Eco Friendly Home Furniture Design Ideas

We wrote in an earlier post about making better choices when it comes to eco-friendly lawn and garden care. One of the tips we mentioned was about choosing plants that need less watering. Often, the tropical plants that people choose are not suited for non-tropical locations, so they need a lot of extra water to flourish. This is why we suggest filling your garden with plants called “water-wise” plants.

Here is a list of shrubs and perennials that need much less water and are therefore much more appropriate for cooler climates.

Water-Wise Plants

Fendler’s Sundrops
Goldeneye
Prairie Zinnia
Yarrow
Thrift
Chocolate Flower
Jupiter’s Beard
Gregg’s Mist Flower
Coreopsis
Red Yucca
Angelita Daisy
Mexican Evening Primrose
Tufted Evening Primrose
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Water use can often increase up to 50% during the summer months, and a large part of that number is due to watering plants and lawns!

Some of the things you can do to reduce the amount of water you use is to water your plants in the morning when its cooler, so water loss through evaporation is far less.

Sprinklers can spread water unevenly, so check around the garden to determine what the moisture levels are around your lawn. Also, soaker hoses can be attached to a spigot to distribute water more efficiently than sprinklers.

Consider filling your garden with water-wise plants instead of exotics. Use local flora to beautify your garden. It’s more natural, and it will save water.

Consider an investment in a rain barrel. That way, you aren’t using tap water to water your plants. Rain water collection is a great way to be more green in your garden.

Anji Mountain Bamboo Rug Co.’s Bamboo Kitchen & Bath Mat will give your feet an experience like no other with its amazing inlaid bamboo design and shiny finish. The bamboo mat will bring organic elegance to your kitchen and bathroom. Made from 100% eco-friendly bamboo from the Anji Mountains and boasting a high-gloss finish which is both stunning and durable. Bamboo gives a natural, water-resistant surface which is totally organic and the non-skid rubber backing softens beneath your feet and keeps the mat in place on the wet floor.

During warmer weather, ceiling fans can either allow you to lower the output volume of your air conditioner, or may allow you to avoid using A/C completely. Install ceiling fans in rooms that needs to be cooled during warm weather. Ceiling fans create a wind chill effect makes you more comfortable, even if it’s also cooled by air through your windows or A/C. Ceiling fans do a good job of circulating the air in a room to create a cooling draft.

Ceiling fans should only be installed in rooms with ceilings at least eight feet high. Fans work best when the blades are 7–9 feet above the floor and 10–12 inches below the ceiling. Larger ceiling fans will cool rooms up to 225 square feet, and small- and medium-sized fans will give you good cooling in a 4 to 6-foot diameter area.

When shopping for ceiling fans, try to buy the ENERGY STAR® branded fans. ENERGY STAR® fans move air 20% more efficiently, on average, than standard models.

Rustic furniture and decor is becoming trendy again, and recycling the wood used to make old barns is an eco-friendly way to use existing resources. Old barns are made up of hand hewn beams, barn boards and wood that still has the patina and character that comes from many years of use and withstanding the elements of nature.

A lot of this vintage barn wood comes from original stands of old growth forests, so to recycle it into barn wood flooring, timber frame homes, post and beam construction projects, open ceiling beams, and exposed wood beams, is to do a great service to the planet.

Rustic barnwood furniture is made by expert craftsmen from reclaimed barn wood boards and beams. This material can be made into antique barn wood farm tables, bookshelves, outdoor benches, and rustic log furniture.

Barn wood farm house tables are built from old barnwood boards, reclaimed oak, pine, elm, walnut, hickory, cherry, chestnut, and maple – and have that natural weathering and look that only time can provide.

Get cool this summer with the American Comfort Portable Air Conditioner. It has an 8,000 BTU cooling capacity which can cool up to 150-200 Sq Ft. This air conditioner has an electronic control panel with an LED screen, 2 fan speeds, full thermostat control, 24 hour programmable timer, auto-shut off and all necessary components to easily vent hot exhaust air to the outside. It also provides an activated carbon filter that helps to remove odor as well as a washable air filter that collects dust particles and helps to prevent bacteria build-up.