Today's email blast from A Fresh Squeeze, gave some good reminders about how a simple thing like buying used rather than new is one way of living green:
Buying used not only reduces demand for raw materials, it also cuts down on the energy costs associated with production and transportation.
There’s an added reason to buy used furniture from flea markets. Manufactured lumber, such as plywood and particleboard, often contain adhesives that off-gas VOCs into your home. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) have been linked to several negative health effects.
Our parents were just here over the weekend, and they were asking about all of our stuff. We realized that the only "new" piece we own is an IKEA shelving unit that was missing a drawer (so, in the "damaged products" section - a great deal). We actually preferred it with one less drawer, as it now is used as a shelf that houses our DVD player and cable box. Everything else in our home was handmade, scored from craigslist, garage sales, flea markets, dumpster diving, or came to us as family and friend hand-me-downs. We know it's not for everyone, but we love re-using stuff like this.
A few of A Fresh Squeeze's suggestions for hunting:
Chicago Antique Market
Wolff's Flea Market Rosemont
The New Maxwell Street Market
Thoughts on these three suggestions? Any other favorite flea markets? What's your top go-to spot for secondhand finds?
Another reason to buy used casegoods is that vintage furniture doesn't use MDF (pressboard) at all!
Pressboard is OK when we can't afford anything else, but anything made with pressboard/MDF in any form is basically disposable furniture.
One way to be "green" is to buy the best you can afford which in that case probably won't have MDF at all if you're willing to save up for it.
By the way - Ethan Allen, with their reputation for "quality" now uses press board in their furniture. They call it by a fancier name, but a rose by any other name is still a rose. Or something like that. They say "oh but our pressboard is 'furniture grade'...". No joke. That's what a stuffed-shirt Ethan Allen salesman in Beaverton (OR) told me. I politely said "that's OK, I'd prefer to see some furniture that's 100% real wood, which pieces are those?". He refused to talk to me after that. Just stomped off with his nose in the air.
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I love vintage furniture, but with the bedbugs popping up all over, I'm backing off for awhile.
It's just not worth it.
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Well with case goods (tables and such) there's a lot less risk (isn't there?).
When I buy used upholstered furniture it's almost always re-upholstered before I put it in my home anyway. Although the last two pieces were in such great shape I left them alone (for now).
But yeah, those things are creepy.
I still prefer gently used vintage furniture...
AT (heather) - maybe a good future post would be on how to buy vintage furniture safely. I think we'd all benefit from that. I'd like to read one like that...!
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