This paint company has your wellness in mind—here’s why that’s important

You’ve been doing everything you can to make sure your home is as free of toxins as possible, creating a plant-filled indoor jungle to help keep the air clean and making sure your water is always filtered. One thing you probably haven’t thought about, though, is the paint on the walls within your sanctuary.

You may not realize it, but paint, cleaning items, and many other common items emit gases called volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can impact the air quality inside your home for years. That’s why Backdrop—quite possibly the most millennial paint company, ever—is bringing wellness to the forefront in the expansive world of home improvement in order to make sure adding a little personality to your home doesn’t come at a cost for your health.

Backdrop currently offers 50 shades, all of which are low-VOC. A gallon of paint (packaged in a recyclable can) isn’t exactly cheap at $59, but the company is certified by Green Wise, which means the paint went through robust testing to ensure it limits VOCs as well as prohibits certain chemical compounds and heavy metals, including formaldehyde, phthalates, mercury, and methylene chloride. As an added bonus, all paints are also vegan and cruelty-free.

Before committing to a color, you can skip the messy paint samples and go for Backdrop’s genius adhesive samples instead. You can easily test multiple shades in different areas by moving the 12-inch squares around the room. (Rather than messing up your wall, painting a large piece of poster board is a great hack with any paint brand.)

And let’s not forget about the names of colors. Painting a room in your home with healthier options is always a good thing, but when you get to choose from options like moonstone, rose quartz, and saged? Yeah, even better.

This is the only super-simple, step-by-step guide you need for painting your apartment. But before you do, make sure you decide on the right shade of wellness-studio white for your walls.