How to make furniture last longer
The potential to repurpose, repair, reuse, resell or recycle will be built in to all our products by 2030. Even now, there’s often an easy way to prolong the life of your furniture rather than send it to the landfill. Here are some small decisions you can make today to have a positive impact on the planet.
Furniture that adapts to the future
As your family grows, your lifestyle changes or your tastes mature, you might be grateful for your modular furniture. Rather than make a big upfront purchase that you need to replace later, you can simply add modules if and when you need them. Modular furniture can be the affordable way to make sure that you can easily adapt your home furnishings to a new living situation.
Any furniture that’s both durable and multifunctional will more than pay you back over time. For example, with a bed that has built-in storage you can enjoy many years of restful sleep – and a less cluttered bedroom at the same time.
Products that can adapt as needs change are perhaps even more useful when you live with children, who can quickly outgrow their furniture. The MINNEN extendable bed helps you to neatly avoid the cost and hassle of buying a new bed with every growth spurt.
New furniture – or refreshed furniture?
Eventually, your well-used furniture can start to show signs of everyday wear and tear. Often, you can give it a whole new lease of life with very little cost or effort.
If your sofa has washable and replaceable covers, for example, you can easily get a just-new feeling whenever you fancy. You can always keep the sofa clean and fresh – or totally reinvent the look with a change of colors and patterns.
A lick of paint or stain can add extra durability to wooden furniture such as tables, chairs and storage systems. They’ll better withstand the knocks and scrapes of daily use.
Can you fix it? Yes, you can
Time takes a toll on even the most durable products. But, often, you only need to make a minor repair to get that chair, table or sofa back into everyday service. And you hardly need to be an expert to do so. You probably put together the furniture in the first place, so you already know what’s what.
With that in mind, you can find most of the spare parts that you might need through IKEA customer service. Many people enjoy the satisfaction of mending and reusing, rather than throwing away – your wallet and the environment will also feel the benefit.
