Painting Primer

I read the comments about red vs. gray primer when the final color is red. I really don't know the definitive answer, but I can tell you what we've learned over the last couple of days and last year.

The biggest lesson is: All red paint is not created equal.

We usually buy Behr paint from Home Depot. It's always performed flawlessly for us. It goes on smoothly, covers well, and wears great. Until this week.

Backtracking … Last year we painted DS#2's walls half red and half black.



We had absolutely no problems with either the red or the black. Two coats of each over a gray primer and we were done. This was Sherwin Williams paint, though, and I really can't remember why we bought SW instead of our usual Behr. I must've had a reason.

As you saw in Sunday's post, we used a pink-tinted primer for the dining room. Then we started painting using Behr "Ripe Currant." OMG. It was like we were using a glaze and not a paint. It was thin and runny and streaked like you wouldn't believe, and it wouldn't dry. I wish I had taken pictures, but I was too mad to even think about it. We thought there was something wrong with the paint so we made a mad-dash run to Home Depot Sunday night before they closed to trade what we thought was defective paint for a different can, same color.

While we were waiting for the new paint to be mixed, the lady at the paint counter starting telling us that we would probably need to paint up to EIGHT coats, waiting 24 hours between each coat. Huh?? We had painted DS's room last year in a very similar color and had zero problems. Even though we heard her, we still thought it was just a bad batch because we have been painting for years with no problems, including DS's red and black last year. But when we got back home and started in again and there was no improvement with this "new" paint, we started questioning everything.

Because we had no time or desire for painting over an 8-day spread, and after 2 days, 3 coats, and the primer, you could still see the primer and every roller stroke, we decided to throw in that towel and move on to Plan B.

Another mad-dash trip to Sherwin Williams yesterday before they closed at 6 PM. There, the salesman gave us a mini lesson in paint and bases. I had noticed that the paint we used for DS's room used a Red Base and the Behr paint for the dining room starts with a "deep base." Mr. Sherwin Williams explained that the dark colors which use a deep base (or Ultradeep in SW terms) do usually take more coats for coverage but he was as shocked as we were upon hearing the recommendation of EIGHT coats from Home Depot. It's got to do with the lack of white pigment (titanium dioxide) in the base for those deep colors. Titanium dioxide is what gives a paint hide and coverage. (He also explained that the color of the primer doesn't really matter for red, as long as it's either gray or tinted (pink). It's the primer itself which should be decent quality (ours is) so that it creates a favorable surface on the wall for the paint to adhere to it.)

So, here's the dining room now, after the SW paint. Any shading you see is from actual light/shade in the room, not paint streaks. Finally!



I'll be making another run to Home Depot later — to demand a refund or credit for that horrible paint. At over $27/gallon (we bought 2) plus the new paint from SW, it's too much money to just let go.