The following post was written by HY-brid team member and soon-to-be-mom, Rebecca Ehlers. Rebecca and her husband just completed a remodel of a room in their home, and as you will read, they took the health of the little one very seriously. Enjoy, and thanks Rebecca!

These days, you don’t have to look very hard for information about the benefits of being green at work and at home. While I have always known saving energy means saving money and increasing comfort and safety, this has never been more important to me than now – when I am preparing to be a first time mother.

Like many parents-to-be, my husband and I have a long list of things to do in preparation for our baby’s arrival. Near the top of the list is creating a nursery. For us, designing the nursery means more than just picking out paint colors; comfort and safety are just as important as the aesthetics. Truth be told, thinking green helped us address all of these factors.

Our game plan involved taking a spare bedroom and doing a complete renovation to turn it into the nursery of our dreams. This included replacing the baseboards, window and door trim, entry door, closet doors and all outlet covers. We also decided to paint the entire room, purchase new window treatments and furnish the room. The extent of our remodel involved a lot of work and a lot of decisions. Here is how we decided to work energy efficiency and sustainability into our redesign.

Comfort
Living in Wisconsin means dealing with a big swing in seasonal temperatures. While we don’t mind putting on an extra layer during the cold winter months, the last thing we want is to have a drafty room where our child sleeps. Since windows are often a source of air leaks, we took steps to eliminate these leaks. First, we removed the trim from around the windows, and before we put up new trim, we filled all the gaps around the window with foam insulation. Next, we purchased and installed shades that look nice and are also backed with insulating thermal acrylic foam for an added layer of protection.

Since outlets are another place where air often leaks in and out of homes, we looked for a way to make all of the outlets as air tight as possible. At our local home improvement store, we found insulating foam gaskets that fit behind the outlet faceplate. There are insulating gaskets to fit faceplates for light switches and for outlets. It only took about half an hour to address all of the outlets in the room.

Safety
I mentioned earlier that creating a beautiful nursery means more than just picking out paint colors, but let’s face it, that’s a pretty important part if it. We paged through magazines and played with paint swatches to find the right color, but we also spent time determining what type of paint to use.

Paint contains a number of different chemicals, which are released into the air during the painting process. In addition, off gassing, the release of chemicals into the air through evaporation, can occur months, even years after the paint has dried. This off gassing is due to the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in paint. To cut down on the amount of off gassing that will occur in the nursery, we opted to use a paint that is considered low VOC. While even low VOC paints can have that familiar paint odor, we did notice fewer odors during the panting process and no odor after the paint dried compared to paints we have used in other rooms of the house.

Another area we identified as an opportunity for added safety was lighting. We already use compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) throughout most of our home because of the well-known fact they use about 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs and consequently reduce energy bills. What many people don’t realize is that CFLs produce about 70% less heat than standard bulbs. For us this is significant because they aren’t as hot to the touch and are less of a fire hazard. You just never know when a lamp will get knocked over or a curious toddler will touch a bulb.

Reuse, Reduce, Recycle
Another part of being green is reusing and recycling. With this in mind, and a budget to stick to, we decided to reuse old furniture for the nursery. We took an old dresser that was gathering dust in the basement and a hand-me-down glider rocker, and we painted them both to match the rest of our décor. The process took less than a day and saved us hundreds of dollars. In addition, we cut down on resources needed to build new furniture, and we kept old, bulky furniture out of the local landfill.

With a little elbow grease (okay, a lot of elbow grease) my husband and I have created a gorgeous nursery, ready for the newest addition to the family. And with a little extra work, we were able to ensure the room will be comfortable and safe for our baby. The added bonus – we made choices that benefit the environment and will save money on future utility bills. It really is a win-win situation.

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