Healthy Low-Budget Strategies for Giving Your Home a Cool Vacation Feel

Window mirror photo courtesy of Recycled Crafts.

With few exceptions, no matter where you are in the world, summer heat is still raging on, the air conditioner is still humming along, and the windows are closed making indoor air stale.

It’s worse if you have chemical sensitivities and live in a small apartment. There are though some simple and often low budget things that can be done to give any home a naturally more airy and healthier feel.

One of the first and easiest things that can be done is to just strategically place some mirrors to give a more open feel. “Very often, when you are reflecting the outdoors, the space can appear larger and you get that beautiful greenery, ” said Bernadette Upton, founder and president of EcoDécor, a universal design and decorating company using sustainable principles, products, and practices.

Besides reflecting some green from the outside, another strategy for bringing the outdoors in and naturally purifying that stale air, is to have house plants.

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What’s in Your Home Environment Can Be Making You Sick - Biological Pathogens

Graphic provided courtesy of AirAdvice, Inc.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - With all the fuss about President-elect Obama’s daughter, Malia, having allergies and needing a hypoallergenic dog, it got me to thinking about allergies and environmental conditions in general, which was the inspiration for what will be a three-part series of the issue.

When we consider the elements in our home environments-the animals, the paint on the walls, the furnishings, linens, cleaning solvents, and general maintenance- we also need to consider our family members’ sensitivities to these conditions.

With this in mind, I found a great study that I wanted to share called “Indoor Air Pollution,” which was a collaborative effort between the American Lung Association, the Environmental Protection Association, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the American Medial Association. The following issues that will be covered (each in a separate installment), are health problems caused by:

• Mold, Dust Mites and Other Biological Pathogens
• Volatile Organic Compounds (Formaldehyde, Pesticides, Solvents, and Cleaning Agents)
• Airborne Lead

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