Being aware of the environment should be everyone’s concern related to the climate and earth condition these days. Making a change for this won’t be easy but at least you take it as your concern and start it from yourself by having an eco-friendly living. You can do it by creating an eco-friendly decoration for your house that will consist of some basic needs. You should also consider the use of things in your house such as sustainable materials, non-toxic materials, and things that will reduce waste, reduce environmental impact, and have ethical sourcing. With that, it will be able to create a healthy environment, body, and mind.  Anyway, talking about the basic needs of creating eco-friendly living in your house, to make it clear, let’s draw the concept below.

Basic Needs

1. Sustainable Product

A sustainable product becomes the first basic need where it is environmentally friendly and won’t bring damage to nature. It can even be said that sustainability starts at home. When you are able to bring it to your house, you’ll be able to create a beautiful, functional, and most important thing ‘eco-friendly’. To be claimed as a sustainable product, at least it should meet these three requirements:

• should be made with renewable materials so there won’t be any continuous negative impact on nature,
• the production, distribution, and consumption process should use minimum energy to reduce waste,
• should consider the benefits for the environment, workers, and the principles of justice.

2. Lifespan Furniture

Providing this one is important so that you don’t have to buy things again and again. You should make sure that the furniture that you purchase will have a lifespan durability. Don’t ever think of buying a cheap one that won’t give you comfort, durability, and security as you should move it from your house in less than a year. By having lifespan furniture, you’ll save your budget not to repurchase the same furniture in such a long time and will help nature by having an eco-friendly lifestyle.

3. Recycled Product

It is already known that recycled products are really beneficial to create an eco-friendly living. It will save cost, reduce waste, minimize the use of energy in the production process, and save nature by not taking the material from nature again and again. The recycled product can be made from varied materials such as wood, plastic, glass, paper, and many other possible materials available at home. Just make yourself a little bit creative and you’ll have your role in saving the earth by applying an eco-friendly living.

4. Reclaimed Wood Product

There are so many products that use old wood material of such high quality and durability. It can be a slit for you to utilize it for a zero waste principle to create an eco-friendly living. The reclaimed wood product is basically reusing the wood that already had its own life and function in previous times and we reclaim it to make pretty items for your home decor needs. It can be in the form of furniture, ornament, or home accessories.

Another interesting thing about the reclaimed wood product is its ability to bring us into previous life. It is great how the texture of the wood, marks, and flaws that are left on the wood can connect us with the past. Also, by using the old wood, you will get a stronger and higher durability product. It is something that you can’t find from these days woods available.

Things You Shouldn’t Use

It is true that there might be some limitations that you should face in creating an eco-friendly living but you don’t need to make it difficult and decrease your will in having this great concept of living. Besides providing those basic needs to your home, here are two things that you should avoid in creating an eco-friendly living. There might be other things but these two are the main things that will obstruct your effort.

1. Concrete

I know that there are some home decor styles that need this material to create the design impression but it is better for you to avoid it. Concrete material is the third largest carbon-dioxide emitter preceded by the United States and China. Imagine how bad it can be. So, if you want to support the nature and environment by having an eco-friendly living, you should surely avoid the use of concrete materials in your house. No need to worry because there are still possible substitution materials available.

2. Volatile Organic Compound

The volatile organic compound commonly known as VOCs have a serious impact on the air quality. It also harms humans and the environment. It is bad how volatile organic compound can cause cancer that will be surely dangerous. For your reference, the volatile organic compound is commonly found in household items such as rugs and certain paints.

Best Material to Support Your Eco-Friendly Living

After knowing all of the needs and things to avoid to create an eco-friendly living, you’ll have to start thinking about providing some items to your house. For you, who still don’t know how to start, it is better for you to master the materials that are possible and recommended for an eco-friendly concept.

1. Cotton

In this case, the organic cotton is the one that is recommended. For the furniture, you can reupholster it by using pure cotton fabric. There are still other possibilities but the point is that cotton is such a good one for your household.

2. Wood

There are many types of wood and all of them are good. You can use the new one but still think about its sustainability or use the reclaimed wood.

3. Jute

The jute comes from nature and can be made into varied products like rugs. However, you should be careful because it might be broken by your animal’s scratch. Also, it won’t be as smooth as the fur so make sure to place it in the right spot and utilization.

4. Bamboo

Bamboo is sustainable and renewable grown so using it is such a great thing. It also has a high flexibility so that it can be created into varied products from furniture to ornament.

5. Wool

The wool material might not be flexible and can’t be made into varied products but it works well to create comfort in certain products.

6. Glass

The glass material can be used to replace the plastic material. However, when using it, you should make sure to do the recycling so that it can be sustainable and eco-friendly.

In conclusion, creating an eco-friendly living is not that difficult if you know exactly the things to provide and things to avoid. With the material references we already provided, it is known that there are many choices that you can take and adjust based on your budget and capability.