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[Closed] GIVEAWAY + Coupon Code: Quiet Home Zero-VOC Paint...

One of the biggest wake up calls for me on my journey to creating a healthy life for my family was learning about indoor air pollution. Indoor air pollution is basically breathable toxins that originate from materials found in your home. When I first read about it I remember wearily eyeing the contents of our loft and for a moment considering moving us all into a tent in the wilderness. Seriously, it's an option I consider. Often.

With all of the studies and talk about toxins and chemicals, indoor air pollution can feel like the last straw. But since I'd already eliminated chemical cleaning products, I was able to narrow it down to one major issue: paint. Even water-based latex paints have fumes and continue to emit VOCs for years after the paint has dried. So I decided that for all future painting projects I would use VOC-free paints.

Quiet home Paints is a line of paints created by the beautiful mother-daughter team Lisa and Andi. Quiet Home paints are Zero-VOC, non-toxic, non-allergenic and organic. Quiet Home was originally designed for use in the nursery, but expanded to offer palettes for the entire home. In addition to making life healthier, they make life easier by offering a gorgeous selection of designer colors with inspiring names like "Vintage Tux" and "Whisper". The colors are organized into palettes that make it easy to select complimentary colors (a big plus for color dummies like myself). They also have an awesome blog where they post lots of pin-worthy nursery photos and show you how to "get the look".

Since we are co-sleepers, I decided to repaint our bedroom in Whisper. As usual I poured the paint and put my roller to work. After a few minutes it dawned on me that there was no smell at all. Not even a hint. It was as if I were painting water onto the walls. It was easy to apply and produced a high quality, even coat. It dried quickly, cleaned up easily with water, and even the drips on our wood floors peeled off easily. I felt no hesitations about having Alexandria & Max nearby, and sleeping in the room that night it was as if it had never been painted.

 GIVEAWAY & COUPON CODE: 

Quiet Home Paints is giving away a gallon of paint in the color of your choice and a quart of an accent color of your choice! To enter, visit Quiet Home Paints then leave a comment on this post telling us the shades you'd like to win. For an additional entry you can tweet "Visit bonbon mini + enter to win zero-VOC, organic Quiet Home Paint by @quietnursery ! http://bit.ly/gGCLD4" and leave a second comment linking to your tweet. Giveaway ends on 5/30. You can also use code BONBON20 for 20% off on the Quiet Home Paints website. 

[Artwork by Coral & Tusk]

Here is a before and after of our bed (made by the mister). When we rearranged recently, these lovely screws were made visible, but with a little spackle & 2 coats of Quiet Home they were gone.

 5-Minute Door Makeover:  

To make our loft feel light & airy, we keep the walls white and incorporate pops of color here and there. Painting a door edge is a simple way to do just that. All you need is a Quiet Home sample pot in your favorite color (I used Torn Skirt), painter's tape, and about 5 minutes. This is so simple it probably doesn't require a how-to, but here goes...

Spring Cleaning [Detox Your Face & Your Home]...

Sorry for the long silences these days. I've been working on the blog behind the scenes, making improvements and adding some things that I've been wanting to add for a while. I've also been wrapping up seemingly endless preparations for launching Miniluu (and nesting like a complete maniac) but more on that later. Just wanted to pop in to highlight some of the new content I've been adding. First is a natural beauty section where I share my favorites for everything from wrinkles to stretch mark prevention.

A couple of years ago I realized that in my effort to protect and take care of my skin and hair I was actually doing the opposite in the long term by layering on parabens and other toxins. When I began to research the ingredients on EWG's Cosmetic Database I was shocked to find even product lines that claimed to be natural were not only damaging my skin, they were exposing me to dozens of neurotoxins, immunotoxins and carcinogens.

I've also added some info about plastic alternatives for common kitchen needs. The effort to keep plastic out of my kitchen seems to be an endless battle, but I've slowly found great replacements so I wanted to share them...Enjoy!

why toddlers can wear white...

The other day I dressed Max in his lovely new Coral & Tusk onesie and within 20 minutes it looked like this. Now, I freely admit that I'm allergic to dirt and imperfection. So even in spite of all of my natural diet and lifestyle choices, until I became pregnant, bleach was one of my best friends. Realizing how nauseating and caustic it was, I immediately stopped using it and all of its forms and watched the stains begin to appear around my house. Then I discovered natural bleach (aka hydrogen peroxide). Unlike store-bought "natural cleaners" hydrogen peroxide can even be used as a mouthwash and with this little guy running around putting everything in his mouth, I like cleaners that are edible. (Plus it gets extra points for being cheap!)

Step 1: Remove the garment as soon as possible and rinse thoroughly with cold water. Next, apply hydrogen peroxide directly to stains. Allow it to soak in for several hours. I usually hang the garment in the shower or place it in a bowl to keep it from dripping onto other things.

Step 2: Most stains will not be visible at this point, but for those really stubborn ones, rinse the garment in cold water again thoroughly. You will find that this second rinse removes most of the remaining pigment, but if not you can repeat steps 1 and 2 again. Once the stains are removed, machine wash and dry and usual.

One thing to note is that, unlike regular chlorine bleach, hydrogen peroxide will not remove stains that are old or have been through the dryer. It works best on fresh new stains. It can also be used for a variety of other cleaning tasks. It can even be used as daily mouthwash to whiten teeth and tone the gum line. All for $1? Between this and the old vinegar/baking soda combo I'm not sure why all of the complicated expensive (not to mention toxic) cleaners were ever invented.

farewell mister pumpkin...

_{[Mr. pumkin showed from his "good side"]}

_{Back in October my 92 year old grandfather drew a lively face on this little pumpkin for Max. Not long after halloween all of our pumpkins, one by one, had met their maker, but this one sat triumphantly in Max's play area. As the weeks passed I continually did the bottom-of-the-pumpkin-rot check, and the pumpkin continued to defy nature. Once January came and this little squash was still hard as a rock, I thought wouldn't it be cool if he decided to hang with us until spring? I imagined that when Mr. pumpkin departed it would mean spring was at our doorstep. Sure enough he made it until March 1st before caving in. Not the "official" start of spring but it's good enough for me. I like to think that my grandfather blessed Mr. Pumpkin with his longevity elixir or that perhaps the simple act of giving him a face breathed life into him. Either way he felt like part of the family and will be missed.}

raw vegan cheesecake...

_{Ever since I first tasted this at a raw foods "uncooking" demo in SF, it's been one of my absolute favorite sweet treats. To make the crust just soak 2 cups of almonds for 1-2 hours (then rinse and strain) and pulse with 1/2 cup of raisins in a food processor until finely ground. Press into a muffin pan, filling each cup about half way (this will make about 10 mini cakes).}

_{To make the filling, blend 1 1/2 cups of cashew pieces (soaked for 1-2 hours, then rinsed and strained), 6 tablespoons of slightly softened coconut oil, 1/4 cup of lemon or lime juice, 1/4 cup of agave syrup, and 6 tablespoons of water in food processor until creamy. Fill each crust and place pan in the freezer for 1 hour to set. Remove and allow to thaw for 10 minutes or so before serving.} 

_{I save the extra filling for Max. It's a cashew pudding of sorts and he loves it.}

_{Top with berries of your choice. Or, blend two cups of berries with 4 dates (adding water as necessary) and drizzle over cakes when serving.}

_Yum!

happy friday...

_{[Photo by Kristin Lloyd]}