5 Design Ideas to Go Green with Your Apartment Interiors

Living in an apartment certainly comes with its interior design-related challenges. In most cases, you’re working with a limited floor area, forcing you to make most of your decorating or project decisions based on how best to maximize that floor area with functional space. Making matters even more encumbered are the limitations imposed by your lease, leaving very little room to make major modifications to the space.

With all those baseline hurdles to jump, going green is probably the last thing on your mind. However, even in the smallest, most logistically improbable apartment spaces, implementing sustainable and eco-friendly design ideas will not only help you lower your carbon footprint, they can contribute to an enhanced quality of life too. Here are 5 interior design ideas to go green with your apartment interiors.

1. Large Potted Plants

Nothing improves your interior air quality more effectively than a few large potted plants. If you can find a few areas (next to windows preferably) to host one or more interior friendly plants, it goes a long way to enhancing the visual impact of the space. They smell great, look inviting, and will give your apartment a warm, sustainable feeling that the rest of your decorating can be built around.

There’s nothing more ‘green’ than the natural beauty of a large interior plant. They even provide great compliments to other interior design features such as coffered ceilings or crown molding. There’s something nostalgic and comforting about plants, and they work best in settings that play off that as well.

2. Curtains to Control Temperature

You probably moved into an apartment with a few half-hung, crusty old Venetian blinds that look just about as good as they smell (bad). As much of an eyesore as they are, they do prevent direct sunlight from scorching your interiors (and hijacking your energy bill).

You’d be better off replacing those blinds with something a bit more attractive. There are literally thousands of options for curtain and curtain rods that you’ll be able to match any conceptual decoration direction. They will look great, and still provide your interior with passive cooling protection that will take some of the strain off your air conditioner.

3. Hit the Thrift Shop

You’d be surprised what you can find at your local thrift store. Depending on where you live, consignment and retro furniture warehouses have never been more popular or easier to find. People are always looking to get rid of their old stuff – and their garbage can be your treasure for a massively discounted price.

Filling your apartment with used furniture, light fixtures, or textiles will not only separate your space from the college kid next door, it will save the environment from one more couch entering the landfill. If you look hard enough you’re bound to find some mid-century modern, art deco, or Victorian pieces just waiting to find their way into your space.

The next two green ideas will sure make a big difference to your apartment, but make sure to always check with your property manager before picking up those power tools and making these changes to your interiors.

4. Sustainable Wood Accent Wall

Bamboo veneer panels are a great substitute for traditional wall art or painted accent wall. This panel material will add a bit of unintrusive modern character to your apartment. They provide the perfect accent and are much easier to explain or understand than what passes as contemporary artwork these days.

Bamboo veneers is a high-yield building material that is easy to grow and will last forever. It’s been crowned one of the greenest building materials available, and it will look great on your wall as well. You can even experiment with different colors and styles of panel to create a bamboo mosaic that will add warmth and visual intrigue to your living room.

5. Engineered Flooring

Installing a new floor in your apartment might seem to fly in the face of everything I just said, but bear with me. While I wouldn’t advise you go ahead and strip your apartment down to the subfloor and throw your existing flooring in the trash, there are a few low-impact projects you can undertake that won’t lead to a broken lease.

Engineered flooring can be floated over almost all existing flooring surfaces. They are easy to install, and fit together without the need for adhesives, staples, or floor nails. Not only that, most of the hardwoods used are inherently sustainable building materials because of how little of the finished wood is actually used. It also tends to be incredibly durable and will last well into your next move, where you can pull it up and re-use the flooring in your next apartment.

If you’re apprehensive about installing brand new flooring across your entire apartment, try squaring away one or two areas where you’d like to create the illusion of division of space. A small patch of engineered hardwood makes a great place for a desk or designated work area.