“Going Green” in home decorating doesn’t mean painting every available surface in your home a vibrant shade of green! “Going Green” is another way of describing an eco-friendly alternative to typical interior design practices. Here are some simple ways to brighten your home and go green at the same time.

Though if you decide to paint (using the color green or not!), choosing the perfect eco-friendly paint has become a very easy task. First lead based paint, then latex based, now paint with almost no VOCs. Home-supply stores increasingly carry a wide selection, sometimes in hundreds of colors, with zero or very low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Several companies such as AFM Safecoat, Anna Sova, Eco Specs by Benjamin Moore, Bioshield and Green Planet offer interior designers and do-it-yourself home owners a wide variety of colors to choose from.

Finally a great way to brighten up your home is to use plants. Since plants work to clean the air in their environment, this also helps to make your home more green. A few of the plants that have been found to work best at removing harmful toxins from the air are English ivy, gerber daisies, chrysanthemums, and peace lilies.