Anyone paint the interior of your home with birds?

[RavensGryf]

Well, actually using a roller and paintbrush (not birds)...

It's come time to make a few changes in life... My elderly dad lives in his home by himself, and he's gotten to the point where it is hard for him to completely look after himself anymore, so my husband and I are going to move into his home within the next few months. It's big enough for all of us, which will be nice.

So basically our private area will be 2 large rooms at the back of the house. The house hasn't seen a new coat of paint in decades, so that is one thing certainly on my priority list. Yay, fun picking out colors! As long as my dad still has his Jack Russell terrier (aka small animal killing machine), the birds will be living in the rooms with us.

Now I know when you move into an apartment, they might just have painted recently before you move in, it gets aired out, and by the time you are in, the birds are fine. My question is - I've never painted a house before, and wonder HOW LONG after you're completely done with all the coats of paint does it take to fully dry and air out with windows open before moving the birds in? Any idea? I've got to imagine someone here who owns birds has painted in their home before.

Thanks

 

[lucy1]

Ha ha, wonderful image of using an angry squawking parrot to daub paint on the walls!!

Two years ago I went away for a week and got my Dad to come over and house and pet sit for me (before I got my macaw, Dad is somewhat wary of the beak!). Because he's a fab Dad, he painted my living room for me while I was gone as a surprise for me. I got home just as he was doing the finishing touches - all the doors and windows closed and the Amazons cage wheeled to the middle of the room so he could get to the wall behind them!!

He used regular Dulux emulsion paint and there was barely any smell in the room anyway. He had done 2 coats and taken his time - my Amazons had been in the room with wet paint for 5 days... My Orange Wing has quite bad breathing issues from previous ill health so i kept expecting her to drop dead at any moment, but she had no ill effects whatsoever.

I think the modern emulsions are very low VOC anyway. Gloss paint would be a different matter- are you planning on doing skirting boards/ window frames/ trim etc with gloss?

 

[RavensGryf]

Oh wow, interesting and funny story!
I think you may be right about the modern paint being safer than before. I'll ask the store to educate me on the paints also. I'm not using gloss. I think the closet doors look semi-gloss? I don't think it has to be though.

I know during Robin's two decade lifetime he's been exposed to chemicals, scented candles, smoke (from people outside the windows), etc, etc. and he's still here, but of course I'd like to prevent any more toxins if I can help it, which is why I'm asking. Thanks for your input!

 

[lucy1]

I should point out I'm in the UK but I assume US paint standards will be similar if not the same. I could be very wrong and even modern emulsion could be really bad, so I'm curious if anyone else can shed light on this. Given Rosie's labored breathing at the best of times I would've thought that 5 days of unventilated fumes would have effected her more than most, yet it didn't have any noticeable effect whatsoever.

Over the years mine have also accidentally or ignorantly been exposed to all sorts of bad things- scented candles, Teflon, aerosols, chemicals etc (I wish I could say 'from previous owners' but I have to admit to my fair share of these too), so don't take my paint experience as a guarantee of safety!

[Still replaying the image of a paint-soaked parrot being brushed across the walls... ]

 

[Mattroma]

Think it was home depot that now carries low voc paint. Just make sure you request it or the employee will most likely grab the standard paint.

 

[labell]

I have an amazing sense of smell, sometimes a good thing, sometimes...not so much!
We painted our living room recently with the low VOC paint, to me it still had a pretty strong odor, the good thing though is it dries and the smell dissipates very quickly. In about a day it should be completely gone.

 

[jenphilly]

totally not useful, but when I saw the subject, I had two images flash thru my head... one was rolling Folger up and down the wall trying to get an even coat of paint on with feathers back, naked belly, feathers back, naked belly.... Guess it would give an interesting pattern and texture.

The other was putting a painters cap on all the birds and using them as forced labor to very slowly paint everything... small birds with brushes in their beaks, bigger guys with rollers.

Sorry, its still fairly early... But loved the title and the opening line of the post

 

[ruffledfeathers]

I know during Robin's two decade lifetime he's been exposed to chemicals, scented candles, smoke (from people outside the windows), etc, etc. and he's still here, but of course I'd like to prevent any more toxins if I can help it, which is why I'm asking. Thanks for your input!

So true. I was thinking how i had painted my condo once with Georgie there with me, in the room with me, and all i did was open the windows and use a fan to ventilate. I didn't think there would be any issue if it was well-ventilated, and she was fine. Through years, i became more over-cautious (am i getting old?? hmm) and i have thought of having painting done when Gilbert can be out of the house (whenever i do paint again).

 

[getwozzy]

I would say use a low VOC paint and keep a couple windows open for ventilation, but also keep the fids in another room while you paint.

Funny story- not birds painting my walls, but my cat!! We were actually painting a couple weeks ago and our large cat, Henry, wandered into the house...somewhere along the line, while checking out the various rooms, he had managed to get wet paint on his side. 😒 so I'm up at the top of a ladder trying to paint next to the ceiling and I see him rub against the wall (brown) and saw white so I start yelling "stop, HENRY!!!" Well he just kept rubbing on the wall more 😁 Henry got an unwanted scrubbing and a slight hair trim, and I had to do some paint touch ups. Lol

 

[RavensGryf]

Thank you all for your experiences
I had no idea about the low voc paints. That's some good news. Also since we have the luxury of moving in slowly, the birds will not be there at the time we're painting. Whew, no problem then. I'm glad I asked!

 

[RavensGryf]

totally not useful, but when I saw the subject, I had two images flash thru my head... one was rolling Folger up and down the wall trying to get an even coat of paint on with feathers back, naked belly, feathers back, naked belly.... Guess it would give an interesting pattern and texture.

The other was putting a painters cap on all the birds and using them as forced labor to very slowly paint everything... small birds with brushes in their beaks, bigger guys with rollers.

Sorry, its still fairly early... But loved the title and the opening line of the post

ROTFLMAO!!! OMG, I'm getting a visual on that. So cute!

 

[Birdman666]

I've done this a couple of times now, and it's generally been fine after a day.

 

[Pinkbirdy]

We did paint the bird room last year . All birds were moved into the kitchen and we opened windows and used low voc paint. I was a wreck but things were fine

 

[RavensGryf]

Shirre, I had to laugh about your cat's slight hair trim... Are you sure there are no cat hairs preserved in the wall there?

 

[getwozzy]

Shirre, I had to laugh about your cat's slight hair trim... Are you sure there are no cat hairs preserved in the wall there?

I wouldn't be surprised if there is lol

 

[BirdyBee]

Hey i am new here and its my first post i have a couple of green parrot and their sizes increase day by day and the cage looking small for them so i decided to decorate a full room for them with good interior painting could anyone tell this idea works or not?

If the paint has dried off it'll be fine. It is still important to have a cage for them to go into at night/while you're away, though.