ECOS Paint Part 2

When we moved into our house 4 years ago I found this amazing mural. It didn't fit the wall, so we painted to fill in and complete the picture on the ceiling and edges. It was my dream nursery for E.

E was in that room for a few months and then ended back in my room because she refused to sleep alone. I guess it was overstimulating? But, after 5 years, it was time for her to be on her own at night.

I decided to paint the guest room and turn it into her room before her 5th b-day. During the painting process, I put her bed in my room to transition the move- thanks to advice from Shari Criso. The weekend before E's birthday, she slept alone in her newly painted room and has been there almost a month now!A year ago I was able to tour ECOS Paints in SC. It is run by an amazing family, who have now become great friends of ours. During the tour, I had the intentions of painting some rooms at E's grandparents house. But we ended up back in Charlotte before that happened and the house was still on the market. So, we've had several gallons of paint sitting for over a year now. I figured the paint would have separated and I'd have to stir/shake like crazy, but I opened the can to find it perfect!

The paint above- Powder Blue, hasn't even been stirred! Since ECOS Paint is a chemical free paint, I decided it would be ok for E to help out in painting. She had a blast being a part of the transition!

ECOS Paints is VOC and solvent free. ECOS Paints are made up of:

• water, natural plus manufactured binders (all water-based, all non-toxic)
• pigments (yellow ochre, red ochre, various - all non toxic)
• mineral fillers - limestone, clays (non-toxic)
• thickeners & builders - wood cellulose & resinous (all non-toxic)
• white pigment - titanium dioxide (food grade - non-toxic)
• levellers (all non-toxic)
• waxes & texture powders (all non-toxic)

These are true eco-friendly, non-toxic paints! After we were done painting there was no smell what-so-ever! The color was beautiful and easily went on. And I felt safe allowing E to sleep in the room the same night it was painted.

When I was touring the ECOS Paints factory, I learned all about low VOC paint and was totally shocked! If you purchase the expensive "No VOC" paint and then add color, 25% VOC just got added back into the paint. On top of that, the government allows the use of certain chemicals (which are actually VOC's but do not cause smog) to be called "exempt compounds" and they are not to be applied as VOC's on the label. So in reality, the No VOC paint you spend $20 extra on really isn't much safer than the other stuff at your local hardware strore.

The government basically does not care about toxicity or safety of paint. They only rate VOC's due to their reaction to nitrous oxides and ultra violet light to form low level ozone, or smog. The government allows 250 grams of VOCS per liter of regular paint. That's almost half a pound! Green Seal GS-11 paints can have 150 grams per liter (besides flat paint which is 50 grams). And No VOC can have 5 grams per liter. This is only the VOC's that aren't exempt. Who knows what the true levels are once you factor those in!

The American Lung Associate says that VOS's can produce a number of health problems like eye and skin irritations, lung and breathing problems, headaches, nausea, muscle weakness, liver and kidney damage. It is recommended that you do not paint while pregnant and that it can cause a miscarriage or deformities.

While we painted E's room, we decided to update the Nemo bathroom as well. We used the color Rhinestone to give it a calming feel. The gallon was exactly like the Powder Blue and didn't even need to be stirred! I am extremely impressed! I will be back with pics of another bathroom we are doing. We still have 1 more can of ECOS Paints that I can't wait to use!

You can read more about my ECOS Paints tour and see pictures in my first blog post here. Be sure to follow ECOS Paints on Facebook to stay up to date with promotions. They have some exciting events happening soon!

Thank you ECOS Paints for everything that you've done! XO