Home & Garden...

You've likely heard the term VOC when it comes to paint and other home finishes. VOC or VOCs is simply short for volatile organic chemicals. That sounds like something to avoid, right?

These volatile chemicals are released from paints in our homes, often in large quantities early on, whch is why you hear stuff like, "Paint the nursery well before the baby comes." Of course that won't help you - you'll still be exposed to VOCs.

A better plan is to find and use low to no VOC paints. Currently these healthier paints are easy to find, and slowly coming down in price to match traditional paints. In fact a blogging pal of mine recently sent me an email about a new zero VOC paint that Home Depot is going to be carrying in April, called FreshAire.

It's harder to find zero VOC paint here in the U.S. than it is to find low VOC paint so this is cool news. If you do live across the pond, you can get zero VOC EarthBorn Claypaint - which by the way is so beautiful. It comes in lovely shades.

I suggest YOLO Paint - maybe I'm partial to them because they're straight from my hometown. Or Maybe it's their amazing line of colors? Maybe it's their super well-laid out website? It could be a lot of things. I'm just a YOLO fan.

YOLO puts it all out there noting what's in their paint and what is not. Plus they have an entire section of their company devoted to littles; Little YOLO, specializing in gender-neutral colors that are non-toxic and safe for kids. Visit YOLO and see for yourself.

Other options are some natural paints like:

• Aglaia Natural Paints
• Auro
• Anna Sova
• Ceramic Coat by O’Leary Paint
• Green Fusion Design
• The Old Fashioned Milk Paint Co