PLEASE HELP - Painted DD's nursery with BM Natura paint and STILL can't get rid of the smell months later...

I painted DD's room months ago (December). She is still not in it and it is time to move her into it but - if the windows are not left open 24/7 or if i shut the door - the smell is back. It is faint, but, it is there and i am worried that it is just not safe for her.

I think I did this to myself. After we painted the room i left the door shut for about 2.5 months b/c i didn't want to get the smell in the house when i was pregnant and when she was a newborn. Could I have done irreparable damage?

I have tried EVERYTHING - I leave the windows and door open all day every day, fans, baking soda, onions, those deoderizer things from BBB, ionizers, humidifiers EVERYTHING.

AND - I PAID DOUBLE FOR NATURA PAINT

Any tips to get rid of this smell? I need help asap!

Re: PLEASE HELP - Painted DD's nursery with BM Natura paint and STILL can't get rid of the smell months later...

I'm kind of shocked because we used the Natura line in our hallway and hallway closets in February. I barely smelled anything while they were painting, let alone now, even in the closets.

Re: PLEASE HELP - Painted DD's nursery with BM Natura paint and STILL can't get rid of the smell months later...

Are you sure its the paint?

Re: PLEASE HELP - Painted DD's nursery with BM Natura paint and STILL can't get rid of the smell months later...

I had an expensive area rug from Pottery Barn & it smelled like chemicals, similar to paint. The smell stayed for the entire time we had the rug 1yr+ I was so mad! I though I was buying the best & then that!

Re: PLEASE HELP - Painted DD's nursery with BM Natura paint and STILL can't get rid of the smell months later...

hmm
I had my nursery painted n the hardwood floors done in my house and i always felt that the nursery still had that odor..so i always kept the door open and window open...

next thing that helped...believe it or not someone made me a diaper cake for my shower..and now everytime i walk in i smell baby powder..crazy huh?? well it worked for us...lol

Re: PLEASE HELP - Painted DD's nursery with BM Natura paint and STILL can't get rid of the smell months later...

maybe it's the furnitiure?

Every time we got something new-- there were smells from the room.

The crib, the baskets from PBK-- and a chair we just got last week from Thomasville. New stuff smells...

I think it would be weird for the paint to smell til-- especially if it's the low voc one.

Re: PLEASE HELP - Painted DD's nursery with BM Natura paint and STILL can't get rid of the smell months later...

Are there any fabrics in there (curtains, etc)? Maybe they absorbed some of the odors and you can try washing them?

I am honestly shocked as we used regular BM paint and I didn't think any of that smelled for that long to be honest.

I can't see how leaving the doors and windows shut could cause any long term harm. Eventually the VOCs wear off and just go into the atmosphere.

Try calling BM to see what they say, maybe they have some advice? I dont blame you for being worried, would worry too.

I just got DD new furniture and haven't used the dresser yet b/c it still smells. I leave the drawers open during the day to have the smell wear away but at night when she is in there i shut them.

Also...does everyone smell it or just you?

Re: PLEASE HELP - Painted DD's nursery with BM Natura paint and STILL can't get rid of the smell months later...

I used that paint in DD's closet and have had no problems with it.
I would definitely contact Benjamin Moore about it.

Re: PLEASE HELP - Painted DD's nursery with BM Natura paint and STILL can't get rid of the smell months later...

Thanks ladies. It is DEFINITELY the paint. The entire room was empty b/c I didn't want the smell absorbed into her stuff. We JUST started putting some stuff in there last week so its not anything else.

Other people smell it too - it is not just me - everyone who goes in there says the smell is still there - faint, but still there. I AM sensitive to these smells in general though so, I did ask others to confirm.

It's not a paint smell - the natura paint has a different odor so, maybe others aren't realizing it so much? I did a google search and found ALOT of complaints about the natura paint. I wish I would have seen them sooner I would have used mythic or something else

Oh well, guess I will just keep doing what I am doing.

Oh and, I also had an issue with a rug DS had a beautiful rug from land of nod that ended up in storage in our basement b/c everytime I opened his door in the morning all i could smell was that rug!

Re: PLEASE HELP - Painted DD's nursery with BM Natura paint and STILL can't get rid of the smell months later...

I don't know about Natura, but we used Aura.

I'm really sensitive to smells, we used BM Aura and I could not smell anything 2 hours later. Literally, put my nose to the wall, nothing.

Is it maybe the primer? or something underneath the paint. I hope its not a chemical reaction in the walls with the paint or anything like that.

Re: PLEASE HELP - Painted DD's nursery with BM Natura paint and STILL can't get rid of the smell months later...

We painted DS's nursery with regular BM paint and the painter gave us a crazy trick which worked:

Cut a large onion in half and place the cut side down in a small bowl of water. Change the onion and water every 24 hours until the smell goes away.

We got the paint smell out within 2-3 days. We're going to do the same thing again when we paint DS's big boy room in a few weeks. The onion does a good job absorbing the odor!

Re: PLEASE HELP - Painted DD's nursery with BM Natura paint and STILL can't get rid of the smell months later...

We used Natura in DS's nursery and it had virtually no smell. Maybe it's something else?? carpet, primer, furniture, fabric???

Re: PLEASE HELP - Painted DD's nursery with BM Natura paint and STILL can't get rid of the smell months later...

that is so weird. we used Natura in our Family Room and about 2 hours later we didn't smell anything.

I hope the onion idea will work for you. GL!

Re: PLEASE HELP - Painted DD's nursery with BM Natura paint and STILL can't get rid of the smell months later...

Not a problem with smell but our Natura paint from our brand new bathroom has "drips" on the wall. It's horrible!

I am calling BM. It's not acceptable!

It only did it in one bathroom. Not the other one downstairs but we also used a different color/can.

I have heard of bad paint with BM. I have also heard they will send someone coming to check out the issue.

At $50/can... I expect PERFECTION!

ETA: I also used the Natura Primer.

Message edited 5/24/2010 12:32:00 PM.