Antique Furniture – The Ultimate in Green Design

These days it seems as though everyone is looking for ways to “go green” – and with good reason. For individuals and families that are concerned about carbon footprints and the rising cost of energy, finding creative, eco-friendly solutions for their homes and lifestyles can make a big difference.

Conscientious homeowners are considering everything from Energy Star appliances to using alternative energy sources for heating and cooling needs, but there is an area of the home that often gets overlooked – the furniture. It may seem strange to think of furniture as something that can have a negative impact on the environment, but here are some things to consider:

• Most furniture is made from wood, and that wood has to come from somewhere. In many cases, it comes from trees that have been chopped down - at considerable cost to the environment.

• Creating new furniture has more of a negative environmental impact than just cutting down trees – shipping materials via fossil fuel burning vehicles, manufacturing plants spewing out impurities into the air, and chemicals that get distributed into the water all factor into the equation.

Thankfully, there is an alternative for the “green” minded consumer – antique furniture. From an environmental perspective antiques are extremely eco-friendly. First, antiques already exist; none of the earth’s current resources are required to produce them. In fact, the process of purchasing antiques is a lot like recycling! Second, when they were produced (and many were made over 100 years ago), antiques were not being mass produced. They were typically made in smaller workshops by craftsmen who made better use of the resources at their disposal – fewer raw materials were needed, more of each raw material was utilized, and fewer pollutants and byproducts were created.

Another important factor to weigh is a piece of furniture’s “life expectancy” when considering its overall environmental impact. Antiques, by definition, have proven that they can stand the test of time - the reason being that repairs on older furniture were, and still are, easier to do because each piece of furniture was more natural. The quality of wood from antiques tends to be stronger and sturdier, and for this reason it can be rehabilitated by a craftsman. When furniture cannot be repaired in a cost effective manner the inevitable result is that it gets scrapped onto a trash heap (adding to the waste problem) and another piece of furniture gets purchased – which equates to the consumption of additional natural resources.

So the next time you think about redecorating, or changing the look and feel of one of your rooms, you might want to think about antiques as a beautiful and eco-friendly alternative. After all, how many newer pieces of furniture will be in functional, good working order in 100 or 200 years from now? If you happen to live in New Jersey or anywhere in the greater metropolitan area, please feel free to come to L’Entrepot, located at 145 Dunnell Road in Maplewood, NJ, where you can view a wide variety of unique antiques from across the globe. Alternatively, you can view our entire catalog of pieces and learn more about antique furniture as a whole at www.lentrepotdesign.com.