Question from Carol
What do you think is the safest interior latex paint, oil-based primer, and oil-based paint to use for bedroom walls, baseboard, cabinetry, etc.? Thank you very much.
Debra’s Answer
There are many ways you can get the answer to this question on this website.
One would be to go to the Paint page of Debra’s List.
Another would be to search for “paint” using the search box at the top of the right hand column on every page.
Here are the search results for “paint.” This has a lot of Q&A about paint.
Without going into a full explanation of all the different kinds of paint, I just want to answer your specific question.
Commercial paint like you buy in a store might be latex paint or acrylic paint. Both are plastics. The key determining factor is VOCs. You want to choose a no VOC brand and even safer would be a brand where the colorants have no VOCs (those are volatile organic chemicals).
But even without the VOCs, you’re still putting plastic on your walls. If that’s OK with you, once it dries you’ll have a nice plastic wall. It will outgas for a while, but eventually will become inert.
I would say that the safest paint would be something like Old Fashioned Milk Paint , which is made from all natural ingredients. The last room I painted I used this paint and I will always now use it to paint walls. It is easy to use and gorgeous and all natural. Perfect.
Now, you also asked about oil-based primer and oil-based paint for baseboard, cabinetry etc. No. No oil-based paint period. It’s very toxic and takes a very long time to outgas. Here’s where you would use a no-VOC satin or semi-gloss paint.
There are natural paints from Germany that are made from plant resins, but I have used them and, though natural, the odors are very strong and take a long time to cure.
So my best answer to your question is milk paint with no-VOC satin or semi-gloss for the trim.
