I LOVE this paint!

We just painted the entire downstairs of our house. The rooms are a little on the open side, so the color pretty much goes everywhere. When we moved in, there was hideous green and white striped wallpaper (with a subtle heart/vine pattern embossed on it...yuck!). There was also dark green paint, which made our small-ish rooms practically claustrophobic, not to mention uber depressing.

You get it: It was time for a change!

When Dutch Boy gave me the opportunity to test their new Refresh paint, I jumped on it! We went with a warm, peachy color called Tinsel Town. When I first opened it, I was a bit shocked by the orange factor, but it turned out really well! We love the color and how much it improved the look of our main living spaces. Without further adieu, some before/after shots: (keep in mind that we haven't put up new trim or moved the furniture into place, but you'll get the idea)

the uuuugly wallpaper. SO glad it's gone!

the gross green paint and the newly paperless wall

After we stripped the wallpaper, there was a massive amount of scrubbing and de-gluing to do. I believe that doing really solid prep work is the key to a successful paint job, so we wiped down all the walls, scraped off every bit of glue, and made sure they were ready to paint. We also primed them, since I wasn't sure how the Refresh would do on top of the gross green color. As you can see in the pics, we did some test spots. I was really shocked (and happy!) to see how well just a few brush strokes covered!

We bought a zero-VOC type of primer (Olympic brand) and went to work. While it took 3.5 gallons of primer, it only took less than two to put on the Refresh. A little really goes a long way! It only took one coat, too, which was awesome (I was the worker bee doing the painting, so I amreally grateful for that!). It's got fantastic coverage and goes on really easily. I anticipated needing four gallons of paint for this job, and still have two that are unopened. This is a very high quality paint! Here are some pics as I worked:

primed and ready for Refresh!

Our big golden-doodle, Maggie, hanging out as I paint.

One of the major reasons I love (love, LOVE) Dutch Boy's Refresh paint is that it's truly a low-odor, zero-VOC paint. Despite being zero-VOC, the Olympic primer we bought stunk up our house in a hurry, to the point that we had to have all the windows open (not to mention keep Lovie out of the house for the entire day!). I was disappointed about that, but SO pleasantly surprised to find that the Refresh lives up to its claims. It's truly low-odor enough that I feel comfortable painting with Lovie in the house, as long as she's not in the immediate area and we've got some ventilation.

Paint fumes are nasty. That's common sense. What's scary are the VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) that regular paint emits, even when it's dry (the odorless, dangerous vapors). These vapors release as the paint dries and are not something you want your family breathing in. With Refresh, you can feel 100% safe and confident that this paint has a minimal impact on your air quality. It's Greenguard Indoor Air Quality certified and it's formaldehyde free. Good stuff. And more importantly, safe stuff.

I also love that the containers are made of recyclable plastic (which, practically speaking, the spout on the gallon size is a million times more tidy and user-friendly than a metal gallon bucket). Dutch Boy really went the distance in the design of this product! Here's the finished product (sort of! we still need to do trim and touch-ups):

not quite dry, but already looking awesome!

What makes Refresh so innovative and cool is that it is an odor eliminating paint. You won't find anything else on the market like it! Dutch Boy incorporated Arm & Hammer odor-eliminating technology into the formula of Refresh. This paint actually works to absorb odors from the air and neutralize them. Of course, the more surface area you paint, the better it works. Considering that we did about 80% of the main living area of our house, we had a great test environment. And did I mention the baby, both of us, two dogs, and a cat living in this space? You want odors, we got 'em!

It works. It works, it's safe, and I can't say enough good things about it! In fact, I loved the paint we tested so much that I went out and bought more, and have already painted Lovie's playroom with it, too. I've also got another gallon slated for our upstairs bathroom. By the end of this year, I expect almost every room in our house to have been painted with Refresh. It's just fantastic! It retails for around $28, but I got it on sale at a local store for about $16, after a $7 discount and $5 mail-in rebate. That's right: if you find it on sale, you're getting a far safer product, a more effective product, for about the same price as the other stuff. I.just.love.it!! See where you can get some here. I (obviously! ha.) highly recommend it!