My husband I have an idea in mind for our dream home, and it includes 2 rooms that we think will be essential to our sanity with our kids running around — my private office and his man cave. Every man needs a place where he can close the door and watch the football game uninterrupted, right? (Ladies, don’t kill me for saying that 
). My husband challenged me last week to create a man cave that’s as green as it is masculine. This is the result of that challenge.
- Energy Saver Cotton Grommet Top Curtains
from Gaiam | $90 for set of 2, 96″ | Insulated curtains reduce UV fading and keep your heating and cooling costs in check with a lining that repels heat and cuts light by 50% (aff)
- Mythic Paint | COLORS: Wasabi DB1-22 & Goldilock’s Choice DB1-28 | $49.99/gallon; $93.98 for 2 | Contains zero harmful VOCs (volatile organic compounds); Contains zero toxins and zero carcinogens | David Bromstead of HGTV’s Color Splash has a new line of colors for Mythic Paint, and these two are from that collection. I would paint a subtle stripe on one wall, with the other 3 in solid Wasabi.
- Various posters from The Poster List | $30.99 for 3 | Hand-printed with organic vegetable inks and printers are powered with wind energy
- Phillips EcoTV, 42″ | $1399.99 | RoHS compliant, meaning it is virtually free of 6 major heavy metals including lead, mercury and cadmium, energy efficient (dims in response to ambient light and uses only 0.15W on standby), and has packaging and manuals made of recycled materials | What man cave would be complete without a huge TV? My husband would say 42″ isn’t big enough, but as big-screen TVs go, this one is pretty green, and green TVs are tough to come by.
- Teco Pottery White Rocket Vase
and Orange Kiss Vase
from Lamps Plus | $99.91 & $79.91 | Handmade with natural terra cotta (aff)
- Essex Sideboard from Crate & Barrel | $649 | Poplar veneer over E1 low-emission engineered wood and particle board | Not the greenest sideboard in the world, but it looked so great with the sofa that I couldn’t pass it up. It could be used to create a bar area on one side of the room.
- Bamboo Counter Stools from Viva Terra | $140 | Made of bamboo
- Nicole Cylinder Wall Sconce in Etched Amber Glass by Forecast Lighting | $120/ea. x 4 = $480 | EnergySTAR compliant and compatible with compact fluorescent light bulbs | The amber glass should act to counterbalance the bright, blue/white glow from CFLs
- Eco-Friendly Montego Navy Pennyback Sofa from Overstock | $999.99 | Features a hardwood frame of lumber from certified, sustainable forests,soy-based cushions, no-sag spring system of recycled steel, and upholstered in microfiber fabric certified Oeko-Tex 100
TOTAL: $4063.77 | Lots of money to spare for a home theater system and a collection of manly DVDs
Strip Rug by Christian Rathbone | $4000 | Made of handwoven wool and hand dyed with vegetable dyes | This may be the splurge, but it is the item that inspired the color scheme and design style of the entire room, so you really have to have it.
Any tips or suggestions for what could have been included, or excluded, in this room? Leave them in the comment below. And if you’d like me to do one of your turn one of your rooms into an eco-friendly wonder, check out my consulting page and let’s get started! I’ve drastically reduced the price of one of my custom mood boards, and I’ll be giving away a few of them for free. Follow me on Twitter for more info about that in coming days.
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I’m Jennae Petersen, and I’m a lot of things. A mother, a graphic artist, a connosieur of beautiful interiors and a purveyor of all things design. Green Your Decor was borne of frustration in my attempts to find eco-friendly housewares that were also beautiful, and inspiration to do something to reduce my own carbon footprint and help others do the same in a beautiful way.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Does the energy saving aspect of the curtains negate the fact that they are made with Polyurethane? Or does Gaiam have a green way of using this material?
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@Oonafey That’s a great question, and I actually spent a whole lot of time trying to find insulating, blackout curtains that were made from more sustainable materials, to no avail. I don’t think the energy saving aspect necessarily negates the polyurethane, but it’s one of those situations where I had to make a judgment call because I couldn’t find a better option. If a person has chemical sensitivity, I wouldn’t recommend these curtains, but the energy efficiency does lend them some green credibility. And I’m honestly not sure how Gaiam uses the material, but they do have a record for trying to source products that are made very sustainably.
These are all great picks. And I agree – man cave is totally necessary.
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