A few months ago, I wrote about low and no VOC paints. VOC stands for volatile organic compounds. They make paint smell, well, like paint. And they aren’t good for you or the environment.

Most paint companies now offer a low or no VOC type of paint, but many are very pricey. This is why I was so excited about the green variety of Olympic paints sold at Lowe’s. They are actually a little cheaper than many regular brands.

Our experience with the green Olympic paints was both hit and miss. We bought a light yellow semi-gloss, which we were pretty happy with. I believe we did two coats of the yellow and one coat of primer.

But we weren’t as happy with our can of white Olympic paint. It took a couple of coats on the ceiling, which I first blamed on my poor painting technique. But it also caused problems on our doorframes. The previous owners of our house, painted half of most of the doorframes white. They were wood-colored in the rooms, but white in the halls. And they also didn’t tape, so the outside of the frames were all sorts of colors.

So, I sanded, dusted, primed and painted the doorframes, using a paintbrush. At this point I’m up to coat four and it doesn’t look like more than two coats.  It certainly doesn’t match the white that the previous owners used.

And I’m not the only one with issues with this paint. Erika wrote to me of her experience with the low VOC Olympic paint, saying, ”With the Olympic, you sacrifice paint quality for the eco-friendly factor in my opinion.”

Her paint didn’t roll on smoothly, and created air bubbles that she had to try to pop before the paint dried.  She said she could also tell the paint wouldn’t be as durable as other paints.

“I wouldn’t recommend the Olympic. If you’ve tried other no VOC paints and are pleased with their quality, I would say it is worth the extra expense and stick with those,” recommends Erika.

Have you tried this paint? What was your experience? Do you have another brand of low or no VOC paint that you recommend?