When you’re out shopping for furniture, you have a lot on your mind. The styles you want, the prices you can afford – these factors are more than likely at the forefront of your thoughts. Furniture materials, however, are probably pretty far down on your list of concerns. After all, if it looks good and the price is right, who cares what it is made of, right? Actually, it couldn’t be more wrong. There are plenty of reasons to care about furniture material, ranging from the aesthetics to your budget and even the health of your family and the environment. Caring about the materials that make up your furniture is actually crucial to making the furniture decisions for you and your home.

Furniture Materials – The Aesthetics

You want furniture that looks good, fits in your home, and is durable enough to stand the test of time, right? Then you need to know about the raw materials of furniture pieces you are considering buying. One reason is for looks. If you have a cherry dining room table, you want cherry dining room chairs to match, or if you have a leather living room sofa, then a leather chair makes a logical addition. But the materials used in furniture design also indicate how long a piece will last. For instance, if you have a choice between a pine table and a mahogany table, and you like them both, you can make a judgment that mahogany is sturdier than pine and choose accordingly.

Furniture Materials – The Bigger Picture

Looking good and being durable are both important traits for furniture, and understanding the materials used in furniture is a helpful way of making informed decisions about these traits. But furniture materials also matter for another reason – the health of your family and of the environment. If someone in your family has severe allergies, furniture glues, cushion fillings, and furniture upholstery materials may be seriously toxic to their health. When you know what furniture materials are used in the pieces you want in your house, you can decide if they are healthy for your family.

The growing green furniture industry is also educating the public about the dangers posed to the environment by certain furniture materials. Some wood furniture is causing destruction of valuable resources and some manufacturing processes of certain materials cause air pollution. Furniture made from recycled materials, like outdoor furniture made from recycled materials, furniture made from reused materials, and new, non toxic manufacturing methods for things like patio furniture material are all helping to counteract this problem.