Guest Post: Beautiful Furniture that Saves the Environment

It is well known that our society is becoming increasingly interested in saving the environment, and this is undoubtedly a good thing. What is not so well known, however, is that there are many ways in which we can incorporate environmentally friendly elements into our home. For instance, one basic way that you can go green in your home is to buy organic food from the local farmers markets, or buy all natural alternatives of your favorite cleaning products. You may even want to consider investing in solar panels to provide heat and energy. A less common – but no less effective – way to go green is to decorate your home with stylish, yet earth-friendly furniture. Environmentally friendly furniture can help bring the beauty of nature into your home with eye-catching designs, while it simultaneously protects the environment outside by negating the requirement for more logging and mining.

Most prized pieces of furniture are made from some sort of wood. Unfortunately, lots of non-green wood furniture is the end result of clear-cuts in forests. This means that the trees – and the ecosystems they support – are felled in every direction, leaving a moonscape-like scene of bareness in their wake in which only tree stumps and scavenging animals remain. By using recycled wood in furniture, we are able to reduce the amount of clear cutting that is completed and work towards saving the environment for future generations. It is worth mentioning that there are some forests which receive only sustainable forestry practices. In these situations, people take into consideration the vegetation as well as the animals before doing any cutting, and when this is done, oftentimes only some of the trees are felled to spare the broader ecosystem and give it a chance to rejuvenate in the near future. However, recycled wood is still more ecologically responsible than sustainable forestry wood. Recycled wood comes from old barns and other places where the wood is no longer being used. This wood is then taken and made into beautiful pieces of furniture for the home.

So what type of amazingly beautiful furniture can be made from recycled wood? Anything you can imagine. You can purchase anything from a modern-looking bed frame to a casual dining room table; today, there are a multitude of brilliant designers that only work with earth-friendly materials. This burgeoning eco-furniture industry has become so popular that many mainstream furniture companies are taking notice and putting out recycled or sustainably forested pieces.

Now, you may be worrying that earth-friendly furniture won’t have the high level of comfort you desire. Nothing could be further from the truth! By choosing furniture designed with natural fibers, you will be able to find amazingly comfortable sofas and chairs. Natural fibers are not like synthetic fabrics, which can contain harsh toxins. Some examples of natural fibers include hemp and cotton. Soft and comfortable fibers are great for beautiful chair cushions; these can come from wool, cashmere and alpaca. If you want a luxurious look for your living room, try silk made from the secretions of a silkworm larvae. By using natural fibers, we can bring the beauty from the world around us inside in the form of a favorite, comfortable chair.

Many people think that earth-friendly furniture is boring and plain. This, too, is totally untrue! Most furniture that is made with recycled materials is bright and beautiful, reflecting all of the sharp angles of modern design. Best of all, in all-natural furniture, these beautiful colors come from non-toxic dyes, meaning you don’t have to worry about harsh chemicals seeping into your skin every time you sit down for a rest.

Recycled glass and other materials, for their part, can make beautiful accent pieces for your earth-friendly home. Want an earth-friendly lamp? You can make one by creating a shade from glass bottles. Need a few accent pieces? Take recycled plastic containers and sculpt them into artistic pieces all your own. You can even spice them up by adding flowers or stones. Another great home accent is live plants; plants can help remove impurities from the air and produce fresh air in return.

If there is one thing you should take away from this article, it’s that you can still have beautiful and stylish furniture while going green. Choosing furniture made with natural materials allows you to incorporate the beauty of nature into your home living space. So, allow your creative juices to flow and design a space that is naturally yours!