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This is the second part of Detox Your Home: In the Living Room. To access Part 1, click here. To access the Detox Your Home main page, click here.
Stuff that makes it easy being green
1. Paint a healthy picture. Using low-VOC paints is essential to creating a healthy and attractive home. More and more mainstream and niche paint lines, such as AFM Safecoat, Anna Sova Luxury Organics, BioShield, the Old Fashioned Milk Paint Co., and Sherwin Williams Harmony are offering selections to meet every aesthetic. On a tight budget? Affordable low-VOC paints, from brands such as Benjamin Moore & Co., Sherwin-Williams, and others also abound. (You can even find out which low-VOC paints are recommended by our readers. If you really want to paint safely, you can even make your own. Just follow this recipe to make your own paint. 2. Take cover. Rugs made from natural materials are better for your health. Luckily, loads of gorgeous green goods are available. Nani Marquina designs beautiful rugs from jute and wool that are handmade under fair-trade conditions in Nepal and Pakistan. Odegard, Inc. imports Tibetan and Nepalese rugs that use sustainable materials and dyes, and has also been a leader in the crusade against child labor. For innovative works made from alpaca fleece, Nepalese cactus, banana fibers, and hemp by small cooperatives of local farmers, check out Rosemary Hallgarten's Peruvian collection.
3. Get floored. Hardwood floors with non-toxic finishes are beautiful, easy to clean, and healthy. To choose flooring made from wood that comes from sustainably harvested forests, look for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) label when shopping. We like Ecotimber, Kahrs, and Green Floors, which offer everything from white oak to exotic teak. Decorative cork tiles are another living room option; ModuTiles by Mioculture are playful and made from reconstituted cork. For more bright ideas when it comes to the living room, check out the video below.*
Did you know?
- Indoor air quality can be two to five times worse than that outside, according to the EPA, and most people spend about 90 percent of their time indoors.
- Keeping your home's air-conditioning filters clean increases its efficiency and saves 350 pounds of carbon dioxide from escaping into the air per year, according to StopGlobalWarming.org.
- More than 80 percent of American homes built before 1978-that's roughly 64 million-contain lead paint, according to the EPA.
- Radon gas from natural sources, which can accumulate in buildings, is the causes of 21,000 lung cancer deaths per year in the United States, according to the EPA.
Return to the Detox Your Home main page.
*Furnishings in this video were provided by Verde Home in Atlanta, Georgia.
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