Green Interior Design: The Guide to Sustainable High Style

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The ultimate in nature-inspired decorating, green is one of the most popular and versatile colours to use in a living room. In colour psychology, greens are usually associated with balance and harmony, and act as the bridge between stimulating warm colours and calming cool colours. When possible, utilizing natural light can replace energy costs of lighting, while providing some healthy support to your circadian rhythm by bringing you more in tune to the outside world. Working in daylight may even make you more productive! Make sure windows are high-performing to not leak energy. An interior designer can help you determine what options are possible in your location and how to best reduce glare for your situation. Make your Windows Bird Friendly Photo: “DSC00140” by historyworks, shared under Creative Commons Attribution There are three fundamental principles to “green” interior design: energy efficiency, resource conservation, and health. When designing or remodeling an interior, optimizing the energy efficiency reduces pollution and saves resources for the entire lifetime of the interior. While maximizing energy efficiency is sometimes more expensive upfront, in the long term reducing energy consumption saves money and pays for itself. A primary bathroom with marble tiles flooring and a marble sink counter with a double sink. There’s a walk-in shower room as well.

A dining area featuring green walls and hardwood flooring, along with a rustic rectangular dining table set. Next, consider the mood you want to create – cozy and enveloping, in which case a darker green will suit – or light and airy, in which case you will want to choose a paler shade. What colors complement green? Huge primary bathroom with green classy walls and green tiles flooring. The room offers a floating vanity with two vessel sinks along with a freestanding tub. The biggest offender for energy use is cooling buildings, especially large buildings. With smart interior design, you can save energy by eliminating the need to climate control or by making use of mechanical cooling. There are many options depending on the size and shape of the building. One of the most common is cross ventilation to remove warm air, which works best when the interior is warmer than the outdoor air. This kitchen boasts stylish kitchen counters with smooth countertops. The bright green cabinetry looks absolutely stunning.Green is an incredibly versatile colour with an endless array of stunning shades, offering something for everyone.

Select Energy-Efficient Appliances Built to Last Photo: Appliances by Bryan Alexander, shared under Creative Commons Attribution You do not want to cut corners to save money when buying an appliance. Improvements in technology means that updating your appliances can do wonders for your energy consumption. However, many appliances are difficult to recycle. This means that the eco-friendly way to update your appliances is to get the best quality, most energy-efficient option. By buying quality appliances built to last rather than inexpensive appliances that need frequent replacement, you are minimizing your environmental impact by reducing energy consumption and by reducing future waste. Over time, you will end up saving money with the energy savings and long life of your appliance. Consider the Life-Cycle of Materials Photo: “International Recycling Symbol,” Public Domain. Spacious dining area featuring a classy dining table set on top of a large area rug and is lighted by a glamorous chandelier. A large living room featuring a brown sofa set with a fireplace and TV in front. The room is surrounded by green walls. The wooden mission table has a wall-mounted framed artwork above the headboard that pops out against the light green walls. The bedside drawers flanking the bed are perfectly matched with the cabinet and dresser that has a built-in mirror.

Green Soft Furnishings

Remember the environmentally conscious adage “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle?” Durable materials such as construction materials can be reused to give them a second life, sometimes in surprising ways Want to learn more? Mark Gorgolewski explores many options for material reuse in Resource Salvation: The Architecture of Reuse.

And, as you can see in the picture above, taken from one of our decorating photo shoots, it goes with almost any other color. The only visible architectural element of this room, the door frame, is painted in a putty pink, which is the exactly the same tone as the green; this allows for bolder colors to be used for the accessories, which are the focal points of the room.' How can I make my green rooms look good? The wooden main door of this airy foyer has an arched top that is followed by the sidelights that form an arch over the door. This is properly contrasted by the pastel green hue of the walls that matches well with the white ceiling. The hardwood flooring is topped with a colorful patterned rug that serves as a welcome mat. Source: Zillow Digs TM This kitchen features green kitchen counters and a green center island breakfast bar with a wooden countertop.There are many clever ways to heat your home and save energy. That’s a good thing, because heating is one of the most energy intensive needs of single-family homes. One way to heat your home through passive solar heating is indirect gain. Through this system, a thermal storage wall stores energy from the sun. If you have a south-facing wall, you could be a candidate for a wall with masonry or water to diffuse all that fantastic heat throughout your home. Energy Recovery Systems Photo: “Steam Kettle” by The Meat Case, shared under Creative Commons Attribution Large great room with hardwood flooring and green walls. The area offers a living space near the stone fireplace. Green primary bathroom featuring two sinks, a powder area, a corner tub, and a walk-in shower room.

The two terms are often used interchangeably, but the two words have slightly different connotations. In The Green Studio Handbook, Alison G. Kwok and Walter Grondzik note their preference for “green” as term with a definition established through its use in rating systems such as LEED. Through the guidelines for these rigorous rating systems, we know exactly what qualifies as “green” and what does not, giving us a practical, working definition for what is “green” today. Overtime, as environmentally conscious practices become mainstream, what is considered “green” changes. Green, in all its shades, has been a popular design choice for several years now, and the colour trend isn’t showing any signs of stopping. In fact, many of us are becoming bolder with our interiors and are finding new exciting ways to incorporate green, whether it's to create a vibrant, eclectic or tranquil living space.In an office or industrial setting, waste heat can be harnessed using heat exchangers. These systems are custom designed to the particulars of the activities and building, so a well-educated interior designer is needed to find the best opportunities for an energy recovery system. This can range from as simple as capturing the excess heat generated by an oven in an industrial kitchen to boil water for use, to much more complex or opaque systems. Cool Buildings Naturally Photo: “Jagd Suite at Schlosshotel Lerbach” by R Boed, shared under Creative Commons Attribution.