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Solid Wood Coffee Tables
Plus non toxic accent tables, organic side tables, solid wood entryway tables and more. Click the rating symbols below each table for more information about its material health.
100% solid wood furniture— including accent tables, coffee tables, side tables, and other solid wood living room furniture. No formaldehyde-containing particleboard or MDF anywhere. You can select unfinished options, or choose one of their plant-based finishes. Glue brand is unspecified but they stated in an email that it is low-VOC and that all their furniture meets California’s strict Prop 65 emission limits.
Avocado makes non toxic living room furniture including organic coffee tables, modern solid wood accent tables, and convenient entryway drop tables. As always, they are very transparent about using non-toxic ECOS stains and Titebond glues with GreenGuard Gold certification. Healthy solid wood living room furniture that doesn’t off-gas.
Savvy Rest makes super healthy MCM style coffee tables with solid wood. You can choose a linseed oil (flax) finish, or leave it unfinished. They use traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery, greatly minimizing the need for adhesives. Their certifications are displayed very easily in the footer of their website, which I love for transparency reasons.
Keeps makes modern solid wood coffee tables with plant-based oil stain, and water-based adhesives. Healthy and cute. They are also very transparent about brand names (Rubio Monocoat and Titebond II), which is uncommon in the solid wood furniture world, and I love the transparency.
Medley makes really beautiful non toxic coffee tables built by hand with solid wood. They’re finished with a plant-based, zero-VOC hardwax oil that is naturally water and heat-resistant. Zero-VOC glues are used only when necessary. One of the best organic modern solid wood dining table options.
The brand Wood Furniture features the Ethnicraft collection, which has Scandinavian modern coffee tables made from solid woods, joinery, and natural finishes, as well as several other unique styles. The ratings below represent their healthiest choices; you can email them about the specifics of the table you choose from their large rotating collection.
DIY Non Toxic Coffee Table
When I was a student, I found a lot of furniture at thrift stores, and made some of my own, including my coffee table, above. I used turned wooden legs from Etsy, a solid piece of wood from the local live edge store, and super-healthy Rubio Monocoat to stain and finish it. The legs screw right in, and I didn’t do any fancy framing, so there’s no wood glue involved. Even though I’m no longer a student, I still love it!
I love the Sabai city table as a non toxic coffee table option. It’s made of solid wood with a zero VOC finish, and powder-coated steel, which is inert and non-toxic, and something I use often in my own home. Affordable, durable, and cute!
More Healthy Design for You
More About Non Toxic Furniture
What is engineered wood?
Engineered wood consists of thin pieces of solid wood attached with glue to either side of a non-solid wood core. The core can be either plywood or ground wood fibers mixed with resin. The outer solid wood surface is called a veneer, and the layers are bound together with adhesives. The adhesives holding the layers together, and the glue-based binders in the plywood or ground wood fibers, are where the health issues potentially lie, since these glues typically contain urea-formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. Some newer engineered wood uses bio-based glues or NAF (No Added Formaldehyde) resins that are much healthier (some don’t, using polyurethane or other harmful substitutions). Engineered wood is often used in furniture construction, like in making couches, because it is stronger than solid wood and can hold up to many years of wear and tear.
Is engineered wood toxic?
It depends entirely on what the glue/resin/binder is that holds the wood together. If it is held together with a soy-based resin with no added formaldehyde, then it is a healthy option. If it is held together with a glue that contains formaldehyde, or a glue that contains other harmful chemicals like isocyanates, then it is harmful to health.
Are wood stains toxic?
Wood stains are often, but not always, toxic to health. It depends on the kind you use. A completely natural wood stain like coffee is safe, though that’s very uncommon in furniture you purchase. Water-based wood stains are used far more often in health-minded furniture, and are relatively non-toxic, especially ones with certifications like GreenSeal-11 ensuring the most harmful additives are avoided. Ones without VOCs, antimicrobials, chemical drying agents, or heavy metals are a better choice. Oil-based wood stains with standard chemicals including solvents that release high VOCs are very common in standard furniture and are quite harmful to health.
What is the difference between wood stain and wood finish?
Wood stains add color to natural wood, while a finish protects it.
Why are oil-based finishes, but water-based stains, better?
Natural, oil-based finishes like linseed oil, hemp oil, or tung oil are minimally processed, and very low in VOCs. Water-based finishes often contain high-VOC, toxic solvents to make them work better.
On the other hand, natural, oil-based stains typically have higher VOCs, whereas their water-based counterparts, have less.
What are plant-based oil finishes?
Linseed, hemp, and tung oil are types of plant-based oil finishes. Linseed oil comes from the flax plant. Hemp oil comes from the cannabis plant. Tung oil comes from the Tung tree (Vernicia fordii), native to China, Myanmar, and North Vietnam.
What are solvent-based finishes?
Varnish, acrylic, synthetic lacquer, and urethane-based finishes all require a much higher solvent concentration than water-based finishes, so are quite high in VOCs that irritate your respiratory tract. They also often contain carcinogenic chemicals.
Is shellac toxic?
It depends which kind you’re thinking about! Natural shellac comes from the cocoon-like secretions of the female lac bug, and has been used for thousands of years. Synthetic shellac contains solvents, and has a harmful vapor.
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