3 Healthy & Natural Ways to Keep Your Home Looking & Feeling Its Best

We all want our homes to look as appealing as possible – and, more than that – to actually feel comforting, uplifting, and cosy, as well.

To that end, we all typically go to some pretty significant lengths to decorate our homes with ornaments and trinkets that we find appealing, and to ensure that we have the kinds of appliances in place that can make our lives a bit easier and more blissful.

Unfortunately, though, home ornaments, appliances, and other goods, are not immune from the issues of pollution and environmental unfriendliness that affect so many goods on the market as a whole.

Many of the appliances in our homes give off certain gases and contaminants which can contribute to what is known as “Sick Building Syndrome, and ornaments that contain a lot of synthetic elements can present certain significant health risks, too.

As always, the best policy tends to be to go for the most “natural” options available when considering ways to keep your home looking and feeling its absolute best.

Here are a few suggestions along those lines.

Get the vivid “wow factor” using natural stones, minerals, and resins

Many popular ornaments and decorations exist, first and foremost, to create a vivid “wow factor,” that really draws the eye, changes the overall atmosphere of the room in a significant way, and acts as a centrepiece.

Some of the “wow factor” ornaments you might have in your home, however, may not be entirely benign, healthwise, due to their synthetic or mechanical components, and will very frequently not do a good job of conveying a “natural” and organic aesthetic.

Consider getting that “wow factor” by using natural stones, minerals, and resins, such as tigers eye, in order to introduce a range of different colours and textures to your mantelpiece, coffee table, or anywhere else where you want to make a strong visual impression.

Many naturally-occurring minerals are absolutely breathtaking, especially when carved and arranged appropriately. And amber not only looks great, but also has a much more interesting story behind it than the average mass-produced synthetic ornament you might come across. Just consider the journey from prehistoric tree sap, to fossilised material often washed up somewhere like the coastlines of the Baltic Sea. 

Bring greenery into your home, and load up on air-purifying houseplants

As pointed out at the start of this article, our homes often contain a lot more in the way of air pollutants than we might like. Between gas emissions from our accumulated appliances, and common allergens such as mould spores and pet dander, staying cooped up indoors too much can be a very effective way of ensuring you become ill on a regular basis.

Fortunately, there is a type of completely natural and health-promoting decoration choice you can include in your home, that can also work wonders in purifying the air of some common and devastating pollutants.

We’re talking of course, about houseplants.

NASA actually conducted research on different ways in which polluted air could be purified, under the title of the “Clean Air Study.” Interestingly, they found that many common houseplants are remarkably effective at decontaminating the air, and making the environment much more health-promoting.

You can find lists and charts online drawn from the NASA research, describing which specific types of houseplants are most effective in that role. Ultimately, it would be better to fill your home with actual living and breathing plants, than with simple bouquets of flowers that inevitably only last few days and don’t fulfill the same function.

Use an essential oil diffuser to fragrance your home, as opposed to incense or air fresheners

This suggestion falls much more under the overall heading of “atmosphere” than “visual aesthetic,” but can nonetheless have a dramatic effect on how relaxing and luxurious you find your home environment to be.

Sometimes, you just want to lie back in your bed, or on the sofa, and breathe in pleasant scents courtesy of things like aromatic candles, incense sticks, or even air fresheners.

Unfortunately, incense can lead to irritation of the airways and may not be very good for your lungs either – as you are, after all, inhaling burnt material.

Aromatic candles and air fresheners, likewise, often contain synthetic compounds that may have a negative effect on your health and overall well-being.

So, what’s the natural, health-promoting alternative?

Essential oils, diffused into the air.

Many essential oils are known specifically to have antibacterial and other positive health effects, and when those oils are diffused into the air in steam, there’s no real combustion process to be worried about.

Top image via Pixabay