Painting Our House This Weekend

I'm a huge BEHR fan! (Home Depot). I have painted a good portion of my home with Behr and am in the market to paint another couple rooms in the next month. One thing that I am becoming more conscientious about is low-VOC or no VOC's (chemicals released in the air from your paints). Behr is also becoming more conscientious about this too and creating paints with a lower order. Behr doesn't splatter like some other paints that I have worked with. I love faux finishing and have even found it easy to work with on these occasions. I've also painted quite a few dark walls and I still like it. Make sure you save yourself any painting aggravation by tinting your primer if you are doing any deep reds!

One of my friends loves Benjamin Moore - I tried this on my kitchen and, although the results were wonderful, it was harder to work with than Behr. Still would recommend it.

Another friend just tried Valspar (Lowe's) and was very pleased with the results and ease of using it.

So sorry about your mom - make sure you are getting the yearly tests that keep you healthy and living life to the fullest. I'm sure your mom would want that for you. Being a mom makes you appreciate your mom more, it sure has for me! Speaking from experience - I lost my parents to Cancer (one colon; the other Lung). My sister's, both, had different forms of Cancer (one lung and the other Leukemia - CLL) and are walking miracles! I try to be vigilant with regular check-ups! Our kids need us!

Here is a consumer report that I found interesting. Hope all this helps and happy painting!
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/house_and_home/interior...

Check out Home Depot, they have a "Freshaire" paint that has No VOCs (volatile organic compounds) both in the base and in the color. We just did our daughters' room and our nursery with the paint, I'm pregnant and didn't get so much as a headache. There is still a minimal paint odor, but it performed really well and I'm normally really sensitive to chemicals. Limited color selection though, but what they do have is great. And it's not that much more expensive than regular paint.
Good luck!

In the past I have used just regular Dutchboy paint and there was very little fumes. I used to like that brand the best for one coat coverage that is not too runny. Lately though I have been a part of a Behr paint panel and they just came out with a very low fume paint that I hear is excellent. I used the Behr outside paint and stain and love it. So, I think I am going to switch to Behr indoor paint from now on. Get the house all cleaned and prepped before hand and painting in one weekend is easy. It's the prep (cobwebs, taping, moving furniture, etc) that takes a lot of time. We did our entire house, ceilings and all, very quickly.

Having painted more than my fair share of rooms in numerous homes I would ask a few questions about painting that have nothing to do with safety. Most paints today are very low in fumes and if you have the windows cracked with ceiling fans running I don't see any problems.

But have you cleaned all the baseboards of dust and then taped them? That way paint doesn't get on the molding and baseboards....unless you are an expert at painting and don't need tape.

Have you cleaned cop webs, moved furniture, scrubbed dark marks?

I'm assumming you have already taken your samples home to test them in the light of the rooms first too?

Consumer Reports usually has something on the best paints in their issues. See if the library near you has them.

We have used Behr, Glidden, and Lowes/Valspar...all excellent paints. The Behr was actually a one coat paint.