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An eco-friendly nursery

An eco-friendly nursery is first a room where the air is healthy: a low-VOC water-based paint compliant with the toy standard — which every Mylands paint is — solid-wood or second-hand furniture rather than glued board, a mattress and textiles in natural fibres, and time: a month between the paint and the arrival. Then it is a room that will not be redone in three years: soft colours in the tones of nature, the accent on a repainted piece of furniture, and a washable paint you maintain instead of replacing. Six palettes, and the order of priorities.

Page updated September 2026 · by the Mylands France colour team

Nursery with matt tender green walls, old wooden cot repainted warm white, second-hand chest of drawers, wool mattress, wicker basket, plant, morning light — Sprig JB.06 in Marble Matt Emulsion, an old cot repainted in Eggshell: the room that breathes

Understanding

Air, materials, time: the priorities in order

A newborn spends eighteen hours a day in its room and breathes twice as fast as an adult: the first ecological question is indoor air. What harms it most is not today's paint but new particleboard furniture, which gives off formaldehyde for months, synthetic foam mattresses, treated textiles and room fragrances. A low-VOC water-based paint — under 30 g/L for a matt wall paint — has finished emitting within days; a glued-board piece emits for months. Hence the order of priorities: the paint, yes, but above all solid wood or second-hand, a natural-fibre mattress, linen washed before use, and time — a month's airing before the arrival, worth every label put together.

Mylands paint does its part: water-based, low VOC, compliant with the EN 71-3 toy standard for anything that gets chewed, class 1 washable so it lasts ten years instead of three — because the room you don't repaint is the most eco-friendly one. The criteria in detail: Eco-friendly wall paint; the finishes for children: Child-safe paint for nurseries and playrooms.

Deciding

Every element of the room, and its healthiest choice

Element	The healthiest choice	Why	With paint
Wall paint	Water-based, low VOC, washable	Emissions over within days; lasts ten years	Marble Matt Emulsion, two coats, a month ahead
Cot	Solid wood, or an old one repainted	No glue, no formaldehyde; repainted, it is good for another twenty years	Eggshell, EN 71-3, two weeks' curing
Chest, changing table	Second-hand solid wood, repainted	The most eco-friendly piece is the one that already exists	Multi-Surface Primer, Eggshell; Satin on the top
Mattress	Natural fibres (wool, natural latex, coir)	No synthetic foam or chemical flame retardants	—
Textiles	Organic cotton or linen, washed before use	Removes the finishing treatments	Ecru, off-white, in the walls' palette
Floor	Existing boards, oiled; wool rug	No glued flooring	A painted floor: How to paint a wooden floor, three weeks ahead
Toys, mobile	Wood, fabric; painted to the toy standard	What goes in the mouth	Eggshell over Multi-Surface Primer
Lighting, air	Warm night-light, window open every day	Daily airing is worth every air purifier	Matt does not throw the night-light back

What has no place: room fragrances, scented candles, new board furniture unpacked the day before, oil-based paints.

Close-up of an old solid-wood chest of drawers being painted, half sanded and primed, the other half already in a soft satin tender green, brush, tin of Eggshell, trestles — The second-hand chest, sanded, primed, repainted: the most eco-friendly piece is the one that already exists

The colours

Six palettes in the tones of nature, that will grow up

The colours of earth, leaves and stone soothe a baby, age well and go with wood and linen: the room will not need redoing when the child is six. The accent goes on a repainted piece of furniture, never on the walls.

Tender green and warm white

A young-shoot green on the walls, an old cot in warm white: the garden room, calming, unisex.

Walls · Sprig JB.06 Cot · Holland Park No.5

Linen and clay

A warm linen on the walls, a chest in a clay pink: raw materials, in paint, with ecru wool.

Walls · St Martins No.37 Chest · Onslow No.48

Green-white and sage

A white with a hint of green on walls and ceiling, a sage wardrobe: the bright room that grows up well.

Walls & ceiling · Syon Park No.13 Wardrobe · Hurlingham No.181

Stone and leaf

A pale stone on the walls, a leaf green on a shelf or an armchair: mineral calm, with pale wood.

Walls · Cadogan Stone No.59 Shelf · French Green No.187

Sky on the ceiling, linen on the walls

Linen walls, pale blue ceiling: the sky the baby looks at, warmth around it. See The cloud ceiling.

Walls · Limehouse No.31 Ceiling · Morning Blue No.32

Grey-green, drenched

Walls, ceiling and woodwork in a lichen grey-green: the cocoon, with a wooden mobile and a wool rug.

Everything · Mint Street No.95 A piece of furniture · Stockwell Green No.203

The method

An eco-friendly nursery in six steps, in calendar order

01

Three months ahead: hunt

Cot, chest, armchair, shelf: solid wood, second-hand, no musty smell. Check the cot complies (bar spacing 4.5 to 6.5 cm, mattress height). An old piece painted before 1990 is stripped with care — possible lead — or covered after priming without dry sanding.
02

Two months ahead: repaint the furniture

Degrease, fine sanding, Multi-Surface Primer, two thin coats of Eggshell, outdoors or with the window open. Two weeks' curing for anything that gets chewed. See Upcycling children's bedroom furniture.
03

A month ahead: paint the room

Ceiling in a soft colour, walls in Marble Matt Emulsion, woodwork in Eggshell, two coats. A night's airing for the smell; a month for the cure. The detail: Painting a nursery.
04

Three weeks ahead: the mattress and textiles

Natural-fibre mattress unpacked and aired in the room; linen, curtains, rug washed or aired. Everything that smells new needs those three weeks.
05

Two weeks ahead: reassemble

Cot reassembled, chest in place, shelves fixed to the wall. No room fragrance, no candle, no plastic unpacked the day before.
06

Every day: air

Ten minutes with the window open morning and evening, before the arrival and after: it is the ecological move that weighs most, and it costs nothing.

To avoid

What is not eco-friendly, even with a good paint

New board furniture unpacked the day before. It emits for months; solid wood, second-hand, or three weeks' airing.
The synthetic foam mattress. Where the baby spends the most time; wool, natural latex, coir.
Room fragrances and candles. VOCs non-stop, far more than any dry paint.
A themed room you will redo at three. The eco-friendly room is the one you keep; soft colours, the accent on a piece of furniture.
Dry-stripping an old piece. Pre-1990 paint may contain lead; wet sanding and a mask, or covering after priming.
Painting the week of the arrival. A month: the air, the cure, the furniture.

Nursery with matt warm linen walls, pale blue ceiling, natural solid-wood cot, wool rug, linen curtains, old armchair repainted in clay pink — Limehouse No.31 and a Morning Blue No.32 ceiling, an Onslow No.48 armchair: raw materials, in paint

Frequently asked questions

Your questions, our answers

Is Mylands paint suitable for a nursery?

Yes: water-based, low VOC (below the 30 g/L threshold for a matt wall paint), compliant with the EN 71-3 toy standard for furniture and the cot, class 1 washable. It is not a lime or clay paint — we would rather say so — but a water-based paint with crushed marble, durable and with no petroleum solvent in its formula.

Can an old cot be repainted for a baby?

Yes, and it is the most eco-friendly choice, on two conditions: check it complies (bars 4.5 to 6.5 cm apart, no broken bars, mattress height) and treat the old paint with care if the cot dates from before 1990 — covering after priming rather than dry sanding. Then Eggshell, two weeks' curing.

How long to air before the arrival?

For the paint, one night is enough for the smell, a week is comfortable. For new furniture and the mattress, three weeks. The month's head start covers everything, provided the window is opened every day.

Which colour for a room that will not be redone?

A soft colour in the tones of nature on the walls — tender green, linen, stone, green-white — and the accent on a piece of furniture you will repaint at six. The walls stay, the furniture changes colour: that is how a room grows up without being redone. See Soft colours for a child's bedroom.

And the floor?

The existing boards, oiled or painted, rather than a glued flooring; a wool rug for the first months. A floor painted in Decorative Floor Satin is done three weeks before the arrival — see How to paint a wooden floor.