Paint - eco friendly

[Mr. Pregunta]

Hey folks,

I am in the process of moving into a home office, and had to pick paints to use... I wanted something eco-friendly but quality, and boy did I find it:

Ellen Kennon full spectrum colors in Lifemaster zero-VOC base
http://www.ellenkennon.com/fspmain.htm

I LOVE these paints and want to tell you why. I also want to tell you about some alternatives I considered.

What follows is an absolute rave, so I want to state up front that I have no connection to the company other than as a very satisfied customer. I hope I can help anyone who's redecorating a treatment room (or other room), especially in using environmentally friendly (which equals people friendly!) paints.

In brief:
1) These are full spectrum colors designed by Ellen Kennon. Full spectrum means they are formulated with all 7 colors of the spectrum and no black, unlike standard paint colors that are generally formulated from 3-4 colors plus black.

I wanted full spectrum paints for two reasons:

- The extra complexity of the color is a visual treat... and because treatment rooms are generally pretty simple/spare, I wanted as much out of the wall color as possible ;-)

- Because there's no black, they perform better in the low lighting typical of a treatment room. The colors keep their character more.

Oh, and they mailed me real paint chips. I guess they have to, since printed paint chips can't replicate the full spectrum aspect But I was so much more confident in them than the normal printed samples for most paint lines.

I found the color selection adequate... not overwhelmingly large like many paint lines, and not too limited. Custom colors can be mixed fairly inexpensively.

2) They're available in Lifemaster zero-VOC paint from ICI-Dulux. Fabulous. Not the MOST eco-friendly because it's still acrylic, but possibly the second-most Better than "low-VOC" paints.

No "new paint" smell, I'll be able to use the room immediately, and it won't continue to off-gas, potentially irritating sensitive clients or harming our health.

3) I was able to pick them up at my local ICI. You order from Ellen and she faxes her formulas to the store. My last paint order was ready for pick up the same day.

The ordering/faxing process is a plus in diguise because... dealing with Ellen and her staff is SO much better, like 10,000 times better I promise, then dealing with the people in the ICI store. At least, the people in the ICI here anyway. All I had to do was walk in, tell them I had Ellen Kennon paint for Josh Alexander, sign the paperwork, and run far away.

4) Turns out there's another reason to love full spectrum paints: the healing and energetic aspects of color therapy are more fully realized when you're playing with the whole spectrum.

There are different undertones to the paints, many of which are covered in the descriptions on the website. She often lists the emotional and healing qualities of a color.

5) Free color consultation! If you know you are going to buy this paint, then you can schedule a free phone consultation with Ellen. I emailed her photos of the space with a description of what I was looking for, and the next day she called at the appointed time. What a tremendous help, and it only took 30 minutes.

Her intuition lived up to its reputation--the first color she suggested is the one I eventually went with for the walls. And it was great being able to ask the creator of the colors about their undertones and emotional effects. Just like with a good meal, it's not always easy to tell what ingredients went into a dish, so this was like having the chef on hand to explain what I was tasting... or in this case, seeing.

6) Amazing customer service. Fast, friendly, saved me money at every opportunity. Ellen and her staff would be amazing in any context, but especially given the level of service that's prevalent now... they really shined.


So that's that...

The MOST eco-friendly paint I've found (besides something weird like milk paint) is Green Planet Paints at http://www.greenplanetpaints.com/

I like that they're soy based, and pigmented with clay... they also sent real samples, although they were small samples all on a single page. Not as useful as separate chips.

More limited color selection, and would have to be ordered and shipped.


I did consider Benjamin Moore's new-ish paint Aura, which is currently advertised all over the subway stations here...

The only thing I really liked about it was that the color palette is designed so that all the colors go together. But who needs that when you can get free color consultation from a professional designer?

What really did this paint in, for me, was all the hype over it combined with the fact that it's only low-VOC. What a disappointment. Supposedly they developed all this "new technology" that goes into the can (95% of what's in the can evaporates!) and apparently didn't spend enough R&D on eliminating the VOCs ;-)

 

[DarkPirateRule]

WOW this is a lot of good info -- we are about to paint our 2-year-old's bedroom and our kitchen as well as both rooms of my office, so I will be using a lot of it (the info that is)... I have looked into the milk paint before and it looks lovely and friendly, although maybe a bit pricey for all that I have to paint right now.

Also Josh I have to tell you that when I saw the title of this post, I bet myself a dollar that you were the original poster . . . :

 

[The Dude]

Hehehe... thanks. At least, I'm taking that as a compliment

 

[shesxchaotic]

I'm taking that as a compliment

Yes, please do, as it was intended!