Green your baby's nursery

Call it a new parent rite of passage: eager mum and dad-to-be armed with wash buckets and paint brushes ready to transform a drab bedroom into a cute, colourful nest for their new arrival. Walls are painted, plush carpeting is tacked down, new furniture is trundled in, and quilts, pillows and blankets are laid out in abundance.

Such extensive preparations go a long way to brightening baby's room, but  they may not offer such good tidings for its tiny occupant. These typical enhancements may, in fact, be exposing an infant bundle of joy to a myriad of toxic chemicals, from the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) wafting off fresh paint to the formaldehyde off-gassing from carpeting, furniture and even new bedding. But that doesn't mean parents should stow their paint brushes and lay down their newborn in dingy quarters. Nurseries can be both clean and green, with the right preparation.

So here are some of my tips to create a green and healthy nursery:

PAINTING
If you're set on painting the nursery, do it as far in advance of the baby's birth as possible. Ensure you use water based, LOW or NO VOC paint.

FLOORING
The synthetic carpet that you see in most carpeting outlets is not only non-biodegradable but may be tainted with up to 120 toxic carcinogenic chemicals. Choose natural fibre carpets made from wool - check that they haven't been treated with unnecessary chemicals or glue. If you're repolishing timber flooring ensure you use non-toxic coatings.

BEDDING
All-cotton bedding materials have many eco-advantages over those made from synthetics like polyester, but you can't get away from the fact that cotton is on of the most heavily pesticide sprayed crops in the world! So follow Miranda Kerr's lead and buy all organic sheets (and clothing). And ensure you purchase organic mattresses that are made without fire retardants which contain a toxin known as PDBE.

FURNITURE
As well as being sturdy and functional, make sure the furniture is non-toxic. Solid wood treated with  non-toxic varnish, oil or wax is best. Avoid chipboard wood at all costs as it is made using formaldehyde. There are many companies that specialise in eco-friendly furniture - so you have no excuse.

PLANT FRESH
Living plants can remove toxic chemicals including formaldehyde, benzene and carbon monoxide from the air according to a two year study by NASA scientists. So why wouldn't you liven up the room with a beautiful plant or two?

ELECTRICAL
Remove Wi-Fi, cordless phones and mobile phones from the baby's nursery. Most importantly, ditch those baby monitors! They emit radiation at higher levels than mobiles.

All these chemicals and toxins are an unfortunate reality in our day in age. But education and knowledge is the best defence I say! So before you buy anything - do your research!

The new feature wall: Green Living Walls

Sick of painted feature walls? I am! Pretty sure they went out of fashion in the 1990’s. 

So what’s the new black? Green Living Walls. Why not transform a bland wall into an exotic wall of greenery, literally adding life to the surrounding spaces and ultimately the people within them. 

The immediate benefit of a Green Living Wall is that they create square meterage of ‘greenspace’ while using minimal floor space. They conveniently come in module units which can be vertically stacked to any height, and their inbuilt reticulation system ensures maximum resource efficiency in our current water sensitive climate.

And whilst not only adding instant aesthetic value to interior spaces they also improve the indoor air quality. Indoor pollution is a major health concern, especially in the cooler months when we spend more time inside, fortunately plants have an innate ability to filter the surrounding air of toxins, increase oxygen and act as humidifiers. 

Now can you see why these are becoming hot property. Much more appealing than beige on beige don’t you think?

‘Cheap’: The high cost of our discount culture

My parents still own the leather couch they bought when I was born 26 years ago. Today the idea of anything (an appliance, a piece of furniture or even a house) being built to last is almost laughable. When your vacuum cleaner stops working, you most likely haul it out and trek to Target to replace it. Even if you could find someone to repair it, the trouble and the cost would be unwarranted. If you need a bookcase, there's always IKEA: Sure, you'd prefer to buy a sturdily built hardwood version that doesn't buckle under the weight of actual books, but who has extra dough to spend on stuff like that? The IKEA bookcase is good enough, for now.

That cycle of consumption seems harmless enough, particularly since we live in a country where their are plenty of cheap goods to go around. But have you ever stopped to think what this disposable culture is doing to our environment? 

IKEA furniture or cheap furniture has no lasting meaning or value. They aren’t and aren’t intended to be heirloom pieces – so once we tire of them we simply throw them out and replace them. We have literally become a society that no longer expects or respects craftsmanship in everyday objects. In fact, the very idea of making something with care and expertise is destined to die.

Nevertheless, it’s a scary thought that IKEA is the third largest consumer of wood in the world – think of all the trees that are cut down in order to make a bookcase that is destined to become landfill in a couple of years time.

So my advice to you would be to invest in good quality, Australian made furniture. Ensure you spend the time to find pieces that you absolutely love and that were made to last. As an interior designer I see trends come and go every season, but don’t succumb to the temptation and ensure you find classic, timeless pieces. Pieces that you would never consider throwing away. 

The cost may be higher, but the price is right.