The words eco-friendly and sustainable seem to be all over the place in the recent past. For those unaware of what it truly means, here’s a little help. These two terms are used to define products, methods and even services that make use of natural materials and leave little to no footprint in the environment. With everyone trying desperate measures to preserve the world around us and a leave a better planet for the future generations, it is no surprise that everyday goods too caught up with the sustainability trend.
Furniture is a big part of our lives and when the eco-friendly trend caught up, furniture too did its part. Homeowners these days, especially the ones who don’t mind shelling out the extra cash for greater good insist on the use of eco-friendly furniture products crafted from natural materials alone. If you are someone like that, here’s how you can identify sustainable furniture and buy it for the right price.
What Is Green Furniture?
Green furniture is the moniker given to any piece of furniture that is made from natural materials and leave no negative footprint on the environment. Choosing green furniture definitely has its benefits and hence the sustainability movement has attracted a lot of furniture designers.
As per experts, green furniture is any piece of furniture manufactured using natural materials alone – wood, breathable natural fabrics like cotton, jute etc and will have no plastic or synthetic elements in it. But here’s the catch, making furniture from wood means that you have to cut down trees and that is a direct violation of sustainability principles. So how do you solve this?
To make sure that you’re not doing any harm opt for wood that is certified as sustainable. This means that the wood was harvested from already fallen trees or trees that had to be felled because it was starting to decay. Good parts from such trees can be harvested, treated and strengthened to be used in furniture products. Another option is to use reclaimed wood. Wood from old furniture or similar products which are well maintained but is no longer in use. Wooden parts from such products can be obtained and used to craft new pieces.
Yet another highly popular option is to use bamboo. You might be knowing that bamboo isn’t really a tree actually. It belongs to a family of grass type which grows from anything ranging from 10 cm to 20 feet. They grow incredibly fast and cutting them down for furniture doesn’t really pose a threat.
Recycled metal too is another option. The bottom-line is that you go materials that are easy to harvest, repair, reuse without causing any damage to nature. And avoid volatile organic compounds (VOC) at any cost. They are known to be off-gassing and are associated with birth defects in kids.
Is Green Furniture Expensive?
If you opt to buy brand new green furniture by big designers and the likes, yes it could get quite expensive. Out of the lot, bamboo furniture should be the cheapest. That said, it will still cost more than plastic or non-sustainable furniture in general.
However, you can always approach local carpenters and work with them to have something unique made for your home. This way you can know about the quality of each material used in making the furniture and you can even get a custom designed one. This method, however, is quite expensive and you’ll have to wait for weeks until you can see the final product.
This brings us to the most convenient of options. Shop for used furniture online. And when we say online, we don’t mean to buy from ads on classifieds sites, we mean companies like Guarented who specialize in refurbishing and selling premium quality used furniture. We have quite a few eco-friendly options, so we encourage you to browse our catalog and take your pick.
If you still want something unique, we’re happy to inform you that we have a stellar team of skilled carpenters, artisans, technicians and the likes who are capable of crafting beautiful, custom-made furniture for specific requirements. Feel free to approach us anytime for something like that.
Thanks for reading guys! Hope you find some green furniture for your home soon.