Nontoxic Interior Paint Options + Moodboards For Our New Home
When I decided to live a more non-toxic lifestyle, I started by majoring in the majors in minoring in the minors. I knew that this was going to be a long journey and if I wanted to do it then I was going to have to be happy with every change that I could make no matter how big or small.
Shifting to a more non-toxic lifestyle is definitely not something that I would suggest for anyone to try and do all at once. Non-toxic living is something that I learn more and more about every single day and is a way that you can work to reduce the amount of toxins that we come in to contact with on a daily basis. One of the things that I am currently focusing on that I’ve never done in the past is nontoxic paint. This used to not be even on my radar because I simply cannot afford it. Now that I am years in to living a healthier lifestyle, it’s one that I can focus on.
You may or may not know that we recently moved into a new home. I decided to partner with a wonderful interior designer, named Courtney during this process because she specializes in making your home nontoxic and stylish.
One of the major focuses we have for my home project is nontoxic paint. Here is an explanation from Courtney on why this is an important nontoxic swap for your home:
Paints are typically filled with Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) which can include Xylene, Ethyl acetate, Methylene chloride, Glycol, Formaldehyde, Benzene, Phenol, Quaternary ammonium compounds, Carbamates, Methylisothiazolinone, and Methylchloroisothiazolinone. These are all just fancy scientific ways to say that they can cause headaches, nausea, coughing, skin irritations, breathing issues, and more. Yikes! Luckily there are some great safe VOC-free paint options out there.
Check out Clare Paint who touts zero VOC paint and colorants and are GREENGUARD Gold Certified for low chemical emissions. They also have no toxic air contaminants (TACs), hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), or any EPA chemicals of concern. Another cool fact is that their paint containers, trays and liners are made from recycled materials, and their shipping and packing materials are made from 100% recycled paperboard with 90% post-consumer content.
The Real Milk Paint Co is also a no-VOC company, non-toxic, and environmentally friendly. All of their products are made from 100% organic material and safe for kids and pets. After being mixed, it remains stable for at least two weeks! They also say that their non-toxic paint can be safely disposed of right in your own backyard or compost and is great for painting wooden toys. They also use no mildewcides.
ECOS also sells non-toxic, odor-free, zero-VOC paints and stains with options for atmosphere purifying paint, glues/sealers, and “pet paints.” Each organic product is free of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. Their “beyond zero VOC philosophy” means that each product comes with VOC test data and a complete list of ingredients.
Something to note, is that while a paint base might be low or no-VOC, the colorant added to it could be loaded with them… whaaat?! Doesn’t that defeat the purpose? Yep, it definitely could take you back to square one. If you truly want low or no-VOC paint, be sure to look for low-VOC base paint and low-VOC colorant. An interesting fact is that darker colors tend to have higher VOC levels. Another upside-down fact is that sometimes paints with lower VOC content can give off even more VOC emissions. What’s a girl to do? If you aren’t sure, you can always check with a particular company’s website or send them a message. If they have nothing to hide then they will be transparent with you!
After just a few conversations with Courtney we decided on ideas for each of the rooms in our home that we wanted to work on and I love how she took what I shared with her and turned them into these beautiful mood boards that just works so well with our personality and our style.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀A major part of each mood board, is the paint, which is one of the things that Courtney is very well-versed on in the non-toxic realm. Using non-toxic paint in your home is definitely a next step in your non-toxic journey but one that will make a really big impact.
Which company are you most excited to try? We are using a mixture of each in our home.
