We've heard of Fast Food and probably Fast Fashion, but have you heard of Fast Furniture? 

The principle is roughly the same in that we see it, we want it and we want it quickly and cheaply.   

It's cheap poor quality furniture just made for a season - we seem to be a generation intent on instant results.  For example, we desire a new Sideboard, so we simply discard the one we are bored with and buy a new Sideboard without any consideration for the impact that may have on the enrirvonment. 

It may seem a cheap purchase to start with, but how many times will you need to replace that item, when it either falls apart of becomes 'so last year.'

Research by Heels found that here in the UK we throw away 300,000 tonnes of re-usable furniture every year, that's 22 million pieces of furniture!

If you look at furniture built in 'yesteryear', it was built to last generations.  Vintage items today are most probably as structurally sound today as the day they were built.  And look at how well hand crafted they are; those beautiful dove tails joints are just beautiful.

Today though, mass produced items often require several hours with a screwdriver and an instruction manual to assemble along, and they are nowhere near the same quality.  We are a generation of 'easy come and easy go'.  Items are built to be disposable rather than cared for like our past generations did.  

We are living in the fast lane and fast furniture is a feature of the modern life.  If we decide we want something else next week, we will just dispose and simply move on.

What's so bad about Fast Furniture?

It doesn't last...

It's usually made from particle board covered in laminate or veneer.  It probably won't last more than a few years as the laminate is prone to splitting at the seams and peeling away.  It's also weak in its structure.

It's over produced...

So Ikea produced more than 60 million 'Billy' bookcases, the odds are many of these are now in landfill.  Do you really want the same furniture millions of other people have in their home?

It uses so much timber...

Did you know that 1% of the commercially harvested wood in the world is used by IKEA?  This number may sound small, but that is a LOT of trees which we are cutting down simply to replace perfectly good furniture we already have.

It's really toxic...

A lot of Fast Furniture is made from particle board, which not only doesn't last but it contains toxic chemicals like formaldehyde.  It is not recyclable or biodegradable due to the plastic laminate coating and the chemical resim binding the wood particles. The carbon footprint of that seemingly cheap coffee table is extortionate once you consider the energy required to produce it and then transport it across the world to you.

Why are we discarding these perfectly good vintage items so easily and doing so much damage to our planet when they can be restyled into beautiful modern day pieces? 

Instead we can have unique pieces of furniture that will last for still decades to come, and you will have saved it from the landfill.  Look at the shape of a vintage piece of furniture and the quality of the materials used.  The finish can be changed to suit your current colour scheme and it become a real eye catcher of a piece for your beautiful modern country home.

I feel so strongly about my work contributing in some way to the sustainability of the planet, that I donate a percentage of each sale to the World Land Trust who will plant a tree with my donation and go a tiny way to replenishing the planet's trees. 

I've been seeing lots of posts on various DIY facebook groups over the past weeks asking about how to update a Fireplace so thought I would write a blog on how to do it.

To start with the process will depend on the material of your current fireplace.  If it is a wood such as pine, all you'll need to do is give it a very good clean, sand with around a 220 grit sandpaper to give it a key, clean again, and then a couple of coats of Fusion Mineral Paint (FMP).  With FMP there is no need to use a sealer such as wax as it has a self sealer in it.  Great hey! 

The number of coats you need will depend on your colour choices.  Painting with darker colours usually need less than if you are painting a dark wood a light colour.  

Some woods such as mahogany can be prone to 'bleed through' which is a process where the tanins can 'bleed through' causing a pinkish stain.  No amount of coats will cover this so you need to apply a sealer to act as a blocker.  I would recommend using Zinsser Bin Shellac Primer (red tin).  Applying a coat of this will give you that blocker to prevent the bleed through, and then you're good to paint as above.

Dont't forget that FMP requires 3 weeks to fully cure, so although it dries to the touch within an hour, it needs time to cure to become fully durable so just be gentle with your piece through this time.  

It always amazes me the difference a few coats of paint can make in making something look so much more modern and brighter.  Saves so much money and hassle opposed to buying new.  Happy days! 

Pop over to the Shop section of my website if you'd like to purchase some FMP to give it a go!