5 Ways to Green Your Bedroom

If I had to guess, I’d bet we all wish we spent a little more time in our bedrooms. Whether relaxing, sleeping, reading, or enjoying our spouses, more time in the bedroom is pretty much always a good thing.

We need to think about more than just increasing the quantity of time we spend in our bedrooms, by also looking at the quality of our time. So, it’s important to make sure our rooms are as safe and non-toxic as possible. Here are five ways to green your bedroom, including our absolute favorite, a non-toxic mattress that is also affordable! 

1. Bring in some plants

One of the easiest and most beautiful ways to begin greening your bedroom is add some houseplants to naturally remove toxins from the air. I love the way that plants bring in life and color to our homes, especially in the middle of the cold and dreary winter months. But even more important, houseplants help to purify the air inside our homes and remove toxins.

Houseplants are inexpensive and can be easily found at your local grocery or hardware store. You could also check your local Craigslist or Freecycle to find plants that people are trying to find a new home for.

Worried that you have a black thumb? Learn more about how to grow houseplants and a find a helpful list of 12 houseplants known to improve indoor air quality.

2. Unplug from Electronics

We know that sleep is important for regenerating and detoxifying our bodies, but that process can be disrupted by all of the electronics we typically have in our rooms at night. Honestly, this is a hard one for me, because I like to read books on my Kindle before bed, have my phone handy, and until recently, I was using my phone as my alarm clock. But the blue light emitted from from screens can disrupt our bodies production of melatonin, which in turn disrupts our nighttime sleep. One solution is to go back to reading good old fashioned books in bed, or at least make sure to dim your screen and hold it at least 12 inches from your face to curb the effects of the light on your sleep. (source)

Keep Your Cell Phone Away From Your Body When it is On: The most dangerous place to be, in terms of radiation exposure, is within about six inches of the emitting antenna. You do not want any part of your body within that area. (source: mercola.com)

Another issue with electronics in the bedroom is that they emit EMFs while being plugged in next to our heads and bodies all night long. EMFs can have damaging effects on our bodies at the cellular level, so do your very best to charge your phone outside of your room at night. Or at least not right on your nightstand next to your bed.

3. Ditch scented air-fresheners and candles

While we all want our bedrooms to smell nice, it should not be at the expense of our health when there are plenty of safe and healthy ways to get the same results. Conventional air-fresheners and candles can contain phthalates, allergans, VOCs and other toxic chemicals.

Instead try using an essential oil diffuser or humidifier to diffuse your favorite essential oils and choosing non-toxic beeswax or soy candles scented with essential oils. I love Big Dipper Wax Works beeswax candles. They last for a long time and come in a variety of sizes and aromatherapy scents.

4. Choose eco-friendly bedding

Because we spend so much time in our beds sleeping (hopefully!), it’s worth it to find and invest in eco-friendly bedding. I don’t recommend ditching what you’re currently using if it’s in good shape. But, if you are planning to replace your sheets, blankets, or pillows I think it’s a good idea to find organic and non-toxic products.

You can easily find organic sheets in a variety of styles and price points online, or even at Target. We have a set of Magnolia Organic sheets that we really like. Wool blankets are a great eco-friendly choice, warm but still breathable and naturally anti-microbial. I was lucky enough to inherit a few nice wool blankets from my grandparents.

The next change that my hubs and I need to make is buying eco-friendly pillows. This past summer, we were in Traverse City and visited an awesome store, Green Island, and got to try out some different natural pillows. I really liked the Kapok ones. Those are next on our list of bedding upgrades to make.

5. Choose a non-toxic mattress

Okay, so this is the biggie, right? I am so excited to share this awesome non-toxic and affordable mattress we recently found with you guys!

If you’re anything like me, you know about the dangers of flame retardants and other chemicals in conventional mattress, but when you start looking at natural, organic, and non-toxic mattress your eyes bug out of your head at the price and you just have to look away.

Finding a safe and non-toxic mattress that is also affordable can seem like an unattainable task.

I know it was for our family for a long time. I knew I didn’t want to buy a conventional mattress, but I felt paralyzed with choosing a non-toxic mattress. The organic ones were too expensive, and the idea of getting a doctor’s prescription and then finding a company that would make a conventional mattress without flame retardants was overwhelming.

Then in December, when researching mattresses, my husband stumbled across a new mattress company called Casper. I’m so excited to share this company with you because we finally found the mattress we had been looking for – non-toxic and affordable! (And as a bonus: super comfortable!)

While Casper doesn’t go out of their way with marketing tactics to tell you that their mattress is non-toxic, you can see from the material on their site that it absolutely is. From the Casper website:

All of the foams used in the Casper have environmental certifications that ensure they are healthy to be around. Our polyurethane foams (memory foam and poly support foam) are Certi-Pur certified, meaning they are:

• Made without ozone depleters
• Made without PBDE flame retardants
• Made without mercury, lead, and other heavy metals
• Made without formaldehyde
• Made without phthalates regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission
• Low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) emissions for indoor air quality (less than 0.5 parts per million)

You can find the technical certifications on how the Certi-Pur seal is given out here.

Our top latex layer is OEKO-TEX® Standard 100, Class 1 certified–their highest standard that guarantees the foam to be safe enough for babies and children.

Casper sells direct to customers which allows them to keep their costs low. If the lack of chemical flame retardants, formaldehyde, and low VOCs weren’t good enough, you won’t believe it when you see their prices. A queen mattress is only $850! With other organic and non-toxic mattress going for at least $1500 – $2000, you know a good price when you see one!

So we ordered a Casper mattress on Friday night, and it arrived the next Tuesday! Fast shipping is a plus too! We didn’t know how it would be to order a mattress online without trying it first, but we read so many great reviews of the Casper mattresses, and with their 100-day trial and free return policy, we knew we didn’t have anything to loose.

We’ve been using our Casper for almost two months now and we love it so much! I can’t recommend this mattress enough for it’s non-toxic qualities and the great price! When you’re ready to get your own Casper you can click here to get $50 off your mattress!

If you’d like to watch us opening up our Casper mattress when it arrived, you can check out our video here.

I hope you’re able to implement at least a few of these green bedroom ideas and then go and enjoy some more time in there! Including on your Casper mattress, if you know what I mean… more on that in another post, coming soon!

Have you been looking for a non-toxic and affordable mattress? If you have any questions about the Casper I’d be happy to answer them, just leave your questions in the comments below!

*Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post, including the links to Casper. This post is not sponsored by Casper, I just love our mattress so much and wanted to share it with you! If you make a purchase through one of these links we will receive a small commission. Thanks for supporting Live Renewed!