Ditch Wayfair + Ikea! 5 Eco-Friendly Home Decor Ideas
Does your home need a refresh? Don’t rush to Wayfair or Ikea; incorporate these 5 eco-friendly home decor ideas, instead.
It happens: We grow tired of our decor. Maybe you’re bored with your furniture that’s no longer contemporary enough for your taste, or maybe you’re tired of those once-trendy Ikea curtains that now feel stale.
But you lean towards the eco-friendly side of things – you’re a stand-up human, too – so you won’t chuck your old decor for new stuff without a bit of eco-guilt.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 9 million tons of furniture end up in landfills every year. Poorer quality furniture is more likely to get tossed.
Furniture is an awful lot like fashion. The sustainable stuff – the stuff you want to keep for decades – is expensive. The cheap stuff is trendy. It doesn’t stand the test of time, either, due to poor materials + shoddy craftsmanship.
So what’s an environmentally-conscious home dweller to do?
Here are 5 tips to refresh your home in ways that are affordable, stylish + sustainable (without relying on Ikea or Wayfair).
5 eco-friendly ways to refresh your home decor
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Step 1: Subtract everything, except …
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When in doubt, edit. Crowding too many things into a room makes it feel claustrophobic. Remove a few items to instantly lighten a space.
Everything needs room to breathe so if your space is feeling tight + you want a new look, declutter.
One thing to never, ever subtract? Natural light.
Minimalists know that natural light makes a compact space seem expansive. So keep window treatments as simple as possible: If you have curtains, consider taking them down.
Play up the sunlight, too. Find a secondhand mirror + paint the frame to match your space. Hang it across from a window to instantly make your room feel bigger.
Step 2: Rearrange
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Move around your furniture
Repositioning your furniture creates a whole new space, for free.
Switching up the placement of your pieces may be all you need to satisfy your desire for change, but if it doesn’t, consider the following 3 options:
Buy secondhand furniture that’s delivered
One of the best parts about buying furniture on Wayfair or Amazon is the fast, easy delivery.
No one wants to rent a truck to pick up a piece of secondhand furniture. Quick delivery, therefore, is a major draw.
Know that you can buy secondhand + have it delivered, too. Try sites like Kaiyo or AptDeco, both of which sell used pieces from quality brands + deliver them right to your door.
Rent
If you know you’re not currently living in your forever home, or if in your unique situation just doesn’t make sense to buy, know that you can rent furniture for about the same price as buying cheap, Ikea-quality stuff.
Feather + Fernish let you swap or return furniture after your rental period is up. You can decide to buy it outright, too, if you end up loving it.
Update your Ikea slipcovers
Bemz carries new slipcovers for dozens of Ikea products. Change out the cover + have yourself a new-ish piece of furniture for a fraction of the cost.
Move decorations from room to room
Move your trinkets around. Move your artwork around, too.
As you redecorate, consider your own psychology: Bold patterns + colors tend to stimulate extroverts but overwhelm introverts.
Introverts are more sensitive to visual stimuli than extroverts so they should focus on decor in simple patters + subtle hues.
Step 3: Set a different mood
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Use scents to your advantage.
- For the bedroom: Lavender (which aids in sleep)
- For the office: Lemon (which stimulates cognition)
- For the living room: Florals (which elicit positive emotions)
Soy or paraffin-based candles aren’t great for the environment; they aren’t great for our health, either. So steer clear of candles + opt for more-eco-friendly options, instead: Diffuse essential oils to freshen up indoor air.
I have been very happy with this inexpensive but quality oils set that I put inside in my ultrasonic mist diffuser.
Paint the walls.
Paint offers endless options. You can paint the entire room one color. You can paint a feature wall. You can paint a design such as stripes or stencil work.
Use energizing colors in the places where you work, like the kitchen + laundry room.
Use muted hues in rooms where you relax, like the bedroom + living room.
When it comes to paint, know that you don’t have to go the traditional route. Conventional paints contain Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that pollute the air as it dries.
Prolonged exposure to VOCs causes headaches, trigger allergies + irritate skin, eyes + airways.
Paint the eco-friendly way, instead: Farrow + Ball offers water-based, low-VOC products that don’t smell + are kinder to the planet.
Step 4: Add plants, not trinkets
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Studies have found that nature provides calming benefits. Trinkets don’t. One way to feel happier in your space (+ refresh indoor air quality, too) is to incorporate plants.
If you desire to create a calming space, psychologists suggest avoiding spiky plants + that’s because we associate comfort with curvy shapes (spiky ones make us more alert).
Have a black thumb? Try these easy-to-care-for varieties:
- Fern
- Lady Palm
- Spider Plant
- Cast Iron Plant (nice + curvy)
- Snake Plant
- Peace Lilies (easy to care for; does well in low light)
- Pothos Plant (literally unkillable!)
Step 5: Look ahead
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It’s easy to make impulse purchases; indeed, many stores rely on our collective inability to reign in our impulses as a way to make profits.
Instead of buying an item because it’s pretty, look ahead in these 3 ways:
Focus on your next home.
Will the item you’re spying grow with you? Will it downsize with you? Will it with hold the test of time?
Consider practicality.
Aesthetics are important. But aesthetics should never come at the expense of practicality.
If an item is impractical you’ll grow to dislike it, or worse, hate it. Think: White couches. Rugs that shed. Trinkets with no purpose.
If an item you love is it a nightmare to clean or maintain, think twice. Everything we bring into our house must check both the aesthetic box as well as the practical box.
It must be both in order to gain admittance into our homes.
Be willing to play the long game.
Being patient means avoiding costly mistakes. Being patient means being a conscious consumer who understands the importance of leading from head instead of the heart.
So save up until you have the money to buy that practical, high quality piece that you love.
Owning it will feel better when you work for it.
How do you refresh your space the eco-friendly way? If you have any eco-friendly home decor tips, please share ’em in the comments!
