Sustainable Design concept can not be boiled down to planning environmentally friendly houses. It is a major part of it, accounting for more than half of the electricity consumed and GHG produced; still it is incomplete without a proper green interior design.
1) Selecting Sustainable Materials and Bamboo Miracle
The choice of materials is very important not only regarding the nature, but also the health of the people who will live or work in a particular place. Natural and organic materials should be selected, such as cotton, wood and bamboo. Chosing to use recycled materials would add to the greenness of an interior.
Do you know why we have been hearing the name of this plant so frequently recently? In comparison to oak, for instance, bamboo needs much less time (3 to 120 years) to grow and much less energy to be harvested. It can be used very creatively for interior design and fits well with other materials such as steel or wood.
If you are heading for wood, make sure that it is sustainable and reclaimed, ie. from managed forests. In managed forests only selected trees are removed, leaving behind a variety of different tree species. Each area of forest is then managed and replanted giving a 30 years cycle of regeneration of the forest to be complete before the felling starts again.
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) seal is one of the seals that are reliable, the other being Rainforest Alliance’s “SmartWood”, and the SCS and “Green Seal” labels from Scientific Certification Systems.
2) Walls: zero-VOC paint or chlorine-free paper
Paints and finishes are hidden dangers in your house for they release low level toxic emissions. A greener option would be using odorless paints with Low-Volatile Organic Compounds (Low-VOC and No-VOC) are the solution, even though it wouldn’t be 100% non-toxic either.
Green Planet Paints’ soy based resin replacing the use of petrochemicals in paint, is an innovative, zero-VOC paint. They have also use clay color pigments instead of conventional dye coloring systems, resulting in a paint built and manufactured by sustainable principles recommended for interior wall surfaces and available in exotic and earthy colors.
Alternatively, you can prefer an ecofriendly wallpaper. Eco-friendly wallpapers feature water-based inks, printed on chlorine-free paper. Low-VOC adhesive can be used for lightweight and medium weight paper-based wall decorations.
Installation of floors or carpets can fill the indoors with toxic VOCs (including carcinogens such as formaldehyde and benzene) or volatile organic compounds. And they don’t dissipate easily.
You can decide with your interior what to use designer, among the eco-friendly flooring options such as bamboo, cork, linoleum, recycled metal and glass tiles, and reclaimed woods. If you don’t want to give up your carpet, you can have recycled carpet tile squares. They are held by adhesive dots together. Since it is not a whole but consists of many square tiles, you can change one or two, but don’t need to throw away the whole thing.
4) Water Efficiency
A truly green interior design will also save on energy and water. Even though people are making a big deal out of it, using water efficiently in your house is no rocket science. Moreover, you can choose among some very fancy and luxury faucets and toilets. Caroma was one of the first companies to bring the dual flush toilet to the US, with which you can choose between a 0.8-gallon flush and a 1.6-gallon flush as needed. Simple technology, but works. Add to this eco-friendly dishwashers, showerheads, lavatory faucets (Such as The Ashfield single-control lavatory faucet – in the picture- that reduces water usage by 27 percent — reducing the flow rate to 1.6 gallons per minute without affecting performance.)
After completing these 4 steps you can go on with sustainable furniture. Good news is, as more and more designers tend to have a greener perspective and more eco-friendly products find their way to the market, we no longer need to give up on style in the name of sustainability!