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elvirakatelin reacted to LizzieWeakley for a blog entry, Home Restoration: How to Make Your Home "Green" and Energy Efficient
Making your home eco-friendly doesn't need to be an expensive or time-consuming chore. In fact, most families only need to make a few small changes around their house in order to cut down on their carbon footprint. Here is a look at five simple steps that you can take today to lower energy bills and potentially remove some toxins within your own home.
Switch to Plant-Based Cleaners
There is a long list of unhealthy chemicals sitting under the kitchen sink in most homes. Some of these common cleaners are effective when it comes to removing grime, but they are often quite toxic and can be replaced with much safer products. Next time any of your cleaners are running low, consider switching over to alternatives such as vinegar-based cleaners.
Create a Compost Station
Within many homes, food scraps make up nearly 50 percent of all waste. Instead of letting this go to the landfill, creating a simple compost station is a great way to put leftover scraps to work. A compost station can turn practically any organic material into nutrient-rich compost for a garden or to improve the health of your lawn during the spring.
Air Seal Your Home
Whenever a home is not sealed properly, homeowners are going to be looking at higher energy bills and lower air quality. A simple way to start air sealing a home is to use gaskets and seals from companies like Phoenix Specialty for ducts and vents. Other areas that may need to be sealed include gaps around doors and old pipes leading into or out of the home.
Give Up Bottled Water
There are few items that have become as problematic for our environment as plastic water bottles. These products are especially difficult to recycle and some even contaminate water with chemicals such as BPAs. Buying a dozen BPA-free bottles, filling them with water, and putting them in the fridge will ensure that your family has constant access to refreshing water without the need for creating more waste.
Stop Dumping and Donate
Almost anything that is used in a home can either be recycled or donated, and taking a little extra time to separate your trash could make quite a difference at a local dump. Some items throughout the home that are easy to donate include clothing, electronics, toys, and old kitchenware.
Homes now consume around 40 percent of all energy within the United States, and families that take the time to make their home more eco-friendly can help make a difference while saving some extra money.
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elvirakatelin reacted to juliagomes for a blog entry, Vertical Gardens: Transforming the Concept of Gardening
Vertical walls are one of the latest trends of gardening in the recent days. The concept of using the vertical green walls arises due to the increased pollution in the urban cities. The forest areas are reducing significantly. Most of the people are living in apartments where there is not enough place to make gardens. In such situations, vertical walls create a huge difference. Architects are using the vertical green facades and walls on the living rooms, balconies and cabinets to make the homes green and airy.
Have you ever waken up in the morning and realized that you are staying in the world of fantasies. You wake up every morning and find yourself in between an exotic forest surrounded with bushes and indigenous plants. Nature freaks love to decorate their homes with vertical green walls and hydroponic installations. They want to incorporate greenery in the interior home décor. It is not just about planting trees and placing some flowering plants on the balconies. It is all about using green landscapes on the walls of the home. The hydroponic installations change your way of living.
Make The Living Room A Forest Of Your Imagination:
You may be dreaming always to reside in between natural beauty of the earth. But due to development and reduction of space, you cannot make your own garden. But your dream can turn into reality. You can install the hydroponic walls on the living room and use herbs and scented plants for decoration. In some places, you can also use flowering plants to create a feeling of the garden. If you want to make an effect of woods, do not forget to plant some bushes in between. To make your living room compliment with the décor, use wooden furniture.
Let Your Jacuzzi Resemble A Countryside Lake:
You can install a big vertical wall garden on the wall just beside your favorite lace to relax. To make the place a little phenomenal, fit the tap in a height as it feels like a waterfall coming from the green walls. Having the hydroponic walls beside the Jacuzzi make you feel like you are swimming on a countryside lake. The vertical green walls create a unique sense of purity and relief on the mind and circulate the air. You will definitely feel fresh having the green walls inside your home.
Green Gateways:
Your entry gate is one of the first places that make a great impression in the mind of the guests. Install simple designer hydroponic plants around the enormous gate of your home. You can decorate the gate, according to your wish. You can hang some flowering plants and herbs sideways.
Make A Unique Effect In The Balconies:
Your balcony is one of your favorite places inside your home. You spend your leisure times at the balcony. Change the entire décor of this place by replacing the wall paintings with green walls. You can hang the flowering pots from the ceilings. Apart from using the plants that stand still, climbers and creepers on the walls. The best part is that here the green panels get enough sunshine.
You can also use the green wall vertical garden in the kitchen, bedrooms, and kid’s room and over the open cabinets. Companies offer various hydroponic installations for the savvy homeowners. Purchase one and make your home a perfect place to breathe.