Going sustainable when it comes to the building sector seems to be either end of a large spectrum with very little in-between. You’re building a brand new home, with the environmental impact of that barely on the radar, or are so aware you’re building a yurt out of mud and straw. Renovation projects can feel much the same. While we’re restoring a 110+ year old home, hopefully to last another hundred or so years, it’s taking a lot of new materials to do so. I’m constantly feeling the tug when it comes to making the best decisions for our home, vs what is best for our planet. Do we rip this old gib off and throw it in landfill or do we skim coat the walls hoping they will look good enough? While we try to salvage every piece of architrave or skirting board it’s not always possible so you’re ordering new ones to be made out of pine and put on a truck to your house. While I try to be a pretty low waste household it feels like when we’re tackling a reno project a lot of that goes out the window. Being married to a builder, with our workplace right next door, I see firsthand how much waste this sector creates - don’t even get me started on the plastic wrapping of buildings!

One area that we no longer have to feel guilt ridden about is paint. I discovered the Natural Paint Company on Instagram and after doing a little comparison online I decided that I really wanted to give their paints a go. While there are other paints available in NZ that are low VOC - these paints are no VOC - none. What is a VOC you may be asking? It stands for Volatile Organic Compound, and while I won’t go into the nitty gritty (science isn’t my strong suit but you can get more in depth info here) they’re basically man made chemicals that are emitted as gasses. These chemicals may have both short- and long-term adverse health effects, especially when painted indoors where concentrations are up to 10 times higher than outside. Considering that these are the rooms are kids are going to be sleeping in, going natural was a no brainer.

The Natural Paint Company’s paint is all made from a few simple ingredients that come right from the earth. Plant oils, tree resins, clay - it all sounds very hippy dippy and lovely, but is it any good? Simple answer, yes. I was really impressed with the coverage we got using their paints. Often when painting you’ll find you need to do that third coat just to get the coverage needed, this certainly wasn’t the case here. Two coats were perfect. In fact we had oodles of paint leftover! Not only that but the paint smells lovely, it smells of essential oils and slightly earthy. You don’t finish painting with a raging headache in desperate need of fresh air.

I love that they’re a small New Zealand business trying to shake up the paint industry. The world needs more passionate people putting their money where their mouth is and trying to make a big changes - especially in a sector that hasn’t been known for it’s environmental awareness. Sustainability isn’t just about taking a keep cup when you go get coffee, or reusable produce bags to the fruit n veggie shop. Don’t get me wrong, those things are great, but we’ve got to make big changes alongside the small ones if we’re going to have a real impact.

The only downside for me was not being able to pop to the local paint shop in town when choosing a colour. You can order paint swatches and samples from their website, they really have some beautiful colours available. Their test pots are now glass and all of the packaging the samples arrived in was compostable, showing that their values truly run right throughout their business. Their customer service was seriously top notch, I was phoning them every other day to get more test pots in 1/4 and 1/8th shades of certain colours and they would never fail to appear on my doorstep the next morning. I will 100% be using their paints when I’m allowed to tackle our next room.

On a daily basis we’re bombarded with chemicals. From perfumes to plastics, exhaust emissions to fabric dyes. Our bodies are great at detoxifying, but with the sheer amount of chemicals it has to deal with we’re simply pushing the limits when it comes to our health, and that of our families. Many changes can be made to lessen this toxic overload like switching from your standard chemical kitchen/bathroom cleaner to something more environmentally friendly. Paint is now another place we can make the switch. So next time you’re looking to transform a space look to the Natural Paint Co for your colour solutions. And give me a call, I’m happy to help you along your journey!

Painting your home, naturally.