Making eco-friendly choices doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive, even for renters. Small changes to how you decorate your rented home can significantly reduce your environmental impact. The good news is there are lots of budget-friendly ways to incorporate sustainability into your design aesthetic.
Read on below as we explore creative ideas to help you decorate your rental sustainably. The best part is that you can take these eco-decor ideas with you when you eventually move out. Making sustainable choices ultimately saves you money down the road too. Ready to learn easy ways to go green without spending too much green? Let’s get started decorating your rental footprint-free!
What is an Eco-Friendly Home Decor?
Eco-friendly home decor refers to furniture, textiles, lighting, appliances, cleaning products, and other household items that are created sustainably. The overarching goal is to reduce your environmental impact through intentional decor choices.
Some hallmarks of eco-friendly decor include:
- Locally Sourced Materials: Purchasing products made from raw materials extracted and manufactured nearby reduces CO2 emissions from long transport.
- Organic Cotton and Wool: Choosing bedding, towels, and textiles made from pesticide-free organic fibers is better for the planet.
- Upcycled Furniture: Breathing new life into old wood furniture pieces through repurposing prevents waste.
- Energy-Efficient Appliances: Using EPA EnergyStar-certified appliances lowers your home’s energy consumption.
- Non-Toxic Cleaners: Avoiding harsh cleaners with artificial chemicals reduces indoor air pollution and water contamination.
- Sustainable Brands: Researching home decor companies committed to eco-initiatives ensures your money supports ethical production.
The most sustainable decor is one that you already own or can source secondhand locally. But opting for green products and materials is the next best step.
Latest Trends in Eco-Friendly Home Décor
As climate consciousness grows, sustainable living extends into home interiors. From materials to lighting designs, decor choices now consider environmental impacts. Here are some of the latest eco-friendly home decor trends making waves. Seek advice from your Property Management Agency in Northern Virginia to help you implement and adopt eco-friendly practices without breaking the lease.
Sustainable Materials
For furniture and textiles, renewable and recycled materials are replacing plastics and synthetic fibers. Supporting sustainable products helps drive corporate commitments to lower carbon footprints. Some examples you can think of are benches made from recycled cardboard, cushions filled with repurposed cotton scraps, and rugs from natural jute fibers. Bamboo is also trending as a renewable alternative wood for flooring and furniture. As it is rapidly renewable and highly durable, bamboo emits 35% less CO2 when manufactured versus traditional hardwoods.
Energy-Efficient Lighting
LED bulbs continue gaining favor for their efficiency. Consuming 75% less energy than traditional lighting options, they last over 20 years to minimize waste. Smart light fixtures with built-in sensors that automatically adjust brightness and scheduling are also popular energy-saving upgrades.
Biophilic Design
Another latest trend in eco-friendly home decor is biophilic design. Biophilic design connects people to nature’s inherent beauty indoors through decorated elements like plants, natural materials, and organic shapes. Studies show that interacting with nature boosts creativity, relaxation, and well-being.
Living walls of vertical greenery are on the rise. Decorating with reclaimed wood furnishings, cotton throws, rattan baskets, and potted succulents brings biophilia home.
Smart Home Integration
Smart home technology helps households monitor energy usage and cut consumption. Programmable thermostats, smart plugs, and wireless lighting controls allow remote automation for convenience and savings.
Water Conservation
Water-saving faucets, toilets, and shower heads make bathrooms more sustainable. Composting toilets are also growing in interest as eco-options that require no water and produce reusable fertilizer waste.
Affordability and function now blend seamlessly with eco-values in home products. As sustainable goods become more available mainstream, expect to see greener interiors thrive.
Advantages of Using Eco-Friendly Home Decor
Beyond looking cool and aligning with ethical values, choosing sustainable decor offers renters concrete benefits. Here are some of the biggest pros to going green with your home interiors and appliances.
Save Money
Energy-efficient products like LED bulbs and low-flow faucets help lower utility bills—a big perk when trying to cut costs as a renter. Programmable thermostats that optimize temperature settings can also reduce heating and cooling expenses. Reusing any furniture you already own via upcycling is also super budget-friendly.
Reduce Allergies
Conventional furnishings and cleaning products often use toxic glues, varnishes, and artificial chemicals that trigger allergies and asthma. Eco-friendly items made from natural, non-toxic materials like organic cotton create healthier indoor air. This helps minimize allergy symptoms and other health issues.
Gain Peace of Mind
Knowing your decor choices make a positive impact is rewarding. Using products made sustainably from ethically sourced renewable materials gives peace of mind that your spending aligns with green values. You can even make it a hobby. Plus, any upgrades benefiting energy and water conservation relieve eco-guilt from resource overuse.
Improve Wellbeing
Decorating with biophilic elements brings the mood-boosting aspects of nature indoors. Research shows that spending time around living plants, organic shapes, and natural materials reduces cortisol levels and perceived stress. It can also increase productivity and mental functioning.
Build Positive Habits
Making eco-conscious decisions around home decor gets you into the rhythm of considering environmental impacts in all purchasing choices—a habit that spreads to other areas of life. Before you know it, sustainability becomes automatic thanks to those small decor steps taken.
Final Words
Eco-friendly decor allows creativity and sustainability to beautifully intertwine. As a renter, you may feel limited in the upgrades allowed inside your leased home. But with a little clever problem-solving, small, affordable tweaks can make a meaningful difference. It starts by merely rethinking your design choices through an environmental lens.
Upcycling unused furniture gives existing pieces new life. Making your own all-natural cleaning products eliminates indoor toxins. Swapping out lights for efficient LEDs saves energy and money. Repurposing used textiles into DIY throw pillows keeps textile waste from landfills. See how easy, fun and stylish green decor can be?
Renters have substantial power through conscientious consumption to show corporations sustainable production matters. Every furniture purchase, household upgrade, and decor decision that factors in ecological impact makes waves. Why not start those ripples of change within your own rented home?