How My Renovation Dream Turned Into a Health Nightmare: My Story

Apr 17, 2024

3 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

I want to tell this story carefully, because I do not claim that renovating my first home caused my neurological condition. What I can say is that a major change in my health began around the same period as that renovation, and years later I started to look at the building itself very differently.

At 23, I was working as an engineering drafter and renovating our first home with my partner. I loved design, we were working to a tight budget and I chose the kinds of products many people choose without thinking twice: common paints, particleboard furniture, sealers, adhesives and trend-driven finishes. Indoor emissions were not part of my decision-making at all.

Then my health changed

During that period I began experiencing a wide range of severe symptoms, including migraines, dizziness, blurry vision, digestive problems, palpitations, weakness, anxiety and episodes of feeling faint. It changed my work, daily life and independence.

A stay at an eco-resort in Byron Bay was one of the experiences that made me start questioning the environment around me because I felt noticeably different away from my usual settings. At the time I did not understand why, and I certainly did not have enough information to draw conclusions.

The real turning point came years later

The connection I had missed became far more interesting to me when I studied building design and later interior design. Even then, healthy-material content was a tiny part of the education compared with aesthetics, compliance, construction and sustainability.

Learning about material emissions, indoor air quality and natural-material choices sent me much further into Building Biology, Biophilic Design and Neuro-Inclusive Design. I began looking back at the products I had once specified purely on price, appearance and availability and asking completely different questions.

What the research changed for me

EPA identifies paints, coatings, adhesives, furnishings, cleaners and building materials as potential sources of VOCs in indoor air. Composite wood products such as MDF and particleboard are also specifically regulated for formaldehyde emissions in the United States.

Those facts do not prove that a particular product caused a particular symptom in my case. They do show why indoor emissions deserve to be considered before a renovation, not discovered years later after a family has already moved back in.

What I would do differently now

Ask for emissions information before choosing large-surface-area materials and cabinetry.
Look at the whole product system, including adhesives, sealers, coatings and underlays.
Ventilate aggressively during and after high-emission work.
Avoid unnecessary synthetic fragrance and strongly chemical products inside the finished home.
Design moisture control, lighting and acoustics as health-related building decisions rather than decorative afterthoughts.
Choose reuse and lower-impact options where they genuinely perform well instead of assuming new is always better.

Why this became my work

My professional focus changed because I realised that most homeowners are never taught to ask these questions, and many designers receive very little formal education about them. I wanted healthy, sustainable and neuro-inclusive design to become part of normal decision-making rather than a specialist conversation people discover by accident.

That is why The Healthy Building Designer exists today: to make the information practical enough that people can actually use it when they renovate, build, rent, furnish or redesign a space.