Furnishing a Toxic-Free Apartment
August 7, 2017 | written by Debra Lynn Dadd
For the past few weeks a lot of my time has been occupied with helping a consulting client furnish a nontoxic apartment for her son, who has multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS).
She asked me to help her choose furniture, bedding, and air and water filters. I gave her some choices, and she chose the ones she wanted.
She kindly gave permission for me to share some photos with you and also tell you about the products. It was an opportunity for me to experience first hand some of the products I have been recommending that I hadn’t seen in person, and I want to share that experience with you, too.
In general I learned that what a difference there can be in the quality of products made from the same materials. Unfinished furniture pieces had variations in design and workmanship, organic cotton sheets from different places had variations in thread count, color, feel and quality.
Choosing nontoxic materials is the first step. Then there are many other factors that affect the quality of the product and it’s performance above and beyond the materials being nontoxic.
Below are my observations and comments on the items we chose.
IKEA BED FRAME
(Updated 2020: This bed frame is no longer solid wood. The base is solid wood but the slats are veneer and use adhesives). Ikea has a number of bed frames that are made of solid wood. The only difference is style. All of them are solid wood (with the exception of a metal bar that runs down the middle of the frame to hold the wood slats) and a few miscellaneous parts that hold the frame together. There are no glues or adhesives. There is a light acrylic finish that had no odor even as we took the pieces out of the box. This is the second IKEA bed frame I’ve experienced and both were free of outgassing from toxic chemicals. They are also fairly inexpensive. This is a good choice for a budget bed frame. My one caveat is that it will take you a couple of hours to put it together and it really needs two people. TARVA queen bed frame $179.
HAPPSY MATTRESS
I’ve been writing about the Happsy Mattress for some months now. Prior to their being available I saw samples of the materials, but even with everything I knew about it I wasn’t prepared for how truly remarkable and wonderful this mattress is.
First, it comes all rolled up in a very big box, wrapped in many layers of nontoxic polyethylene plastic.
While you are searching for how to get the mattress out, you find a little tab and a note that says “start here”. You pull the tab and find it it a little cutter that slides down the side of the mattress, opening the layers of plastic with ease, while the mattress is protected below by a piece of cardboard.
When you peel away the plastic the mattress springs to life like an inflatable life raft. With the familiar hiss, the Happsy mattress literally inhales air, and as it does so it unrolls itself until it is laying perfectly opened and inflated.
You do have to turn it over, but when you do, you see how very beautiful it is, with it’s lovely quilted color and different shades of organic cotton fabric on top and sides.
It had a slight odor of latex when first unwrapped, but that dissipated quickly.
Laying on it was heaven. If I didn’t already have a mattress I love I would buy a Happsy mattress immediately and sleep on it myself. Happsy Organic Mattresses queen $1199.
WHITE LOTUS HOME PILLOWS
My client purchased a bunch of pillows from in various sizes and softnesses. All were well-made and nontoxic. One of the pillows she bought was the pillow I sleep on, their kapok-filled pillow with invisible zipper that I still love after about two years of sleeping on it. The zipper allows you to add or subtract fill inside the pillow to meet your needs. White Lotus Home.
MAGNOLIA ORGANICS ORGANIC COTTON BLANKETS
These blankets are beautiful. Nice and thick and warm. They come in a big reusable cotton shoulder bag with a long strap. No plastic packaging. Magnolia Organics.
COYUCHI BED LINENS
Coyuchi really is the top of the line in organic bedlinens. Very top quality. Coyuchi .
UNFINISHED WOOD DRESSER
My client purchased many pieces from a local unfinished furniture store. I’m not giving the name here because they don’t ship, but these items can be found at almost any local unfinished furniture store in your area. The pieces are solid wood, heavy, and very well crafted, like fine furniture.
COVERTABLE FUTON SOFA
This sofa is made from an organic cotton futon from White Lotus Home and convertable sofa frame from KD Frames. A convertible frame can be turned into a platform bed by lowering the back. The futon will be covered with an organic cotton cover.
I’ve visited the White Lotus Home workplace so the futon was excellent, as I expected.
The frame was unfinished Tulip Poplar, which is a great wood, but the frame was very difficult to put together and had poor instructions. Many of the pieces had rough ends that hadn’t been sanded.
This is my first experience with a convertible frame sofa and I would say that it needs a few big pillows to make the relative size of the back and seat more similar to a conventional sofa.
The total cost of a convertible sofa like this is around $1500-$1800, depending on the materials you choose for your futon.
UNFINISHED WOOD TV STAND AND CHAIRS
These came from the same local unfinished furniture store as the dressers mentioned above.The chairs are actually the very same chairs I have in my house. The pieces are solid wood, heavy, and very well crafted, like fine furniture.
IKEA WOOD TABLES
For the dining table and a desk my client purchase two pine tables from Ikea. Like the bed frame, the tables have a light acrylic finish that had no odor even as we took the pieces out of the box. Very easy to put together in less than an hour. INGO pine tables $69
WATER FILTERS
My client ordered drinking water and shower filters from Pure Effect Advanced Filtration on my recommendation. These are the water filters I use in my own home.
I learned a valuable lesson: make sure you can install the the water filter before you order it.
In our case, she had ordered an undersink filter that requires an auxillary faucet. But there was no hole in the countertop and this is a rental. So we had to return it. The countertop model is the correct choice here.
And in one of the bathrooms the showerhead was the "rain shower" type that come straight down from the ceiling. The shower filter leaked with this type of showerhead, so we're going to have to get creative with the plumbing to install it. Pure Effect Advanced Filtration
AIR FILTERS
My client also ordered two EnviroKlenz Mobile Units for her 1400 square foot apartment.
While I used a mobile unit in my home for a short period as a test before recommending it, I had never experienced it in action in a situation where it was really needed. I had that opportunity in this apartment.
When I walked in, I was hit in the face with a strong odor of cleaning product. Larry smelled it too. So we turned on the mobile units full blast and in about two minutes the odor was completely gone. It really showed me how well these units work. Low speeds for every day, and then when you need a pollutant to be removed fast, the high speeds will clear the air quickly. I was very impressed. EnviroKlenz Mobile Unit Air Purifier
"Our son is severly ill with Lyme and MCS and we are coming down to Florida from New York for treatment.
We needed a healing sanctuary free of mold, toxics and odors. We found an apartment, but had no idea how to furnish it. Then by chance we found Debra. She was great from the beginning—guiding me,educating me on what I needed. She knew where to buy everything. She did whatever we needed and went above and beyond. She went to the apartment, received deliveries and supervised the assembly of the furniture. Even though we had had an indoor air quality inspection done, Debra found formaldehyde and other odors when she went that would have been a disaster for us. We are so grateful for her assistance and highly recommend her. I don’t know what we would have done without her.” M.S. Long Island NY.