Why are spas so appealing to people? It is because spas create an atmosphere where you are able to relax and forget about your daily problems. People crave such an environment and that is why many of them pay good money to be able to experience it for only a couple hours, at most. However you can create a spa atmosphere in your own home just by picking out a few key pieces of furniture and doing a little redecorating.

How to Create a Home Spa Using Teak Wood Bath Decor

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The number one thing in creating a home spa is making sure that the room is clean and clutter free. Clutter prevents you from having a truly relaxing experience, your mind is unable to be at peace. Once your room is clean and organized you are well on your way to your very own home spa.

Next thing is choosing the right furniture and accessories. If you go into a spa you will notice right away that most of the furniture is made from natural materials, such as wood. This is because you feel best if you are closer to nature. Furniture in your home spa should be made from eco friendly wood, such as teak. The furniture you buy should be functional yet also aesthetically pleasing.

A few key furniture pieces are a must for your home spa. Every bathroom needs a mat, proper shelving and some decorative accessories as well.

Bathroom mats made from cloth are very inconvenient. They are an ideal places for bacteria to …

What to Look For in Shopping For Eco-Friendly Furniture

There are many claims from furniture manufacturers and retailers about the furniture on display at their showroom or website-about durability, comfort, value, and even about environmental friendliness or “green” qualities.

What to Look For in Shopping For Eco-Friendly Furniture

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Some considerations to think about when shopping for eco-friendly furniture, discussed here, will help you qualify what the terms really mean and what things are important and which are “puffery”.

Furniture and furnishings are the third largest user of wood and wood products, after building and paper, and there is a high transport cost of wood. So, if imported (from Asia especially), wood products will have a high “carbon footprint” for furniture sold in the US. However, there are some choices that you can make as a consumer, and a big one is the source of the lumber used.

In wood furniture and in the wood frames of upholstered furniture-there are two certifying organizations that the manufacturer will tout if they used certified sources. The most stringent is “FSC” (Forestry Stewardship Council) and is used mostly for export lumber and by European lumber suppliers. The same is true for PEFC (Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification). Many domestic (US) lumber mills are smaller and only sell to domestic users and so adhere to and are certified by the SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) which is less stringent, but still require much more environmentally friendly practices than non-certified sources. The last audit of certified timberland in 2006 showed that less than 16% of US forestland is sustainably certified and virtually …