Little a loves to paint, sew, draw, cut, glue, run, skip, hop, sing, skate, snowboard, twirl, run, skip, hop, paint, sew, paint, run, bike, and paint some more.  She could possibly do all of these activities in one day.  No joke, this kid is on fire every single day of her life.  She has more energy in that little body than….I will sound a bit cliche here…but more than the Energizer Bunny!  So for a while now she has asked to paint her room.  We finally dove into the project a week ago and are still doing some minor touch ups.  We let her have full reign of the colors…not one color but two.  Carlos, the creative one, has a Pantone color book and let Little a flip through to pick her color.  She decided on a very, very bright blue and green!  I kept my mouth SHUT.  They left to get the supplies while I moved the furniture.  I had confidence in her selection because she’s Little a, the mini creative one!

They came home rather quickly with a bunch up supplies.  I realized they went to the local hardware store rather than the mega one.  Carlos was pleased to show me his selection of paint.  Pure Performance by Pittsburgh (Go Steelers…was rooting for the Jets..NY baby…but went to Penn State so will support the Steelers) Paints is in their line of Ecological Solutions.  I was happy to see this because painting stinks, and sometimes the smell gives me a terrible headache.  As you can see on the can, there are Zero Vocs and minimal odor.  So off they went to tackle the room.  Little a was so excited she could barely talk.  Carlos told me later, while painting she said, “Dad, I am so happy to have you!”  Dang that little girl can grab your heart and squeeze it!

Max and I worked on the closet doors in the garage (even those were painted!)  While in the garage, we listened to some music and chatted about Science and paint and video games and Science and molecules and video games and the song on the radio and video games.  Max loves video games!! I love Max!

The room wasn’t completed that night so Ana got to sleep on the camping mattress on the floor in our bedroom.  She was cool with that!  The next day while the kids were at school, Carlos and I finished the room!  It looks cool!  The walls are blue and there are green shapes on one wall…..pictures to follow.  I actually love it sooooo much!

So…..What are VOCs and what’s the deal?  VOCs are Volatile Organic Compounds!  Yuck that sounds awful.  I did some research and this is taken directly from the EPA’s website…

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. Concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times higher) than outdoors.  VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering in the thousands. Examples include: paints and lacquers, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings, office equipment such as copiers and printers, correction fluids and carbonless copy paper, graphics and craft materials including glues and adhesives, permanent markers, and photographic solutions.

The website lists the side effects in more detail but basically it effects your eyes, nose and throat and can make you dizzy.  Check out the site.

Some paints are plant based and all natural.  I’m not completely sure about Pure Performance.  It is made from 100% Acrylic Latex.  Doing the research on line, a lot of the sites mention the resin within the latex could be plant based and some say they are synthetic so I am still researching this fact…..very vague.  I would highly recommend this paint not only for the low odor and no VOCs, but for it’s high quality!  It covers well and cleans up without a problem.