By Derek Markham •
August 16, 2008
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Who doesn’t like a makeover?
Finding the perfect piece of furniture at a yard sale or thrift store can help you make over your house and furnishings, saving money and reducing waste at the same time. Often all that’s needed to renew something is a good cleaning and a new coat of paint, the only cost being your time.
But wait a minute, you say, paint is expensive.
It doesn’t have to be.
Gallons and gallons of latex and oil-based paints never get used, probably because we’ve been told to always get extra so we won’t run out in the middle and have to worry about matching the color (custom colors mostly). Many small jobs use less than a small can’s worth of paint, and yet we can only buy a full can, not just a tiny bit.
The next time you need paint or thinner, wood stain or oil finish, don’t buy new.
By Katy Farber •
July 9, 2008
We are doing a massive renovation at our house. Right now, we are living in a one room cabin with an outhouse, resident mouse, and possibly a bat (and oh, a one and a three year old) while our house is gutted.
Part of keeping the cost down is that we will do all our own painting and finishing of any wood.
So, we are on the lookout for low and no VOC paints and finishes to use. What are VOCs? Jessica shares about them earlier today and the virtues of new no VOC Mythic paint. Paints, finishes, primers and stains can all contain VOCs which causes indoor air quality to decline, putting little children at a greater risk of many health problems. According to Enviroblog:
I remember being eight months pregnant with my second and realizing that I absolutely must paint the baby’s room now. I know, it makes no sense, the baby will never notice and I’d have been much better off taking a nap, but I had to have that lasso border in the room or…
I dunno. Seven years later I still can’t finish the sentence because, it doesn’t make sense to me now or then but I know I needed the stinkin room painted. A few short months ago that freshly painted room sent out the last of it’s toxins. Seriously.
By Victoria Everman •
February 12, 2008
Do you ever wonder where that smell in your paint set comes from? If there was an ingredients list on your crafting supplies, similar to those on food and beverages, you might not like what you see.
It’s ironic that such a relaxing, restoring and expressive activity—making art and crafts—can also be so toxic. Although legislation controlling many of the dangerous ingredients in hobby materials has recently been passed, exposure to certain art materials remains a health risk.
CAGW pal Jennifer from Eco Child’s Play turned us onto an article from Care2 about arts & crafts supplies that I couldn’t resist sharing with you all. Adapted from Safe Substitutes: Non-Toxic Household Products by Gary Davis and Em Turner, the article brings to light the surprisingly abundant amount of dangerous chemicals and metals in common creative goods. “Toxic chemicals in the home can be eliminated simply by making thoughtful choices in the supermarket after educating oneself about what the hazards are of common consumer products,” said Gary and Em.
By Chris Baskind •
July 25, 2007
Editor’s note: Household paint can be a toxic substance that keeps on giving off VOCs long after it’s dried. This week, Lighter Footstep editor Chris Baskind points us to a healthier, greener alternative to common paints: milk paint. This post was originally published on July 17, 2007.
By now, a lot of people have heard about the hazards of VOCs — Volatile Organic Compounds. In this case, “organic” doesn’t
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One the easiest ways to give your place a facelift is to slap on a fresh coat of paint. But beware of that new paint smell - it can do more damage than you think, even after it's dry. Here's a few things to consider if you're thinking about throwing some color on your walls.
The old standards on the paint market are normally oil based or water based (latex) paints.
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GO user SeanM is looking for greener art supplies, specifically adhesive/glue, adhesive tape, and paint. He writes:
Does anyone have information on available green adhesive materials? I'm hoping to find decent quality hot glue-gun sticks that are non-toxic and not petroleum based. In the past I have been a big fan of hot glue guns, but I always had concerns in the back of my mind about the potential danger of the vapors created when
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