There are so many things you can do to create your dream eco home; the easiest place to start is with painting your home using eco paint because it is easily available, cheap and easy for you to do yourself. It will be made using either plant based materials such as linseed oil or abundant materials like chalk; they are healthy natural materials that don't give off harmful fumes. They also let your walls breathe which lets excess moisture out of the walls. Anyone can use a paint brush and roller so you can start tomorrow!
 

The easiest way to make your home greener is simply a phone call to a renewable energy electricity provider and you just ask to switch over to them. With that you are off the coal and nuclear and onto the wind and the sun! I think that is a no brainer and if everyone did this tomorrow it would create a huge demand for renewable energy and so the supply would follow.
 

Another way to green your home is simply to reuse furniture. Go to an antique shop or a second hand shop and buy quality furniture that will last forever. You can also take some cheap furniture and upcycle it into something new by simply painting it using chalk based paint and add some colour, change the handles and give it a modern twist. It is always better to reuse old furniture than buy new; in fact the most eco friendly furniture you can buy is second hand furniture. But if you want to have something new, made from natural materials grown in the UK and made by a local craftsmen and you want something that is made using natural non toxic materials, then spend the money and get something well made, spend the time designing it and make it beautiful, that way it will last forever, you can sell it and pass it down generations, just like we used to do.
 

Another option for the home is using furnishings like carpets, sofas, curtains that don't contain fire retardants, it is not necessary to have fire retardants in many things such as beds for example because if you buy a natural mattress, the materials will have naturally fire retardant properties, and you and your children will sleep at night without inhaling these toxic gasses that are soaked in many things we buy, even furniture, toys and clothes.
 

I am a big advocate of natural, because the closer you can stay to nature the better off the item will be for you. So think about the manufacturing and processing, the more it is processed the worse it is for you and your health. Another thing I love in the dream eco home is clay plaster, you can't get much natural than mud dug from the ground and put on your walls. No it doesn't just fall off and doesn't smell or crack, there are many people who have great formulas that look and work as good as gypsum based plasters, in face they are better, because one they have a much nicer softer natural look as clay is a live material that isn't very processed. The most important thing is it regulates the humidity in your home, so when it is too moist it sucks it in and when it is too dry in the room it lets the moisture back out into the room, so it acts like a room (forgot the word) regulator. If that wasn't enough it also absorbs and neutralists chemicals that are constantly given off in your home because it absorbs them.
 

Lastly make sure anything you buy has the FSC badge on it which means that the wood used has come from responsibly managed forests and not the precious rain forest.
 

For more information, visit www.empatika.uk.

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