People all over the world are starting to place great value on limiting their overall ecological and environmental footprint, taking advantage of products that focus on the upcycling, recycling, and reclaiming of old materials more and more.

It should surprise no one that tradespeople like furniture makers would be helping to lead the charge in these endeavors. After all, these are the kind of experts that work with natural resources like wood on a daily basis – the kinds of professionals that recognize just how important it is to focus on limiting how much we tax Mother Nature just to fill up the spaces in our homes and offices.

Reclaimed materials are being used a lot more frequently than ever before in furniture projects. Top-tier craftsmen are able to use these kinds of materials to give them a second life, reshaping, remolding, and transforming these materials into something really special – heirloom quality furniture that can be passed down throughout the generations.

If you’ve been thinking about purchasing reclaimed wood tables (or any furniture made from reclaimed wood, for that matter), we break down some of the biggest benefits you will enjoy below!

Reclaimed Furniture Is As Eco-Friendly As It Gets

One of the largest benefits of purchasing furniture made from reclaimed oak – or any reclaimed wood, for that matter – is the fact that it is so environmentally friendly.

Overharvesting of forests around the world is leading to all kinds of serious environmental issues Italian people today just don’t want to contribute to this kind of wanton destruction. By choosing to take advantage of reclaimed furniture (especially furniture made by local craftsmen that know exactly what they are doing) customer stop partaking in the stripping of our global forests and instead of cycle and recycle sources of wood that may have been destroyed otherwise.

Durability is Always Guaranteed

Another big benefit that comes from purchasing custom tables made from reclaimed materials is that you are going to be guaranteed a piece of furniture that is far better built and constructed than anything you be able to purchase using new material from a big box retailer or home improvement store.

Instead of using pressed together plywoods and other modern materials, your new handmade tables are going to be carefully crafted taking advantage of 100% solid wood that has been carefully worked over, carefully considered, and expertly crafted and manipulated to create a brand-new piece of furniture designed to stand the test of time.

Whenever you’re using materials that used to have a different purpose and a different life you’re inevitably going to have something with quite a bit of character. At the same time, these materials have to be carefully checked and carefully cut to produce new pieces of furniture – which means you will only ever get the best of the best of these reclaimed materials in your furniture.

You’ll be Able to Support Local Craftsmen

Unsurprisingly, almost all of the reclaimed furniture pieces available today are going to come from locally built operations employing local craftsmen, all of which are trained to make high-quality handmade furniture, custom tables, and beautiful wooden accessories using the same kind of tried and true “old-school” practices before production line furniture companies popped up all over the place.

Because reclaimed wood materials need to be so carefully inspected they just aren’t all that useful for production line operations that want to pump out piece after piece at scale. Reclaimed materials are always going to come in on shapes and sizes (anything but uniform configurations) which makes them perfect stock for handmade furniture experts that know how to squeeze this character out of these pieces while producing something new and spectacular at the same time.

Local operations, like the ones you’ll find throughout New England and in Boston, Massachusetts in particular, are starting to enjoy a significant uptick in interest through reclaimed furniture pieces.

These kinds of smalltime businesses usually employ only about a handful of local craftspeople that all wear different hats in the business, but that means that each individual piece that comes out of these kinds of shops is as unique as the reclaimed oak, maple, and walnuts materials that make up the furniture themselves.

When you choose to purchase this kind of furniture you are buying pieces that are anything but one OF a million and instead (quite literally) one IN a million. Your reclaimed furniture is going to be as unique as a fingerprint, the only one of its kind, an instant heirloom you will be able to cherish forever.

Endless Aesthetic Options

Trying to find pieces of furniture that go together perfectly, as though they were made to fit with one another, inevitably results in interior spaces that look pretty cold, pretty sterile, and anything but warm and inviting.

Instead of getting a room full of production line furniture with the same look, the same color, the same finish, and the same aesthetic interior design professionals instead recommend that you mix and match to create something completely unique – but at the same time cohesive.

Regardless of the specific aesthetic you are shooting for in your home (mid-century modern, farmhouse, contemporary, minimalist/Swedish, etc.) is hard to imagine any interior space where a beautiful reclaimed oak table wouldn’t fit right at home.

These kinds of pieces can be modified, transformed, and engineered to go along with just about any aesthetic imaginable – and when paired with modern construction materials like metal and glass you can really take things to an interesting place with a hybrid aesthetic you won’t find anywhere else.

The uniqueness and the flexibility of these rustic and reclaimed pieces are what really helps to set them apart from the rest of the pack.

As Individualistic as a Fingerprint

There aren’t too terribly many people out there that are interested in making their home, their most personal spaces, look exactly like any other – a cookie-cutter home in the mold of millions of homes around the world.

It’s natural for people to want to put their own stamp on their personal space, to showcase their personality and their interests, and to separate their home from every other. It’s not just to show other people what they are interested in and what they are like, but it’s to create a warm and inviting space that feels like home – a place that feels like they belong.

By working with top-tier local craftsmen and purchasing locally built reclaimed wood furniture – or by purchasing the same kind of handmade furniture from craftspeople throughout Boston, Massachusetts (or anywhere else around New England where reclaimed wood material is readily available) – you’re guaranteed to get a piece that is really unique, really interesting, and unlike anything else available anywhere else.

These kinds of pieces are real examples of how personal the furniture we choose to fill our homes with really are. Working with local craftspeople you can influence the design to suit your needs and your style right down to the ground, creating a piece in a real collaboration with these professionals that will be part you, part them, and part the history of the reclaimed material used throughout the piece.

You just aren’t going to get that kind of uniqueness – or that pride of ownership – when you purchase furniture directly from big-box retailers, interior design clearinghouses, or furniture warehouse-style operations.

You only get that pride of ownership, that joy of something special and unique, when you choose to purchase handmade tables, chairs, and other pieces of furniture from craftspeople that know how to make the most of environmentally friendly and jaw-dropping we gorgeous reclaimed wood materials!