Ok I do this for a living. for like 27 years now
So list,I say listen when I talk to you son ::Puttin on best foghorn Leghorn voice::
Red is a nice color but covers terribly. Your looking at at least 3 coats no matter what way you slice it.
And if you go with a quality paint lke Ben Moore or Sherwin Williams
Its going to cost you more.
And the darker you go the mor expencive its gonna be
Home depot paint "Behr" and "Gliddon" is NOT quality paint I dontcare what consumer reports says
It you decide on a red Get a gallon of elcheapo flat paint In Ben Moore that would be "Superhide" and have it tinted to one shade darker then the color you want to go with and put a first coat of this on.
then 2 coats of The color red you want.
Trust me, its gonna take two more coats.
Unless you wanna put on 4+ coats. In which case by all means Skip the elcheapo paint.
Do not I repeat. do NOT let the clown in the paint store talk you into a tinted primer for that color.
Whats gonna happen is your going ot pay more for the primer then you would for the elcheapo paint to do the exact same job. Only it wont be the same because the primer is going to be tinted several shades lighter then your finish coat.
Which means your back to 1 coat of primer, and 4 coats of wall paint.
That is. Unless you like painting the same set of walls 5 times.
Now for your top coat finish.
I primarily use Ben Moore so I will use their products as an example.
Sherwin Williams, Prat & Lambert, Muralo are also most exellant paints.
For a finish coat (on top of the base coat of elcheapo paint)
Remember. the flatter the finish the more elegant it is going to look. But its not as scrubbable as a shiney finish.
Problem with the shiney finishes is while they are more scrubbable they also will show off more imperfections in your walls and as a result you end up with a less then elegant look. Use a Smi gloss on your walls for example and every nick,ding,dent,pop and rollermark is going to show up.
That is why you dont put Semi on ceilings. Even in a bathroom.
Unless your the original Felix Unger type cleanfreak I'd stay away from Flat on the walls.
I'd reccoment one fo two products.
Either "Benjamin Moore Aqua Velvet" Which is a low sheen eggshell type finish or "Ben Moore Matte finish" Which has less sheen then the eggshall but it just as scrubbable
the Matte is like an inbetween aFlat and an eggshell. Really nice stuff
Use Flat. "Moore Wall Satin" on the Ceiling
And Semi gloss "Moore AquaGlo" on the doors and trim.
And for gods sake spend more then $5 on a brush.
Spend the extra money and get a "Purdy" or a "Wooster"
Both outstanding brushes Though the Woosters are pretty much good to go right out of the box whereas Purdys take a while to get broken in right.
Decent brush will make cutting in nice straight lines along the ceilings and trim lightyears easier.
And if its going to take you several days to do. Instead of washing the brushes out every night just to use them in the same colors the next day.
Dip them in some paint and wrap them snugly in plastic bags.
If you dont let them freeze, or sit out in the sun they will keep just fine for up to a week or more
For rollercovers I personally prefer genuine lambskin. Forget lambfab it hold paint just fine but doest like to let go of it to put it on the wall and what you end upwith is a roller that weighs about 5 pounds and doesnt spread paint very far.
I like the lambskins because they hold alot of paint. Spread the paint pretty far and tend to have alot less spatter then synthetic rollercovers
When rolling. Use a pole and roll from the ceiling to floor in one motion and not in two foot incriments like most homeowners do.
Start at the top and make a V on the wall then backroll ceiling to floor, floor to ceiling to spread the paint out working into your wet edge.
When Brushing. Just like sex.
Use long strokes
Oh and you can make life easier on your self if you do this.
Paint the ceiling. then the trim. then the walls.
Most people paint the trim last. I dont.
Reason being is when your painting the floor trim its easier and faster to paint and not get it on the floor and not worry about the walls then it is to try to keep from getting paint on both the walls and the floor at the same time.
then when you cut in the walls you just haveta try to keep it off the trim color and if you do. you can just touch it up
Oh and unless you have a really tight area to get into. Or your doing some sort of stripes. Throw that roll of blue tape you just bought away.
If you use a good brush, in the time it takes you to tape everything you could have just had it cut in neatly by hand
End of Seminar LOL
