How to Decorate Your Home in a More Sustainable Manner- Add beauty to your home!

 While home decor is a subject that interests every one of us, recent trends have made homeowners consider the accessories they purchase for their households in a new light. With sustainability hitting the headlines in every sphere of construction and lifestyle, decorating a home using eco-friendly materials has become a top priority. Here are some tips on how to adhere to sustainability principles when ornamenting your nest.

image via https://www.cinnamonlife.com/

1. Don't Rush

Those who are moving into a new home should not rush the decorating process whether it's motivated by sustainability or any other grand objective. A house must be lived-in in order to determine what's needed where and what type of furnishings, decorative elements work in different areas of the home. This is due to the fact that homeowners can understand how the house is lit with natural light, at various hours of the day, only through experience and because what you need as a homeowner will change with time. So avoid going all out and spending a fortune on a sustainable makeover and take it slow.

2. Get Inspired but Don't Imitate

Keeping tabs on modern design trends and interior decor fashions is essential to stay in the know about what's making waves but you should not fall into the habit of imitating these trends as what's new today can become stale and old fashioned in a matter of weeks of months. Don't rely on a blog or a decor magazine to make your home decor decisions as a household is always an expression of the family or individual that dwells within it. So take notes and plenty of inspiration, but make your needs the deciding factor.

3. Go beyond Appearances

Interior decor is as much about aesthetics as it is about practicalities but one should not get derailed on the visual and sacrifice the usefulness of certain items. Don't be overly concerned about how a lampshade or coffee table looks, especially if its functionality can add convenience and efficiency to the home and your lifestyle.

4. Make Durability a Priority

Making your decor choices sustainable does not mean purchasing items that are difficult to maintain or perish in a few years. High quality should always be paramount when selecting even the most eco-friendly items for your home. Even if higher quality products cost more, they are worth it in the long run if one buys just what is required and forgets the frills.

5. Stick to Sustainable Hardware

The easiest way to make sure your decoration choices are sustainable is to select homeware made from sustainable materials. This includes everything from bamboo, rattan and cork to clay. Natural fibres, organic wools and cottons are also excellent choices for those who wish to make a lower impact on the environment by using fewer synthetic products. Furniture or pieces made from recycled wood chips, plastic bottles and other raw materials are other options available to homeowners.

6. Reuse and Up-cycle

Although the idea of decorating your home with new, shiny sustainable furnishings and accessories can seem tempting, sometimes, the most sustainable thing to do is to reuse or upcycle items that are already in your possession. Old sofas and chairs can be given a new lease of life with reupholstering in eco-friendly materials as there is no need for your home to look like the interiors of Cinnamon Life or any other luxury apartments in Sri Lanka.

7. Exchange and Donate

It may be inevitable that certain items in your household will need to go in order to make room for more sustainable choices. When this is the case, it is far more eco-friendly to donate these items to those in need rather than throwing them away to end up in a landfill somewhere.