Green Home Redesign: How to Design an Environmentally Conscious Living Room
Most people assume that each room in the house has a specific function that is serving their needs. When you reflect on your space more deeply however, you may realize that the rooms in your home don’t actually serve you and could even be harmful for the environment. Your typical living room / bathroom / bedroom is not necessarily a space that is consciously designed. Instead of fitting our needs and existing in harmony with the natural environment, we simply fill these rooms with objects and furniture based on a set of preconceived ideas.
Conscious interior design can help us think more deeply about how we define these spaces such as the living room, kitchen and bathroom and how to design them in a way that fits our needs and values. Green interior design helps us design our spaces mindfully in a way that doesn’t adversely impact the environment.
The living room is closely tied with the kitchen as one of the spaces in the home where we spend most of our time. The living room often consists of a configuration of furniture that may be focused around a TV or media center, or perhaps a fireplace or a window. There is usually a rug or carpeting and ornamental objects such as vases or art on the walls. It’s a space where people go to relax or socialize. It can also be a larger space that’s difficult to heat or cool. In a typical living room you may come into contact with toxic chemicals and adhesives used to finish home furnishings, or carpets that are made using cruel, toxic industrial practices. It is possible to redesign your space in a way that achieves peace of mind and creates a healthier, more eco conscious place to relax. Here are a few ways to start thinking about how to redesign your space more consciously:
Find Energy Efficiency
The living room is often one of the larger spaces within the home. It may have bigger windows that can leak heat or make it difficult to cool down. The flooring could affect the energy efficiency of the home. Wooden floors, cork floors or stone floors can help conduct heat through the home. Wood floors will both absorb as and conduct heat and stone floors will reflect heat, making stone floors a better choice for warmer climates. Carpeting will insulate the floor, but too much insulation is not a good idea in the summer, so you may want to find a balance with strategic placement of rugs. Radiant floor heating, particularly on cool stone floors, may be a more energy efficient way of heating a room, because heat rises and the radiant heat will make people feel warmer without having to turn up the thermostat. Windows should be properly sealed and window blinds and shutters can be installed to cool the room in the warmer months. Quick green interior design fixes to improve energy efficiency include installing a smart thermostat, using LED lighting, and using energy-smart wall plugs.
Choose Low Impact Furnishings and Materials
So many of the furnishings and materials in our home have a negative impact on animals and the environment. By the time they are in your home, after intensive industrial practices involving toxic chemicals, they are also having an impact on you. Many fabrics are finished with formaldehyde, a chemical known to cause cancer. The fabrics themselves – leather, silk, wool and synthetic fabrics – are produced in environmentally damaging and cruel ways that cause toxic runoff from the processes. In addition, they have a direct impact on animals and the environment, either because animals are harmed and killed in the production of the materials, or because micro-plastics and toxins enter the environment or because animals’ habitats are cleared for industrial logging. Some ways to have a more sustainable, cruelty free home include:
Upcycle: One way to reduce waste and damage to the environment is simply to consume less. Re-use non-toxic fabrics in quilting and craft or donate fabrics to crafters who can re-use them (avoid donation bins for clothes and fabrics, as these often end up as fabric waste). Use recycled glass vases and ceramics to create lamp stands or plant pots. Swap or buy second hand furniture. Deconstruct old furniture and re-finish old wood to create beautiful, custom-made pieces.
Use sustainable materials like cork, bamboo, seagrass or reclaimed wood.
These materials are beautiful, hard-wearing and produced in lower-impact processes. Be sure any new wooden furniture is made with wood that is accredited by the Forestry Stewardship Council or Sustainable Forestry Initiative. These organizations promote sustainable forestry and conservation and protect indigenous rights and workers’ rights.
Stop Using Toxic Paint
Paint is one of the most toxic materials in the home, particularly during the drying stages. The solvents used in paints have high vapor pressure at room temperatures and easily evaporate into the air causing respiratory problems, dizziness and health effects from long-term exposure. Low VOC or no VOC paints are water-based or use natural solvents that reduce the toxicity of paint.
Re-consider your Floor Plan
The open floor plan house was popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright, who perfected the Modernist style of the twentieth century. It relied on cheap energy and created large spaces for communal living, space and lighting. Open plan living rooms and kitchens are still very popular in American homes, so when you move into a new home, you may inherit a living room / dining room / kitchen with an open floor plan. Open plan living spaces may have some advantages for people with families who want to keep an eye on their children. They can also have advantages for energy efficiency such as allowing air to flow more freely when heating or cooling a room. They may let in natural light which can reduce lighting and heating costs. If you’re spending all your time in your central living space they make sense, but if you’re using other rooms in the house, they may be less efficient. With Work From Home arrangements and people consuming media privately via smartphone or tablet, an open floor plan might use excess energy. An open floor plan may also let heat escape through big windows that aren’t sealed properly or where the sealant has deteriorated. Depending on the climate and your needs you may want to expand your space to create an open floor plan, or partition your floor plan. Quick fixes for energy efficiency can include sealing windows, using remote-controlled window blinds, or constructing sliding doors that can be open or closed.
At Earth Science Design our design principles employ psychology, practicality and a caring and conscious attitude. Your living room shouldn’t negatively affect your peace of mind or harm the environment. If you are embarking on green, cruelty-free home redesign, our design consultants can help you take the first steps towards re-imagining the function and the aesthetics of your space. We can consult with you to brainstorm ideas or help you manage a large-scale redesign. With over ten years of research into eco-friendly and cruelty-free design we put our knowledge and network of suppliers to work for our clients. Please contact us to learn more about our conscious design services.
