Ethical Home Furnishing Alternatives: from Mango wood furniture to buying locally

Support producers and craftsman around the world and be more environmentally friendly by discovering how you can make your home furnishings more ethical. You’ll be surprised how much you can enjoy filing your home with beautiful and unique furniture that doesn’t have a negative impact on communities and the environment where they are produced, without the enormous price tag!

Change to mango wood furniture
More and more illegal timber is being imported into the US causing real concern for the world’s forests.  Therefore, to help save the forests, furnish your home with Indonesian mango wood furniture. You may be thinking, “how is this type of wood ethical and sustainable?” Unable to harvest fruits from a mango tree when it no longer is effectively producing fruit, mango farmers cut down the trees and replace them with more trees to maintain the mango forests, fruit and employment in the local area while adding an extra income to the farmers. Whether you’re after a new coffee table for your living room or a book case for your study, Mango wood furniture is a unique alternative for your home.

Vintage furniture
Buying vintage furniture for your home is not only a great way to make your home more ethical, but is also a fantastic way to furnish your home in a unique style that is completely your own.  Explore a variety of different vintage furniture stores near to your home or alternatively if you live in an area with newer builds then venture out to somewhere with older homes. Flea markets and auctions are a great way to find one off pieces of vintage furniture.

Shop locally
If you shop locally for your furniture, you have a much better chance of buying ethically. So before you go to purchase your furniture from a big brand, have a browse around smaller independent shops that are more local to you. If you buy locally, you’re likely to have a much better idea of where the product originates from, and how it was manufactured.  Buying locally will also require less transportation, reducing your carbon footprint, and studies have shown that more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, strengthening the economy of your community.

Upcycling
Upcycling is a fantastic way of converting useless products into new products and is an excellent way to reduce your foot print.  So before you go to throw something out, think “is there a way I can reuse this?” It’s the perfect opportunity to get creative and make something entirely unique for your home. Here’s a few upcycling examples to get you started…

Getting rid of old kitchen cabinets? Give them a lick of paint and add some hooks and you’ve got the perfect innovative coat rack!

Upcycling

Image Credit: Sticks and Stones

 

Use an old tea cup and saucer to create a quirky office lamp.

 tea-cup-lamp

Choose your child’s favorite story book and make some cute bunting to decorate their room.

book-bunting

Image Credit: Bloesem Blog

This article was written by Laura Harrison on behalf of Fountain Partnership, an SEO agency in Norwich.  Laura is a professional writer that enjoys writing about a broad range of topics, in particular home improvements. 

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