Sustainable Living Room Furniture

About Sustainable Living Room Furniture

Sustainable furniture for any room of the home might include organically produced materials, such as the organic cotton used to cover a couch or the organic wool used to stuff it and fill it with fire resistance.

But, sustainable furniture often goes beyond organic products to include items that have been reclaimed or recycled. An example of how an item might be reclaimed to make sustainable living room furniture is using fallen trees to make coffee tables. Recycling for furniture might involve making a chair out of old seat belts or using rubber from recycled tires to cushion the bottoms of furniture legs.

Sustainable furniture might also use products that are produced in a sustainable way, such as wood from a forest that is maintained for sustainable production. One of the most sustainable and versatile products out there for making furniture is bamboo.

Finding Sustainable Furniture

In most communities, it is difficult to walk into your local furniture store and find sustainable furniture. However, there are more individuals and larger-scale manufacturers making these kinds of products all the time. There may come a day when it is as easy and affordable to buy sustainable furniture and other items as it is to buy conventionally produced couches, tables and entertainment centers.

Until then, the best place to find sustainable furniture is going to be online. Here are some sites to check out:

• Pristine Planet has a wide array of organic, sustainable and eco-friendly products gathered from various websites. The site allows you to comparison shop and see many of your options at a glance.
• Nigel's Eco Store is a British store that has a wide variety of reclaimed, recycled and environmentally friendly products. Many of the items are made in part from recycled cardboard.
• White Design is a maker of custom furniture pieces that are often made from reclaimed and sustainable materials.
• Eyezotica is another comparison shopping site that specializes in organic, vegan and sustainable products for the home. It also includes accessories made from recycled materials, such as lamps made with chopsticks.

Why Go Sustainable?

If you're not convinced that sustainable living room furniture is for you, think about how conventional products are produced. Consider a sofa, for instance. Pretty much everything that goes into a sofa, from the wooden frame to the stuffing to the upholstery, likely was made with chemicals, whether in the growth of the fiber used to make the fabric or in the dyes, flame retardants and stain-resisting products sprayed on them before they are sold. Even if you don't have people with chemical sensitivities in your family, all those chemicals can be harsh and leave you feeling uncomfortable for a few days after you bring a new piece of furniture into your home.

Sustainable furniture may not be completely without chemicals, but you can find products that are organic or made with low-impact dyes. Additionally, reusing products like rubber, seat belts and cardboard keeps a lot of trash that already exists from going into the landfill.

Choosing sustainable and recycled furniture will probably cost you more up front, though there are some pieces available that are quite competitively priced compared to their non-sustainable counterparts. Still, buying this kind of furniture is a wonderful choice if you are interested in protecting the health of the planet.