Low odour paints - any recommendations/any good

[Littlemoney]

I want to get my whole house interior decorated but the smell of paint make me feel ill.

Are the low odour paints any good and which ones do you recommend please. Also what is the best paint for walls. No children in the house and so wear and tear reduced and do I need different types of paint for bedrooms/living rooms compared with bathroom and kitchen.

The walls are currently paper and gloss paint on the woodwork. I will also have to pay someone to do the work will these paints more difficult to work with and I assume the charge will increase if low odour paints need more work.

Hopefully buying decent paint to start with will make the job easier. A friend did some wainscoting for me a few years ago in a low odour gloss but bits peeled off when I rubbed the woodwork. Will I have the same problem again or was it lack of preparation?

Sorry for all the questions but I am need to learn about decorating and am trying to become more knowledageable so I don't get taken advantage of. Thanks in anticipation

 

[misterhelpful]

You basically want to avoid any oil based paints in order to reduce the smell - water based are much friendlier in the senses and any smell generally disappears quickly.
There are much better water based paints for the woodwork now (which is usually where the oil based paints are traditionally used), but they do still tend to need more preparation, and generally require two coats to cover and look good, meaning you can expect more expense for that extra work. By extra prep, I mean the gloss either needs to be fully sanded to a dull finish to achieve a good key, or lightly sanded and coated with a high grip water based primer, such as Zinsser Bullseye 1-2-3 or Dulux SuperGrip, to name a couple.
Almost all emulsions for walls and ceilings are water based, so they shouldn't really cause a major problem with lingering smells.

 

[Littlemoney]

Thankd Misterhelpful. Are some makes of paint better than others. There appears to be so many.

 

[misterhelpful]

Are some makes of paint better than others. There appears to be so many.

Better as in less smelly?

There are indeed so many and, as a decorator of well over 20 years, my nose kind of gave up noticing the smell. There were many that were marketed as low odour, but my clients still never seemed to like them. As i no longer live in the UK, and with the countless formula changes that have been made in recent years, I honestly can't recommend a good low odour paint for you these days. If nobody else here can advise, I think you will just have to make your choice and live with the risk of a slight smell for a day or two (for water based paint).

 

[Littlemoney]

Better as in better quality paint which may give better finish, coverage, easier to apply.