How to Make Your Bedroom Eco-Friendly with Green Bedding, Eco Bedroom Sets & More
Interested in greening your bedroom? Do you want to sleep at night without breathing in VOC’s and being exposed to toxins? Would you like a haven from the world that you can feel good about indulging in because it is energy-efficient and filled with sustainable materials? Try out these great tips on improving your bedroom’s eco style.
Starting with phasing out those chemical and conventional blankets, pillows and mattresses and bringing in green bedding and eco bedroom sets is the first major step. As this does cost money, it can take time. Even if you purchase green, eco-friendly bedding products one blanket at a time, it is well worth the effort. In the meantime, you can make simple changes to your bedroom to make it more earth-friendly and compatible with the environment.
Green Bedding
Start your green bedroom set with eco-friendly bedding. Having eco bedding is so important for a safe, natural bedroom environment. Why? Because this is where you lay your head at night, close your eyes, and breathe. Conventional mattresses, comforters, and pillows are made from synthetic fibers. These fibers are petroleum based, take a lot of energy to manufacture, and then expose you, the consumer, to all the chemicals and dyes that created the product. Conventional cotton is another popular thread, which is at least made from a natural fiber, but one that requires excessive amount of water to grow as well as the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. The cotton is then bleached and processed with more chemicals, and perhaps even coated with chemical flame retardants.
Choosing bedroom sets that are made from natural, sustainable materials and are devoid of chemicals is a great way to make your sleeping environment completely non-toxic and earth-friendly. How to make this green transformation without breaking the budget? Do it one step at a time.
Start by changing out your conventional pillows for eco-friendly pillows made from organic cotton, buckwheat, wool, or even latex rubber. Next buy new sheets for your eco bedroom, choosing sets made from bamboo, organic cotton, or even silk. Then choose your eco-friendly comforter and blankets. You can find these products online from eco bedding stores such as Gaiam and Pristine Planet.
The final step to complete your green bedding is buying an eco-friendly mattress. Choose either latex rubber, organic cotton, organic wool, or a blend of these sustainable materials. Try The Organic Mattress, Lifekind, or Abundant Earth, all online retailers offering organic mattresses.
Continue to page 2 to learn where to find eco-friendly bedroom furniture and some inexpensive or free tips for greening your bedroom.
Where to Find Bedroom Furniture
Finishing off with eco-friendly furniture can be an ultimate goal as having eco bedding is much more important for reducing toxins in the bedroom, and the furniture is more expensive. When you are ready, consider bamboo furniture, or bed boxes and dressers made from sustainable wood. Haiku Designs is a great place to start if you are looking for a simplistic, contemporary eco style for the bedroom. Crate & Barrel also has a line of eco-friendly tables, night stands, chairs, dressers, and bed boxes.
Tips for Greening Your Room
Aside from buying eco bedroom sets to green your room, try these simple tips to make your bedroom eco-friendly. Great news, most of them are free or will only cost a few dollars!
- Clean with natural cleaning supplies, or even use your own homemade cleaning products. Using natural ingredients such as baking soda, vinegar, lemon, olive oil, and essential oils you can have a polished, bacteria-free, clean room without the use of any harsh cleaning chemicals.
- Use a natural laundry detergent for your bedding, or again make your own. A simple recipe is one-quarter cup of liquid castile soap and three drops of lavender, eucalyptus, or any other essential oil. To go even more green, wash only in cold water to reduce your energy use.
- Unplug your unused electronics and turn off the lights. When not in your room turn off lights, the radio, the lava lamp. Also, unplug the radio, alarm clock, television, computer, and DVD player to avoid using phantom energy.
- Switch to eco-friendly light bulbs in your bedroom. This will save you energy and money.
- Bring in a houseplant or two. Houseplants will help to purify the air of toxins.
- Open the windows. Use natural heating and cooling as much as possible. During more mild weather keep the windows open at night for the fresh air and natural cooling, or use sunlight to heat your bedroom by opening the curtains.
From turning off the lights to sleeping on an organic mattress there are so many ways to make your bedroom greener. Take it one step at a time and enjoy the journey.
References
Planet Green https://planetgreen.discovery.com/buying-guides/buy-green-mattresses.html
photo by: Jeremy Levine Design (CC/flicikr) https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremylevinedesign/3589652373/sizes/m/in/photostream/
