The great thing about outdoor teak furniture is that it is so easy to maintain and it lasts and lasts.

Teak stands up to the elements so well that it is extensively used in building boats. It doesn't rot or decay and requires very little care beyond occasional cleaning. While you can certainly choose to keep your outdoor teak furniture looking its original honey brown, I rather like the silvery gray tone it acquires when left out in the sun for a long time. That gray can look really beautiful in some gardens, and it can also look really great with wrought iron and glass if you like to mix and match your patio furniture instead of having everything match.

Buying used furniture is one of the easiest ways of going green. What is especially great about buying used furniture is that is generally more affordable also.

When you buy used furniture, you save it from landfills.The fact that you're buying used furniture practically assures that it won't be off-gassing, so keep it that way by using Low-VOC cleaners, paints, glues and varnishes.

Another great thing about going green this way is that while you might have qualms about playing around with a brand new piece of furniture, you can freely re-purpose used furniture to create your own personalized decor.

Take a look at some more tips for going green:

Demystifying Green - Make Tiny Changes

Demystifying Green – Buy Local

How to Tell if You’re Buying Green

As you head over to your local Starbucks for your daily dose of caffeine, you can feel happier knowing that the company has decided to mend its errant, wasteful ways and go green.

Not only will Starbucks change its offerings to reflect the more ethical and healthier choices that many desire, it is also changing how its stores are built, furnished and operate. For instance, beginning this year all the incandescent bulbs will be replaced by more energy efficient bulbs. And that is just the first step.

Starbucks is also going for LEED certification at all new, company-operated stores using energy conservation, recycling, and green construction with reused, recycled and local materials and focus on local craftsmanship. Starbucks will also begin posting plaques in stores to explain green construction and decor elements to customers to educate and motivate them to make more environmentally responsible choices.

Art Van Furniture, the venerable furniture store from Michigan is turning 50. If you have made it to 50 years as a furniture retailer, it is really time to celebrate, and Art Van, Michigan’s largest furniture store (30 stores in 29 communities throughout Michigan) is celebrating. As part of the celebration, it is giving away a fully restored 1959 Chevrolet Corvette convertible.

If you’ve always wanted to own a little red Corvette, and you live in Michigan, Ohio, or Indiana, now’s your chance to enter. No purchase required. Visit Art Van Furniture’s website to see the contest rules, enter to win, and when you do win, come back here and share the good news with all of us. The contest runs through October 31, 2009 and the winner will be announced by November 12.

Folk art has its own charm and appeal. You look upon a piece and you can sort of sense the whole process behind it. You can use folk art in your decor whether you prefer a country style, or an eclectic one, and some pieces would fit in with a modern style as well.

This folk art tray from Wisteria seems to have the patina that comes from years of use. I would use it more for display than as a tray, but it can be used either way. The tray is made of wood with metal fasteners to hold the corners together, and embellished with a hand painted eagle flag image inspired by an historical flag from Brooklyn.

Fourth of July furniture sales are advertised everywhere, and in today's financial climate I see a lot of people wondering whether these sales really offer any real value.

The answer is yes, and no. Yes, certain furniture will be on sale and marked down tremendously while other furniture might be offered at regular price. Just because you walk into a store that is holding a sale, doesn't mean everything is on sale.

The key in getting real value at any sale is to know what you really want to buy in advance even before you go to a sale. A big sale is not the time to start looking, unless you plan to defer your purchase till you really know what you want to buy and have checked around to see what the going price is.

As for special financing such as "No payments or interest for a year!" or "6 months same as cash!" avoid it if you can. You'll be stuck making huge payments later on and in that case, your Fourth of July sale purchase didn't turn out to be such a bargain, did it?

It doesn't make sense to buy any furniture for the sake of special financing, because while it can seem very enticing, remember you are buying furniture not financing.

Jon Santiago and Amelia Cunardi are building furniture from trash. Now while the concept of reusing material is not anything new, what makes me happy is the fact that more and more people are doing it and creating some very beautiful sustainable furniture in the process.

According to the New York Daily News, the two are partnering with such groups as Sustainable South Bronx and Build it Green to set up their company which will be known as Re-Fab. Their suppliers already include a New Jersey furniture company which will channel its waste products to them instead of to landfills, and Build it Green which finds a home for construction waste.

Jon Santiago has an applied math degree from MIT and he has been working with Sustainable South Bronx on its Green Fab Lab project. Amelia Cunard has a degree in design from the Parson’s School of Design, and has been renovating used furniture. Re-Fab competed and was a finalist in the recent New York Green Business Competition.

Have you noticed how much outdoor furniture is beginning to look like indoor furniture?

This indoors-y looking furniture is still more expensive than traditional outdoor furniture. But the added advantage is that the cushioned chairs, sofas and the beautifully designed coffee tables and dining tables can just as easily be used inside the home. There are plenty of finishes and materials to choose from.

Outdoor fabric looks and feels just as luxurious as indoor fabric, and there is now a tremendous amount of choice in color, texture and style. Outdoor lighting seems to be evolving along with the rest of the furnishings. You can now get lamps in all kinds of different styles and colors for the outdoors as well. And there are pillows and rugs galore to complement any look. Do you think indoor and outdoor furniture is going to become more interchangeable with time?

The material you select for your rug can end up affecting its look more than the color or pattern you might choose. I love the subtle texture and feel of wool rugs and silk rugs and how color appears to be much richer in them. Sisal is another great material for rugs.

But let's face it, not every material can be used everywhere. My acrylic rug is doing a fantastic job sitting in the area between the garage and the kitchen. It's beginning to look a little worn after years of loyal service, but it is still very usable. I don't think I could have subjected any other material to such harsh use.

Over the years I’ve seen people make the strangest mistakes when they buy sofas. Somehow, people tend to err here more than with other pieces of furniture. Maybe the mistakes are more obvious because sofas tend to be so large and one of the most used pieces of furniture around the home.

More than anything else, over and over again I’ve seen people buy sofas that were the wrong size. They were too big or too small for the room and they were too big to fit through doors. You’d be surprised at how many sofas make it into the home through windows.