5 Eco-Friendly Home Decor Ideas Blending Style and Sustainability

It’s easy to lose yourself in the online world of interior design inspiration. People spend hours scrolling through pictures of trendy paint colors and furniture styles, all daydreaming about making their home look better. You may want to do the same, but might worry about your design choices clashing with your eco-friendly lifestyle.

Fortunately, we’ve got five home decor ideas that blend style and sustainability. You can make your house look however you like while continuing your work to make the Earth a better place to live.

1. Grow Indoor Plants

Indoor plants have become a design phenomenon over the last decade. Everyone wants those lush ferns and bright succulents to add a natural vibe to their home, but you don’t want to buy the plastic pots and chemical-based fertilizers often found with them.

You can fill your home with plants that don’t weigh on your mind when you grow air-purifying plants that thrive with a bit of sunshine from your nearest window. Theses typically require little care and purify the air around them, so you’re banishing airborne toxins while improving your home’s look.

2. Buy From Local Artists

When you order home decor online, or even buy it from a name-brand store, you’re supporting the shipping industry. Every year, U.S. trucks consume millions of barrels of fuel and emit tons of CO2 into the air. 

Instead of funding an industry speeding up climate change, buy what you need from local artists. Independent artists, within your community, can make unique artwork or pottery pieces that don’t require national or worldwide shipping to make it to your home.

3. Look for Sustainable Rugs

Want to warm a room with hardwood or tile flooring? Look for sustainable rugs made with eco-friendly materials like jute, seagrass or recycled plastics. You’ll cover your floors with soft carpeting without the use of microplastics to reduce the echoing in your home.

4. Change Your Lighting

You can also blend style and sustainability by changing your light switches. Many people prefer to install a dimmer for the fixtures they use the most. Dimmers are perfect for areas like dining and living rooms where you want to regulate the lighting output and change to a more relaxed mood.

A dimmer switch will reduce your energy bill if it’s ENERGY STAR certified and if you don’t leave it on the maximum setting all the time. Less electricity reduces the waste created at power plants. All you need to do is make a simple switch.

5. Find Reclaimed Wood Decor

Whether you want to change your flooring, upgrade cabinets or find carved decor pieces, stick with reclaimed wood. It’s recycled and doesn’t hurt the environment to use in your home, unlike buying something new made from recently destroyed, oxygen-supplying trees.

Reclaimed wood works perfectly for popular interior design choices like barn-styled bedroom doors or floating shelves in an office or living room.

Learn Your Design Preferences

After you know what interior design styles and choices you prefer, you can use these tips to find eco-friendly home decor that blends style and sustainability. Supporting local artists, installing dimmer switches and even growing indoor plants are just a few ways you can stick with your sustainable lifestyle and redesign your home.