Make your Home more Sustainable

Home sweet sustainable home.

After writing these few words there are so many things spring to mind that I am not quite sure where to start.

I think of the Grand Designs episodes where I saw people making their dream home out of hay, insulation made of recycled shredded jeans, installing solar panels on their rooves and using rainfall water in their home.

I think of using second (or third, or fourth) hand furniture to personalise a home, using leftover paint to update old chest of drawers and going to car boot sales to turn other people’s unwanted items in centre pieces.

I think of how exciting it is to be able to have your unique, bespoke dream home without damaging the environment but actually saving money and I can’t wait for the day when I will be able to do this for my own!

Have a look at this extract from a Grand Designs episode: I absolutely love this home and the bottles walls are gorgeous!

As usual National Geographic’s newsletters provide me with some of the best articles I would like to share some with you all.

National Geographic’s Green Guide offers an infinity of interesting articles, tips and information on Green Living.

Did you know there are tiles that transform people’s steps into energy? -A few years ago I heard about something similar to be done in gyms, with people’s workouts producing electricity: I think it’s both fascinating and logical.

Have a look at the interactive living room page: you can click on each living room staple to take a quiz and discover its energy use and more sustainable versions.

I learned a lot when I took the insulation quiz, and if you are thinking of buying a new TV, find out which ones won’t add high electricity costs to their own price.

The Buying Guides page will also enlighten you on how to invest in energy-efficient cars, water heaters and filters, laptops and even toilets.

The Green Guide also offers more info on growing your own vegetables, saving energy while cooking, turning food waste into fertilizer and more.

If you like to quiz your way to sustainability knowledge National Geographic’s Green Guide Quizzes will make you wiser on anything from making your kitchen greener -did you know washing dishes by hand can actually use up more water compared to using a Energy-Star rated fully loaded dishwasher?- to seasonal and organic food, types of plastics, saving fuel and green gardening.

Upcycle your suitcase and make a beautiful cat bed – from thedailygreen.com

Finally, the Sustainable Home & Garden page gives tips on how to make each of your home rooms and garden green with more interactive pages and quizzes.

I really recommend you take a look as there really is something for everyone 🙂

I also follow a great design blog, Inspired to Share, which shows some beautiful examples of using recycled materials to have a charming home.

I think we did a good job at furnishing our rented flat quite sustainably so far, we have been using many second hand pieces of furniture and crockery.

We bought the table in the picture second hand from Ebay for £40 down from £80 and it looks more unusual and interesting than most tables I have seen in high street shops, the glass ball was about to be thrown away and go to landfill but my boyfriend saved it, I got the milk jug from a car boot sale for 50p, the white dish is also second hand and my Nan gave me the Atlas.

Second Hand Furniture and Crockery

I like to have mismatched dishes and objects, they have a lot more character and personality as they can tell a story of who you are and where you have been (like all the bowls I got when I was in China) and in my opinion too many matching things give a sense of rigidity.

What do you think of the house shown in the Grand Designs video?

Do you like collecting second hand things for your home or do you like everything to be new?

What steps are you going to take to make your home greener?