When Natasha Winnik talks to her customers about run-of-the-mill household paint, she likens it to shrink-wrap.
“We are coating the outside of our walls with acrylic latex paint and the inside of our walls with acrylic latex paint, so it doesn’t allow breathability,” said Winnik, founder and owner of the Originate Natural Building Materials showroom in Tucson, Arizona. “It’s almost like shrink-wrapping our houses.”
When moisture seeps into the wall, that plastic sandwich can mean mold and mildew, compromising indoor air quality for occupants.
That’s just one consideration in the paint world’s growing movement toward eco-friendly options and away from oil- and solvent-based paints.
Most of the time, however, “eco-friendly” focuses on the content of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, in a paint. These compounds are chemicals that off-gas, or emit, from the products that contain them, including paint. It’s the reason for that “paint smell” that requires airflow for hours after walls have been covered.
These VOCs can then be inhaled, and according to the Environmental Protection Agency, can have short- and long-term adverse health effects. No- or low-VOC indoor household products are not regulated by the EPA, meaning paints touted as eco-friendly could still contain toxic organic chemicals.
In the short term, people have different tolerances for and sensitivity to the compounds, Winnik said. Some people breathe them in with relish, associating that new-paint smell with excitement and change, but others find it so sensitizing that they cannot be anywhere near the odor.
Homeowners remain largely unaware of the concept or that eco-friendly paints exist, said Justina Kowalski, owner of Rochester, New York-based Busy Bee Painting Co., even though paint brands continue to push them out.
Those who do request no VOCs — an option that’s often still latex-based or water-based — skew younger or have existing conditions that could be irritated by VOCs, such as asthma, she said. Requesting low- or no-VOC paints is something Kowalski has seen growing over the last five years and anticipates will continue.
And Kowalski isn’t the only one. The global nontoxic paint market — which encompasses low- or no-VOC mineral, acrylic and plant-based resins — is projected to hit $1.5 billion by 2030, according to the Texas-based research firm Lucintel. That’s a roughly 6.5% annual growth in the coming years.
It coincides with an overall growing awareness of eco-friendly practices, something that designers noted as an emerging kitchen design trend in a recent report from the National Kitchen and Bath Association.
“It’s becoming a movement, just like non-GMO and organic. People are more conscious of ingredients now,” Kowalski told Homes.com.
Kowalski uses no-VOC paint as a standard in most of her work. It’s not just an add-on health choice for her clients, but also for herself and her employees who apply the product.
Winnik agrees. “I think at this point, we should only be looking at zero-VOCs,” she said. The materials specialist, who earned her master's in architecture from the University of Arizona, goes beyond VOCs and eschews any petrochemical-based paint — like latex — in favor of natural options. Often, those shades are mineral-based, such as lime paint.
These mineral-based paints also let your walls breathe, she explained, mitigating the shrink-wrap effect and ensuing moisture concerns.
“You can have a healthy oil-based paint, but it’ll dry slower,” she said. Chemical-laden plastic options, on the other hand, often tout speedy drying and durability. “In the U.S., we’re in a rush for everything ... we’ve let go of health for ease," Winnik said.
Here are some recent paint launches that take health into consideration.
Lilypad
When Derek Stein had the idea for what would become a moisture-wicking paint, Lilypad, the then-Brown University physics professor was working with his students on a solar design competition and considering how household paint could do more. Specifically, how it could promote interior health while enhancing a project’s overall energy efficiency.
"Buildings are getting tighter, building practices are getting better, codes are tightening,” Stein said. “What that means is that buildings are getting really good at trapping heat, but those same buildings tend to be trapping moisture more.”
“While you make a building more energy efficient, you may be actually putting yourself at greater risk of things like mold and mildew,” he continued. “Things that are bad for the home and bad for the people inside.”
A strategy that could lessen that moisture risk? Turning your wall paint into a sponge.
That work evolved into Lilypad, a paint and primer system that Stein says leverages vapor control technology to manage moisture in humid spaces, such as bathrooms. Similarly, to the leaves of a plant, the self-regulating paint has two layers, which Stein likens to a sponge or a packet of silica gel.
“Let’s say you turn on your hot shower and all that hot, humid air fills the room," he said. "This paint layer will absorb that from the atmosphere and keep it from condensing." Lilypad holds the excess moisture until it senses falling humidity, maybe when the shower is turned off, “then it will slowly and safely release it back out," he added. "So, it has prevented that humidity in the room from rising up to levels where mold growth gets initiated."
The moisture regulation also helps cool the home, Stein said, improving its overall efficiency.
Stein’s startup Adept Materials currently has Lilypad in its pilot phase and counts homebuilders, including PulteGroup and D.R. Horton, as investors in the product, he said. Sarah Colburn, the co-founder of the Instagram-favorite paint company Backdrop, has joined as chief financial officer.
Lilypad’s consumer launch is slated for 2026, and the company hasn't yet specified a price.
Unpaint
It’s paint, but it’s not. Unpaint by coatings company Glasst touts itself as the “world’s first” peelable paint. It’s also eco-friendly.
Released last year, the product makes quick color changes on walls and furniture possible by becoming a thin, peelable, film-like layer. It’s a new version of Glasst’s established protective coating product, a spray-on film that covers an environment to protect during construction projects while reducing the need for one-time-use plastic films.
However, the company claims that Unpaint is fully biodegradable and sourced from renewable, natural resources, including biodegradable elastic. It would take one to three years for the film to degrade and can only last 10 months on a surface. And it’s low VOC.
The technology also removes the need for sanding or priming, which Glasst said reduces waste.
It's available for about $70 a gallon at Lowe’s and Amazon.
Eco Spec
Montvale, New Jersey-based Benjamin Moore’s market research also pointed the paint company toward its latest launch, dubbed “Eco Spec.”
“We learned that zero VOCs and low odor attributes are the top priorities for eco-conscious customers that want to help the environment and maintain good indoor air quality in their homes,” said product manager Alfredo Valiente over email.
The September launch, which Benjamin Moore offers as a primer and in three sheens it can tint with more than 3,000 colors, is the company’s lowest-odor paint, Valiente said, with a scent that dissipates within an hour of application. This means homeowners can get back into their freshly painted spaces more quickly, he continued, giving a certain “peace of mind” over maintaining good air quality.
Eco Spec is also bulked up with “antimicrobial additives,” according to press materials, “preventing the buildup of mold and mildew.”
The paint is available at authorized sellers for north of $60 a gallon.