I’ve been talking about greening up my flat with wind turbines, solar panels and converting the loft using eco friendly materials for months and at long last work is beginning.  My squeeze and his team are going to do the renovations. I wasn’t sure if this would be a good idea as our relationship is a bit volatile, a concern that alarmingly everyone else seemed to share.  
 
My mother insisted it would `end it tears’,  Donnachadh my eco coach asked if it was wise, while Alex the architect’s gloomy silence spoke volumes.  I gave their advice serious thought and employed him anyway.
Work has been going on for 48 hours and so far we’ve only had one very small row which I take as a very good sign.  
 
The first job is to redecorate and replace the startling `fire engine red’ walls with a more calming Swedish grey.  It was painted red many years ago when I was going through one of my periodical spiritual shopping relapses.  I’d become a slave to the advice of most of London’s top feng shui consultants and even ended up dating one of them which saved me a fortune in feng shui bills – these guys will charge £200 in cash just to come and tweak your crystals but Gaia kept mine spinning for free.

These days we’ve all `moved on’ from Feng shui - like Smallbone kitchens and Stavros `loads of money,’ it was an 80’s fashion that has departed to the great shoulder pad in the sky.  But in the noughties it was still quite usual for people, (well me mainly), to endlessly shuffle furniture around, paint their walls hideous colours and even move house on the spurious advice of their feng shui man and his omniscient dousing rod. 
 
All my feng shui men said wildly different things.  One said I must paint the entire flat blue as it needed to be `drained’, I have no idea what from, but Gaia (his real name was Wayne but like many of the esoterically inclined had changed his name to something less earthbound) insisted it must be red, and indeed living in a crimson apartment is very energy boosting – if you go for the stimulating brothel look.  But quite suddenly it was just too much. 
 
I still believe the colour and arrangement of one’s living space influences one’s mood and wellbeing but these days I just go for what I like.  A contented balanced person will create the right sort of living space for them; therefore a transformation of the person is the key.  This is Buddhist philosophy and is really just sound common sense.  However common sense is not always readily available for those of us of the spiritual shopping tendency.  
 
As I write my squeeze is poised with his paintbrush ready to repaint my crimson walls with an elegant Swedish grey sort of colour.  Or he would if I had been organised enough to track down some eco friendly paints.  Hence the very small row when I insisted it was his job and he insisted it was mine.  
 
We both thought that at least one of the widely available poncy ranges of paints must be reasonably eco friendly as they are so expensive - but no.   
 
Ordinary paints are definitely better than they were, many are now water based and have lower VOC’s (volatile compounds that create ozone, implicated in asthma and many health problems) than ever before.  
 
However even these `purer’ low VOC paints still contain toxic ingredients like cadmium and turpentine and are pointlessly tested on animals.   So as I’m trying to lead from the front and be an eco purist they don’t cut the mustard.  Fortunately I was recommended Ecos Paints which sell an extensive range of colours, even including a Shaker and Swedish selection, which is available online via their excellent website.
 
Supplies arrive the following day, a delay that made my squeeze apoplectic with irritation.  There were further rumbles of discontent when I vetoed the use of various noxious smelling fillers and glues as non Green.  
 
I’m realising that it’s one thing to talk about eco building and quite another to actually track down all the bits and pieces a builder needs.  
 
Good news!  the doorbell has just rang and judging by the grunts of relief emanating from downstairs this can only mean on thing - the eco friendly paints have arrived!  I shall report back on their effectiveness in due course.  
 
www.ecospaints.com