I live in a cute and relatively new apartment with my husband Steve. When we first moved in, we were using a table given to us by Steve’s mom. We absolutely loved this table, but we needed something bigger for hosting dinner parties. But we couldn’t get something huge, seeing as the table would be in the same room as the living room and kitchen (it’s all connected). I was prioritizing sustainability, but also needed it to match my décor style (aka, earthy and natural). Most secondhand finds were too big and didn’t have that sleek, modern touch I was looking for either. Thankfully, my search led me to Inside Weather, a sustainable furniture brand that lets you customize your items. They don’t just offer tables either. Here’s my full Inside Weather review, and how I assembled my dream sustainable table.
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Inside Weather Review: The Best Sustainable Table For an Apartment
What’s the problem with conventional tables?
I’m not here to diss the table sitting in your dining room. By all means, use it!
BUT, if you happen to be on the market for a new table (as I was), there’s something you should consider first.
Most conventional furniture brands that sell you a table won’t be transparent about the materials they’re using, or where it’s sourced from. They may tell you what kind of wood it’s made from, but not if it was sourced responsibly.
About a third of wood extracted from natural forests worldwide is used for timber products. This leads to deforestation, which is bad for our planet. That said, not all wood harvesting is bad if it’s from responsibly managed forests (like FSC certified wood – more on that later).
And don’t even get me started about buying a table made from plastic…(hello microplastic pollution).
To make matters worse, most furniture isn’t built to last anymore. Have you heard the term “fast furniture”?
Fast furniture aims to create cheap, fashionable, and easy-to-breakdown furniture. But this also means items are not built to last and are typically made from questionable and unethically sourced materials.
According to the EPA, Americans alone throw out over 12 million tons of furnishings and furniture each year.
And mind you – who makes this furniture? Is it made in a factory by underpaid, overworked people? No one at a conventional furniture showroom knows the answer to that…how convenient.
Where and how your furniture is made matters. And, it should be made to last years – not just a few months. That goes for more than just your tables too!
Related: Sabai Design Review: The Sustainable Couch of My Dreams
What is Inside Weather?
I’m happy to say, that’s where Inside Weather steps in. This is the place I bought my dining table from!
Inside Weather is a sustainable furniture brand on a mission to outfit homes with quality, affordable, custom furniture. Yup, you read that right! Furniture you can customize.
Here’s what sets Inside Weather apart from your typical furniture company:
- Customizable furniture: You get to choose the shape, style, wood, and designs on your items. So you’re bound to love it and it’ll be sure to match any space! I had SO much fun designing mine.
- Eco materials: All the wood materials used are FSC Certified, meaning they come from forests that are responsibly managed and provide environmental, social and economic benefits. They also focus on OEKO-TEX Certified fabric options, meaning they’re tested and proven free of harmful levels of toxic substances.
- Carbon negative shipping: Your order will come in a recycled box (that can be recycled again) and renewable foam packaging. Theirs is the first foam ever made using biodegradable sugar-based contents in the industry. Also, every shipment achieves carbon neutrality by planting two trees. They ship all your items at once too, which reduces the carbon footprint of an order by 75%!
- Inside Weather Reclaimed: They reclaim perfect & imperfect Inside Weather products, meticulously evaluate the condition, and if deemed suitable for a fresh start with a new owner, they slice the price and offer it for sale!
- Low hassle, order online: You don’t have to walk into a furniture store and waste time. Everything is online and will ship to you!
Inside Weather: Customizing my table (and chairs!)
Okay so now that you know why I chose Inside Weather, lets get to the fun part: Customization! I was able to fully customize my own table and chairs and it was a BLAST. The website made it very easy.
Here are the tables they have you can customize:
- Dining table (the one I needed)
- Coffee table
- Side and accent tables
First, you’ll decide if you want a UV Printed surface, or a classic wooden finish. I went with the wooden finish (specifically the in the color Espresso), but if you go with UV printed surface, they have SO many design options to choose from. I think this option is cute if you don’t like tablecloths too much, or enjoy abstract art.
You’ll also have to decide the shape of the table you want to work with. I went with rectangle, but they also have round, square, and oval options.
Next, you’ll choose a base style (aka the legs of the table). There’s hairpin and tapered looks in silver, brass, and carbon (black) colors. I went with the tapered brass because I wanted something that blended very well with the wood color.
Once you’ve chosen all those customizations, you can save your customization and come back to at any point.
Chairs
Now chairs. Inside Weather offers lots of chair options, but for this situation, I was designing my own dining chairs. They also offer armchairs, lounge chairs, counter stools and ottomans for the curious at heart.
I really wanted the dining chairs to not only go with the table, but my couch, since it would all be in the same room. I decided to go with the sarno dining chair in espresso. For back style, I choose the shaker design and rounded seats.
For the upholstery fabric of the seat, imagine my surprise when the color “evergreen” matched my couch color PERFECTLY. It was even a plush velvet fabric (my couch is made from recycled velvet) so it matched in fabric color and texture! Fun fact, our couch is from Sabai Design, which is another eco furniture brand.
Obviously, you don’t have to design the table + chairs the way I did. That’s the fun of it! I just wanted you to know what I chose, in case you loved it and wanted to re-create it.
My overall thoughts
Overall, I’m SO happy with this table and these chairs. The customization process was really easy and fun to do.
I will say the assembly of the chairs wasn’t super easy, but if that intimidates you, they do offer white glove delivery which includes room-of-choice placement, assembly, and packaging removal (though this does cost extra, so keep that in mind).
Thankfully, my husband likes being handy so we were able to set aside some time to do it. It’s definitely a two person job, in my opinion.
The table was super easy to assemble though and literally took maybe five minutes.
And my goodness is it beautiful. People ask me all the time “where is your table/chairs from?” and I always point them to Inside Weather.
And let me tell you – it holds up well. NO wobbling on the chairs or table itself. The chairs are durable and sturdy, and my plus size friends have no issues with them either.
It’s also very easy to clean – I just vacuum the seats occasionally and wipe down the table as needed.
I’m in love with decorating it, especially when people come over. I adorn it in a linen tablecloth, linen napkins, non-toxic candles and flowers – it’s always a stunner.
Truly, this table matches my style perfectly and goes with everything else in the room. It only compliments the earthy tones I’m going for.
Above all, it’s ideal for an apartment where you have limited space but still want to create an impression.
I’ve hosted several dinner parties and get togethers at this table already and they were delightful. Cheers to more!
What do you think of my Inside Weather review? Would you order from them? Let me know in the comments!
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