Redecorating? Try making your own paint

Planning to redecorate? Many commercial paints contain toxic ingredients, or at the very least are energy-intensive to produce. Consider helping the environment in an unlikely way -- by making your own paint. Homemade paint is easier to create than you probably think. You don't need any special equipment and the recipe only takes four ingredients -- flour, water, clay, and powder filler.

Flour paint can be applied to almost any surface, and offers the flexibility to mix your own custom colors and create many unique finishes. There is a down side though, homemade paint is very thick so it's hard on brushes and doesn't work at all with rollers. It's also not easy to mix the same color time after time, and if you don't finish the job in one session it's difficult to store because the food ingredients start to break down.

It's definitely a more labor-intensive choice than buying paint in the store, but for most people re-painting doesn't happen that often so it might be worth the extra effort. There's got to be a lot of satisfaction in the completed project -- but I would have to start with something small, just to make sure I wasn't getting in over my head!