Buying new furniture is exciting. Perhaps you are moving into a new house or treating yourself by renovating a pre-existing one. Unfortunately buying new furniture isn’t all rainbows and sunshine. There is a harmful side to purchasing mass-produced low-quality furniture that consumers often don’t know.
When you bring a piece of new cheap furniture in your home, you often bring a host of dangerous chemicals hidden in their glue glosses and fabrics. These include, but aren’t limited to, flame retardants, polishes, laminates, and other seemingly “harmless” furniture features.
Comfort at a cost
You should steer clear of any furniture containing volatile organic compounds or VOCs that can pollute the air in your home. When inhaled, VOCs can cause headaches, organ irritations, loss of coordination and nausea, and even cancer. Wooden furniture sometimes gets imbued with fire-retardant chemicals called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, otherwise known as PBDEs. PBDEs are known to cause brain and reproductive disorders.
Toxins abound
Untreated toxins can be a severe threat to your family. You should prioritize the treatment of toxins in your furniture to secure your home. Installing photocatalyst air purifiers is an effective way of removing dangerous chemicals like formaldehyde, benzene, and acetaldehyde from the air. You can also treat many acidic VOCs with alkaline cleansers like baking soda. Spread a pinch of baking soda across your furniture and rugs to trap harmful chemicals before vacuuming them. House plants like English Ivy and Foxtail Fern also do a great job of absorbing hazardous chemicals in the atmosphere.
Don’t use Faux
Leather furniture looks impressive, but the faux variety should be emitted from your shopping list. Faux leather is made from fabric that is chemically treated with wax and VOC emitting dyes to get the desired hue and texture. In such cases, a simple and safe alternative is to buy used furniture. Distressed furniture from reclaimed wood is free from toxic chemicals and can stand the test of time.
These are some of the potentially harmful side effects of buying poor quality furniture, or furniture that isn’t made well. To ensure the safekeeping of your family and yourself, you should consider saving some money and buying luxury furniture. These avoid harmful chemicals in their manufacturing process and are much better for your health and environment. Places like Ambienti are a good starting point to research luxury furniture, which is free of harmful toxins and will last a long time.
