Every home needs furniture. However, depending on who’s living in the home, some of your furniture choices might potentially cause people harm, especially if you’re living in a home with little children or are furnishing a home for someone in an assisted living facility. For homes like these, you’ll want to make sure that the furniture that you’re choosing won’t hurt or harm the sensitive people living there.
To help you in making these choices, here are three tips for making safer furniture decisions.
Start With A Sniff Test
Before you purchase anything to bring into your home, including furniture, you should first do a sniff test of it.
With a sniff test, you’re seeing if the item that you’re going to be bringing into your home has a strong smell to it. Often, in the larger areas of a big store, smells can easily be masked. But if you get up close to the furniture and you notice there’s a strong smell coming off of it, it’s likely that that smell will be even stronger in the smaller space of your home. And if that smell is caused due to chemicals being used, this isn’t going to make the air of your home safe for your oldest or youngest family members to be breathing. So if you notice a strong smell, especially a chemical smell, in an item you’re considering buying, you better think twice before making this purchase.
Avoid Sharp Edges
For babies and the elderly, having furniture with sharp edges can be very dangerous.
With little ones who are learning to walk and may not be super stable in their feet, running and climbing around furniture with sharp edges can result in bumps, bruises, and even gashes. And for adults with thinner skin, cuts and bruises can also happen if they bump into furniture with sharp or rough edges. Rather than getting furniture with sharp corners, try to find furniture that’s more rounded, as these will hurt less if bumped into.
Keep Furniture Anchored
Another important thing to consider when getting furniture for use by young or older people is how well that piece will be anchored to the ground or to the wall.
Small children often like to climb onto furniture and use it as a ladder or step stool. And if the furniture isn’t anchored to the wall, it could easily tip over on them and crush them. As for elderly adults, if they lose their balance and have to hold onto something to steady themselves, you don’t want them having to lean against a piece of furniture that’s liable to fall over with the slightest touch.
To help you pick the safest furniture to have in your home, consider using the tips mentioned above as you choose furniture to purchase.