Most paints emit VOCs (volatile organic compounds) which are harmful to our health. This is what you need to know about paint and VOCs, plus a little fun about the color of the year.
Look for the UL GreenGuard Gold Certification badge as these products have undergone third party testing and have the lowest levels of VOCs, especially for formaldehyde.
Today, we're talking all about paint, what you need to know about paint and how to protect your health if you're painting a room in your house.
But first, before we get into all of the nitty gritty details, let's just talk about color for a minute. Let's have a little fun. So if you're not familiar Pantone picks a color every single year. The 2023 color of the year is Viva magenta. It is a very bright pink with an undertone of purple. And this trend is really in alignment with what we're seeing in interior design. In general, we're seeing more vivid colors, more rich, saturated colors. In the past, it's been super white, very bohemian. Now we're going back to more saturated colors. We're seeing color in cabinetry and in furniture. There's this more richness to it and I absolutely love it. I love following trends in interior design. For me personally, because I'm a little bit conservative when it comes to, you know, going all in on a trend. What I like to do is keep the stuff that's really hard to update, I like to keep that much more classic. Not necessarily traditional, but just something that never goes out of style.
I also like to use colors that are never gonna go out of style. A good tip for that for colors that are never gonna go out of style are colors that you see in nature. So the green that you see outside in trees, the blue that you see in the sky. Those sort of natural base colors are never really going to go out of style. So while you might think, oh, green is trending in cabinets, that's gonna go out of style really quick, not necessarily if it's the right color of green.
So then I like to bring in the trends. I like to bring in the trends on things that are really easy to swap out. One of those might be paint. It may be a little bit of a pain to paint a wall, but it's not as permanent as say, tile or a countertop. I also like to bring in trends in color in pillows, and fabrics in curtains, things that are a little bit easier to swap out. So I don't know how you're going to use Viva magenta this year, but it's so fun to have such a bright color for the Pantone color of the year.
Let's get into the nitty gritty of the details of paint. Most people know about VOCs so you probably are aware of this, but let's just dive in deep. So VOC stands for volatile organic compounds. You're going to find VOCs in so many different things. But paint is one of the best ways you can lower your impact of VOCs. VOCs are carbon based chemicals and they easily evaporate into the air at room temperature. Harmful VOCs are not always toxic immediately or acutely toxic, but they can have compounding long term health effects. They can cause headaches and nausea and even damage to your liver and kidneys. So it's really important to pay attention to VOCs. We're all familiar with that new new paint smell. What that means is that there are fungicides like formaldehyde, ethylene glycol, and benzene within the paint. Not good stuff. And you may see “zero VOC” on a label. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's 100% Zero VOC. It just means that the paint is below the level of VOCs that the government regulates for them to have to put it on the label. So unfortunately, even if the new paint smell is gone, VOCs can still be off gassing. So it's important to really pay attention to VOCs. The best way to find the lowest VOC paint is to look for the UL Greenguard Gold certification. They third party test company's products to show that they meet the greenguard gold certification. So it's not the company itself saying, Hey, we're zero VOC, it's actually this other nonprofit organization that is checking to see how healthy or not healthy this product is.. So you want to look for the UL Greenguard gold certification.
Then finally, if you are painting, there's some things you can do to minimize the impact of VOCs.
Wear a mask, so you're not directly exposed to those VOCs.
Open the windows.
Run an exhaust fan
Use an air purifier
Don’t sleep in that room until the paint is fully off gassed.
