Product Review: FreshAire Interior Paint

I painted my living room this weekend. The room was yellow, which I hated. I have nothing against yellow personally, but I don't like living in a yellow room. It is the most difficult color for your eye to see, did you know that? So you should put it in a room where you want to be awakened and energized. I want to relax in my living room.

I remember reading about VOCs some time ago, and although I'm sure what I read was sensationalized to a certain degree, there can't be any harm in applying paint to my walls that has less airborne contaminants, so I checked it out. Home Depot carries Freshaire Paint, a No-VOC option. Its display was separate from all the other paints at my local store, so if you don't see it at first, look around, it's there somewhere.

After much consideration and many paint chips stuck to the wall, I decided to go ahead with the Freshaire Paint (over the paints I've used previously, from Glidden and Behr). Here are my thoughts:

Pros:
--There was definitely a lack of paint odor when painting. The only time I could smell paint was when I was brushing on paint or holding the can right in front of me while painting. With eyes closed, I don't think the average person would know that I was painting in my house, or even the room itself.
--Purported health benefits. VOCs are not just emitted into the air while paint is wet; the paint continues to emit VOCs for some time (likely many years.) If you are concerned about the indoor air quality of your home, then you will see the logic of reducing VOCs in any way you can. Here is an interesting wikipedia article about the importance of indoor air quality.
--"Green" factor. Most of the packaging (including paint chips) is made from recycled materials and can be recycled. There are no VOCs in the paint OR the dye (some no- or low-VOC options do not use VOC-free tints.)

Cons:
--Lack of color options. There are currently only 65 colors available, compared with 6 million colors plus color matching available with other products. In the end, I felt like I "settled" for the color I chose. It is also only available in flat, eggshell, and semi-gloss finishes.
--Cost. A gallon of Freshaire was almost $40, compared with about $20-30 for standard options.
--Lack of measurable benefits. If you are an "instant results" sort of person, you might not feel positive about using No-VOC paint. You have to believe that you are improving your air quality.

Sames:
Coverage and cleanup seemed the same as other paints I have used.

Don't-know-yets:
It says on the container to let the paint dry several days before attempting to clean it (so don't let your three year old draw on the wall before then!) I will wait a while and splash something in the corner and let it dry, just so I can see how it cleans up.

Final Thoughts:
I am glad I chose the FreshAire paint, but if I ever want to be more picky about a color I might be convinced to choose a more standard option. It seems silly to choose style over health, but I believe strongly in mental health and its relationship to physical health. If the color of the room I am makes me unhappy, I am doing as much damage to myself as the paint would. Maybe.