@Home: Low VOC Paint

Everyone has heard the saying, "You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?"
It's real easy to read about building "green" and get excited about it at work and talk it up with clients, especially over the past few years where it has been such a buzz in the industry.  But when it comes to making changes in your own home, you have to ask yourself how willing are you to go ahead and try new things?  And if you aren't willing to try it yourself, then should you really be advising others to do so?
At home I've been picking off the low hanging fruit like adjusting thermostat set-points,  recycling at the local recycle center, changing incandescent lamps to compact fluorescents, using cold water and light load on the washer machine, and reducing length of showers to name a few.
This past weekend my wife and I decided to change the paint color in our daughters' bedroom.  We picked out colors from a Pottery Barn catalog and then went on-line to confirm products.  I was happily surprised to see that Pottery Barn recommends a Benjamin Moore product called Natura Zero-VOC Interior Paint.

I priced out some options and found Natura to be around $52 / gallon.  Another Zero-VOC option that Benjamin Moore offers is called Eco Spec and this was closer to $30 / gallon.  When I asked the paint dealer the difference he explained that the Natura provides better coverage as it is a higher quality paint.  This price range between a high quality product and a mid to low range product was typical for Zero-VOC, low-VOC, and standard paints alike.  And it is commonly stated that a more expensive paint is a higher quality paint which provides better coverage and can equal less coatings and therefore less labor.
So after weighing out a few options, I decided to go with the Natura and see if I noticed any real difference.  I picked up a gallon of primer and a gallon of eggshell and got to work.  It went on very smooth and even.  It dried fairly quick so I had to make sure to apply it evenly and finish an entire surface at once to avoid flashing or patches.  I did notice one significant difference - the lack of odor.  I was really amazed by this.  Quite often you may be in a room painting then you leave the room to get lunch or take a break and you come back in and you are hit with the odor that you didn't notice before because you were in the room.  Well there was almost no odor and this was really amazing.
I remember working on a project at the MFA in Boston and the museum curators required a period in our construction schedule for "off-gassing" which occurred after construction was complete and prior to the return of the artifacts.  This was my first museum project and I was unfamiliar with the term so the curator explained to me that the materials in the newly renovated space give off gases that are harmful to the artifacts and they needed a period of time for the highest concentrations to dissipate before they could safely bring the artifacts in.  I remember wondering if the fumes were so harmful to these artifacts, why wouldn't they also be harmful to people?  This was a few years before LEED became prevalent in construction projects.  But when LEED did come out I was happy to see an emphasis on flushing out the building prior to occupancy to protect the new occupants from odors and fumes from the new materials.
All in all, I was very happy with Natura and I felt good about the decision to use a Zero-VOC paint in my home, especially in my daughters' bedroom, and I would continue using this paint and recommend it to others.