Sustainable Furniture Buying Tips: 5 Questions You Should Be Asking

sustainable furniture buying tips
Our Skyline Panel Bed in Cherry with Walnut accents.

Being a sustainable company may be trendy now, but how do you know if what you’re buying is truly sustainable?

Our company was founded with the mission to save the rainforest. We are a wood furniture company that uses only sustainably harvested wood from North America. It’s been 17 years and we still guarantee that. Now it seems big name brands and celebrities are making claims of sustainability when they put their names on home goods. With so many products and brands now claiming sustainable practices, it may be hard to tell if the products you’re using really are eco-friendly.

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.

Sustainable Furniture: Facts for Wildlife Lovers

Sustainable Furniture Facts For Wildlife Lovers
The percentages on this map represent decreases in wildlife populations since 1970. Globally, the average drop in numbers of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles was 68%. What does this have to do with sustainable furniture, you ask?  Read on.  Ref: WWF Living Planet Report 2020.

Wood Furniture’s Journey to Your Home Starts in a Forest

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.

The Economic Impact of Sustainable Furniture

Last updated on April 21st, 2021 at 09:56 am

Sustainably managing forests is nothing new in Vermont. According to the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, 75% of the landmass in our state is forest land. Over 2,000 businesses in the state rely on those forests to generate ~$1.5B in annual revenue.

“Vermont’s forest products industry generates an annual economic output of $1.5 billion and supports 10,000 jobs in forestry, logging, processing, specialty woodworking, construction, and wood heating. In addition, Vermont’s forest recreation economy (skiing, etc) generates another $1.9 billion in economic output, and supports 10,000 additional jobs.” – VSJF

Despite all the economic activity dependent on our forests, they’re still growing in size and density.

Photo by Sam Burriss on Unsplash

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.

How Sustainable Forestry in the Furniture Industry Protects the Planet

We believe that practices are genuinely sustainable when they meet the needs of people, protect the planet, and create economic impact. As leaders in our industry, our goal is to highlight the innovative (and traditional) best practices that make it possible for wood furniture making to sustain itself for generations to come. Read part one of our triple bottom line sustainability series on people here.

Our Planet

Photo by Siska Vrijburg on Unsplash

Illegal logging and widespread deforestation has already begun to affect our climate and ecosystem. Rainforests that once covered 14% of the earth’s land surface now cover a mere 6%. The last remaining rainforests could be gone in less than 40 years. Rainforest deforestation is destroying or severely threatening nearly half of the world’s species of plants and animals over the next 25 years.

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.

Sustainable Furniture & Climate Change

Last updated on June 20th, 2019 at 11:45 am

Peggy & Ken Farabaugh | Vermont Woods Studios | Stonehurst Showroom
Ken and Peggy Farabaugh, co-owners of Vermont Woods Studios in Vernon, VT. Photo credit: Erica Housekeeper.

Thank You, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund VSJF

We have three important people to thank today:

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.

Climate Change & the Furniture Industry

Last updated on July 23rd, 2020 at 09:15 am

Sustainably crafted wood dining table and chair shot outside on mountain hillside

UN’s Climate Change Report, October 2018

This week the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued it’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 Degrees C.  One conclusion was that our planet has only 12 years to stem catastrophic climate change. Yikes! Read More

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.

Why a Furniture Store Cares About Trees & Monarchs

Monarch Conservation at a Sustainable Furniture Store
Today is Arbor Day so I thought we’d share our love of trees with you.  We’re planting at least 2 trees for every customer order in an effort to restore the monarch butterfly’s forested winter habitat in Mexico.

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.

Tips For Purchasing Eco-Friendly Furniture

Last updated on August 14th, 2018 at 03:49 pm

eco-friendly furniture

It’s Easier to Shop For Eco-Friendly Furniture This Holiday Season Than You Might Think

The effects of climate change are real. You can see it in the flooded streets of Miami or the wildfires in the midwest and west coasts or the droughts across the entire country. It’s undeniable that weather is getting more extreme each year. But, we’re not climate experts. We’re here to let you know there’s a way to positively impact the environment and that’s by purchasing truly eco-friendly furniture.

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.

Why Buy Sustainable Furniture?

Last updated on July 24th, 2018 at 04:09 pm

What are the most important things you’re looking for when you buy new furniture?  I’m going to guess: style, quality and price.  But if you’ve landed on this green blog, you must be looking for sustainability too.  So today we’ll share our…

Top 3 Reasons to Buy Sustainable Furniture

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.

A Fine Furniture Store in the Middle of the Woods?

Last updated on June 1st, 2014 at 09:58 am

Sustainable Furniture Store

People often ask me why on earth we located our new sustainable furniture store in the middle of Vermont’s woodlands.  The truth is that I don’t see Vermont Woods Studios as a furniture store.  Yes we have IMHO a beautiful showcase of the best quality handmade furniture Vermont has to offer.  But our business was built first and foremost, out of my passion for wildlife & forest conservation.  I wanted to show people where their furniture comes from.  And I wanted to appeal to them to buy furniture and flooring that come from forests that are re-planted and professionally managed for wildlife & sustainability.

We located Stonehurst in the foothills of the Green Mountain National Forest…

  • so customers could enjoy the 100 acre woodland we’re on and experience the beauty of the forest
  • so we could raise awareness about forest conservation and the fact that much of the wood furniture and flooring in America is made from imported rainforest timber that’s being mowed down at the mind-boggling rate of over 1 acre/second
  • so we could persuade people to buy American made furniture and flooring– a healthier, more sustainable choice for both people & planet
  • so we could inspire people to change the world

For the first 7 years our Vermont Woods Studios was an online furniture store.  Our staff worked out of a spare bedroom in my house.  When customers wanted to visit us we would invite them to Ken’s tiny workshop in the back of the house.  But as business grew and more people wanted to visit, we figured maybe it was safe to set up shop in a more suitable location.  From the very beginning we knew it had to be in the woods.

Next post: Learning to manage our 100 acre woodland for wildlife conservation.

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.