellent opportunity to make your home look truly unique.
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