It is a challenge for green families many times to buy sustainable furniture. Certainly what you find in most conventional furniture stores is not so eco friendly…perhaps they sourced the wood unethically, they used toxic dyes and paints, or they doused the furniture with toxic flame retardants. My solution for that is to buy used…that way I am not contributing to the consumption of new materials and whatever it is has had ample opportunity to off-gas. I do think it is wonderful though that so many companies are making green furniture…I just think they need to lower the price to a more reasonable level so that more people can consider this option.
We recently got an EcoTots project table for the kiddies and it is a nice piece of play furniture…much better for the environment than the SpongeBob table and chairs we got a Wal-Mart a few years back (and still have) but alas I am torn about the price because how many can afford to spend $400 on something like this. The MSRP is $400 but you can get them on Amazon right now for only $250. Still…no small chunk of change for a kids play table.
The design is rather beautiful…very artistic and retro. We have the Red Fire table and it is a really
gorgeous color, adorned with eco-friendly, non-toxic, water-based stains. UV cured for reduced greenhouse gases emissions. I love the way it looks against our family room rug.
The wood is 100% formaldehyde-free birch plywood SmartWood®. All materials are sourced in North America and wholly designed and manufactured in the USA. The manufacturing company is a member of the SFC (Sustainable Furniture Council) and their products have a lifetime construction guarantee.
Oh and one REALLY nice feature is that you don’t need any tools to put them together. They kind of fit together like puzzle pieces and a little twist secures them. The stools also fit nicely underneath the table when not in use. The table set comes in four groovy colors: fire, natural, leaf and cocoa.
The kids really like the table but not more so than their Spongebob table. So this furniture is really for mom and her green piece of mind but my piece of mind can be bought with second hand stuff so I doubt I would buy up the rest of the EcoTots collection. Although I love their little coat racks and easel. I don’t love the price however. But for moms who will spend that kind of money at say…Pottery Barn…this stuff would be a better alternative. EcoTots really does have a pretty snazzy collection.
Here is some “in action” pictures at our house:
My daughter reading…
And my son playing with his Bausteine Eene, Meene, Zoo Haba blocks and drinking from his safe sippy.
Too cute! Eco- friendly furniture has gotten a lot nice than your grandmother’s ol’ hand-me-down couch. Officedesigns.com has a huge selection of green chairs–type in “environmentally-friendly” into the search and a gallery will come up with all the info you need to know how green the chair actually is. On the tots side of things–they’re releasing this new line of modern kids furniture! Eames womb chairs miniaturized! Very cool!
What about Ikea? Or unfinished furniture? It looks nice though, very modern. I could see using that furniture in different ways through out the years.