We spend more than a third of our life at home ... and that's before Covid (ugh). Now more than ever, making home a healthy environment is a top priority for most. Home has a massive effect on our lives, our moods, and even our health overall. 

Not strictly about paint, but that's just one part of our home surroundings. Here are a few easy ways to make home just that little bit better for us.

1. Lighting.

It helps almost everything - our mood, our sleep pattern, and making rooms look ten times better. This can be as easy as opening all blinds fully every day, or cutting back the foliage outside that's blocking precious rays. Get inventive by replacing doors with ones with glass panels, or swapping some surfaces for shiny or reflective ones. 

Choosing the right paint colour for the lighting of a room helps too. Whatever the shade, North-facing rooms will make it darker, and South-facing will make it lighter. So consider than when choosing. Warm neutrals like Pampas and Sunday Soul from COAT will work whatever the weather.

Also avoid harsh and direct artificial light as much as possible - aside from being ugly af it can trick our body clocks and give us headaches. Go for lights with dimmer switches for nights and darker months, or even better install smart lighting that can adjust brightness by the time of day. 

2. Heating.

"The temperature in here is perfect" said nobody ever. Finding the right temperature for the house is important though - too hot and it’ll make you drowsy or dry, too cold and you won’t be able to relax or concentrate. There's no one temperature that suits everybody, but as a general rule around 20-22 degrees is pretty ambient for most. If the house is below 19 degrees you'll feel cold.

3. Air.

Indoor air can be two-to-five five times more polluted than outdoor air. Yuck. So unless you live in a particularly polluted area, opening a window - even in the winter - is a good idea. An hours worth of fresh air circulation first thing, or last thing, can do wonders for the air quality at home.

4. Products.

When buying household products like cleaning supplies and paint, look out for the ingredient list. Lots of products contain nasty ingredients that give you headaches, breathing problems and allergic reactions. A good way to avoid these ingredients is to go for products that say ‘low VOC’ or ‘no VOC’  on the label. All COAT paint is low VOC, and you can read more about what this means here. 

Lots of cleaning products can be replaced by more natural options - baking soda can clean your oven, vinegar and lemon juice your windows, and baking soda can be made into a great all purpose cleaner. If you can't really be arsed with that, just try to stick with Low VOC and maybe try using refill larder stores to avoid plastic if poss.

All COAT paints are low VOC like we said. So maybe check out a few shades?

5. Plants.

Houseplants are a solid addition to the home. They massively improve air quality by absorbing toxins and producing oxygen. Here's something legit - these plants are approved by NASA (off of Rockets and Space) to purify air; Fern, Dracaenas, Chinese Evergreen, Money Plants and Aloe Vera. No further excuses needed for adding more plants. PS dried plants may be trendy, but obvs they suck for oxygen production - so stick to the real living deal.

See, there are plenty of things we can do to create a healthier home environment. Some of them like the ones listed above are ridiculously easy too. Enjoy.

Find the perfect COAT colour for your healthy home.