Slow Furniture: Interview with Mireille Granger

January 12, 2021 Off By Sandra Maki

While most of you are already aware of the negative effects of fast fashion on the environment, have you considered the impact of its equally evil sister, fast furniture? Much like fast fashion, fast furniture is mass produced, low cost and generally poor quality, which means it ends up in landfill more quickly. Like many people, I have purchased some IKEA furniture and regretted it. I bought a bookcase and dresser for one of my daughters and the sagging drawers were enough to swear me off IKEA, which my husband nicknamed IKRAPA (he was a man ahead of his time).

Did you know that IKEA is responsible for utilizing 1% of the world’s lumber? That is a mind boggling 18 million cubic yards of wood taken from our precious forests and destined to be rubbish. IKEA has also been criticized for its unethical logging practices. A nature conservation organization, Protect the Forest Sweden, has found that IKEA was responsible for clear cutting old growth forests in Sweden and Russia. As you probably know, forests are key to helping us reducing CO2 in the atmosphere to prevent climate change. My mother will be happy to know that she was right when she told me to wait and buy better quality furniture. When we bought our first house, we lived with an empty living room until we were able to save up enough money to buy a good quality couch and coffee table. I am happy to report that both are still going strong. In fact, I replaced my initial couches because I was tired of the color. I gave them to my mother who is still using them.

15 year old couch and 27 year old coffee table

While I understand that not everyone can purchase new, high quality furniture, the next best thing is the same as for clothing: second hand, baby. One day when I was walking around my neighborhood, I found a set of pine night tables left by the side of the road. With a fresh coat of white paint and new knobs, the night tables were transformed for a cost of $30 and a little bit of my time.

Painted pine night stand with new knobs. Fresh new design!

Second hand pieces made before 1990 tend to be more structurally sound and designed to last. If you are not into DIY projects, you can have someone refinish or reupholster second hand furniture for you. My friend Mireille Granger, who started a furniture reupholstering business in 2017, knows the difference between fast and vintage furniture. She does custom reupholstering as well as selling salvaged pieces that she finds second hand. Her website says it all:

“Breathing life into Old Furniture”

http://www.ateliermgranger.com

I interviewed Mireille for this blog to get her views on slow furniture.

What are the benefits of reupholstering second hand furniture?

The key benefit is that the furniture quality is much better. Just by changing the foam and fabric, you can get a new piece of furniture that will last for years and years. As a result, this means less waste because the furniture is designed to last. I often see inexpensive, broken furniture by the side of the road because the wood structure is weak.
While reupholstering and refinishing is not inexpensive, overall it is more cost effective to rework older, quality furniture because it will last so much longer.
Another important advantage is that you can have your own custom design. Today’s furniture has a limited color palette: gray, beige and similar neutrals. When you redo an older piece of furniture, you can select any color in the rainbow. I redid a chair in a beautiful green.

Where can you find second hand furniture?

There are many websites that sell second hand furniture. I often find good pieces on FACEBOOK marketplace and Kijiji. It can take some time to find good quality furniture but the time invested is definitely worthwhile.

Good quality pieces can often be found for under $100. Some people even give away old furniture or leave it by the side of the road. There is a Facebook group called Meubles Abandonné (abandoned furniture) Montreal that notifies you when there is furniture left out. You have to be quick though!

What is the typical cost for reupholstering second hand furniture?

It is not inexpensive to refinish or reupholster furniture but when the base is well made, the furniture can last for 50+ years. Cheap quality furniture typically won’t last more 5-10 years. Depending upon the condition of the furniture and amount of work to be done, reupholstering a chair can cost between $300 – $1500. A sofa can be $2000 – $3000. If you compare that to the cost of cheap furniture, it is more but you will be able to keep the furniture for more than 30 years. Your children can likely reuse it.

What kind of work do you do?

I take on individual customer projects and work with clients to redo furniture to their specifications. I can sand and refinish wood furniture as well as redo the cushions according to your selection of fabric. I work with fabric suppliers offering a broad range of colours and prints. I can also guide you in the material selection. That’s the beauty of custom work. It’s made exactly to your specification.

I also refinish pieces that I find and sell them on my website.

In 2021, I plan to sell cushions reusing leftover stuffing and fabric from customer projects. I hate to waste anything! I also plan to investigate more eco-responsible furniture reupholstering using natural latex foam instead of polyurethane foam. There are many new companies that are working in this field now.

For some people, there is an ick factor to buying second hand furniture. What do you say to those people?

There is no reason for fear. When I receive a piece of furniture, I strip it down to its wood core. I remove the foam and fabric and wash the wood. Then I completely rebuild the furniture, replacing springs if needed or repairing if that is an option. All the foam and fabric are new.

Since you see the inside of furniture, what difference do you see between vintage and new furniture in terms of construction?

New furniture is typically much lighter than vintage pieces. When I started my business, I accepted a project with a newer piece from the year 2000s. It was made with thin plywood and I was afraid it would break. The foam used in it was also very poor quality. The weight of a piece of furniture is often a reflection of its strength. Older furniture is heavier because it has more wood and is therefore more solidly built.

These photos show how you can completely redesign and modernize older furniture: