Home Design Trends
(NC)—You've seen them everywhere – “green” roofing options, “green” heating and cooling choices, “green” appliances, “green” flooring and even “green” paint. More and more Canadians are choosing environmentally friendly decorating options to highlight their personal style while creating homes that care about the planet.
This environmentally-conscious consumer brand awareness has led to the latest trend in home décor – the growth in production of all things “green”. This wave was not lost on the Sico paint brand, as the long-time leader in environmentally-friendly paints, chose to go even greener. The brand led the way, launching a few years ago a volatile organic compound (VOC) emission-free formula of its famous Sico Design line to answer the need in the market for greener paint choices.
Stéphanie Pelland, marketing communication manager for the Sico retail brand said the company felt the timing was perfect as consumers are more and more preoccupied by environmental issues. Legislation is expected to be introduced that will require paint companies to lower the VOC levels in their products. “All of our latex paint formulas already comply to the required VOC levels to come and Sico has taken a step further in completely eliminating VOCs in our Design line products to reinforce our commitment to the environment and to Canadian consumers, who are increasingly seeking out green alternatives.” she added.
Available in all of Sico's design finishes – including Cashmere, Chamois, and Shantung – the zero-VOC paint is high in performance, so consumers do not have to compromise on quality when making environmentally-responsible paint choices, she explained.
VOCs are atmospheric pollutants that, among other things, contribute to the formation of smog. They evaporate at room temperature and react in sunlight to help form ground-level ozone, an integral component of smog and a harmful pollutant (not to be confused with the protective ozone in the upper atmosphere, which shields the earth from the sun's ultra-violet rays). Smog can cause respiratory complications, skin and eye irritation, headaches, nausea, tightness of chest, coughing, muscle weakness, and more serious ailments and diseases.
“In the home, VOCs evaporate while paint is applied and drying, making them one of the pollutants affecting a home's air quality as well,” Pelland explained. “So, consumers using Sico's no VOC paints will actually be improving the quality of air in their homes.” Since the paint is still a chemical product, however, she cautions that it must be used and disposed of safely.
Developed using Sico's state-of-the-art paint technology, incorporating environmentally-friendly ingredients and sophisticated polymers, the zero-VOC paints deliver outstanding performance, resistance and adhesion – product features which have until now been an industry challenge with low-VOC finishes, she said. More information is available at www.sico.ca.
- News Canada