As we mentioned yesterday, we're in the middle of a painting project using Freshaire Choice paint. (That's Home Depot's new zero-VOC paint.) So, what do we think?
Review: Freshaire Choice Paint from The Home Depot
The bottom line is that it's good, but there are better zero-VOC options. The biggest problem is the consistency of the paint: in some ways, it's similar to silly putty. In the can, it seems thick. But pick it up with a brush or a roller and it wants to head straight for the floor; you'll want to use a good dropcloth and have plenty of rags on hand. Applying a generous coat, like you can with Benjamin Moore's Aura, means you will be confronting a wall full of sags and drips that develop about 20 minutes after you apply the paint—just enough time that the paint around the problem will have dried, making it difficult to correct the problem. We were using a high-quality Purdy roller and brush and did not see a similar spatter or drip problem with the Ralph Lauren paint our client selected for the ceiling.
The oddest thing about Freshaire Choice is the odor. It definitely has one, but the label is right; it's not a chemical smell. To the contrary, it smells almost exactly like Play-Doh. Pure chance, or a clever trick that brings you back to early childhood memories of using a safe and trusted creative toy?
The colors are good, despite the heavy-handed names: we're using "Joshua Tree," a grey-green, and there's a warm beige called "Amber Waves." The coverage is good, though we're wondering how it would do with strong reds.
What do you think about Freshaire Choice paint?
illustration: from an image by danzo08 via sxc.hu
Comments (5)
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I take exception to play-doh not having a chemical odor. In fact, we had to stop buying play-doh for our kid because the fumes made me sick.
view Grace2's profile
I tried both the primer and the red paint. (The red paint was in a little container for me to try.) The primer did have a smell which was similar to an amonia smell. However, when I spoke to someone else who used it, they did not smell the same thing. I applyed one coat of red but it looked too magenta. Perhaps, I need to apply another coat or do a better job stirring it?
The paint smelled like glue to me but did not bother me. I only painted a small piece of drywall so I did not have the same problem with the paint being too drippy. I used a roller. I did find that I could not get the red paint out of my roller although I washed it immediately. I have never painted with a dark color so is this unusual?
Did you use the primer? I was wondering if this reaction was only related to my can of primer paint?
view greentalk's profile
I have not tried the Freshaire, but we just had our living room painted in Mythic. The painter was initially very skeptical, but ended up really liking it. The result was fantastic - even in a strong red. This is a big room in the middle of our house. We were back in the next day and there was no smell.
view Craig from Maine's profile
That's so strange that you had that experience... I was talked into using freshaire by a boy who threatened not to sleep in my room if I used a toxic paint. I was really happy with how cheap it was, and I really liked the consistency. I have super-textured (ugh, southwestern) walls and the slate color I got went on in one coat without really any show-through, or any of the spatter in my hair I've come to expect from painting with a roller. It also smelled to me like.... nothing. Nothing at all. I had to stick my nose into the can to get a whiff of anything.
Maybe different colors have different formulations? I used Slate Rock in Matte, and I'm really pleased with it overall.
view melanie's profile
I'm painting my trim right now, and the semi-gloss coverage is awful. I realize that the darker color I'm covering doesn't help, but I'm on coat number 3.5 and doing three coats on baseboard against carpet is no fun.
I live in a studio, so the lack of smell is awesome, but the limited color choices and the pre-packaged color mixtures make it a really inflexible paint to use. It'll be nice when they have no-VOC dyes that can be measured out for custom colors.
view Zemquat's profile