Even though the bathroom tends to be one or if not the smallest rooms inside your home, it does, however, have a huge ecological or environmental footprint. That’s because most conventional bathrooms consume a lot of water and sometimes take up a lot of energy if you’re using very strong lighting. On top of that, your vanities or closets might host harsh chemicals that you use for maintaining the bathroom or in the bathroom products themselves.
In this article, we’ll explore ideas to create an Eco-Friendly Bathroom Design without poking a huge hole in your budget.
Reasons to go Eco-Friendly?
Before we explore the many ideas that you can explore for an Eco-friendly bathroom, let’s first discover the reasons why a homeowner would want to go the Eco-friendly route and here are some of those said reasons:
1. Conventional Bathrooms don’t have the best environmental footprint
Whether you call a tub reglazing service or clean up your bathroom thoroughly, a conventional bathroom doesn’t have the best impact on the environment. That’s because – again, as stated earlier, the bathroom uses a lot of water, uses energy whenever you’re using the room and conventional bathrooms use materials that can be toxic, exposing you and others to toxic fumes or chemicals.
2. Resource Preservation and Sustainability
Eco-friendly bathrooms utilize reclaimed wood, bamboo, recycled glass and the like, which means that you are reducing the demand for new resources and materials to improve your bathroom. Thus, you are in a way, reducing the waste output compared to conventional bathrooms that demand new resources during repair or renovation.
3. Some of the eco-friendly means aren’t as expensive as you think
Because you are working with recycled materials and the like, not all eco-friendly methods to improve your bathroom’s environmental footprint require you to spend a lot of money. In fact, many of them are readily available the moment you utilize certain materials that are readily accessible to you.
Thus, allowing you to make your bathroom eco-friendly even on a tight budget.
Eco-Friendly Bathroom Design Ideas
Now that we’ve covered a few key reasons why homeowners would like to have an eco-friendly bathroom, let’s move on to the ideas that you can utilize. Listed in this section are some of the most eco-friendly bathroom ideas that you can utilize and don’t cost a lot of money.
1. Add ornamental plants
The first eco-friendly bathroom design idea that won’t break your budget is adding ornamental plants inside your bathroom. However, you must pick plants that can still thrive in indoor or bathroom spaces, as not all plants are made for that purpose. The logic behind this is that ornamental plants can improve the air quality inside your bathroom, but one isn’t going to cut it.
Maybe add two or potted plants inside your bathroom to ensure that the air quality will improve. This effect is much more profound once we explore the next design idea.
2. Use non-VOC paints
Most paints utilize VOCs, or Volatile Organic Compounds which can negatively impact the environment by worsening the air quality, and also cause respiratory problems and headaches. By using non-VOC paints, you are removing the health risks caused by conventional paints; but also improving overall air quality.
As foreshadowed earlier, the effect of using non-VOC paints becomes more amplified if your bathroom contains potted plants suited for an indoor environment.
3. Use Recycled Wall Tilings
For wet wall surfaces, you are better off installing tiles made from repurposed waste materials such as ceramics, porcelain, or recycled glass. Not only are you improving your bathroom’s environmental footprint, but you’d also be surprised at the mosaic-like look that these recycled tilings exhibit.
On top of that, recycled tiles are relatively easy to handle. You can add them by yourself or employ the help of a tiling professional if you don’t have the time for it or you can’t install tiles well.
4. Recycled Flooring
For wet flooring, you would want to look for bamboo, reclaimed wood, or cork that has been treated for water resistance. Among the three, cork is your best bet as it is already innately water-resistant and feels very comfy to the feet. But if cork’s not available, bamboo and reclaimed wood can do great, but they must be treated for water resistance first so that they don’t deteriorate easily.
But if bamboo or reclaimed is still not available, recycled porcelain tilings are a passable choice to consider.
5. Sustainable Countertops and Vanities
Another way to improve your bathroom in an eco-friendly way is to improve your countertops by using natural stone, glass, or reclaimed wood, as they provide an innately water-resistant surface for use in the bathroom.
In addition to countertops, reclaimed wood is a solid choice if you like to change the appearance of your bathroom drawers, closets, and vanities. On top of the natural water resistance it has, reclaimed wood can be tweaked to your liking, adding a touch of character and personality to the vanities inside your bathroom.
6. From Incandescent to LED
Another way to improve your bathroom’s environmental footprint is to make the change from incandescent or fluorescent bulbs to LED light sources. That’s because compared to fluorescent or incandescent light sources, LEDs consume 3⁄4 ‘s less energy and provide overall better lighting and use lifespan.
You’d be shocked to see how an LED can light up your bathroom better at a low cost and at the same time, contribute to a lower energy bill and fewer bulb disposals in between.
Eco-Friendly doesn’t have to be expensive to happen
Improving your bathroom’s ecological or environmental influence doesn’t mean that you have to shell out thousands of dollars to attain that. Sometimes, you might need a few hundred to achieve that goal, even if it’s just a tweak or two inside your bathroom, given that the options we’ve covered in this guide utilize materials that are easy to source or are readily available.
To conclude, eco-friendly bathroom designs and ideas are still attainable even on a budget, and the impact that they can leave behind in your home will be noticeable if you combine them.
