Laura: Eco-friendly interior design tips
Laura knows how to combine earthy tones with a touch of a soft pastel pink. We love her apartment - especially her walls that have natural washed look 😊 She is using eco-friendly colors and naturally dyed linen. 🌻
If you are into interior, or you need inspiration for your next project, check out her Instagram @herzens_wohnung .. aaand don`t skip the full interview below 💜 It`s all about sustainability, colors, flowers and upcycling - she gave us so many cool tips, easy to follow!
Laura, your Instagram feed is amazing! We definitely love your earthy colored apartment with a pastel pink touch and sustainable interior. When it comes to sustainable interior - what are your tips?
“The most sustainable purchase is the one you don't make. Having that in mind I very carefully select furniture and accessories for my apartment, ensuring that I invest in pieces that move with me wherever I am going and that fit into different interior contexts.
You can definitely see a shift in the market throughout the past years with more sustainable brands emerging, so here are some brands I can recommend: Most importantly I chose eco-friendly wall colors for the apartment, like lime wash from Kalklitir.
Instead of renewing the floor and having in mind that wood is a limited resource on earth, I sanded, lyed and soaped the wooden floor with white lye. The sofa is from MYCS which offers vegan wool. Most textiles in the apartment like bed sheets and curtains are from the brand ByMoelle which offers all naturally dyed linen.”
Your walls are so cool. How did you get this washed look?
“I strictly want to avoid toxic wall paints and textiles in the apartment so I went for eco-friendly lime wash wall colors. Lime wash is super easy to apply and creates that washed look that I love so much. My all time favorite brand is Kalklitir, it comes sustainably in powder form. Another brand that I used throughout my kitchen is Bauwerk Color, I love the large color range.”
When it comes to renovating an apartment or house, where do you start? What are your top 3 tips?
“Tip 1: I think most importantly for me was to be clear about the color concept, especially the wall colors as they define the tonality of the room.
Tip 2: When you live in an old building like I do, there are tons of unexpected surprises during renovation. It was crucial for me to have a craftsman on site that developed customized solutions with me, e.g. storage space in the bathroom or the self-built up-cycled kitchen.
Tip 3: Do not buy everything at once. Try to live a few weeks or months even in an unfinished room even if you are missing a sideboard or a carpet because rooms develop over time and this way you can reduce the risk of making wrong choices significantly.”
You love flowers - like we do. Do you have tips about arranging flowers?
“Honestly, I save a lot of images from Instagram that I like as there are so many creative people around. Having some visual ideas handy on the phone helps me select flowers directly in the shop.
They don't necessarily have to be the exact same flowers as in the picture but certainly having a concrete image in mind helps with the color composition. I also prefer to go to shops where I can test and try some flowers by myself first instead of having someone create a bouquet for me. @jules_blumen offers beautiful paper flowers which I am currently considering reducing the amount of fresh flowers in the apartment without adding too much of the nostalgic dried flowers vibe.”
An easy upcycling tip that you have for newbies?
“Painting furniture fronts is literally the easiest thing and can make a whole difference to the room.
My kitchen is a second hand IKEA kitchen. I then sanded the IKEA fronts and repainted them with eco-friendly color from Farrow & Ball. I added some brass styled second hand handles to make the kitchen look like the (unaffordable) original from deVOL kitchens.
I know there are brands out there like Reform CPH where you can get IKEA fronts exchanged with stylish scandi front designs but I think it is not difficult to do that by yourself (and it saves a lot of money too).”
Where do you get your cool decor objects? Any online shops?
“I really like going for classic brands, like Frama, &Tradition, Menu, Flos etc., so you can find me scrolling through the common big websites like andlight, connox, design-bestseller or nordic-nest.
By Moelle accessories
Arrabiata, Motel a Mio and Ono Mao pottery
Ester & erik candles
Stoned amsterdam marble
Some good old copper pots from Ebay add some extra flavor to the apartment.”
Can you tell us your favorite inspirational Instagram accounts?
My favorites:
@_designtales_
@Sansnovazuhause
@smnstr_
@kraut_kopf
”I also follow my favorite brands that I mentioned above. Since a lot of brands these days repost content from beautiful accounts, it is very easy to get inspirational content on branded accounts too.”
👉 Feeling inspired? Follow Laura on Instagram! ✨