Selfsufficientish.com

I need to paint the interior of my home. My children always have problems with their health shortly after painting and I am considering buying a eco friendly paint but it is sooooo expensive. I really cant afford to pay $88.00 a gallon for paint. Has anyone ever made their own paint? I wanted a tan or light beige anyway and thought that maybe I can pull this off if I can figure out how to do it. My hubby thinks I am nuts but as always allows me to do what makes me happy(poor guy is always cringing when I tell him some of my ideas)!
If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, feel free to let me know.
-Cyndeelouwho

Hi, have you tried: http://www.healthy-house.co.uk. Although I am guessing by your dollar signs that this might not help you. I don't have any paint recipes, sorry.

I too can only comment about stuff on the UK side of the water, but I am quite experienced in painting and decorating.

I think it's probably true to say that there is no such thing as an eco-friendly paint, but there are a few eco-less-unfriendly paints available. They all seem to be water based, which means that you don't get the problem with solvents and oils - there are less 'volatile organic compounds' (VOCs) to use the technical jargon.

Last time I used any gloss finish water based paint, the quality of finish was much inferior to that of a good quality oil based paint. They can also be more difficult to apply well, because they dry much quicker - if you are working for more than an hour at a time you will need to keep rinsing your brush out or it will clog.

Making your own paint sounds like a good idea, because it means that you can control what you put in it. But a modern paint is quite complicated stuff - it has to give a good finish, obliterate well, not fade or change colour over time or in sunlight, have good adhesion, be knock resistant, remain flexible and crack-resistant... so you might find yourself having to compromise on some of these things. But I'm sure a bit of Googling may turn up a few recipes.

There is a book on making your own natural paints, stains and varnishes. Here a link to the amazon page on the Americn site:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 29-6375833 for

G'Day Judy,

Long time no hear!

Nev

I have looked at these paints too, but they really are expensive. I hadn't thought to make my own, so this is interesting. I am sure my other half will not be so indulgent though, and will just pop off to Homebase to get the usual chemical sludge...