Our latest addition to creating a healthier bedroom is a fresh, natural earthen feature wall behind the bed. It has a natural, rammed earth textural feel and softness to it that entices you to touch it. At night, the light enhances the play of the wall and it truly is beautiful and uplifting to look at as you finish your day.
The beauty of a modern, earthen wall is that you can make them with any colour these days. As well you can create a rustic or smooth texture to suit your taste. Simply use as a feature wall, an entire room or all walls in a house to start creating a calmer and healthier home environment.
We’ve previously used earthen feature walls in our home (with hemp added) and been impressed by this natural material and its benefits.
Some of the reasons why we prefer to use earthen walls over just painted walls include:
- breathable
- regulates humidity in the room
- repels dust
- releases negative ions (like the beach/ waterfalls/ forests)
- made from natural materials
- is recyclable
- simple to install
- affordable
- reduces VOCs in the air
- improves indoor air quality
The earthen walls naturally act to draw moisture and impurities from the air and assists in regulating humidity, indoor air quality and comfort. This is a great ‘passive’ system to integrate into your home rather than using ‘active’ (mechanical) systems, which use more energy and cost money to run.
As a healthy surface, it is particularly good for allergy sufferers (ie: dust), asthmatics and those who suffer other respiratory issues. Being natural, it’s also safe to use for any age. Having it located in a bedroom and on a wall near the bedhead works well as this is where you spend a lot of time and is closest to your breathing zone.
To create an earthen feature wall, you simply apply the recommended base coat, which has some sand (grit) added over the existing or new wall. Once set, you mix the clay with water and oxides (to create your colour) and then trowel it on. One coat is all that we used on our bedroom walls to achieve a good thickness. However, if you do two coats you can start to regulate humidity up to 100%, which could be desired in some homes. There are studies coming out of Europe at the moment indicating optimal thickness of clay walls to achieve this, which is great! Simple clean up with water and you’re done!
We sourced our earthen render supplies from Rockcote on the Gold Coast. They also supply other lime, earthen and earth/ lime render blends and I have written about them more here.
Modern, earthen render is a great natural material to have in your natural home toolkit, whether you’re renovating or building new. It helps you take another natural step in creating your naturally beautiful, healthy and harmonious home.
For any professional design advice on where to best use them to suit your house and needs, contact us to discuss further.
Amanda has completed the Artisan training course in using natural materials and has experience using them in commercial and residential locations.
