Painting. In addition to fear of choosing the wrong color there's fear of VOCs. And fear of allergies to the VOCs.
Fortunately there are more and more good green paint options that are low- or no-VOC, including one that's been around since the time of cave painters: milk paint.
Old Fashioned Milk Paint is actually made from cow's milk and, like the drinkable kind, can spoil, so a partially-used can must be stored in the fridge. But because it's made from just milk protein, lime (which becomes inert when mixed with the acidic milk), clay, and earth pigments and is water-based, milk paint is considered safe for the environment and for people (including kids, aka, people who like to eat the environment).
It gives off little smell and dries to an odor-free, durable finish over wood, drywall or wallpaper. (On furniture you top it with a 
Please forgive a dumb question, but, if the partially used container of paint will spoil if not refrigerated, what about the paint on the walls? Will it spoil, or deteriorate, or anything after it has been up for a while?
Their FAQ suggests the reason to refrigerate is not that it goes sour like milk, but that it gels to an unusable consistency.
http://www.milkpaint.com/about_faq.html
They also note that it's not washable *at all* unless you seal it.
Jocasta Innes has loved this sort of paint for years, though.
There is some additional info in the late-August Milk Paint thread in the AT:Kitchen section, including gorgeous photos of a kitchen makeover with milk paint:
http://kitchen.apartmenttherapy.com/food/kitchen-cleanup/milk-paint-by-the-real-milk-paint-co--011986
I used this brand of milk paint in a bathroom early this year. The recommendation was to use a binder with the first coat over drywall. Then I applied two more coats without the binder.
Disaster. The last coat made a crocodile skin in places and peeled in others. When I followed the instructions to feather the peeled edge with steel wool and apply more paint, the peeled spot just grew. All of this occurred before using the shower -- in a bathroom where the shower is rarely used -- so it wasn't from humidity.
I wouldn't use this again on sheet rock. Maybe the trick is to put the binder in every coat, but nothing indicated that was required.