Interior painting questions.....

[charry]

About to repaint a large living room, and had a couple questions.

1. Is priming necessary? Ive done some patching on the walls (drywall nails popping out mostly), but my biggest pet peeve is when I paint a wall and can see a different texture/color where I patched with drywall mud. Ive always assumed my best bet is to use a good primer first and then put color on top of that, but I figured Id ask here (the room is big enough that saving $$$ on primer is a decent chunk of $$$). As an alternative to priming, would 2 coats of color suffice? I normally prime and then do 2 coats of color on top of that, but Ive never painted a room this large in our house before.

1a. Is there any good way to texture the patches like the rest of the wall? That might eliminate needing the priming step I think.

1. Any suggestions on paint brand? The last few painting projects Ive been using SW SuperPaint, and I like it alot. The wife found a color for this room on Benjamin Moores site, so Im debating trying out their products or just having SW match the color. If BM is the better route, does anyone have insight on their product lines? Regal, Moorcraft, etc. Help with their primers (if its necessary to prime) would be appreciated too. Google returned some older results, I figure by now opinions may have changed since 2003 or 2004.

Thanks!

-CHris

[barry]

Seems you've answered it- yes. Suggestions: use screws near the popped nails, and just hammer the popped nails below the paper. Keep coats of mud thin, and minimize any scratching with sanding. How much primer you gonna use to cover a few screws and nails? I'd spot with the finish paint. (You don't mention important stuff like how different the new color is from the existing.) You don't do this often, and seem to want to get it right, so it's gonna take a chunk of $$$. Enjoy it.

Okay- what is the rest of the wall like? Seems if you just need to cover a few screws and nails, you'd have extremely little total area of patches. Maybe you need to focus on limiting that? And maybe on the general prep. Mudded patches are always going to absorb paint MUCH more than any painted surface. So spot them.

I'd check Consumer Reports and such for ratings, and use that info to help shopping for what you end up using. All brands have differing product lines, so sweeping statements are meaningless. If the color is much of a change, I'd think about a tinted primer coat before the finish.

J

[charry]

Thanks for the reply.

Actually I probably didnt word my priming question correctly....what I actually do is prime everything Im painting, regardless of if its patched or not. But maybe spot-priming (or extra-coating with color) is the way to go.

The room is going from white to dark beige, as such I plan on getting tinted primer, and might end up priming all of the walls just because of that. On the other hand, spot-priming the patches and 2 coats of color might end up with the same result.

Not really worried about $$$, but Im estimating 2.5 gallons or so of color for one coat, so I didnt want to have to buy the same amount (give or take) of primer if its not absolutely necessary. Spot priming might be the way to go, either with primer or just finish paint first.

Thanks!

-Chris

snipped-for-privacy@sme-> > About to repaint a large living room, and had a couple questions. > >

[CraigT]

On the texture issue I usually spot prime with 1/2 nap roller which really puts a pebble grain to the new work which is undoubtedly smoother than the rest of the wall.

BTW-Benjamin Moore makes great paint. (So do others).

[Pat]

First off, unless you have a calibrated monitor, don't trust colors off a web site. Go get a sample from the store. If it prints the way you want it, take that to the store. But beige is simplier and more common than some colors.

Second, go to the paint store and check out different rollers. Certain rollers leave more texture than others. If you use one with enough texture, it might camo your smooth area.

Good luck. But a big beige room ???

[e-mail] wrote:

[Pat]

Hey, if money is not object, look at:

I've used frottage. Pretty cool. A bit of texture will hide a multitude of sins (but yes, no sins are better).

It is more pricey because of the glaz> First off, unless you have a calibrated monitor, don't trust colors off

[charry]

Thanks for all of the suggestions! Ill try looking at different rollers to hide my patch work.

And since we've started moving towards color in our room (assuming white isnt a color) we've learned that you need to come back with samples first, and even go as far as putting them up on every wall to see what color fits best. Wait until I tell our 5 month old son how many samples it took before we were happy with the colors in his nursery!

As for a big beige room, I hear ya on that one too. Its a thorn in my side, but it keeps the peace (wifes idea.....basically my house is turning into different shades of beige except in "my" rooms, where Ive gone for actual color like a shade of blue in the computer room and gray in the basement). Right now the room is white and even Im getting tired of it, the alternative idea was a maroon/burgundy (which would also allow my existing window blinds to match), but the wife poo-pooed that idea (I wonder if only because it was *my* idea, or maybe just to spend extra $$$ replacing the blinds too).

Again, thanks for the suggestions.

-Chris

Pat wrote: