On the theme of doing my part and making smarter choices, I want to tell you about my new favorite paint. No, I’m not being paid to do it (but they should since I’m telling everyone I know!) and no I didn’t get a free sample. I paid $50+ per gallon just like everyone else.

I have a visceral reaction to white walls (and vinyl wallpaper) and cannot spend too much time in white spaces. Not sure why. Our new house was composed entirely of white walls except for an unfortunate bathroom decorated like an outhouse (literally) and a bedroom sponge painted pink. The white walls, combined with extremely neutral carpet and laminate wood floors, I’m sure were painted just to sell the house since the workmanship is so poor. Which is too bad because I think they contributed to the house staying on the market for 8 months (good for us and our checkbook though).

Anyway, I can’t handle it and so have been slowly painting the inside of the house for the last month or so. I’ve started with the “public” rooms that we spend the most time in. So far I’ve painted the family room, the kitchen, the main hallways and the dining room. Left to go is everything else, plus the exterior (another crappy paint job).

I’ve been a Benjamin Moore fan for the past five years or so and used their Eco-Spec paint in our last house. The Eco-Spec is nice (no VOCs) but it has the same issues as regular latex related to drips, runniness and coverage. When I went to our local paint store to get paint for the new house, my favorite paint guy Lloyd was quick to tell me all about the new Aura. While not marketed as a “zero VOC” paint, it is backed by GreenGuard and qualifies for LEED credits.

I went with it over other options because Lloyd swore that I would be able to cover the existing white walls with one nice thick coat with no drips. Not totally true, but I love me a good paint and this is the best I’ve ever used. It goes on nice and thick, it doesn’t drip, it edges so well I’ve pretty much stopped taping except for baseboard trim and hard to reach areas, it doesn’t smell like paint and it dries so fast that you can pretty much re-coat in a half hour.

I can’t find good color reproductions of the paint colors we’ve used so far, but suffice it to say that the house no longer feels like the walls are reflecting back. The family room is a nice warm gold, the kitchen is mandarin orange, the dining room is “forest moss” and the hallways are a warm caramel. The living room is slated for the next rainy day and will be a deep rust color. After that we have to start choosing colors for bedrooms and bathrooms - much harder to pick there.

Anyway, not to be all pushy, but if you’re planning to paint anytime soon I’d recommend springing for the Aura. Pricey by the gallon, but cheap when you factor in that you don’t need primer, it doesn’t stink and it’s not killing your brain cells, all while being better for the planet.