When a paint, finish, or lacquer is labelled as eco-friendly, it indicates it doesn’t include any airborne chemicals or fumes that might harm your health. Here are some of the most environmentally friendly solutions for your area.
Portola Paints & Glazes
This family-owned paint firm, one of the American Made design winners, handcrafts each colour batch with care, utilizing natural pigments and low to no VOCs.
From Roman Clay’s plaster finish to Lime Wash’s classic brush-stroked coats, you’ll fall in love with their speciality finishes.
BioShield
BioShield is a solvent-free, zero-VOC paint and tint company that offers products for the interior, exterior, wall finishes, and wood stains.
As “healthy living paints,” the firm aims to offer products that are made from natural, easily renewable resources and are free of dangerous chemicals, poisons, and additions. This is the brand for you if you want to leave the environment in a better state than you found it.
Backdrop
Backdrop spent a year collecting 50 of the greatest house colours—and in the process, created the first climate-neutral paint company in 2020! Its interior and exterior paint colours are Green Wise certified, meaning they contain low VOCs, have a low odour, and come in a recyclable container.
You’ll also discover a paint calculator and necessary painting supplies to do the job yourself rather than paying four times as much for a professional. You’ll be delighted with how these colours work out from the first swatch to the final coat. Backdrop also reciprocates.
Clare Paint
Clare Paint is committed to delivering designer-curated hues and eco-friendly paint to your doorstep. Its paints are all zero VOC and Greenguard Gold Certified, and its operations are equipped with low-waste production processes, recyclable packaging, and water conservation systems.
Don’t know where to begin? Swatches start at $2 and include free delivery as well as the Clare Color Genius quiz to help you narrow down your selections.
ECOS Paint
ECOS Paint is “paint you can feel good about,” according to the company. This USA-made business provides a colourful assortment of organic paints for indoor and exterior walls (together with a transparent ingredient list!) that are completely free of VOCs and aromas.
The best part is that a gallon covers 560 square feet, which is far more than most standard solutions. These paints, which are used by the Louvre, Westminster Abbey, and the Getty Museum, combine excellence and environmental awareness like no other.
Benjamin Moore Eco Spec
Benjamin Moore’s Eco Spec range is a series of zero-VOC and zero-emission paints. It’s available as a primer and in flat, eggshell, and semi-gloss finishes (along with all of Benjamin Moore’s 3,500+ colour options!).
It’s Greenguard-certified and allergy- and asthma-friendly. We really like its widespread availability, which means you can pick out the exact shade at your local paint or hardware store.
Behr Premium Plus
Behr’s Premium Plus range of eco-friendly paints has no VOCs and is available as a two-in-one paint and primer. This product is verified to have low chemical emissions in your house as a Greenguard Gold certified paint.
This low-odour paint is also one of the most cost-effective and readily available solutions on the list! (If you require stain- and scuff-resistant choices, the Behr Ultra Scuff Defense and Marquee ranges are both Greenguard Gold certified!)
Earth Pigments
Earth Pigments has a wide range of rich hues, including ocher earth tones, vivid oxide pigments, and natural mica. These mineral and plant-based pigments are a safe alternative to traditional paints since they are obtained sustainably from the planet.
This is a more hands-on painting method that involves you combining colours with other materials, but the ultimate product is well worth it.
Sherwin-Williams Harmony
Sherwin-Williams’ Harmony range is not only VOC-free, but its cutting-edge technology also helps to clean the air in your home by lowering hazardous emissions from other household goods, mould and mildew, and pet odours.
You can feel comfortable about putting a new coat wherever you need it since this acrylic paint is Greenguard Indoor Air Quality Certified and Greenguard Certified for children and schools.
The Real Milk Paint Co.
Milk paint, which is created from organic milk protein, is a healthier alternative to commercially available water-based latex or oil-based paints.
The Real Milk Paint Co. provides a wide range of colours to choose from, including loose pigments that you may mix yourself.
Since 1995, The Real Milk Paint Co. has been developing, and its tried-and-true recipe is still biodegradable. Even the waxes and finishing lotions are odourless and low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It works on bare wood, drywall, and concrete with only a little water.
Farrow & Ball
Farrow & Ball’s whole collection of paints (including the spring-ready Sulking Room Pink, shown) is low-VOC and safe to use around the house, having been one of the first in the industry to switch to a 100% water-based composition. Furthermore, they are never subjected to animal testing.
