Is Your Furniture Making You Sick?
When you purchase furniture, you also purchase a host of dangerous chemicals hidden in their glues, stains, dyes, glosses, and fabrics.
It wasn’t until I started to research the chemicals in our homes and how it was effecting my families health that I started to take note!
Unfortunately, I found that most furniture is manufactured with all sorts of harmful chemicals that I simply do not want inside my home. It’s scary to think about how much our indoor air quality can be compromised by the formaldehyde in particle wood, the glue vapors from rugs, the stain-proofing compounds on the couch, flame retardants on the mattress… the list goes on. Suddenly, our sanctuary becomes a toxic minefield.
In reality, the compounds that make furniture soft, sleek, or “new” smelling, actually belong to a class of chemicals called volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
These compounds behave as toxic gases that pollute the air in your home and vehicle, causing all kinds of nasty side effects when inhaled, like: eye, nose, and throat irritation; headaches, loss of coordination, and nausea, along with liver, kidney, and central nervous system damage. Some are even known to cause cancer
So, how can we tackle this!
Hands up, I am the worst for changing my home style regularly, to keep up with trends and even the change in season. I will be in a shop, see something and buy it without a second thought as to what chemical has been used to create said item.
Chances are that new chemically loaded décor piece sits pride of place, to be admired by all!
In the past, I only needed my furniture to look great. Aesthetics are definitely still a top priority, but now I also need it to be non-toxic. I thought that would be fairly easy since I’m mostly drawn to wood furniture. But after shopping a few of my favourite shops, I found that even natural materials can be glued, coated and treated with some pretty nasty stuff.
In reality it would be nearly impossible in today’s world to eliminate chemicals from our homes entirely, there are plenty of ways we can significantly reduce exposure.
NEW FURNITURE
As a rule of thumb, when choosing new furniture, I try to stick to furniture made from solid wood such as birch, teak, walnut, oak, or bamboo (technically a grass). Compressed wood, with laminate sides will be ladened in toxic glues.
You will also want to make sure the wood is either untreated or that it’s finished with natural stains or paints, you can naturally stain your wood furniture at home or leave to weather and add character with age.
If you want to go one step further — avoid pine. Pine emits its own natural VOCS.
There are a wonderful selection of natural, sustainable furniture shops, sometimes they have a higher price tag, but if you shop around local artisan furniture makers you can find some great pieces that are reasonable priced. They are becoming more popular as the demand increases, which is great news!
VINTAGE FURNITURE
Typically you do not have to be as concerned with the manufacturing materials used when buying second-hand furniture. This is because any chemical vapors would likely have off-gassed before making their way to your home.
Sometimes vintage furniture can smell a little musty — especially wooden furniture. This is easily rectified with white vinegar and baking soda solution it will clean, disinfect, and deodorise most items well enough.
