7 Eco-Friendly Decor Ideas to Brighten Up Your Home

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As we approach the new year, I know that many of us will be preparing for a ‘glow up’, whether it’s for our health, productivity, or our home. The new year is the perfect time to re-think your surroundings and create changes in your home to make it a more functional, beautiful and inspiring place to live.

If this is you, I would encourage you to think about eco-friendly decor when you are planning your home improvements. It’s easy to go on a shopping spree and buy all sorts of beautiful home decor items, but often they are made of unsustainable materials or produced unethically. In this post, I will be sharing 7 ways to brighten up your home decor whilst having a low environmental impact on the planet.

7 Eco-Friendly Decor Ideas to Brighten Up Your Home

1. Get eco-friendly wallpaper

Your walls are one of the most important factors of your home decor, and they can really set the atmosphere of your room. Warm or dark colours can give a cosy feel, light colours make the room feel open and airy, and patterns or murals can make your space completely unique. It’s clear to see that by changing your wallpaper (or adding some for the first time) you can make a dramatic difference to the appearance of a room.

But where can you source eco-friendly wallpaper? Ever Wallpaper is a fantastic place to start. Founded in London in 2002, Ever Wallpaper produces high-quality, sustainable wallpapers and wall murals at an affordable price.

Their paper is a blend of consciously chosen materials including sustainable wood and post-consumer recycled content. It is free from PVC (vinyl) which is commonly found in cheaper wallpapers and is very toxic for people and the planet. Ever Wallpaper also uses Greenguard certified inks and work on a print-to-order basis to avoid product waste. Their wallpapers are 100% recyclable so you needn’t feel bad if you want to switch up your interior design again in the future.

Not only are their wallpapers eco-friendly, but Ever Wallpaper also uses sustainable packaging. In addition, they have created a green workplace and they even wear recycled uniforms! This responsible company is surely the most eco-friendly place you could go for your new wallpaper.

My top wallpaper picks from Ever Wallpaper

As well as being eco-friendly, I have to say that their wallpaper designs are absolutely gorgeous! Here are some of my favourites:

Snow Landscape – I think this wallpaper would give a really cosy feel to a home during the winter, giving an illusion of a snowy landscape outside a window.

Cute Fish – these cheerful fishes would be great for brightening up a bathroom.

Cactus & Flower II – I love plants so I could really see this colourful cactus wallpaper in my home!

China Rose II – I think this intricate wallpaper would look beautiful in a conservatory or even a kitchen.

Champagne Rose – this wallpaper has a stunning 3D effect and i think it would look so elegant in a lounge.

2. Make homemade decor items

It’s always more eco-friendly to make your own home decor items using materials you already have, rather than buying new ones. Here are some ideas that are easy to make at home:

• Bunting (paper or fabric)
• Paper flowers
• Knitted or crocheted cushion covers and throws
• Macrame
• Needle felted decorations
• Paint your own artwork to hang on the walls
• A rag rug
• Papier-mâché bowls

3. Get some houseplants

There are many reasons why houseplants are an eco-friendly way to brighten up your home. Firstly, they are obviously completely natural so you won’t be introducing synthetic or environmentally harmful materials into your home. This is even more true if you opt for ceramic planters rather than plastic pots.

Secondly, plants absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. Not only does this improve the air quality inside your home, but your plants will also be doing their tiny contribution to reducing global warming.

Thirdly, plants can give back! Herbs, chilli plants, citrus trees and other plants will produce food for you which saves you from buying them from the shops. Locally grown food is always best from an environmental standpoint, and you can’t get more local than your own windowsill!

Sadly, it’s inevitable that houseplants will sometimes die, even if you have green fingers! However, dead plants can be composted and their pots can be reused, so you won’t be creating any waste.

Houseplants are a really sustainable as well as a beautiful form of home decor. So why not start building up your houseplant collection today?

4. Bring nature indoors

Another way to achieve eco-friendly decor is to bring nature indoors. Here are some ideas that are completely free and will brighten up your home in a sustainable way:

• Collect fir cones and put them in a bowl or glass vase.
• Cut flowers and foliage from your garden and arrange them in a vase.
• Collect driftwood, shells and pebbles from the beach. These would look great in a bathroom to create a seaside theme.
• Collect logs and sticks (make sure they are dry) and keep them in a container by your fireplace, even if you have a fake fire. They will make the room look aesthetic and cosy.

5. Insulate your home, decoratively

Insulating your wall cavities and roof can have a huge effect on the energy efficiency of your home. However, that’s a topic for a different post, as I’m here to talk about home decor. Buying pretty draught excluders, additional curtains and blinds, and rugs and wall hangings, are all exciting ways to brighten up your home whilst helping to keep it well insulated at the same time.

This Christmas, my sister asked me for a draught excluder to help block a draught that was coming through under her front door. I found a pretty bee-patterned one on Etsy that was handmade with sustainable materials. It’s always a good idea to check that products are ethically and sustainably made before you buy them. Even if ethical insulation products are more expensive, you will ultimately earn the money back in saved heating bills!

6. Rearrange your stuff

It’s totally possible to give your home a glow-up without buying or making anything at all. Over the years, there have been several occasions where I rearranged the furniture in my bedroom, just for a change. It always ended up feeling like a completely different room!

To take this further, you could consider rearranging your furniture and belongings all over your house. Don’t just do it at random – take the time to think about functionality as well as aesthetics. Whilst moving your stuff around, you might rediscover a few decor gems that were hiding away in drawers or cupboards. This can also be a great opportunity to have a declutter of any items that you don’t need or don’t suit your home anymore.

7. Make gradual changes

It can be tempting to go right ahead and replace all your plastic items with new wooden or ceramic versions, in order to make your home more eco-friendly. However, this only creates waste! It’s actually more eco-friendly to keep using what you already have in your home. When things break or wear out, you can gradually replace them with eco-friendly versions. Sometimes, a slow glow-up over a long time is a lot more eco-friendly than a fast ‘fix’.

How eco-friendly is your home decor?

I hope this post has inspired you to think about eco-friendly options to brighten up your home and give it a glow-up. I would like to give a special shout-out to Ever Wallpaper who have really impressed me with how eco-friendly they are. They truly produce beautiful and sustainable wallpapers so I highly recommend checking them out!

Have you made, or are you thinking of making any eco-friendly changes to your home decor? I would love to hear your eco-friendly decor ideas. Please let me know in the comments below!