Buying a sofa is a big committment: it dominates the room, costs a lot, and should be presentable for at least 10 years. So let’s say that you’ve cruised the stores, sat in the sofas, lifted them, pushed and probed – and decided on a version that looks and feels right. And you’ve made sure that …
We’ve looked at the frame, suspension system and cushioning on a sofa; next up: fabric. We consider fabric to be a very important, yet certainly misunderstood, component of furniture. It can make up 40 – 45% of the price of a sofa. So we’ll be breaking this topic up into several smaller bite size portions: …
So we have produced the frame and put in the suspension system. Next in line are the cushions – something soft to sit on. In an upholstered piece of furniture, the cushions need a filler of some kind. Before plastics, our grandparents used feathers, horsehair or wool or cotton batting. But with the advent of …
I was one of those people who thought that manufacturers were not “allowed” to sell me any product that contained something that might harm me. As I quickly learned, that’s basically not true in the United States – especially with respect to fabrics. The EU is light years ahead of the US with their REACH program, …
Mercerization is a process applied to cellulosic fibers – typically cotton (or cotton-covered thread with a polyester core) but hemp and linen can be mercerized also – to increase luster. It is done after weaving (in the case of fabrics) or spinning (for yarns or threads). But early on it was found that the process …
Last week we explored the arguments being used against sustainable agricultural practices being able to feel the world – and that only more of the “green revolution” concepts will do. The biggest players in the food industry—from pesticide pushers to fertilizer makers to food processors and manufacturers—spend billions of dollars every year not selling food, but …
So from last week’s post, you know that you want a durable, colorfast fabric that will be lovely to look at and wonderful to live with. What’s the best choice? I’m so glad you asked. You have basically two choices in fibers: natural (cotton, linen, wool, hemp, silk) or synthetic (polyester, acrylic, nylon, etc.). Many …
This week we’ll begin to talk about the fabric used in your sofa – which we (of course) think is a very complicated and important topic! One thing to remember is that there is much more fabric used in constructing an upholstered piece of furniture than just the decorative fabric that you see covering the piece – …
In light of the recent Chicago Tribune series, “Playing with Fire” about the deceptive campaigns waged by manufacturers of flame retardants, it seems that with each call we get, we end up talking about flame retardants. We think that’s skewed, because flame retardants, though certainly something we wouldn’t want to live with, are not the only monsters in the …
It looks like the plastic bottle is here to stay, despite publicity about bisphenol A and other chemicals that may leach into liquids inside the bottle. The amount of plastic used to make the bottles is so enormous that estimates of total amount of plastic used is staggering. Earth911.com says that over 2,456 million pounds …
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