So when we bought our new house in November, we noticed the previous owner really liked colorful rooms. The little girls room was hello kitty pink (I still have yet to take a picture that does it justice- it glows at night). The little boys room was bright baby blue. (Did I mention the other bedroom was bright yellow? Or the dining room was burnt orange? Or that the master closet was hot orange?)
Both rooms needed to be significantly toned down. In our basement the left a ton of paint- all sorts of brands. My first tackle was the dining room.
I found a can of
America's Finest in a color that appeared to match the hallways.
 |
| Retails 11-17$ per gallon depending on features |
 |
| Dining room before |
 |
| Dining room after |
So America's Finest, how did you rank?
Poor. The paint was thin (even after sitting for who knows how long in the basement) and had very poor coverage. Yes I was painting over a bright orange wall. So I painted a coat of Zinssers Bullseye 3 in 1 primer.
 |
Retails locally for 11$!!
|
(Awesome stuff by the way. Best primer for the money) So I primed the orange walls. I then had to use 2 coats!! of the America's Finest to get any sort of coverage.
AF wrap up: 3 coats no primer, 2 coats with primer. Not worth the effort, but for free paint from the basement and some help from friends not too too bad. Would I buy it on my own free will? No.
Next up: Behr Standard Interior Paint (Eggshell finish)So the baby blue bedroom didn't have super dark paint and it was semi-gloss finish. So after a quick debate, I chose Behr Interior in eggshell without primer. I did a small test patch (2 feet x 2 feet) to test if this would work without primer, and surprise! It covered just fine.
 |
| I used Behr Standard in Eggshell- looked something like this (cost me 24$/ gallon) |
 |
| Blue Bedroom before (this again, doesn't do the room justice) |
 |
| During the drying (I painted the room a light shade of cucumber) |
 |
| again, during the drying |
So I wanted to turn the room from baby blue to a calming shade of green. When I did the test patch, I painted and walked away and checked it 24 hours later, so I didn't actually see it drying. When I painted the whole room though, I did notice it drying and it freaked me out. It dries incredibly uneven. I was worried that I had made a huge error in judgement for not using a primer. But when the whole room dries, it is completely even and has full coverage
after one coat. one gallon covered the entire 12 X 10 ft room.
Behr Standard Interior wrap up: As it dries, you'll see patches of light and dark paint- do not worry yet! For painting light paint on top of flat/semi-gloss paint that is also relatively light in color, one coat did the trick. Behr paint was also significantly thicker than America's Finest, so roll the roller well before application to the wall.
Last paint that I am going to cover today is Behr Premium with Primer.
So the Hello Kitty Pink room.. not only was it nauseatingly pink, but it was HIGH gloss paint. Thus, I went with the primer built in. This was only 5$ more than the standard Behr without primer.
 |
| Hello Kitty before |
 |
| After 1 coat in a calming grey (ignore painters tape mount and bedspread circa 2001) |
|
So after 1 coat of Behr with Primer, there was full coverage of the hot pink, high-gloss mess. It was astounding. I was expecting to have to take 2-3 coats. On the edges that I did with a paint brush, I did have to do some touch ups but not bad considering what I started with.
