Green Ideas

Eco-friendly living is definitely not something that’s meant to be taken lightly, however that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun and make your house beautiful while you’re at it! These days green living equals stylish living and by simply using (and reusing) your imagination, there are a million ways to give back without compromising on style. Here are a few practical green tips to pretty-fy your home and please Mother Nature in the process:

• Replace old light bulbs with energy-saving ones. Then, use a glass cutting tool to remove the metal fittings of the old ones and round the glass edges to use them as mini flower vases.
• Make your own bathroom cleaner by sprinkle baking soda on the dirty surface and spraying vinegar over it until the concoction begins to foam – wipe off and voilà!
• In winter, hang blackout curtains to keep the natural heat from escaping the house. Not only are they super cheap, they reduce loss of heat by up to 25% and are available in vinyl, metal and wood – practical and pretty too.
• Place a bin in your kitchen for organic waste which you can later use as compost in your herb or vegetable garden.
• When summertime makes its arrival, ask hubby to paint the roof a light and lovely colour to keep your home cool. That way you don’t have to rely on the air conditioner all that much.
• Turn old plastic bottles into bird feeders to attract life to your garden.
• Invest in cloth napkins. When you start adding up, you’d be quite surprised how many napkins a family can go through in a single week. And besides, how stylish!
• Use glass containers for storing food products such as herbs, jams and spices. Not only are glass containers rather attractive, but plastic containers can often break down and leach chemicals into food.
• Refrigerators use more electricity than any other appliance in the house, and older ones even more so. If you still have a pre-1993 fridge, twist an arm or two to replace it.
• Turn an old pillow case into a handy fabric shoulder bag, and take it along when you go grocery shopping to save on buying plastic bags.
• Also check out this post for some ideas on recycling old crates.

Original images and their credits available on Pinterest