Creating efficient water-borne dispersions based mainly on renewable materials for coating of flexible packaging paper was the aim of this study. The effects of an ethylene modified poly(vinyl alcohol) grade and a standard poly(vinyl alcohol) on the oxygen and water vapor barrier performance of corn starch and potato starch coatings was studied. The results showed that a coating composition with a high fraction of a renewable polymer was effective in keeping the oxygen barrier at a technically and commercially applicable level. An ethylene modified poly(vinyl alcohol) grade was found to provide lower oxygen transmission rates at high relative humidity, as compared to a standard poly(vinyl alcohol) grade. The oxygen barrier properties of blends of starch and poly (vinyl alcohol) were similar to that of the pure modified poly(vinyl alcohol) in the range from 0% starch to 60% starch. This was observed with both hydroxypropylated and octenyl succinate modified starch grades. The drying conditions of the mixed starch:poly(vinyl alcohol) coatings were based on drying trials with pure poly (vinyl alcohol) coatings. Drying at moderate temperatures indicated the possibility to slightly decrease water vapor transmission rate by higher drying temperature. Several secondary effects of increased drying temperature such as coating hold-out and formation of defects may also be of importance.