Painting light over dark red

[Mr Squiddy]

I am planning to repaint a room which is currently dark red ('Spanish Rose' if memory serves.) The new colour is likely to be much lighter, if not off-white. What will I need to do in terms of undercoating? I was going to paint one or two coats of a dark grey and then a lighter grey and then one or two coats of the final colour. Is there a more effective and/or cheaper way of doing this?

If it makes any difference, the original red is matt and the new final colour is likely to be satin or similar.

TIA, Pete

[Andrew Gabriel]

I think what I would do here is an undercoat of brilliant white matt emulsion paint, which is cheap, has excellent coverage and filling properties, dries quickly, and leaves an excellent surface for just about any other paint. It will also be obvious if you haven't covered the old paint well enough. I wouldn't use any undercoat which is darker than your top coat.

I would wash the existing walls with sugarsoap before you start.

[Barb]

Had a similar problem a few years ago with a brown - yes, brown! - wall. Two coates of good quality white emulsion, followed by your colour (perhaps more than one coat, see what it looks like when dry).

Good luck

Barb

[DIY]

I have just repainted a room that was very strong yellow and is now very pale cream. I put one coat of white silk emulsion on first then followed by two coats of pale cream emulsion. The only way to be sure is to try it on a small test area first to see if the final colour is the intended one.