Home Decor

Why on earth should you buy used furniture?

Jessica Crawford
Cotton & Co.

(12/2021) We are in the full Christmas spirit over at the shop right now. Sleigh bells are ringing, holiday music is playing over the speakers, there are trees of every shape and size in every nook and cranny. And glitter. So much glitter. The store looks like a winter wonderland. And I would be lying if I didn’t say that retail Christmas is my favorite time of the year at Cotton & Co. It’s just all around lovely.

And while this season in retail is generally the season of smalls; small items, décor, gifts, etc… it’s also a great time of year to make an excuse to spruce up your home in general. During the holiday season, we tend to host guests and company more. And if you’re like me, you like to make sure your home is a representation of you and your style, for not just you but also your guests. Sometimes you just need a fresh piece of furniture to change up or update a space in your home.

We are also approaching the winter season, where we are inside much more than other times of the year. And your indoor environment affects your mindset greatly. Especially when the days are darker and longer. So you want to make sure that your home is in good spirits, so that you are also, during the long winter months.

Which leads me to the topic of this month’s article. We hear it occasionally from customers or friends and family. "Why would you buy ‘used furniture’ when you can buy it new?!" Well, let’s talk about that. First, given the way that the world turns right now. Or more so, is grinding gears or at a screeching halt altogether, in terms of production. What you see on our sales floor and our social media posts, is actually in stock. It’s ready to take home that day and grace your home. You may have heard that it is taking upwards of a year, a whole year, to receive furniture ordered from the big box shops and furniture stores. Production and freight are so inconsistent at the moment and still recovering worldwide from the pandemic. So production and shipping times are drastically delayed. But when you shop furniture from small shops, what you see, is ready to take home immediately.

Vintage and antique furniture was also craftsman designed and built. It was built to last and stand the test of time. I always say, you’ll likely never have to replace a piece of vintage furniture, unless you want to. Unlike the mass produced furniture, that’s made of laminate veneers, composite wood and glue, vintage furniture was built with art and skill. Vintage pieces took time to build, with their dovetailing, solid wood and attention to detail, as well as years of trade skill and training. New and contemporary furniture is designed to fail within a few years, so that it requires replacing regularly. It also tends to show wear and tear and age rapidly, especially if you have cute little kids running around like I do. They can wreak havoc on a poorly or cheaply constructed piece.

Vintage pieces are also one of a kind! As they were hand-built versus factory-made, each piece is an individual work of art and craftsmanship. Each piece has its own personality and design. And if you were to purchase a piece of vintage or antique furniture that’s been refinished, no one else is going to have that same piece. You now own a completely one-of-a-kind piece as no one else is going to have that piece of furniture in that same color with that same technique. You are preserving and saving a little chunk of history, while also owning something completely individual and unique.

We also are living in a world right now where we are really embracing and appreciating our impact and influence, both positive and negative on our Earth. We recognize the things that we can do to help our planet and also the things that we are doing that are leaving it worse for future generations. We are living within a Green Revolution. And one of my personal favorite aspects of buying vintage pieces, is that it is one of the greatest forms of recycling. Reduce, reuse, recycle. By purchasing or refinishing your own vintage pieces, you are lessening the waste in landfills. At the same time, you are also lessening factory production of new furniture, which is in effect lessening worldwide pollution. And did you also know, that a lot of the glues and solvents used in the laminate veneer and composite style furniture, slowly and consistently emit harmful toxins into your home? So yeah, there’s also that.

By purchasing from small mom and pop shops, you are stimulating and growing your local community and economy. You are keeping your hard earned salaries in your neighborhood, rather than submitting them to a large corporation that doesn’t need, care about or appreciate your purchase. Every small business owner does a small little happy dance with every purchase. Your support and business mean the world. You’re helping buy karate and ballet lesson for little ones in your community. You’re helping support and house and feed your local families. It’s just a beautiful, symbiotic relationship to shop small and local. And it never goes unappreciated or unseen.

So, have I convinced you that there’s a lot of value in buying ‘used furniture?’ As I see it, it’s a way to support and grow your local community, while helping our our Mother Earth. And not only that, you’re purchasing and appreciating pieces of history. Probably hand-built by someone who is long gone, preserving their legacies and life’s work. You’re keeping waste and pollutants at a lower capacity too.

While the shop is filled to the gills with holiday décor, gifts and inspiration, the vendors also keep it stocked with an abundance of original and refinished vintage pieces. Stop by and see what’s going on, there’s always something new weekly. Cotton & Co Vintage Boutique 900 FSK Hwy Keymar, MD, Open weekly Friday- Sunday. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates!