Taking steps to free your home of harmful chemicals and toxins doesn't have to mean you have a barren, minimalist home. With the increasing focus on organic materials and eco-friendly products, it's possible to design a beautiful, sacred space that enhances your health instead of hurting it. One easy way to reduce some of the VOCs in your home is to choose an organic option when adding rugs to your space, and thanks to Stephanie Holmes and Matt Budenholzer, of Organic Looms, we've got tips on how and why to go about it!

Why Go Organic?

Perhaps the most important reason to go the organic route with rugs is indoor air quality. We spend most of our time indoors, yet our internal environments are actually much more polluted than the outdoor atmosphere, due to off-gassing, VOCs and more. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the average person experiences 72% of his total chemical exposure in his own home!

How does this relate to rugs? Rugs and carpeting are two of the most common culprits of off-gassing, due to chemically produced material and backing. Since many traditional and machine-made rugs are actually composed of several loose pieces of yarn, they include chemical backing for cohesion, which can off-gas harmful VOCs over time. Many popular rug materials, like nylon and polyester, will eventually produce these gasses as well. With a truly organic rug, there will be no off-gassing. Organic rugs are made of more environmentally (and health) friendly materials like wool, silk and various plant fibers. These rugs are also longer lasting, generally of higher quality and have a low carbon footprint.

How to Go Organic

So where do you start if you're on the search for an organic rug? Research! Go old school and call local rug companies, or head to Google and search "organic rugs" to get a good idea of what's available for your budget and needs. Be diligent and careful not to fall into a greenwashing trap, though, as the term "organic" has become a bit diluted over time and there are no regulations on what businesses can label with that term.

Take care to ask about materials used in the construction of your rug, not just the primary material, as well as the process itself, including dyes used and construction method. This will help you determine whether each rug option is truly organic.

Know ahead of time what the perks are for each option. For instance, wool is the most durable organic option and is easy to clean, making it great for high-traffic areas, whereas silk is a strong, beautiful material, but is more difficult to clean. If you're vegan, opt for plant choices like hemp, nettle and other animal-friendly materials! Check out these tips for finding the right material for your space.

There are many organizations dedicated to producing high quality, eco-friendly rugs, like one of our favorites and our gracious all-things-organic-rugs educators, Organic Looms. Ultimately, it's about finding the right company and right rug for your space!

by Anjie Cho

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Give Up Watts

In the olden days, watts were essentially the most important detail on a bulb. In order to light your space correctly, you matched your old bulb wattage to new bulb wattage. As it turns out, watts refers to the amount of energy a bulb requires, not the amount of light it gives off. CFL and LED bulbs can give off more light without using as many watts as incandescent bulbs, so when you're checking wattage, go for the lowest number possible.

Look for Lumens

If you want to know how much light your bulb will give off, check the number of lumens. Lumens represent how much light a bulb produces, regardless of how many watts are required to produce it. Since we're so used to checking bulb wattage, we often ignored this information with incandescent bulbs, but with new, eco-friendly bulbs, it can be the most important! On average, a 60W incandescent bulb produces 800 lumens of light. For brighter spaces, opt for more lumens. And vice versa.

Mind Appearance

If you're used to shopping for "soft white" or "daylight" bulbs, it can be frustrating to not find those terms on CFL and LED labels. This information is still there, in fact, it's even more detailed! Check your bulb packaging for the term light appearance. This measurement includes the temperature of a bulb in Kelvins. You can find more detail on that system here, but in general, the lower the temperature, the warmer, more yellow your bulb will be. Bulbs with higher temperatures, or cool bulbs, give off light more similar to natural daylight.

In addition to these important details, you can also find this helpful information on your CFL or LED bulb packaging:

Estimated yearly cost - Typically based on average United States energy costs and usage

Life - How long your bulb will last, usually based on 3 hours of use per day

CRI - Color rendering index - A rating of how accurately colors display under this light

You can even check to be sure that the bulb you're selecting is dimmable! While it may be a bit of a change to move from incandescent lighting to more eco-friendly options, with a little adjustment and practice, buying a light bulb can be just as easy as it's always been, and maybe even more effective!