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5 STEPS TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE 2019

With a passion for eco-friendly interior design, design professional, content creator and owner of Beauty Is Abundant LLC, Leah Alexander, is here to share tips on how to improve your quality of life and sustain the improvements all year-round!


Someplace between New Year’s Resolution fails, cabin fever and spring cleaning is a time to assess your home’s state of affairs, allowing for thoughtful home improvement and decor overhauls. 


Here are 5 tips to overcome the winter blahs and get your home in tip-top shape. From improving your indoor air quality to de-cluttering, add these to your to-do list today!


1 PUFFY COATS & FRESH COATS OF PAINT


Go green (not necessarily the color) with your walls this winter and notice a shift in energy, perhaps psychologically and physically. Paint is a huge pollutant of our indoor quality, causing respiratory issues, illness and other avoidable disgruntled-ness.


For some relief, consider a paint brand with eco-friendly ingredients for this part of your home’s pick-me-up.


Who wants their walls covered in a color that could potentially contain rocket fuel and unicorns' tears, anyway? Just like with food or personal care items, beware of products labeled with too many multi-syllabic words that even the school spelling bee champ would have a hard time deciphering.


2 HOUSEPLANTS


They change everything. I've come to love my very own Fiddle-Leaf Fig tree, Emerald.


Yes, I jumped on this designer houseplant’s bandwagon about two years ago and haven't looked back. If not a Fiddle-leaf, what about a small rubber tree? Whatever the species, a plant may just be the breath of fresh air your home office corner or bedroom need.



3 SUSTAINABLE FINISHES


If you’re considering more than just a coat of paint and a pet cactus, and perhaps your kitchen is in need of a face-lift, consider researching eco-friendly tile and countertops. If you’re renovating, the more building materials in your home that include recycled content, the better, whether your preference is glass, ceramic or terrazzo. Pair these green materials with sustainable paint, and your home is on its way to being a healthful haven.


4 FRESH BATHROOMS


Consider a bathroom product refresh: This may not seem to fall under home improvement and decor overhauls. But, as we explored in “Bathroom Styling with Care,” soap is one of the top ways to sanctuary-ize the otherwise drab space. 


The benefits of considering the beauty and sustainability, ingredients and packaging of even the smallest items in the home are three-fold: Squeaky clean conscience; squeaky clean bod, inside and out; and an awesomely accessorized home!


By the way, did you know that household toiletries are among the most common indoor pollutants?



5 GET ORGANIZED


And do it with care. When it comes to home storage and organization, look for alternatives to plastic, eliminating single-use waste like plastic sandwich bags, which harm us and our planet.


Can that bin overflowing with plastic bottles for your recycling center run be eliminated by replacing plastic bottles with a reusable one?


Consider if the empty basket in the corner can be used as a planter for your new houseplant rather than buying a new one. Perhaps it can be called home for the stack of magazines that may be in jeopardy of being tossed come spring cleaning time - but not just yet.



Can those too-small jeans and those dozen tie-dye t-shirts be donated?

   

No? Too much, too soon. Understood.


Take care with your home and your quality of life (and air) this winter! New year, new ways of life!

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