If you’re wondering how to paint a porch or really anything else in your home, you need to keep a few things in mind.

First up on your list when you wonder how to paint a porch or another part of your home should be safety. Paints with a high volatile organic compound (or VOC) content can actually be hazardous to the health of your and your family if you’re around them all the time. Though it’s less of a concern when wondering how to paint a porch (as VOCs are inhaled at a much more diluted concentration than when they are present in paint indoors), it’s still something to keep in find, as low VOC paint or paint totally free from volatile organic compounds is always ideal. Paint with a high VOC content (over 500 ppb) can not only aggravate chemical sensitivities but actually make children more likely to develop allergies (up to 100% for likely to develop asthma alone and over 140% more likely to experience some level of eczema). Cognitive scores have also been found to be higher in people who work in a space that is free from paint with high concentrations of VOCs. Fortunately, flooring that originally used VOC paint often does not have high concentrations of volatile organic compounds more than a year after the floor was originally painted, so if you buy an older house you do not have to worry as much. However, if you are painting floors or refinishing them, you want to be sure to prime and paint a floor with as non toxic a paint as possible.

Color is another important component to consider when refinishing or repainting your home, particularly if you preparing to put it on the market. For instance, for some reason blue bathrooms can help a house sell for over $5000 more than it originally would have. Neutrals tend to be another safe bet when it comes to painting your home, as over a third of survey respondents were found to have preferred neutral colors if given the choice to redecorate their home.

When wondering how to paint a porch or how to prime your kitchen floors, it’s important to consider both style and safety as equally important. Both are key for creating the home of your dreams and can even help you sell your house (if that’s your goal) for more money than you initially expected or anticipated.