Natural Paint Helps Pregnant Women and Chemically Sensitive People (headline)

By Candice Russell

Home improvement can be a fun process. You get to make significant changes in the most important place in your life with simple touches, from changing the furniture around to painting. Decorators recommend painting as the cheapest and easiest way to dramatically transform a room.

But part of the frustration in painting is the pungent odor which lingers long after you have cleaned your brushes and finished the job of re-coloring a room. That odor indicates the presence of potentially harmful chemicals, hardly a good thing for children, pregnant women, the elderly, allergy sufferers or anyone chemically sensitive. Where can a holistic-minded do-it-yourselfer turn?

Nature's Paint Store in Oakland Park, Florida is the place to visit for completely natural paint. This innovative shop which opened in February, 2007 is the brainchild of owner Victoria Rogers. This enterprising mother of four children uses only BioShield paint from Germany. "Pregnant women are told not to paint because they're too sensitive to smells," says Rogers. "They never tell you that the paint is toxic and never mind that painters rinse everything into the environment, including the water supply."

Internet investigation by Rogers' sister led to the discovery of natural paint. "I had never heard of it," says Rogers. "We're led to believe that if something is natural, it doesn't work, but actually it's the opposite. This paint is more durable and longer-lasting with health benefits than regular paint. I started talking about it to people I met and really nobody knew about it. I thought I should open a store to make it convenient to everybody. I felt I was on a kind of mission."

The paint sold by Nature's Paint Store in more than sixty colors is water-based. It comes in a matte or satin finish. "BioShield uses chalk and natural clay, resulting in a thicker paint of higher quality," explains Rogers. "Usually one coat does it. We have exterior colors, too, which are a little more expensive. Benjamin Moore has a natural line but it only has a couple of colors. We have greens, blues, reds, purples and beiges. When people use them, they get a lot of compliments."

Special properties are in the BioShield line of paints, according to Rogers. "They derive from the earth and mineral pigments from rocks," she says. "They can heat them to 1,200 degrees celsius and change their color, resulting in beautiful greens and purples. Another wonderful aspect of this paint is that it never fades because it's from the earth. The sun can't break down the colors. You never have to worry about that. This paint also absorbs humidity in a bathroom, which helps with mildew. Because it's clay paint, it takes the toxins out of the air. There are so many benefits. It looks and feels just like other paint, but it doesn't have that paint smell. Even with a chalk base, this paint is very smooth and soft."

The cost for a gallon of paint is around $40. Five gallons of the same color runs between $170 and $180. Rogers raves about the experience of painting with BioShield paint. "You feel like a little kid painting with it, like being in the Grand Canyon," she says. "People who say they hate to paint feel differently using this brand. It's an incredible experience. Also you don't have to worry about polluting when you rinse your brushes. You need soap and water to clean up, rather than turpentine and mineral spirits."

With paints for the interior and exterior of homes and other buildings, Nature's Paint Store also carries color washes, floor waxes, wood stains and penetrating sealers for wood decks, which brings the color back with linseed oil and other materials. The word is getting out about the store, the only one of its kind in South Florida. "Besides expectant mothers, most of my clients are chemically sensitive who don't have any other options," says Rogers. "Doctors lead you to believe that chemical sensitivity is all in your mind. On a bigger scale, regular paints aren't safe. There are women who go to hospital emergency rooms once a week because they're so chemically sensitive. When they come to my store, they say, 'You will change my life.' "

In addition to Nature's Paint Store, Rogers is kept busy with a seasonal rental business in Michigan and an eco-friendly cleaning business that includes natural carpet cleaning. "I love to do everything eco-friendly," says this woman who has done her research. "The paint industry sometimes uses the phrases low odor or fast drying, which is code for more chemicals in the paint. For some companies who go green, their paint may not have chemicals to cause birth defects, but it does have chemicals to cause pollution."

Despite her excitement about it, this savvy businessman was mum prior to opening the store. "I kept the store a secret because I didn't want to be talked out of it," she says. "The only person I told was my twin sister. I want to do something good for the earth. I wrote in my journal how everything was falling into place. I was the least possible person in the world to do this. I really accomplished something that has become a story to inspire other people, which is really nice."

If Rogers has her way, she will take her vision to another level. "Eventually I want to have my own line of paint selling for $20 or $25 a gallon so it's affordable to everyone," she says. "I'm not in this for the money. I'm in it to help people. I want to have a hardware store as big as Home Depot but is more like the Whole Foods Market of a hardware store. I've even found a place. I think everyone on earth has a purpose. Mine is to stop pollution on a large scale. I want to be independent. This is the best I can do with having kids and not finishing college. I want to stop the paint industry and end pollution on a large scale."