apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I've bought all my low/no VOC paints from Rodda and Miller using coupons for buy one/get one in the Chinook book, our local "green" coupon book for sale in Portland and Seattle (they're expanding to the East Bay in the fall). The books more then pay for themselves and I have lots of friends who like trading coupons with me and don't need paint. You might see if LA has something similar?

Another thing to do is look into opening an account at a paint store, they'll give you volume discounts and if you're painting an entire house, I'll bet that would be enough volume to get a discount.

regards,
trillium

We repainted every room in our last house in Sherwin-Williams' Harmony line (low odor, no VOC). We told our local SW store of our plan, so they established an account for us and gave us a volume discount. I forget the amount we saved, but I do recall it was significant. An added bonus is that all of the product color info was on-file, and we didn't have to keep up with it all. I always timed our purchases so we could take advantage of sales, so sometimes the sale price was better than the 'account' price. Again, I've forgotten figures, but I do recall SW runs sales on holiday weekends, etc. Just ask -- you'll be surprised how often they run them.

I had seen on Home Depot's website that their low-VOC paints were very reasonably priced, however our local Home Depot DOES NOT carry them yet.

So beware that not all Home Depot's have this product. I do not inquire about ordering them though.

We've recently painted several interior rooms using the Olympic Premium brand found at Lowes. Its a low VOC paint that we found to be moderately priced with the convenience of a full range of color selections as well as the ability to get quarts. Also, if your timing is right, Lowes has sales on these paints every so often. The paint was easy to work with and because of the low odor we were actually able to sleep in our bedroom the night we painted it.

We did look into Yolo Colorhouse, Devine Color and other "boutique-style" no-VOC paints, and while certainly more eco-friendly, most had a limited color selection in addition to the higher price.

One last note...unfortunately, some water-based paints designed to be low in VOCs actually contain more of other harmful chemicals - e.g. alkyl phenols and vinyl resins. Also, mixing with tint bases to get certain colors may add more VOCs. In general, the darker the color the more VOCs will be added.

Try Safecoat I just used it for a client.

http://www.afmsafecoat.com/FreqQuest.html

Naylors Paint and most paint stores carry it.

http://www.naylorspaint.com/

I did my whole condo in Devine paints. I love their pallette.

The Devine can be a lot cheaper than other paints if you are going with reds - the walls I did with their "Sangria" color went up with *one* coat. Rare for red.

I did a large wall in a rich chocolate brown (Devine "Cocoa") and that also took only one coat. So if you're paying a painter to do it, by all means look at Devine, you could save hundreds.

One downside about Devine paints - it will not blend well if you cut-in a section, and that section dries before you can roller the rest. You have to work relatively quickly and roller while the cut-in sections are still wet.

It's not so noticeable with darker colors, but with a medium taupe (I used "Filbert") then you really see it.

If you're a perfectionist, Devine can drive you nuts.

I used Duron's Genisys paint - no VOC. About $35 a gallon. The Duron store also gave me a 10 percent discount. The paint coverage was really really good - much better than the Behr paints I had been using previously.

I work for Sherwin Williams and all you gotta do is tell us the first time you come, "hey i'm gonna buying several gallons", and this is especially true if your gonna use only one or two different products and we will set you up and very nice volume discount. And yes harmony from Sherwin Williams meets those specs, i recently just did my room in it and its great!

we did our place in Dunn Edwards Eco-Shield, except one room in SW Harmony, and the Dunn Edwards went on really well. SW Harmony was kind of thin and tended to run. if you know a painter you can try to get a discount, or at minimum you can get a AAA discount

Safecoat makes their paint to not only pass air quality regulations but also to focus on health issues. They leave out all the chemicals that cause off gasssing and "indoor air pollution". My wife and I just painted our daughters room, the paint (soft pink) cost us $44.00/gallon for the ZERO-VOC and about $10 less for the LOW-VOC. In all we spent about $75. I guess we could of done it for cheaper, but we care about our daughter health more than getting a "good deal" on smelly, toxic paint.

I just want to mention that for many, many low or no VOC paints at nearly all paint chains the full range of colors is available. Designer stuff like Yolo and Devine is a different catagory. I love that I can get Miller's Historic house colors in no VOC. The two that I buy, Rodda's Horizon and Miller's Acro, are both Green Seal certified.

http://www.greenseal.org/certification/standards/paints.cfm

regards,
trillium

benjamin moore also has a low-VOC version that is essentially the same price as the rest of their stock - you just have to ask that they use a different base when they mix it for you...

Try Benjamin Moore's Aura paint- not only low in VOC's, but washable (good for the kitchen, bath, or kids rooms) AND it can paint over existing paint without a primer- great for lazies like myself :)

I've used Benjamin Moore's low VOC primer and flat latex base, both of which are part of their "Eco Spec" line. (And Benjamin Moore was recommended to me by a friend who worked as a contractor.) I don't recall the Eco Spec paints as being that much more expensive than their standard products. (And yes, you can request that the hardware store mix the Eco Spec base with a color.) The paint fumes definitely seemed less harsh than what I've experienced with other paints. Overall, I was happy with the results.

As of the beginning of the year 2007 all paint companies are required to make only 0 VOC paint. They all stock piled paint to last them for a couple of years because they are resistant to change. With that being said- Olympic brand paint sold at Lowes has been 0 VOC for years and its only about $20.00 a gallon. I used it to paint my entire green building supply business last year. No oder what so ever!