argh - about to decorate nursery and totally...

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flumaxed re what to de re avoiding nasty chemicals etc!!!! major headache!

wash the current carpet? but apparently carpet cleaning leads to very nasty fumes lingering!

change the carpet? then what floor covering did you use? carpet? what carpet? 100% synthetic (polyprop) or 80% wool? linoleum? wooden?

what about paint? are breath-easy paints ok?

just reading around everything seems to be toxic....

You can get easy fit bamboo flooring, which fits a biit like laminate, but is much more environmentally friendly and slightly softer. Then get a wool rug.
Fired Earth paints are really good too.

Try not to stress it too much though. I used to chew on my cot when I was a baby which was painted in no dioubt highly toxic gloss, and I'm no worse off for it!

What about these floors that many london flats have? The original planks in the terraced homes, you know? I get splinters from this stupid floor all the time but my landlord thinks it looks nice and won't cover them. What do I do when my kid starts crawling? (Besides move!)

We had a similar problem in our old flat.
We bought a fairly cheap carpet and just laid it on top. It was a pain as the ends came up when I hoovered but it was our only option.
I'm sure if you tell your landlord you may have to move if it can't be changed he will agree to something?

Avoid high gloss paints - on paint tins they will tell you what the VOC emissions are like - pick paints which have low VOC emissions, for example matt paints.
Ensure when you are painting that the room is well ventilated. If you are needing to remove any old paint (especially if it dates before 1960) you made need specialist help as pre 1960, paint contained high quantities of lead, perfectly safe on the wall, but can be potentially toxic if you need to remove it.
As for your carpet - why not trying steaming rather than using chemical cleaners?

we painted in low emission eggshell gloss, did it 4 mths before ds arrivedPLUS baby should be in with you for 6 mths ish so gives you loads of time to air out the smells.
We just thoroughly dusted and regualrly hoovered the existing carpet - it had been dd's room until 6 mths ago.

My Dad just finished painting spare room yesterday. We used matt emulsion for walls/ceiling, which was just "normal" paint but said it was low VOC. USed gloss on skirting board/window sill/door frame (door to be replaced some day so didn't paint that). More chemicals in gloss, but kept room well ventilated during painting and we are now keeping window wide open as much as we can to air. And as piffle said baby shouldn't be sleeping in there for a while.

We have no carpet in there at the moment. Thinking of painting floor boards to seal them/brighten up and then putting a rug down. Working on theory that it's easier to clean/replace rug as needed than a fitted carpet.

thanks for all your messages!!

been finding out that linoleum is pretty safe and natural

anybody have any experi3nce?

We had proper lino in kitchen in old house. No babies then, so can't comment on how safe it is etc, but very hard-wearing adn easy to clean. Much nicer than a vinyl IMO.

We had lino in DD's room and it was great for the potty training/feeder cup spilling side of things. Two minor down sides: the room echoed and felt cold, and there was this constant, mildly rubbery smell from the flooring. We ended up with laminate, equally dust-free, less of an echo, no pong.