Boys' Rooms Makeover :: The Prep

One of our bigger projects this Spring was to "redo" each of the boys rooms.  We hadn't done much to them when they moved in and after 4 years of the kind of abuse only little boys can inflict, they needed some help.

Originally I had planned on painting the woodsy room blue (keeping the outdoor/camping theme) and the other room grey and using a nautical theme.  But when my oldest heard that a room was going to be grey, he instantly called dibs and renamed it, "the robot room."

No VOC paint was a must.  This paint is becoming more widely available and affordable all the time, so for us there was no question.  As I researched which no VOC paint to choose, I found vast price differences and availability.  By all accounts on the web, Benjiman Moore no VOC is the best on the market.  But at $50 per gallon plus shipping, I had to find a better alternative for our rooms.  Enter Olympic no VOC from Lowe's.  I love this paint because:

a. It is widely available at any Lowe's and comes in all the colors of the regular Olympic brand.
b. The cost was a mere $15 per gallon!

While at Lowe's I loaded up on a surprising variety of "green" painting products.  I picked up:

Biotray-a reusable, biodegradable paint tray made of 100% post consumer recycled pulp fiber that biodegrades in 6 months (compared to the typical 500 years for plastic).
Whizz paintbrushes-made with recycled materials and a bamboo handle.

With our earth-friendly products and paints in hand we were ready to get started.  Stay tuned for the reveal!

Have you been green-tackling any paint jobs lately?  Any great product finds?