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Bedroom Furniture Made With Vintage Military Canvas

by Elke Erschfeld

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Lately I have been researching beds made from sustainable materials. There are many choices out there that range from headboards made with organic cotton and filled with soy-based foam to bedframes made from reclaimed materials or locally manufactured in the US. Quiet frankly, all those choices can get quiet overwhelming with so many styles and getting a good night’s sleep is quiet subjective.

My greenest, contemporary finds are the beds by Environment Furniture at their new showroom on Bowery in Manhattan. During my recent visit, the Santomer Bed and the Big Sur bed stood out to me because of their low platform bedframe with a high headboard. As part of the Santomer Collection, the Santomer Bed uses reclaimed pieces of Peroba Rosa recovered from an old Brazilian coffee factory. The pieces are trimmed into 1” strips and tiled together to create the rich pattern of the headboard with a distressed and weathered quality. For a softer version of a headboard I like the Big Sur bed, made with a reclaimed wood frame and the signature reclaimed Shelter Half tent fabric. Upholstered headboards are great for sitting up comfortably and reading while the elegant tufting gives it a nice, warm feel. The base of the bed is made with sustainably harvested oak and it’s entirely made in America.

What’s so cool about the Big Sur bed by Environment Furniture is the story behind the Shelter Half fabric. The vintage military canvas was used since the Civil War to make two-man tents by fastening two Shelter Halves together to make a floorless A-frame tent. It even doubled as ponchos for traveling soldiers for many wars until the 1980s after which the canvas was retired and sold through the US Government. In order for the fabric to be used as upholstery material it has been power washed and dyed with organic inks to create other colors like indigo, charcoal, rust, or black in addition to the original olive color. The reclaimed military canvas might not save the world. But it might give you some peace of mind to know you’re resting on materials that are gentle on the environment. 

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