As both regular shoppers, we at House & Garden SA know what it means to want new decor, while wanting to keep some of the older pieces. That’s why we’ve employed expert advice on responsible ways to deal with old home furnishings and textiles to ensure that they don’t end up in landfill.
Re-imagine
With more awareness around the world’s fast-furniture and textile waste problem, a lot of us are actively choosing to get more hands-on and creative, re-looking at furnishings in our homes (and our lofts) and thinking how we can restore and rejuvenate items to give them a second life. There’s been a surge of interest in DIY reupholstery, sewing and restoration recently, as shown by the popularity of online courses from Create Academy with the likes of Annie Sloan and Micaela Sharp teaching us how to do this easily at home.
If you’ve got – or find – a piece of furniture that has strong bones, you can easily update it with a fresh lick of paint or a fabric that will allow you to match it to your decor, instead of getting rid of it. At Haines, a lot of customers buy surplus fabrics and re-imagine these into new cushions, table runners, napkins, draft excluders, lampshades, you name it - all using up fabrics that would have otherwise gone to landfill. Take a look at one of my favourite suppliers, Dannells, who create fabric lampshade-making kits, which are a great activity for a weekend.
Donate or resell
If upcycling isn’t your thing, the rubbish tip may seem an easy option if you want to dispose of big items of furniture quickly, but make sure to think about donating or reselling items first. It takes a bit more effort and time to organise, but you’ll be doing your part to save unnecessary waste. One person’s rubbish is another person’s treasure as they say!
A great way to do this is via Facebook Marketplace or the Next Door app where you can easily sell or donate items to people in the local area. For re0selling super high-end designer furnishings make sure to take a look at Rehaus, a marketplace for brands such as Ligne Roset and Vitra. You could also try heading to Instagram where I’ve discovered some great independent sellers – such as @gailie71 and @nataliavioletantiques – who you can contact to ask if they would be interested in selling your items to their followers. If online isn’t your thing, making a trip down to your local charity shop is also a great opportunity to re-home items with money going to good causes, or you could always sign up for a local boot fair if you have quite a few items to get rid off.
Repair
A recent WRAP report revealed that repair of home textiles is very low with only 7% of UK citizens actually attempting to repair damaged items. I think we’re far too quick to see a slight imperfection and think that an item becomes completely unusable. Taking a leaf from fashion’s book, I’ve actually become quite a fan of patching items of upholstery if they get small tears or rips. As with clothing, I think there’s something quite beautiful in using embroidery to cover over and actually making a feature out of it. It goes back to the concept behind ceramic art of Kintsugi – seeing beauty in the imperfection and making a statement out of it – and it gives you an opportunity to make that item even more unique. Embrace the imperfections!
Buy Back schemes and retailer recycling
Retailers are slowly catching onto these and I think they are brilliant initiatives, so – if you do have to buy new – make sure to check if the store has a scheme available. Leading the way is Naturalmat who create natural fibre mattresses and offer a great scheme where they ensure that your mattress will never end up in landfill. They do this by giving you different options – they can collect and then refurbish your old mattress if you want to keep hold of it, or they recycle the individual elements from mattresses that aren’t needed any more, or they can even donate your mattress, following a deep cleaning service. This is such an inspirational circular service model that should be replicated and I hope that more retailers will start operating things like this.
Recycle
If you have to get rid of an item then make sure you use a recycling centre. You can find details about whether you can recycle items from your home or your local recycling depot via Recycle Now. With upcycling you’re keeping the item in its current form, but with recycling, the item will be stripped down for its individual elements and materials which are then re-used for other products.
It does again require a bit more effort but recycling centres are actually also quite good places to stumble across items that you might even want for your own home if you’re quick enough to ask people who are dropping things off! I’ve actually found some of my favourite homeware pieces simply by keeping an eye out – a lot of people will leave stuff on the street which will otherwise end up in landfill, and I found an amazing chair which I’ve now covered in one of our Haines x Daydress fabrics, giving it a new life.
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This story originally appeared on our sister publication House & Garden UK.
