Redecorating your home can seem like a daunting task in the beginning. With so much inspiration available on the internet, you could easily lose yourself in a world of abundant information. However, the most important aspect of home decor is to create the right balance between aesthetics and sustainability. Afterall, sustainability is a “buland soch” that everyone should believe in. Here are a few DIY home decor ideas that can help you to turn your humble abode into an eco-friendly home.

Introduce plants in and around your home

Growing plants in and around your home is probably one of the first things you should do when trying to create an environment-friendly home. You could start off by growing your own herb garden indoors. Follow up by adding lush ferns and bright succulents to your outdoor space. This helps you purify the air around you and add a natural positive vibe to your home.

Switch over to greener lighting and appliances

If you are planning to upgrade your lighting and home appliances, choose ones that are energy efficient. Replace your old lightbulbs/tube lights with energy efficient dimmer switches and LED bulbs. Also, invest appliances that have 5 star energy ratings. This will help you save a lot of energy and money.

Choose non-toxic paint

Want to change the colours of your walls and other spaces? Choose environment-friendly non-toxic paint instead of regular paint as they contain volatile organic compounds or “VOCs”. These VOCs are extremely harmful to humans and the environment in general. However, eco-friendly paints are free from VOCs and are made with raw materials that are biodegradable and plant based, that make it absolutely safe for you and your family.

Use furniture made of reclaimed wood

One of the ideal things you could do while getting new furniture is to make them using wood that is reclaimed from old furniture. The idea is to source usable wood from old broken furniture and repurposing it to make new ones. Another alternative to this could be to source wood from dead trees. This could be hard to find, but if you can do that then it will add a certain degree of mystic to your home’s aesthetics.

Get an ideal waste management system in place

Another important thing is to have a waste management system in place that helps you segregate your waste in different units for proper disposal. You could use the wet, organic waste to create manure for your houseplants while the other inorganic, dry waste can be disposed of through correct channels. You could also recycle wastes like plastic, paper, etc. You also need to make sure that electronic and medical wastes are disposed of in the right way.

Repurpose and recycle before replacing things

There can’t be enough emphasis on how important it is to repurpose and recycle old things instead of replacing them. DIY-ing old things into new stuff is extremely satisfying. It could be as simple as repainting old wooden furniture to match your current decor. You would be surprised to know that your creativity could actually result in making your home sustainable. So, don’t hesitate to unleash your DIY side and create fun things out of regular stuff available in your home.

Use eco-friendly houseware

Switch to cookware that are made of stainless steel, brass and ceramic as they are safe for your health, and require relatively less water to clean. Avoid using plastic homeware and other non-stick pans and pots, or microwave-safe utensils. They are harder to clean.

Invest your time in rainwater harvesting

Rainwater harvesting may sound difficult but it can be very rewarding in the future. You could use professional help to make a rainwater harvesting unit or create one yourself with some help from the internet. Start off by creating a DIY unit and slowly build a bigger one for your home. Remember, the size of your unit doesn’t matter, it's your efforts that count.

Build an eco-friendly foundation

While there are tons of things that one can do to make their home eco-friendly, we believe that the foundation of a home should be based on sustainability. So, if you are building yourself a new home make sure you use environment friendly raw materials like JK Smartblox AAC blocks to build it. This way your base is strong and sustainable.

Last but not the least, these were only a few ideas that you could use to start off your journey of creating a sustainable home. Remember, it's the baby steps that help you grow and nurture something bigger. Got some unique ideas to create an eco-friendly home? Do share them with us in the comment section.