No Painting this Nursery

 I wanted to paint my daughter's nursery but our landlord was not having it; he said: "Absolutely not".
 No problem, I will have to paint some of her furniture instead, or use different fabrics to make the off- white walls pop-out a little. In the meantime this got me thinking about paint. What paints are safe for baby's rooms and why? I have heard that most traditional household paints release fumes that can cause health problems so I looked into it.
According to consumer Reports article from 2009,  the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), or gas released from typical household paints have been linked to memory loss, respiratory problems, and even cancers. They also contribute to  ozone and smog pollution. Hmm... I could think of many times in my life when I have walked into someone's house and I could smell the paint on the walls. Usually I find the smell to be pleasant and have never given it much thought , really.
Ok, so the paints that are baby  friendly ( people and earth friendly) have lower levels of VOC or claim to have no VOC at all. This consumers repot article put a few paints to the test and said the performance of low VOC paints lacks a bit in quality, but, I think,  in the name of health it may still be a better option.
So what better way to learn how low VOC paints are made than through--"How Stuff Works: paint components".In a nut shell, the pigment in paint has the greater amount of VOCs so low VOC paint has less pigment. Since low VOC or baby friendly paints found on the market tend to be very costly, if you absolutely can't afford it, try using water based paints instead of oil based paints... Oil based paints have a much higher VOC content.

Through this same web article of "How Stuff Works",  I learned that only about 50% of the paint's VOCs may be released within the year since painting your walls or furniture... yes, your paint releases fumes for much longer than you can smell it.

I sure learned a lot about paint and I hope you did too. I have attached the articles I used as my sources and a link to a place that sells low VOC paints. Enjoy!

http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/construction/materials/low-voc-paint1.htm
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/march-2009/home-garden/interior-paints/overview/interior-paints-ov.htm
http://www.earthsafefinishes.com/Baby-Safe-Paint.html