Estate liquidator Martin Codina has a breezy post on his blog that encourages folks to spare the environment by furnishing with antiques.

While Codina endorses the search for new experiences when it comes to dining, he draws the line when it comes to furnishing. "Is it still okay to always seek out the new?" he asks. "Is it at all unreasonable to continue to demand that new items be manufactured, used a few years, then to load them onto a truck, and cart them to a landfill?"

Codina observes that today's biggest consumers of home furnishings are people 25- to 45- years old. Most are opting for items of recent manufacture. "New fashions are wonderful expressions of a culture's creativity, and that creativity has a trickle effect throughout the economy," he writes. "But what about fashion, and the search for the next Big Thing’s effect on the environment? How many trees does it take to furnish a house?"

Codina points to a San Francisco home whose owner understands how to blend new and old in a perfect medley, and wishes there were more people like her. She is "designing her interiors to reflect the past in such a way that they are still clearly useful to today’s consumers. She had an amazing kitchen with all the latest modern conveniences, but it was also decked out with antique lighting and vintage china and cookware. Every wall sconce and ceiling light fixture seemed to come out of an old Moe Bridges catalog. Art Deco furnishing were highlighted here and there throughout her house; paired with objects a’ la Steampunk. Did I mention the Marshall Stacks and Vintage Guitars?"