Refurbishing

With eco awareness about everything being so necessary and so trendy lately, I find it all around me. Unlike most of the fads I find myself involuntarily involved in or surrounded with though, I'm quite pleased with the influence of environmental movements that are currently so prevalent. Because I believe in them whole-heartedly.

Do I believe that the world is going to end due to global warming? I'm not sure. Do I believe that we are doomed to a world where our only options for nourishment come from chemically synthesized meal capsules and filtered urine? I sure hope not. Do I believe that we are creating a potentially apocalyptically inhospital environment that we then have no choice but to live in? I think we're on our way. I fully believe that we are consuming natural resources and producing harmful and artificial resources at such an excellerated rate and disproportionate level that we are currently and will continue to destroy the environment.

Due to these beliefs, I have become fascinated and slightly obsessed with refurbishing. I believe that renovating a crap-shack trailer is the ultimate act of refurbishing - you are literally taking the trash out of the trailer and creating something beautiful AND functional anew. But then you have to fill it. You have to make it a space you can live in. And I believe, that as much as possible, we can do this ethically by using old, recycled or refurbished furniture.

Like this (one of my absolute favorites - so ingenious!)



(www.ruffhouseart.etsy.com)

Again, I think this bench is completely genious work from www.reGEARED.etsy.com who uses bicycle parts to create real works of art:



And I think we can never overlook how much wood is made available when buildings are renovated, when an old piece of furniture becomes damaged or when you simply take a walk in the woods. I think we are doing a huge disservice to the earth by insisting that the best way to build anything is with new materials and new wood. This chair and table I think are just absolutely stunning displays of what you can do with salvaged wood, patience and skill (or what you can buy from someone who possesses all of those things)



(www.nicbonanno.etsy.com)



(www.RecycledBrooklyn.etsy.com)

So, when it comes to buying a piece of new furniture, or when you are completely furnishing a new space, think about it. Nobody said that re-used had to mean washed up.