Being eco friendly and living a more sustainable lifestyle is a hot topic these days. As a result eco friendly furniture is hitting the online shopping market with full force. There is a variety of choice already available; so if you are looking to live greener, read on for how to find the hottest eco friendly styles.

You might be asking yourself; just what is eco friendly furniture exactly? Eco or sustainable furniture is made in such a way to have the lowest possible impact on the Earth. This includes things like when wood is utilized, it is derived from renewable sources, protected lands are not involved, and any chemicals employed in the process do not contaminate or damage the environment. Eco can also mean that a minimalist approach is used for manufacturing—for instance, delivery and mileage are kept to a minimum and the manufacturer is recycling energy and product wherever possible.

Another form of eco friendly furniture can be defined as furniture that has been made—in part or whole—from recycled materials. Furniture created from recycled items helps keep waste materials out of landfills and minimizes the need to consume precious resources.

Many retailers are now offering various environmentally friendly products. While shopping, always ask about the availabiity of eco friendly furniture. Many retailers are addinging it to their collections. For this type of product, shopping online is ideal; you can compare and contrast designs, costs, and level of eco friendly materials faster and in the convenience of your own home; it’s also the perfect place for environmentally sustainable furniture because most online retailers are using less energy due to not having a brick and mortar store, thereby making them greener too! The internet is your friend, do your research and ask questions.

After you have made your purchase of new items, you can also be green with the way you dispose of your old furniture. You have several options available to you. You can donate the items to places like Goodwill or your local women’s shelter. You can hand it down to a family member that is just getting started with their first apartment. Or you can even sell it at a furniture resale shop. Your recycled items are likely to find a new home and a new look; reupholstering, a new coat of paint, a slipcover, a few throws and new pillows. So, please consider recycling before you put your items out at the curb.

When purchasing new furniture or beds we often need to think about the furniture being replaced as part of the circle in promoting good ecological habits. There are several options that we can use to recycle or re-use your old furniture.

1.) Consider donating your furniture. Businesses like the Salvation Army or Goodwill Industries puts your older furniture back into circulation for others to use. The proceeds they generate from your furniture in turn helps to provide jobs and allows your furniture to find new life with a new family.

2.) Recycle your furniture. Wood furniture “can” be recycled at your local recycling center. There are also many local authorities who can assist in helping you to safely dispose of your furniture for recycling.

3.) Offer it to your family or friends. Your older furniture may be in tip top shape and if that’s the case you may still have sentimental feelings towards it and want to keep it in the family. If that is the case you can offer it to those you know who may have a need for the furniture.

4.) Try selling it. Many times your furniture may hold good resale value if it is a name brand or high-end piece of furniture. If that is the case why not sell it in a local newspaper ad or try selling it through online auctions like ebay or other online marketplaces.

Many of the options above give the added benefit of the furniture being safely and responsibly recycled or re-used which is an important step before shopping for new furniture and creating good eco-friendly habits. We need to avoid having older furniture added to landfills and we should make every effort to find a safe means of recycling our older furniture. After you’ve made arrangements to have your older furniture recycled or re-used you’ll want to start looking at some alternatives available in eco-friendly materials for furniture. There are many options available in furniture but one such material is becoming quite popular in green furniture. It’s called bamboo.

Bamboo is an interesting ecological friendly choice for a wide variety of products. What makes this product considered a green choice in furniture though is the process through which it is harvested and replanted. Many believe bamboo is a type of wood but it actually is classified as a grass. From the time it is seeded to the time it reaches maturity for harvesting is approximately 5-7 years. The stalk of the bamboo hardens and becomes tighter (harder than maple wood) which is then harvested and processed into a variety of products including boards which can be used for building and construction. It can be reseeded once harvested in as little as three months and because bamboo grows so quickly often reaching heights of 70 feet tall, this replenishment is quick with little to no impact on the environment.

Many domestic hardwoods like oak or ash do make great choices for furniture. In this modern age of resource conscious ecological living though many of us recognize that once an oak or ash tree is harvested it takes almost 40-45 years for a new one to be planted and grown to maturity. Many lumber companies do act responsibly with their cutting and harvesting of those trees but the maturity. However, if alternatives exist (like bamboo) and can be used in certain types of furniture in place of other woods then we should consider those resources ahead of others. Bamboo beds, nightstands, dressers and bookcases are just some of the many pieces of furniture made from this plant. The bamboo plant is even used in making fabric which is used in many types of mattress coverings.

In this article we looked at the two aspects of purchasing new furniture. We examined the responsibilities of what we should do with the older furniture. In the way of donating it, recycling it, giving it away or selling it. Doing these things allows our older furniture to be recycled and re-used creating a positive environmental impact. When getting ready to find new furniture we explored alternatives to domestic woods in the way of bamboo. Bamboo is fast growing, can be reseeded in less than three months after harvesting and provides material even harder than maple. Bamboo is a positive resource for eco-friendly furniture and if it is an available option should be considered ahead of other products. These suggested practices are not only good for you and others but for our environment as well.

These people are trying to make small but significant changes in the way they look at their everyday lives, and the items they purchase, with a view to not only cost and quality, but also how the manufacture, and use of these products impact the world at large.

Modern eco-friendly furniture is a small but significant part of this new environmentally conscious attitude towards the items that we buy for our homes. Many people these days want to be able to make an informed decision with regard to how an item was produced in relation to this environmental impact.

Modern eco friendly furniture will not in itself save the planet, but with the threat of global warming it is important to try wherever possible, to make environmentally friendly decisions with regard to any home decor buys.

Eco friendly outdoor furniture is made from renewable and nontoxic materials and is made with processors that do not cause environmental damage.

For example, many pieces of modern eco friendly furniture are made from wood; well you wouldn’t think that was very environmentally friendly, cutting down trees.

But as opposed to regular wood furniture found in your local store, modern eco friendly furniture is made from timber produced by certified wood harvesting sites.

These sites are closely monitored to ensure the trees are grown specifically for harvesting and after the mature trees are cut down they are replaced at the same time by planting saplings.

In addition, developments in manufacturing methods mean that a significant proportion of ‘wooden’ eco friendly outdoor furniture is not actually made from wood; it is produced from bamboo, which grows at a fast rate and is easily replenished.

By making a conscious decision to buy this ‘eco friendly’ outdoor furniture, you can help to prevent deforestation, because no virgin forest is involved in its manufacture.

Unlike many overpriced environmentally friendly products, this eco-friendly outdoor furniture has a comparable price to regular outdoor furniture.

There is an excellent choice of styles available from the traditional to the ultramodern, there is a wide choice of quality furniture available, and if there is not a store near your home it is easy to order online.

If you prefer a natural wood finish, keep in mind that beauty is skin deep, the damages are just to the finish, and you will start over when the finish is removed. If the old finish is removed using Eco friendly furniture refinishing techniques, then a new finish applied, the furniture can display the original beauty of the wood when it was created, with an antique patina that is irreplaceable. The quality and species of wood available and used then was generally better than what is available today.

Whether colored lacquer or natural wood finish is more attractive to you, there is little comparison between craftsmanship of yesterday with today’s shoddy manufacturing. Old furniture you find that was made more than twenty years ago, will outlast just about anything made today.

Eco friendly furniture refinishing is about more than just preserving old furniture, and not wasting resources to produce new flake board, melamine, laminate, or MDF and their waste products in the production of new furniture. Critical to Eco friendly furniture refinishing involves the use of less toxic strippers and removers to take off the old finish, prior to applying a new finish. Over the past fifteen years or so, removers have been developed to strip off old finishes, that are not lye based, or methylene chloride based. These modern, environmentally improved furniture removers include N Methyl-2 Pyrrolidone, or NMP, and other enzymatic removers that facilitate the removal of finishes without such toxic or ozone damaging chemicals as the older generation of furniture finish removers. Other Eco friendly furniture refinishing removers include the use of ceramic or quartz emitter infrared lamps to remove paint and heavily built up finishes, leaving no toxic remover waste or organic solvent to evaporate into the atmosphere at all.

Living on our planet today, we have a responsibility to tomorrows’ generations. Preserving our heritage and the environment is something all can appreciate. The vintage antique, or designer furniture we admire from the 50’s, 60’s, or 70’s, including Eames, mid century modern, space age, op art or pop art is often available in local thrift shops, or from eBay, from yard sales, or flea markets. Often, you need look no further than in your own homes to find candidates for refinishing. Open your imagination to wider refinishing possibilities for such handsomely designed furniture, and you will be helping yourself, our society, and the environment for a brighter tomorrow.

In just the last couple years there has been an explosion in eco friendly pet furniture sales, and to meet the demand manufacturers have produced a vast new array of pet related eco-friendly products.

Pet owners across the country are now seeking out quality, eco-friendly items for their pets, giving the same emphasis to buying planet saving products for their pets, as they do to their homes and vehicles.

This movement seems to be mushrooming each year, with sales of these products, such as certified organic pet beds booming across the nation. Many owners now feed their pets, as well as themselves, on organically produced food items.

Many vinyl and plastic toys for pets are produced from soft PVC, which contains several harmful toxic chemicals. When your dog chews on his favourite squeaky ball these harmful chemicals can leach into the animals system, causing serious side effects such as organ damage and tumors.

It is preferable to search out toys that use natural dyes or organically grown fibers that are chemical and pesticide free, these items are also biodegradable.

Another good example of pet and planet saving products are certified organic pet beds which are filled with various materials, often100% fleece scraps that have been recycled.

These beds can be slightly more expensive than regular pet beds, but are a better long-term investment as they are completely washable, even the soft filling. So instead of dumping the bed in the trash after a couple years, the bed should last your pet’s lifetime.

There are many other eco pet products available, such as environment friendly pet furniture, one stylish example is the ‘Kings Bed,’ a classy off the ground certified organic pet bed made from bamboo.

Holden designs have produced several upmarket pieces of eco friendly pet furniture including their chic raised pet feeding units. There are also dog and cathouses made of eco-friendly materials, such as replenishable wooden doghouses and interior cat homes made with recycled cotton materials.

Therefore, your pet can be as environmentally conscious as you are, with food, toys furniture and pet houses that are made from materials that will not harm the planet or you’re pet.

What is Green Furniture?

We all know that furniture wood is a forest product. Many trees are harvested for getting that fine wood for your home and office furniture. However, green furniture is not green because it comes from forests but it is green in the sense of its being eco-friendly. Furniture is considered eco-friendly according to its impact on the environment. How the wood is harvested and to what extent this contributes to forest depletion, whether it has eco-friendly upholstery on it, how much chemicals and toxic paints etc. are used in making them, how it will affect the surrounding air quality- all contribute in defining a furniture as eco friendly. When a wood furniture causes minimum deforestation, uses non toxic materials for finishes and do not pollute the home environment, it is called an eco-friendly wood furniture.

How to Buy Eco-friendly Furniture?

Here are certain tips on how to buy green furniture? Follow them and be a responsible and proud earth dweller.

Buy FSC-certified woods. They are researched and certified as socially and environmentally harvested by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). This council is an international non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization which works for promoting responsible management of the world’s forests. Buy reclaimed and recycled wood products. Many wood furniture manufacturers reuse discarded furniture and lumber. Refrain from buying endangered woods. Select furniture made from “secondary species” which are less depleted. These species include sweetgum, madrone, and California oak. Buy lower grade woods as lesser timber is needed to produce a low-grade wood product than a high-grade product. Many low-grade woods are rated low just because they show knots and streaks. Ask the manufacturer, where and how the wood was harvested. Particleboard, plywood, and other pressed woods contain formaldehyde, a possible carcinogen leading to poor air quality in your home and office. As such, avoid pressed woods and go for second-hand solid wood, or FSC-certified new wood pieces. Do your furniture shopping at antique stores, garage sales, and thrift stores where you can find furniture made from solid wood. Buy furniture made from rubberwood. It is very sustainable and one of the most eco-friendly lumber used by the modern furniture industry. Most of the other woods are obtained from trees that are cut down just to make furniture. However, rubberwood is harvested only after it completes the cycle of producing latex and dies for about 18-25 years before dying. Buy those furniture pieces  that are finished with nontoxic paints, stains and varnishes. Buy bamboo furniture. Bamboo grows fast and is able to replenish itself quickly. This makes it eco-friendly otion for furniture making. Buy locally made furniture to reduce the pollution created from shipping them long distances. If any how you want to buy a furniture that is made in a particular region, you can buy it from local retailer and help in cutting down on transport. If you find eco-friendly furniture costly, start small. Don’t try to change all your home furniture at once. Buy small pieces initially and buy one by one as and when you can manage to spend on expensive furniture. Also you can first buy something having only one sustainable component such as reclaimed wood but treated with a conventional stain and finish. These are less expensive and you can find them easily. Additionally, you can choose unfinished wood and finish it yourself with eco-friendly products.