Sustainable Furniture Guide: Furnishing Your Home the Eco-friendly way

Over the last few years, more and more people have begun to adopt a sustainable lifestyle. Whether it’s by installing energy-efficient appliances in our homes or disposing of waste the proper way, we all have to do our part to ensure that we succeed in our sustainability challenges. So if you’re interested in adopting a sustainable lifestyle, one of the things you can do is consider sustainably-sourced furniture for your home. Below is a helpful guide on how you can furnish your home in an eco-friendly way.

Buying Furniture Locally

Buying your furniture locally is a step in the right direction when it comes to sustainable furniture use. This is because larger chain stores have been known to make use of production methods that involve unsafe materials, dangerous chemicals, and factory equipment that produces greenhouse gases, all of which are bad for the environment.

Local businesses, on the other hand, tend to use more of local materials and safer production methods that have a lesser impact on the environment. An added advantage is that you can also save on shipping costs.

Refurbishing and Restoration

Why buy new furniture when you can restore and refurbish your old one? Furniture refurbishing is something that was quite popular back in the day, but with the mass production of affordable furniture, it fell out of fashion. Thankfully, the need for sustainability has revived it. Furniture restoration can breathe new life into your old and worn-out piece of furniture and with Schryver Restoration, you can even enjoy the added benefit of your newly restored furniture being unique.

Buy Vintage or Antique Furniture

Another great way to sustainably furnish your home is to buy used furniture. Most older furniture (built back in the 60s and 70s) tends to be solidly built and have better designs than the mass-produced pieces sold in many stores today. These vintage pieces also tend to last longer and can even add a unique touch to the overall aesthetic of your home. You can mostly find these pieces at antique and vintage furniture stores, yard sales, thrift shops and online (eBay, Etsy and Craigslist).

Upcycling

This is when an unwanted piece of furniture is repurposed into something new. For example, turning old crates into crafty side tables, turning old pellets into garden seating, or changing up the look of tables and chairs with some paint. An added bonus of upcycling is that you can take it on as a DIY project, so you can add your own creative touch to the newly transformed piece. You can also check out online platforms like Pinterest for creative furniture upcycling ideas.

Reclaimed and Salvaged

Nothing says sustainability, like using salvaged or reclaimed materials. For example, kitchen benches made with reclaimed church pews. You can check out seaside towns as they will often have a specialist who makes sustainable furniture from salvaged wood and old maritime materials.

Downcycling

Upcycling is great but there are cases where you just can’t save everything and you might need to let certain pieces go. Get rid of unwanted pieces by setting up a yard sale or taking them to a thrift store. You never know; these pieces might even end up giving someone else the inspiration to create something unique.

Conclusion:

Adopting a sustainable lifestyle ensures that you do your part to care for the planet. The above are some of the ways you can furnish your home without negatively impacting the environment.