We have spent more than half of our time at our homes during this pandemic. We have eaten, slept, entertained, spent our time with our friends and family at home. This has made us realize the importance of not only a healthy mind, body and diet but also of a healthy house.
A green home can help improve your energy levels, enhance your mood by decreasing stress, and increasing productivity.
Green Home Secrets
Let Your Home Breathe
Fresh air is not only good for physical health and it also improves our mood by creating a calm atmosphere. It is a great idea to open all the windows of your house daily to ensure proper cross ventilation. This replaces the stale air in the house with freshness.
Kitchen with a chimney installedTo make your kitchen more ventilated, install a chimney with sufficient suction power so that it is capable of extracting smoke and odors that are released while cooking. So there go our coughs , teary eyes and fumes!
Stick to Natural Materials
Natural materials give an organic touch to a space. Apart from that, they are also eco-friendly. Use cotton and linen fabrics for upholstery and as pillow covers. And while building a new house or renovating an old one it is advised to construct or install large windows to minimize the difference between outdoors and indoors.
Use paints with a low level of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) and add wooden furniture and flooring. You can even use bamboo as an alternative to wood. For cleaning, DO NOT use commercial products that contain harmful chemicals and release VOCs but instead, use natural fresheners and cleaners.
A Dust-free Space
As they say, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” it is necessary that you keep your home clean and dust-free to keep yourselves and your family healthy and to keep diseases at bay. Remove your shoes outside the house, or you could even have separate footwear for indoors and outdoors. Vacuum the floors and dust the furniture and interior accessories regularly.
Declutter your Home
You could assign a day for decluttering and organizing your home in a week to weed out the unnecessary items. Choose a furniture layout that optimizes the space and ensures circulation without hindrance. Opt for furniture with built-in storage to minimize your need to buy additional storage and keep the clutter out of sight.
Add Lights to your Life!
Illuminate the interiors of your house with lights. The lighting should be well-planned based on a scheme combining ambient, task and accent lighting.
Arrange the furniture or design your house to allow enough sunlight inside throughout the day. This could lower your daily electricity consumption, thereby reducing your monthly bills. Isn’t that an incentive enough to invite sunlight in and pull the curtains often? Green home all the way!
Air Purifiers are Life Saviours
As the natural air in urban areas contains many kinds of pollutants, air purifiers are real-life Superheroes! It is advised to choose air-purifiers with HEPA (High-efficiency particulate arresting) filters as they efficiently remove all kinds of pollutants, including dust, bacteria and other microscopic particles.
Going for air-purifying plants such as areca palm, Boston fern, English ivy, peace lily, spider plant, etc., is also a great choice if you want to add greenery to your home along with air purification.
Choosing natural and locally available furniture and interior accessories is a great way to keep your home healthy. These are some sure ways of maintaining a positive and healthy overall atmosphere in the house!
