WHY STYLE IT GREEN?
There really is no place like home. It’s our sanctuary, our castle, a place where
families are raised and memories made. Home is where we relax - a special place
where we can just...well, be.
Houses are not homes until we add to the four walls, things to sit on, sleep in, and to
cook and eat with. We add our own identity and personality to home spaces, through
the decoration and special treasures we display in them, making it our own.
Homes are where we escape the world and expect to be safe.
Due to pressures on energy and water resources, we are seeing a growth in green-
built houses, that essentially are having a lower footprint on the environment. It
makes sense to be conscious of this, when we are also going through the process of
decorating our interior spaces.
Plus, toxic and harmful chemicals are often added to furniture and furnishings for
bonding or flame resistance, for example. These chemicals, can, and often do have
affects on our short and long-term health as the off-gases are released into the air
we breathe inside our homes.
There are two main reasons we should be mindful and thoughtful of the choices we
make when designing and styling our homes.
Harmful Toxins In Your Home
Have you ever heard of VOCs? It stands for Volatile Organic Compounds and it’s
an umbrella term for the various chemical toxins found in everyday furnishing and
household items. At room temperature, VOCs are released as a colourless gas that
contaminate the air that we breath and are exposed to every day.
Two of the worst VOCs are formaldehyde and PVC.
Formaldehyde is a colourless, flammable, strong-smelling chemical that is used
in building materials and to produce many household products. It is used in
pressed-wood products such as particleboard, plywood and fibreboard; glues
and adhesives; permanent-press fabrics; paper product coatings; and certain
insulation materials. It is commonly used in flame retardants applied to carpets
and sofas.
Formaldehyde is a known human carcinogen with suspected links to naso-
pharyngeal cancer and certain blood cancers, like myeloid leukemia.
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), or vinyl, also known as ‘poison plastic’, is one of the
most environmentally hazardous consumer materials ever produced. PVC is
dangerous to human health throughout its entire life cycle of production, use and dis-
posal, mainly because so much chlorine is used in making it. When chlorine is used in
industrial processes to make PVC plastic, or products made with PVC are burned as
trash, a dangerous by-product called dioxin is formed. Dioxin is a known
human carcinogen.
06