Creating an Eco-Nursery: Find Lots of Treasures in Little Time

Frame construction. Courtesy of erikorganic.

Babies are the most beautiful and precious gift that any home can receive. We want both what is most beautiful and healthy for them.

This posting is for everyone that is either expecting a baby or would like to be at some point in the future. I’m in the latter group. Exploring the online world of organic and natural baby nursery furniture and bedding was definitely a challenge.

Most online outlets had just one or two cribs, as well as a few mattress and bedding selections. After some scouring, I did find three sites that are worth looking at for either their large selections of solid wood furniture or their organic bedding items.

It’s becoming my experience as a New Yorkers trying to live a more sustainable and healthier lifestyle that I have to look online if I want a large selection of natural or organic furnishings.

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What’s in Your Home Environment Can Be Making You Sick - Airborne Lead

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Are you renovating or restoring your home, then you and your family may possibly be exposing yourselves to dangerously highly levels of lead vapors in the air.

The highest concentration of lead found in homes comes from paints produced prior to 1978, when the U.S. Product Safety Commission banned lead from use in residential paints. In addition, older furniture can also contain coatings of lead paint, which can resurface even after it has been recoated by nonleaded paint due to flaking or restoration. Test kits to check for lead in paint are available both in hardware stores and online.

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What’s in Your Home Environment Can Be Making You Sick - Formaldehyde

Leakage of formaldehyde from new furniture is preventable by varnishing, painting and sealing the furniture with a waterproof finish such as polyurethane. Photo provided by preteenagerstoday.com

Washington, D.C.- Traditionally, when we buy our homes and the furnishings in them, we take into account things like the number of rooms in a house, what style and size of furnishings we want, but rarely do we think about what the stuff we buy is made of.

While to many the chemical composition of things might not matter, it can make others very sick. Personally, I remember being young and having to help my father paint the fence of our house in Greece, getting nauseous from the paint fumes, and throwing up. The smell had no affect on my father. I don’t know what was in the paint, but it made me sick.

Today, many homes are constructed with materials that contain formaldehyde, in addition to many of the furnishings that we buy which also contain the substance - and it’s where you least expect it.

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