Giveaways Greener Living House & Home

How to Design an Eco-Friendly Powder Room

April is Earth Month, and with spring here, there’s no better time to update your home! There are so many ways to go green this year, and updating your powder room or bathroom is an excellent way to refresh your decor and save water and energy at the same time.

The good news is that being environmentally conscious doesn’t have to mean choosing between eco-friendliness and style or performance anymore! I’ve created this eco-friendly powder room design board to show you just what I mean.

Design ideas for my eco-friendly powder room with reclaimed materials, low-energy LED lighting, and Watersense fixtures like these classics from American Standard.

My eco-friendly powder room starts with EPA WaterSense® certified bathroom fixtures from American Standard. Did you know that toilets are hands down the biggest users of household water, accounting for approximately 30% of the water consumed in your home? Older toilets can use up to seven gallons of water per flush! When you think about how many times your toilet is flushed in a day, well it’s clear that an old toilet isn’t just a waste of water, it’s also a waste of money.

In contrast, WaterSense certified toilets require 75 to 80 percent less water. The high efficiency, ultra-low consumption (A) Boulevard FloWise Right Height Elongated Toilet requires 20% less water than standard models and uses only 1.28 gallons (4.8 litres) per flush. It’s ideal for saving water and saving my water bill too!

Next I’d upgrade to the sleek curves of the (B) Boulevard Widespread Faucet. Not only does this faucet meets the WaterSense® criteria maximum of 1.5 gallons (5.7 litres) per minute, it also provides lifetime drip-free performance with its ceramic disc valve cartridge. Both fixtures complement the classical lines of this (C) Boulevard Pedestal Sink.

When it comes to choosing lighting, I like this (D) 3-light rubbed bronze vanity light. Best of all, it’s compatible with LED bulbs which use only 10-25% of the electricity that incandescent bulbs do.

I love the idea of including as many natural materials as I can in my eco-friendly powder room. Teak is a hardwood that’s uniquely suited for damp environments (hence why it’s often used on boats), and this (E) teak foldable bath mat is handcrafted from recycled teak which means no additional trees were cut down to produce it. This wall-mounted (F) vanity mirror is also an eco-friendly choice! It’s made right here in Canada with a reclaimed wood frame.

These luxurious (G) organic Turkish cotton towels are Oeko-Tex® certified, so you know all the materials used to make them have been independently tested for harmful substances and found to be in compliance with international standards.

When choosing candles, beeswax is definitely the way to go. Unlike paraffin, (H) beeswax tea lights are clean-burning and do not release soot or toxic fumes into the air. Beeswax also naturally scents the air like honey without any added fragrances. These (I) Himalayan salt rock tea light holders look lovely in any room and help to naturally cleanse and deodorize the air when warmed. 

Choose bar soap for less waste than liquid soap. When you buy handmade soaps made with natural plant-based oils, you’ll clean without harsh chemicals or pollutants, and your purchase also supports a small business or craftsperson. Pair that pretty bar of soap with this unique locally made (J) pebble soap dish.

Finish your eco-friendly powder room with one or two (K) bamboo trays to keep little extras neat and tidy for guests. Bamboo is widely considered one of the most environmentally friendly and sustainable crops in the world because it thrives without the need for pesticides or herbicides and produces 30% more oxygen than a similarly sized hardwood forest.

Are you ready to update your powder room? Browse American Standard’s many water efficient products for something to suit your home and budget.

Win a $50 Home Depot Gift Card

Win a $50 Home Depot gift card (CAN, 5/5)

To help you make some eco-friendly additions to your own powder room or bathroom, I’ve got a $50 Home Depot gift card to give away! Enter in the giveaway widget below. This giveaway is open to residents of Canada, 18+. All entries will be verified.

While you’re here, check out my other open giveaways on my Giveaway Page!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored conversation. Nevertheless, all opinions expressed are completely honest and my own, based on my personal experience. Your experience may differ. This post contains affiliate links. This West Coast Mommy is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. I will receive a small commission if you purchase through my link, at no additional cost to you. This income helps pay for the operating costs of my website – thank you for your support!

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129 Comments

  • We just insulated our basement and re-insulated out attic!! Also added a new thermostat and fan in the bathroom 🙂

  • Just last Fall we insulated our basement walls and it really made a difference in the bill this winter.We also recycle and repurpose when possible.

  • We have the low wattage energy saving bulbs everywhere in the house. We are putting in fans in the 3 bedrooms and living room so that we reduce down our air conditioning in the summer (hopefully to no air conditioning but we do get crazy hot humid weather in the summer).

  • We have lo flush toilets, water saving shower heads and have just finished replacing all our light bulbs with LED bulbs

  • Since purchasing this new to us home, we have replaced all doors leading to outside, 80% of the windows, changed to low wattage energy saving light bulbs. We recycle, installed a programmable thermostat and now pricing energy efficient furnace to replace the existing aging one that frequently stops working.

  • I always try to run the dishwasher or a load of laundry after seven. This doesn’t necessarily save energy but it does save on our energy costs. I always make sure that either the dishwasher is full or I have a full load of laundry. In the summer we open windows to try to get a cross breeze rather than turning on the AC. And in the winter we turn our furnace down when we leave for the day.

  • I spent well over a hundred dollars and changed out all my lightbulbs for the led bulbs, and I do laundry at night or weekends and I use the quick setting so it doesn’t use as much water and they finish much earlier, keep the blinds closed in the summer to keep out the afternoon sun, so as not to heat the house up, yet in the winter the blinds are open to let the heat in from the sun, and recycle everything that can be recycled, and reuse as much as you can!!

  • We changed our 17 year old washer and dryer for a high efficiency pair. Next project will be changing over all the toilets.

  • We have a shower timer to save water whenever possible . We also make sure to open blind as use the lights only when absolutely necessary

  • We got one of those special toilets, we unplug things before we go to bed, we have energy efficient appliances

  • We have changed out our old style light bulbs to the LED ones, installed water saver shower head and toilet in the bathroom.

  • we have a water barrel I got from work that I put under the eaves trough and that is what I use ONLY for my flowers outside (although with the fire ban going on, I think I might have to use a tap water this year)

  • We have changed all our light bulbs to be led ones. We had our home checked for ways we could save on losing heat from our home in winter. When possible, I hang our clothes out to dry on our clothesline. I plan on installing a water -saving showerhead.

  • We are in a rental currently so can’t really make structural changes but we have turned down the thermostat and with the change in weather, on really nice days, we’ve turned off the heat entirely.

  • To reduce waste, we avoid packaging and buy in bulk with our own bags as much as possible. We also have a garden and have eliminated disposable paper products. In an apartment, I can’t quite do as much as I would like to reduce water and electricity consumption, but to conserve water, we do not flush the toilet every time we use it or shower every day. I keep on looking for a brick or something to stick in that toilet tank. Also in winter, we turn off the heaters when we’re not home during the day and when we’re sleeping.

  • We are on a micro-hydro system! It is incredible. For waste we recycle, compost, and just don’t buy much stuff so our garbage is an absolute minimum. Water is one area we need to continue working on, but we did get timers for our sprinkler and we have a rain barrel as well.

  • I buy in bulk where possible, use energy saving bulbs, have energy and water efficient appliances, a programmable thermostat, low flush toilets, collect compost, recycle, donate usable clothes, surprisingly enough our heating is off already. 🙂

  • We are trying to purchase more energy efficient appliances, we have a programmable thermostat and we try to keep our house at a set temperature so that we don’t need to use the heat as much. We do compost and recycle.

  • I always recycle, and use a programmable thermostat, and use LED light bulbs, use the least water as possible, and turn out the lights when possible.

  • We have been recycling for years and we always turn the ac off when we go out during the summer, turn the heat down at night and use the energy saving light bulbs

  • We compost everything, we have all the light bulbs with energy efficiant, an energy efficiant furnace and dryer and put a energy efficiant shower head in the shower,. We do laundry at night time and hang the clothes outside to dry when the weather permits.Most things we unplug when are not being used at all

  • We’ve insulated our attic, bought a high efficiency furnace and changed all the light bulbs to energy saving!

  • We just replaced our furnace & a/c with more energy efficient models. To save water we water our gardens with rain barrels. My girls were cloth diapered but are potty trained. We try & save a little bit everywhere!

  • We put in a energy efficient shower head, we have solar panels on the roof , wash clothes in cold water,turned off the button for heat drying on the dishwasher.

  • In our home, we save energy by using a string of Christmas lights in the evening, rather than higher wattage lights.
    To save water we limit shower time and alternate grass watering days.
    To create less waste we recycle all scrap metal( including cat food cans), wire, electronics, apliances…
    Also my I have reused gift bags and Sunday newspaper comics as wrapping paper.
    We create compost for gardening, with food waste, (banana peel, rotten tomatoes and potatoes….)
    I guess you get the idea. We do what we can.

  • We’ve changed to low flow toilets and shower heads and faucets. We use energy efficient appliances and light bulbs.

  • To save energy my house has all new windows, to save water we have water saver shower heads and reduce waste we have a compost dumpster in our backyard and we also recycle as much as possible.

  • We’ve switched most of our bulbs to LED. Our washer is HE and we use the clothesline when it is warm enough. We recycle and compost. We’ll be planting a garden this summer. Hubby uses a manual (not gas or electric) lawnmower.

  • We changed all our toilets to low flow. We also have a programmable thermostat so we can use less energy heating the house when we don’t need it, like during the night and when we aren’t home. It’s made a big difference.

  • We have LED lightbulbs, low flush toilets and reinforced insulation as some energy-efficient changes.

  • We try to recycle almost everything, separate out yard wastes, use cloth bags for grocercies, have shorter showers, use our more energy efficient floor lamp when we need light in the evenings, and we use cloth diapers!