Buy Second Hand Furniture Over New
Again this might sound rather counter-intuitive as when we think of old pieces of furniture we tend to image that they have accumulated a lot of dirt in their lifetime but there is a surprising fact about new furniture you may be unaware of. That new sofa you’ve just bought might look pristine, and of course it is, however, what you might not know is that luxury piece of furniture you’ve just treated yourself to is secretly releasing chemicals into your living room.
Known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), they are gases emitted by many fabrics, glues and paints that react with sunlight and chemicals in the atmosphere to form particulates that irritate and damage our lungs. Items stop emitting VOCs after a few years, so that older piece of furniture is likely to have ‘gassed-off’ by the time it finds it’s place in your home.
