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Home Collection
Keep your home healthy and free from VOCs with natural and organic products from our home collection. From natural and organic sofas, to air purifiers, natural wood bed frames, natural wood furniture, organic towels, natural wool area rugs and natural wool carpets, our curated selection of products are made with a focus on keeping toxins out of your home.
Why do we want natural products in our home?
There seems to be two strong motivators as to why our customers choose natural and organic products for their home: health reasons and/or environmental reasons. The reason our customers want to focus on natural and organic products for health vary widely depending on their specific health needs, from having MCS, allergies, cancer, hormone dysregulation, endocrine disruption, reproduction, or just for prevention of future health issues. However, there is one thing that everyone seems to agree on: Living with less toxins is better. In a society that is overrun with chemicals in everything, from the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat along with many things that touch our skin, there are many chemicals we can’t avoid. Therefore it is so important to control the levels of toxins we are exposed to, when we can. In our home, we can control some of the toxins we come in contact with by choosing natural wool carpets, natural wood bed frames, natural wood furniture, organic mattresses, natural sofas and using an air purifier to clean the air of everything else.
From an environmental standpoint, there is quite a bit of motivation to choose natural or organic products for the home. Natural and organic products have less of an environmental impact than synthetic products do. Synthetic products like polyester, polyurethane, vinyl and hard plastics are both produced from petrochemicals and produce petrochemical waste, and therefore contribute to air pollution and water contamination. Synthetic products add more toxins to the environment which is less healthy for flora, fauna, and ourselves. In contrast, natural and organic products have much less of an environmental impact because there are far fewer byproducts, and any byproducts there are, are from a natural source and do not contribute to toxins in the environment. Organic is the best, as nothing synthetic is added to the environment to produce these products… no fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides etc.
Read more about all the components of a natural bedroom.
What are the dangers of using synthetic products?
Some of the dangers of using synthetic products is partially hidden in not understanding how the products are produced. For example, if you are shopping for new carpet for your home, you can look at the tag and see what the carpet is made out of. Generally carpets are made of nylon or polyester. Both nylon and polyester are made from fossil fuels (and are thus not great for the environment), but they are both fairly inert when it comes to offgassing. You are not likely going to have a large toxic intake from coming in contact with nylon or polyester as they are both fairly stable. However, what you aren’t told about is the glue used to adhere carpet fiber to the backing or the treatments that are put on those nylon or polyester fibers. Stain resistant treatments? Flame retardants? Both of these things are very likely to contain large amounts of toxins. For another example, if you go to purchase a new bed frame, it may look like solid wood but oftentimes mass produced furniture is actually veneer (a thin layer of wood) over a particle board substrate (sawdust or wood chips impregnated with glue and compressed). It is not the little bits of wood that are harmful, it is the glue that holds it all together and the solvents used to create the glue. You are not told the types of chemicals that are used in the solvents and glues that hold manufactured wood together. So, the danger is that there are non-disclosed additives that you are exposed to that can negatively affect your health and wellbeing.
Organic Sofas and Loveseats
An organic sofa or organic loveseat is made from organic cotton and/or wool, microcoils and/or wool. When you are using these natural materials, what you aren’t getting are fabric finishers, flame retardants, polyurethane foam, and stain resistant chemicals. There are not any non-disclosed chemicals in the natural and organic sofa’s we sell. It is just all the clean and natural materials that come from the earth. If a sofa is a place you spend a lot of your time, an organic or natural sofa is a great investment in your health. Read more details about chemical free natural sofas.
Air Purifiers
There are different types of impurities in the air you breathe that come from both indoor and outdoor air pollution. Indoor air pollution comes from products in your home that contain toxins and are outgassing VOCs (like formaldehyde). Many different products in your home are toxin culprits, like carpets, furniture, cabinets, paint, mattresses, etc. Even if your home were to have all natural carpets, all natural furniture, low VOC paints, and organic mattresses, there are still impurities in the air that come from outside, the outdoor air pollution. Outdoor air pollution comes from automobiles, planes, power plants, and industrial facilities. Obviously this is worse in a big city, but unless you live in a remote area, this outdoor air pollution seeps inside of your house. You can use an air purifier to remove the outdoor pollution that comes in from outside and to remove the indoor pollution that comes from the non-natural products in your home. An air purifier is also helpful for people with allergies and asthma as it can remove dust, dander, mold, and pollen from the air.
Organic Towels
Even though you are not sleeping on it 8 hours a day, like a mattress, a towel is something that you touch all parts of your body with. Towels are similar to other fabrics where manufacturers are required to disclose the materials used, but not the finishing agents or dyes. Choosing non- organic towels means you do not know exactly what you are rubbing all over your body. Additionally, after you shower or bathe, you absorb more through your skin, so choosing organic towels is another way to avoid unknown chemicals.
Additionally, conventional cotton is one of the crops where pesticides are used the most. Pesticides aren’t just applied to the plant and then disappear, they get into ground water and potentially harm wildlife and are entered into the environment forever. Read our blog post about organic cotton to help understand why organic cotton is one of the best choices for the environment.
Natural Wool Carpet and Area Rugs
Conventional carpet is one of the nastiest chemical soups you can bring into your home. The amount of toxins that conventional carpet brings into the home is something everyone should be worried about. Have you ever noticed the smell in a carpet store, or even in a house that has brand new carpet? That smell is the first cue that there are chemicals that have a high enough concentration in the air that your nose can pick up on them. Conventional carpets are generally made from polyester or nylon but there are glues (made with formaldehyde) used to attach the fibers to the backing and there are treatments used to make the carpets stain resistant and flame resistant. Over a couple of years that new carpet smell will dissipate, but if you put your nose to an older old carpet, can you still smell the smell? Try and find out what the true list of ingredients is in carpet. It isn’t an easy thing to find. In contrast, our natural wool carpet is made from natural wool with a hemp and jute backing bound by natural rubber glue– no chemicals, just all natural materials. Wool is a natural flame retardant, so no chemical flame retardants are needed. Read our blog post on why buying natural wool carpet is a smart and healthy choice.
Aside from all the chemical byproducts from the production of conventional carpet, wool carpet is also more environmentally friendly because it is biodegradable at the end of its (very long) life.
Natural Wood Bed Frames, Side Tables, and Nightstands
Like all of the products we suggest for the home, a natural wood bed frame, side table, or nightstand is a healthy option that does not outgas into your home. In contrast, some conventional bed frames are made with particle board which is manufactured with a lot of glues and chemical solvents that outgas into the air. Read our blog post for more info on VOCs in bed frames. Additionally, natural wood is very environmentally friendly. The wood that our manufacturers use is highly regulated and comes from sustainable tree farms. It does not come from old growth trees or rainforests that are cut down and not replanted. Tree farms are actually a great thing for our environment as the trees put more oxygen into the air. Once the trees are cut down for wood, new trees are planted to take their place. The other reason natural wood furniture is more environmentally friendly is that it lasts much longer than manufactured wood products. If you have a product that lasts 5 years (ex. manufactured wood bed frame) versus 20 years (ex. a natural wood bed frame) that means it needs to be replaced less frequently which reduces waste in our environment. Choosing products that last longer are always a healthy choice for the environment.
Bed Rugs
A bed rug is made from coconut fiber and natural rubber which is formed into a mat that you can place under your mattress. A bed rug’s greatest benefit is that it offers great air flow under the mattress. Air flow is important to avoid mold or mildew from growing underneath a mattress as mold spores are a toxin that many people are sensitive or allergic to. A bed rug also offers a bit more support for your mattress, if required (for example, a pocket coil mattress that you would want to place on a platform bed that doesn’t have close enough slats). A bed rug is made from natural and sustainable materials: coconut fiber (coconut husk) that is dipped in natural rubber (serum from a rubber tree) and then baked into a mat. Coconut husk is basically a waste product that is being repurposed in order to make the bed rug, thus is a very environmentally friendly product.