If you can, replacing your flooring with tile is usually a huge help. This is because: Not only does ceramic tile NOT offgass, it also blocks whatever is below it pretty well (like subfloor with toxic glues or even apartments below yours although much will still come up from other residents through outlets), and it lets go of most accidentlal room contamination and is easy to clean with no chemicals.
Just be sure to get tile that has NOT been treated with Microban or other antimicrobial chemicals.
If you would like to use the old-fashioned mortar-bed method for tiling (fewer chemicals), check out my husband’s demonstration here:
You can also grout with just cement and sand, although it is harder to do well and dry well, and I do think a number of grouts off-gas fairly well (though I don’t know how fast).
You can also replace your bedroom door with a steel external door. We got our bedroom and bathroom doors at a local thrift store! Steel washes off fairly easily, even many chemicals (thus can be safe pre-owned).
To further help your bedroom and your nightly detox (and hopefully your sleep, too):
- Remove everything from room that you can except glass, metal, ceramic, and cotton.
- Never keep errand shoes in your bedroom, even in the closet.
- Try to get metal storage for all your clothes, especially “errand clothes,” or foil your closet door and the opening at the bottom of the door.
- Air out as often as possible, with a fan in another part of the house drawing good air in your window, as long as the outside air is good. Even if your room is very low-tox like mine, CO2 build-up can be a problem: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-sleep-idUKKBN1E12DK
- Never charge your cell phone in your room while sleeping.
- Try to turn off all electric items in the room while you sleep.
- Put things like glasses, snacks, bedtime books, etc. in tins.
Potential replacements:
I use a piece of (cheap) cotton fabric to cover my windows. The last pieces were a bit more expensive to block the sun more as I developed trouble sleeping from a 4-year contaminent. We got dark-blue denim, thin but pretty effective as sun blocking, especially using two layers certain times of the year. I literally cut just an inch wider than the window (didn’t even hem any sides), about a foot longer than the window, and then hung it by two safety pins at the top corners on two nails at the sides of the windows. Easiest curtains ever. Easy to wash, replace, hang, everything. No flame retardants or other curtain chemicals. Obviously you can hem or add a rod pocket or cover with pretty print cotton or add embroidery etc. if you want.
I have something like this for my “bedside stand”:
Only mine has pretty blue glass which they don’t seem to make anymore. 🙁
I have all my clothes, bedding, and towels in lockers like this and a white one they don’t make anymore:
Baskets like these help organize things that might otherwise go in a dresser: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JX4T9TP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 If the contents are “stinky,” the size baskets I got will fit in a locker cube. It keeps linking to the bronze color, but mine are chrome, which I think means just metal with no “finish” which is usually safer.
Once the bedroom is “safe” and you are sure not moldy, I DO recommend investing in some kind of lower-chemical mattress, since you spend so many hours on it, detox tends to happen at night, and sleep is so important. If you are self-contaminating, I would definitely recommend to cover it with at least one layer of this (and wash often):
https://organiccottonplus.com/products/barrier-cloth-6-oz-100
I found my safer mattress here: https://paradigmchange.me/lc/mattress/
I ended up with this one and LOVE it:
https://www.mygreenmattress.com/latex-free-mattresses/
I’m hoping to do a video tour of my bedroom (and maybe our main room, too) and post it on my YouTube channel. Check back or subscribe to my blog for an announcement of when that’s posted.
Christa Upton Edgemont, SD 57735
