recycled
International Coastal Clean-up Day!
In case you haven’t heard, this Saturday is International Coastal
Clean-up Day, organized by the Ocean Conservancy. This year marks their 27th
anniversary of celebrating this initiative and they don’t look to be slowing
down anytime soon. In 2011, almost 600,000 volunteers worldwide collected more
than 9 million pounds of trash from our oceanic ecosystems. These trash items,
such as cigarette butts, plastic bottles and bags and food wrappers, are
responsible for polluting our waters and endangering our wildlife.
Vermont Woods Studios makes every effort we can to support initiatives
like that of The Ocean Conservancy. In many areas of our company, you can find examples of how we support the preservation of our environment. We donate to local and national
environmental organizations, we “green-up” our office space and we even sell
recycled furniture!
Our Polywood Outdoor Furniture is the perfect addition to
any green home. Made from more than 90% post-consumer recycled containers like
milk or detergent bottles, these pieces are constructed using a process that
makes them look and feel like real wood. That’s right. Durable, beautiful
furniture that doesn’t harm our environment and actually helps to keep plastic
out of our oceans. How much better can you get?
Here in the office, we decorate our “beach” area with
Polywood and enjoy it all year long. We also have BIG plans for Polywood at our
new Stonehurst home. Because that’s the thing about Vermont Woods Studios:
While we are a fine, hardwood furniture company, VWS is built on sustainability
and on protecting our environment.
This weekend, make plans to do something to support our
oceans. Find a beach clean-up site near you, start or improve a recycling
resolution in your home or office, or relax in a luxurious Polywood Adirondack
Chair. However you choose to help, you’ll be glad you did!
Loryn Dion is a Marketing Assistant at Vermont Woods Studios, an online furniture gallery which showcases Vermont's finest wood furniture. Follow our blog to learn about Vermont fine furniture, Vermont happenings, our mission, and our team.
PolyWood Outdoor Patio Furniture: Finding The Best Deal
If you've discovered Polywood all weather, recycled plastic outdoor furniture you love it, right? It's available in dozens of modern and traditional styles including Adirondack chairs, rocking chairs, chaise lounges, outdoor dining tables, patio bar and counter height tables and more.
Plus polywood pool and patio furniture comes in white, black and 11 colors: blue, teak, tangerine, red, sand, mahogany, lime, lemon, green, aruba and slate grey. And it's made in America of recycled plastic drink containers, so while you're outside enjoying nature you can feel good about helping to preserve it through your purchase.
So now that you've decided to buy polywood, you're looking for the best deal. This kind of high quality furniture isn't cheap. Thus, where to go for the best price?
Well, have you noticed that all the dealers charge the same price? That's because the furniture maker (Polywood Inc) has determined the lowest price that dealers seem to be able to stay in business with, and set that as a required minimum price. Dealers who violate the minimum price policy will likely not be in business for long– either because Polywood refuses to sell to them or they've run themselves into bankruptcy.
As it turns out the best deal on Polywood isn't about the lowest price. It's about the quality of the company you're buying from and the way they stand behind their products. At Vermont Woods Studios we're committed to offering you the best values in Polywood furniture that you will find anywhere and we stand behind all of our furniture (including Polywood) with a lifetime guarantee (we're the only dealer who does this, as far as I know). Check it out along with the Top 10 Reasons to Buy Polywood Furniture at Vermont Woods Studios.
HGTV: Got Any Green Home Office Ideas for Earth Day?
I am ashamed to say that my home office decor is deplorable. You can see it in this video taken last year when I had 6 other people working in it with me.
So with our Green-up Your Workplace Challenge coming up for Earth Day, I decided to look for green design ideas to spif it up with eco-friendly home office furniture, lighting and accessories.
I started looking for ideas at HGTV and was delighted to find they are showcasing over 125 home office design ideas submitted by homeowners and interior designers.
They've got modern home offices, eclectic home offices, traditional home offices, contemporary home offices, arts and crafts home offices, cottage home offices, tropical home offices, English country home offices, transitional home offices, mid-century modern and even Mediterranean home offices.
I hope they add a green home office project with all natural, all American made wooden office furniture: desks, file cabinets, credenza, occasional tables and chairs (maybe even using reclaimed, recycled barnwood). Then add in organic cotton rugs, draperies and upholstery, energy efficient electronics, light bulbs, light fixtures and maybe even FSC certified wood flooring. That would be a good project to post on Earth Day, HGTV. Just a suggestion.
All Weather Outdoor Furniture From Recycled Plastic
No matter how worried we may be about global warming, you have to admit the early Spring weather felt pretty good today. We put a couple of our colorful polywood chairs out in front of the office so we could soak up a few rays.
Polywood all weather outdoor furniture is made from recycled plastic. It's hard to believe that this high end, luxury beach and patio furniture is the product of plastic milk jugs and water bottles, but it's true!
As Earth Day approaches, we're excited to let you know that this high end eco-friendly furniture helps to keep plastic trash out of our landfills and out of the ocean. But don't let the recycled, green nature of this all weather outdoor furniture fool you into thinking it's quality is any less than the best.
It's the only outdoor furniture I know of that is so strong, sturdy and durable it comes with a lifetime guarantee. And because the color is infused throughout the poly lumber, there's no need to paint, scrape or polish these Adirondack chairs, patio dining tables and chaise lounges. All weather, recycled plastic outdoor furniture that's maintenance free and 100% made in America. You gotta feel good about that.
Reclaimed Barnwood Bench Featured in Yankee Magazine
Thanks to Photo Editor Heather Marcus, Vermont Woods Studios is featured in the March/April issue of of Yankee Magazine.
We're included in an article by Christie Matheson titled, Home Decor From Reclaimed Items. Please check it out! Christie showcased a number of beautiful and creative recycled, re-purposed crafts from around New England including one-of-a-kind birdhouses by Scott Bradford and cozy quilts handcrafted from vintage wool sweaters by Snug As A Bug.
We are honored to be alongside these talented craftspeople in one of New England's oldest and most respected publications.
Old Barns Get A Second Chance As Vermont Fine Furniture
Here's a familiar site in Vermont and throughout New England… a beautiful old barn that's finally beginning to cripple under the stress of Mother Nature's 100+ years of wind, rain, snow, hail and other weather events (like hurricane Irene in this case).
But lucky for us, Vermont craftsmen are giving these beloved ancient structures a new lease on life– as rustic, reclaimed barnwood furniture.
We're amazed at the amount of work involved in rescuing old lumber from the floors, walls, beams and siding of these fallen soldiers. Craftsman pick through a great deal of unusable lumber in order to find pieces suitable for furniture.
Once sorted, the wood must then be tested with a metal detector and de-nailed, before milling. But once that is done, an incredibly beautiful patina often emerges that can go on to become a unique piece of heirloom furniture, rich with our American history.
Here's an example of a reclaimed barnwood table we crafted and sold lately. This one even made it into Yankee Magazine as part of an article called, Reclaimed Style.
If you're looking for reclaimed barnwood furniture, give Rebecca or Shannon a call. They work closely with our craftsmen to customize these pieces with your choice of antique wood.
Just as an aside, did you know that only 50 years ago about half of Americans were living in rural areas or on a farm? Today less than 2% of the American population is involved in farming. In Vermont that number is 50% higher… still only 3%. Perhaps that's why there are so many old barns that have fallen into disrepair. Sad, but nice to have a way to recycle them and re-capture their story.
Many thanks to Picture Ninja for the use of their photograph of this forlorn old Vermont barn.
Vermont Farm Tables
Handmade Vermont farmhouse tables are a good reflection of the creative and frugal nature of New England's most passionate Yankee craftsmen. If you've driven through our Green Mountain state lately you've probably noticed the sad demise of some of our historic barns and buildings. Over 200 years of wind and rain and snow have left these antique treasures in desperate need of rebirth.
Lucky for them, Vermont has many talented craftsmen who've taken on the mission of reclaiming the old barnwood boards and timbers and milling them into beautiful farmhouse tables. "Old wood – new life!" as our friend and expert craftsman Raphael Groton says.
Can you imagine the amazing qualities of wood that make it as beautiful, strong and durable today as it was 200 years ago? And even after standing out in the rain and snow all that time?
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