Has anyone tried using eco paint, how did you find it? I have visions of applying 5 coats and it all flaking off soon after! Also we are sanding our floorboards and would like to try an eco stain and varnish? Any advice?

Hi, i used eco paint, and it was very good (thankfully, as i bought LOADS and half is still in the garage waiting to be used!). It hardly smelled at all and only needed 2 coats (over a pale background). My friend used eco , erm, forgotten the word for it....paint you use on wood, more smelly than emulsion...cant find the word but you know what i mean but said it flaked really easily.

Thank you, we've found a company called Ecos Paint which has been well reviewd by Which etc so I think we'll go for this but might bypass the wood

Hi Malus,

I used Auro eco paint. It's lovely to apply and has a lovely chalky finish. Smells faintly of sweeties when wet - not offensive at all!

DO N'T GO FOR ECOS!!
We did and i really regret it.

I got their soft sheen stuff for our dining room, and a month later it was peeling off the walls - it's really dubious eco-wise anyway, I've since been told, and it's TERRIBLE paint! The matt emulsion is a little less terrible.

Have also used
Green paints white emulsion from The Green Shop - just fine, no problems, like ordinary emulsion
Green paints gloss (same place) Don't recommend, it never seems to dry completely, so marks
Earthborn Claypaint - have in kitchen/dining - doesn't wipe, so a rubbish choice near the stove, but good otherwise.

Most recently have used Womersleys paint (I think it's Aglaia paint which they then colour)
Smells extraordinary - cinnamon and clove oils.
Works fine, but you can't touch it up (you see the patches that you make, if you see what I mean)
Is unbelivevably expensive!

On varnish etc., we use the Auro Polyx oil (I think that's what it's called) Says it's eco-ish, though I'm a little dubious...

I have used Auro a few times, only 2 coats (as we'd do with other paints) and no flaking so far. It's fine.

The only downside I find is we often decorate at a weekend and you have to plan in advance or you run out of paint on Saturday afternoon and can't just nip out and buy some more to finish the job immediately.

Oh thanks everyone, I'll order some samples from your recomendations x

I've had a better experience with ECOS paint. It isn't the most 'eco' (in particular it contains titanium dioxide which takes a lot of energy to produce).

But, it does come in a much wider range of colours than many of the others - and for us it has been fantastic in that it actually sticks and stays on our extremely damp lime plastered walls. I painted our house with it a year ago, the mould has grown through in the dampest spots but it hasn't peeled at all. It also wasn't too painfully expensive.

Also, the most important thing for me is that I get really nasty reactions to a lot of paints, and I had no rashes, no headaches and no lumps and bumps throughout the painting

I second kategarden on the Ecos range of colours, and their relative cheapness (Womserleys do a good range of colours, and their 'coastal' range is WAY more economical than their 'historic' (they also say it's better paint)).
But it did peel off our walls in no time - so if you do go for it, don't go for the soft sheen type!

We used Auro and Earthborn, buying pigment separately so we could have different shades. Fun, but even if you keep some, somehow it doesn't quite match after a month or so if you need to patch a bit. Would recommend greenshop.co.uk

I have used ECOS 'Alabaster' (ie v light cream) to cover signal red and terracotta orange and cannot recommend it higfhly enough!

If it smelt of anything it was vanilla, definately hasn't peeled off and covered great - I went for the super chalky finish. It was fab. I would never use anything else now.

Have also used their bathroom paints and it was just as good, but a teeny bit smellier.

I used Auro paint in our bedroom and it's fine so far (a year after painting). Smelt lovely going on, too, and I noticed it didn't splatter on the roller like the non-eco paint I used elsewhere. I used it in the kitchen, however, and it hasn't really stood up to kitchen steam and dirt - we're going to have to repaint with something a bit sturdier, though I think poor preparation is part of the problem.

Oh good we're still in the process of preparing the floorboards for sanding so am feeling more inspired now to go eco. Thanks all! x

we used ECOS soft sheen & matt throughout with no problems at all. the soft sheen was fine & no smell & I've got M.E. so these types of things do bother me. I'd give it a go & they will send free samples if you ask