Natura paints, hold the VOC's

When I was pregnant with my firstborn, I spent a lot of time thinking about the nursery color, but spent exactly no time actually painting the room since the VOC's in most room paints are considered a no-no for pregnant women. My asthma didn't like it much either. Even now that pregnancy is but a distant memory, whenever my husband starts to paint another room in our 80's wallpapered colonial, I pull the kids out for the day to avoid the stink.

No more. Benjamin Moore's Natura paints are virtually odor-free and emit no VOC (or volatine organic compounds), even after the paint is tinted to a specific color which is when many VOC's are normally added to the paint. My daughters even used some of their paint samples to decorate their doll beds in our basement and noted that there was no smelliness at all, even in that enclosed space. And my husband--the guy who usually gets stuck on wall duty--found that the paint goes on beautifully and dries very quickly.

Natura paints are sold just about everywhere Benjamin Moore paints are found, so finding the primer or paint when you need it shouldn't be a problem. At about $50 a gallon, it costs more than what you might normally spend on paint. The other downside: Now I have to help do the painting since my excuses have evaporated along with the VOC's. -Christina

Use Benjamin Moore's store locator to find where Natura Paints are sold.