If you are wanting to go green from the beginning of a building project, there are lots of options that you can use from before you break ground. Using a geo-thermal heating and cooling system, solar panels and reclaimed water is a great way to start. But if you are just wanting to remodel your existing home or office, or just freshen things up a little to look more natural and make a progress towards a greener life, here are some good areas to begin with that process.

Green Flooring Options

One of the more noticeable areas of green design is the flooring that you choose. With so many people tired of vacuuming the carpet, or sickened by the fumes of plastics and synthetics in linoleum or other synthetic materials, using a natural product for your flooring can be a great choice.

If you are replacing carpet or linoleum, going with a wood floor might seem like a logical choice. However, unless the wood product is from a sustainable tree farm, you aren’t really sure where the product is coming from. So, there are some other options for great looking floors that are environmentally friendly and from sustainable resources.

Choosing a reclaimed wood floor made from old logs, timbers or wood from old buildings is a great way to go. Not only are you saving old growth trees from being cut down, you are also adding a lot of character to your home rather easily. This type of wood usually has large growth rings, beautiful knot holes and spots and also can at times have nail or bolt holes that add a great charm to any home. Not to worry though, if you don’t like that look, there are some great options in bamboo or cork flooring. These two products are sustainable, which means they grow quickly and naturally so as to not deplete the environment of them.

If you don’t like the wood look, you can also choose to go with a stone or tile floor material. There are some equally beautiful flooring products that can be made from concrete, recycled glass and even soapstone. There are many more flooring options that are available also.

Going Green with Cabinets and Counters

Most people think of the kitchen when it comes to matching your cabinets to your counters. This is often the most used and visible place of your home to guests, but there are many places that you can use eco-friendly materials here as well.

Your cabinets should be made of reclaimed wood or bamboo due to the sustainability of these products. While not everyone likes these looks, don’t overlook going with old furniture pieces for your islands or smaller cabinets, like those used for bathroom vanities. Old furniture can add a touch of class and style that no modern furniture can bring to a room. They can really set off the look and bring a great focal point to the area as well. There are also some great kitchen designs that use old metal cabinets and reclaimed materials together to make a unique look and style to. Use your imagination and your local recycler and antique store can be your friend here.

As for your counters, there are some great innovations in natural products that are growing in popularity. For one of the more popular, concrete is still a great product to use. With the ability to stain, customize easily, or add texture or accents to it, the price can’t be beat.

Another great option is to use paper-stone or bamboo. Paper-stone is a mix of compressed, recycled papers with a concrete like mix that can make a great texture, almost like a granite or corian countertop.

Green Furniture Products

There are some great products out there that boast of the fact that they are green when it comes to furniture and accessories for your home. While many of these products are quality products, they key to finding the right furniture and materials for the interior of your home is what the product is made of.

For instance, you can find some great “green” furniture that looks great, but will it last? This is one of the big concerns due to the technological advancements in synthetic fabrics that has increased their durability. Part of what makes a piece of furniture durable is the design. Just as a strong home starts with a good foundation, a chair or couch can also last for years if the frame and subframe is built for longevity. You can never go wrong with a quality piece of furniture that has a strong and durable frame.

As for materials, some of the more popular fabrics are cotton, modal, hemp and even bamboo fabrics. While you won’t be able to find all of them easily, cotton is still one of the more popular due to its ease of use, cleanability, and durability. Leather is still a popular option as well, but it does require routine care and cleaning.

There are many different ways to go green on the interior of your home. Finding the right interior designer should be easy to do once you know or have an idea of what products you want to use, and especially what look you want to achieve.

Paint is one of the most important components in any interior design project. Painting a wall will impact the design in an enormous way. Most paints contain chemicals that are extremely harmful to the environment. These chemicals are breathed in by people, which can result in severe health problems. Improper disposal of the paint container can also cause these chemicals to leak out into the earth, harming both the surface and the air content of the earth.

Choosing the perfect eco-friendly paint has become a very easy task. Several companies such as AFM Safecoat, Anna Sova, Eco Specs by Benjamin Moore, Bioshield and Green Planet offer interior designers a wide variety of colors to choose from. The majority of these paints offer low or no volatile organic compounds. These are chemicals that have proven to be extremely harmful for the environment. Some companies choose to create paints that contain clay or other natural materials. Because these paints contain no harmful chemicals, they are typically odorless. Eco-Friendly paints are also a great choice for pregnant women who want to paint or select a color for their nursery. These paints are not only beautiful to look at, but they provide the same quality of paint job as other leading brands.

Wood is another very common component in interior design. Wood products are used for flooring, shelving, furniture, and other decorative pieces. Wood flooring is often looked at as a valuable and luxurious item to have. Wood flooring increases the value and appearance of a home. Wood floors that contain maple and oak take several years to make. Each of these trees takes hundreds of years to grow and fully mature. This is looked at as an un-economical style of floor. More green designers are turning to bamboo and cork to fulfill their flooring needs. Bamboo takes around five years to fully mature. After five years, a floor maker is able to harvest the bamboo and cut it into long, thin strips for flooring. Due to the short period of time it takes for bamboo to grow, this is considered a very green product. We do not need to wait hundreds of years for more bamboo to grow, thus it will never be a scarce product. Bamboo flooring is beautiful and just as strong as an oak floor. Cork flooring is an extremely eco-friendly wood product. Cork flooring is produced by removing a thin layer of the bark on maple trees. This layer will continually regenerate itself, which means that the tree will still live even after the harvesting process. Cork is a beautiful and soft flooring option. It is very comfortable to walk on and has a good durability factor.

Wood furniture does not have to be maple or oak either. Rubber wood has been an increasingly popular option for furniture. Rubber trees are used to produce latex. These trees can produce latex for up to twenty five years. When the trees stop producing the product, they would be cut down and burned. Rubber wood, also know as Parawood, is an eco-friendly wood because no part of the tree goes to waste during its life cycle. The tree will continue to produce product during its entire life span and then be used as furniture when it dies. Parawood has been used for several years to construct high end furniture in Thailand.

Another green solution for interior furniture is reusing the furniture that you already have. Simply restore the furniture by applying an eco-friendly friendly fabric cover over the cushion. Consider purchasing an organic cushioning product to re-stuff the couch or chairs before covering. Stopping at a used furniture store or a thrift store will also allow you to recycle furniture for your home. You can always find someone else’s old furniture set for your home.

Lighting your home can also be a very green choice. Using Energy Star, Solar, or LED lights allows you to light up your home, with less dependability on the environment. By switching over to eco-friendly lighting in your home, you are able to reduce your electric bill by up to ten percent a month.

By taking all of these green steps when completing your interior design project, you are able to create a beautiful and environmentally friendly atmosphere inside of your home.