Amanda Gates Talks Non-Toxic Furniture

Last year, Tennessee interior designer and feng shui expert, Amanda Gates, featured me on her podcast, Design 101. We talked how to improve your feng shui, Twitter stalking, crazy feng shui stories and more. This time, I'm excited to welcome Amanda to the Holistic Spaces blog to share with us her insight on choosing non-toxic furniture. We've got lots to learn!

AC: Tell us about non-toxic furniture and why someone would want to purchase it over regular furniture. 

AG: What most consumers do not know is that much of the furniture made today is made overseas. In an effort to keep it cheap, they use cheap materials like plywood and particle board to assemble them. Cheap furniture is not only poorly made, but contains insecticides, herbicides, formaldehyde, and many other harmful chemicals. These chemicals can off gas for years. 

Non-toxic furniture is better made and is made with solid wood. It appears to be more expensive, however the consumer is not comparing apples to apples. It’s more like comparing apples to a car engine. Non-toxic furniture is safer for our environment and creates better air quality in your home. If you have an infant with developing lungs and immune system, those toxins often found in cheap furniture can cause serious, long lasting health effects.

What is the first step to purchasing non-toxic furniture? 

Education. EPA approval does not guarantee HUMAN safety. In fact the language gets real fuzzy and will say something unclear like “registered.” And most of what the EPA registers, is NOT approved for human health. So do your homework. 

  • What type of wood is it?
  • Is there ANY plywood or particleboard anywhere? (This is important because many manufacturers back their products with particleboard)
  • What is the fabric made of? Is it made with PVC, formaldehyde or other harsh chemicals?
  • What type of foam is used? Where did it come from?
  • What type of hardware is used? How was it made? Where was it made?
  • Springs - What are they made of? Where were they made?
  • Have veneers been used?
  • Does it have fire retardant on it?
  • Are the materials all-natural? (Like wool, jute, cottons, linens, etc.)
  • Where was it assembled? Was ALL of it assembled in the same factory? (Another very important question. Many manufacturers will start the build process in China and then assemble stateside and then claim "Made in America.")
  • What environmental partners are they associated with? SFI, FSC, Sustainable Furnishings Council?
  • What is the company's philosophy on environment impact? Is it their hook, or do they truly believe in their mission?

DO your homework, because it's become a buzzword, and many are abusing it.

How can non-toxic furniture help create a holistic space?

We are inundated with chemicals EVERYWHERE. In our food system, all of our building materials, water, cleaning products, even mattresses are said to have more chemicals than an entire barrel of crude oil.

Cheap products that harbor a lot of chemicals cause cancer, damage our nervous system, suppress our immune systems, depress our T cells, cause endometriosis, reproductive issues, respiratory damage and much, much more.

Sounds scary, because it is. 

That is not peaceful. Not to mention it’s not holistic in any way. Being surrounded by so many chemicals affects your health and well-being. And this can ultimately effect your happiness without you even realizing it.

A clean environment allows you to operate at a more optimal level. If your indoor air quality is substandard, so is your well-being, because they work hand in hand. If you’re suffering from headaches, insomnia, asthma, allergies, respiratory issues, and other ailments, are you going to feel good? Are you going to be happy? And what if you’re trying to get pregnant and can’t because the chemicals are throwing your body out of whack?

You are your best when your environment is at its best.

Thank you so much, Amanda, for offering your wealth of knowledge to our readers! Hopefully if you're looking to purchase furniture soon, you'll opt to go the non-toxic route if at all possible. It's an important way to help ensure your space is holistic and nurturing! 

Amanda has a brand new book coming out next spring, and we're happy to say she'll be featuring some of this material there as well. Keep an eye out for her book, with even more information on sourcing your home goods sustainably!

by Anjie Cho

Amanda is a professionally trained Interior Designer, and Feng Shui Practitioner and an amateur Environmentalist. She has been in the field of interior design and Feng Shui for over seventeen years. In the summer of 2015, Amanda became certified in Bau Biology, the study of our modern day environment and it’s effects on our health and home.

She works with homeowners who want to create harmonious, healing environments through intentional design practices. Sure, you can say all design is intentional is some respect, but Amanda's approach encompasses more than just a pretty space. It’s about environments that are truly healing.

Her goal with everyone she works with is to not only create spaces that have a killer cool vibe, and gives you the wow factor you could never achieve on your own, but design that honors Mama Earth along the way. As a leader in the world of intentional design, she design spaces that feel as good as they look. 

Website: gatesinteriordesign.com

Your Quick Guide to Giving Up Disposable Goods

One of the easiest ways to do our part to save our environment is to make surprisingly small changes in our everyday activities. Even the simplest adjustments, like asking take-out places not to include disposable silverware and replacing plastic bottled water with a sturdy, reusable bottle can have immense effects on the amount of waste we produce. It may be easy to understand that concept, but sometimes we get busy and find it hard to remember all the different ways we can make these changes. Here's a quick guide to help to eliminate as many disposable items as possible in your home and get a little more eco-friendly each day!

Give Up: Plastic Bags, Paper Bags
Reach For: Reusable Cloth Bags

We all know by now how wasteful using plastic, or even paper bags, can be and the damage these items do to the environment when we don't recycle them. Eliminate the need to recycle, and reduce clutter in your space, by grabbing a sturdy, dependable cloth bag for shopping. 

Give Up: Plastic Bottles
Reach For: Reusable Bottles

In this case, there are a few options. You can go for BPA-free, thick reusable plastic bottles or opt for glass. Either way, you'll be sending fewer plastic bottles out with recycling or trash. If you only drink one bottle per day, switching to reusable saves the plastic from 365 bottles per year. The number only goes up!

Give Up: Ziplock Bags
Reach For: Reusable Lunch Bags

There are options here as well. We're all familiar with Tupperware, and it's a good solution over disposable bags and packaging, but there are also glass options and, in some cases, you can even use cloth (think wrapping up a sandwich)!

Give Up: Paper Towels and Napkins
Reach For: Cloth Napkins

This one's pretty easy to understand. The United States uses over 13 billion pounds of paper towels each year! That means 13 billion pounds have to be produced EACH year! Switching to washable cloth napkins can drastically reduce this number and environmental impact, even after you consider the energy needed to make and wash a set. 

Give Up: Paper or Plastic Coffee Cups
Reach For: Reusable Cups

The average American drinks around 3 cups of coffee per day, especially during these cooler seasons. That's 3 disposable cups EACH day! That means for an average American, finding a fun, personality-infused, BPA-free plastic or glass option can eliminate over 1,000 paper or plastic cups each year. Need I say more?

This list just scratches the surface of ways to replace disposable, wasteful items in your life with reusable, greener and often customizable options. If you're a Swiffer user, opt for washable pads rather than one-time use. Get your clothes dry cleaned? Invest in a quality, reusable bag and eliminate all those plastic ones! There are even more eco-friendly options for ladies when that time comes! 

Where can you make a small change in your space to eliminate some of our massive waste? Please share your ideas with us!

by Anjie Cho

Bamboo Isn't Just a Fad

As a licensed and practicing architect, I regularly take continuing education courses to stay up to date and maintain my certification. My most recent course detailed the perks and benefits of using bamboo in remodeling, renovation and building, and it's pretty incredible what using bamboo can do for your holistic space and for the environment. Let's take a look at why bamboo is hopefully here to stay. 

Bamboo is Environmentally Friendly and Sustainable

Using bamboo to build dates back at least 2,000 years in Chinese culture, and there are 1,400 different species of bamboo, all of which can be used differently. It's such an amazing untapped resource that fully engaging in a bamboo-based industry could provide jobs for up to one billion people worldwide, all without providing any unnecessary strain on our environment or ecosystems. 

Unlike the harvesting process of typical trees, harvesting bamboo does not fully release its carbon dioxide supply into the air. This is no small detail, since deforestation is one of the main contributors to global warming through carbon off gassing. Instead, the root structure of bamboo stays alive and holds onto almost 50% of the carbon it sequesters, which can be up to 60% more than fir trees.

Bamboo also releases 35% more oxygen than typical fir trees, helping to give back more to the environment, and since it is harvested more selectively, it doesn't wear out soil, which prevents the need for relocation, a common issue in traditional wood harvesting.  

Bamboo is a rapidly renewing resource, and due to its tight hold on carbon and the fact that it travels via sea and train for much of its journey to us from Asian countries, it's actually a carbon negative product, which means that yes, it is more sustainable in every way than traditional wood. All of this, without even mentioning that relying on bamboo for building can not only avoid the devastating effects deforestation has on some indigenous species, it can actually help us to provide more solid economies for these people while we still have everything we need in building supplies. 

Using Bamboo Adds Nature to Your Space

Recent research shows that using natural wood in indoor environments actually has positive impacts on our health, much like that of spending time out in nature. In fact, using natural wood like bamboo for our building needs can lead to decreased blood pressure, lower levels of stress and increased emotional wellness! Talk about benefits!

What's more, some other studies have shown that physical contact with wood products, as opposed to other materials like aluminum and plastic, actually produces positive physiological responses. We feel safer when we're surrounded by nature, even if it's in our homes and not outdoors. These studies also show that imitation wood doesn't have the same effects. 

It's not difficult to see why choosing bamboo for renovations and other indoor needs is a good move all around. In fact, we'll share even more benefits soon! With plenty of perks and almost no downside (as long as you get quality, properly aged product!), bamboo is potentially an amazing tool to move us forward in sustainable, eco-friendly building and green design. Would you consider using it?

by Anjie Cho