Painting over dark color on plaster

[k conover]

Hi, I'm moving into a house that has a dark royal blue paint job in the living room. I want to change it to a warm camel or terracotta color. 1) Do I have to put something over the dark paint first (someone mentioned a product called--I think--"Kilz" or something like that to cover the darker color) or can I just give it two coats to cover it? Do foam rollers work on plaster as well as they do on drywall?.

2) Also, any ideas on the best brands and/or types of paint--I've heard plaster is tricky because a shiny paint will show off imperfections. 3) I'm even up for trying to glaze the walls (however that's done--I've seen it on HGTV and I love the look)--to try to give it a "Venetian" look. Help! And thanks... Kirsten

[user]

Personally, I prefer a shellac like Zinnser's BIN. It goes on thin, dries very quickly, and leaves a nice, flat, opaque surface on which to paint. That said,

Sure.

For walls, I'd use nothing glossier than an eggshell or satin finish; anything shinier will look tacky. In general, brands you buy at paint stores are better than brands you buy at KMart or Sears, and good brands are Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams. Regardless of the brand you select, buy that brand's premium line of paint; the value line will be inferior no matter what brand you buy.

I like walls just one color, but search Google for glazing. There should be a lot of info on the web about that.

[MrAoD]

One note, priming with shellac will up the gloss level of whatever finish coat you use a notch. While this may not be a problem for you in this instance, don't use BIN or KILLZ when priming a spot. DAMHIKT.

One shade-tree painter I knew told me that he always primed dark color walls with battleship gray primer. Claimed that it covered any dark color in a single coat and white would cover gray no problem. YMMV.

Marc

[Eric Lee Green]

In article , k conover ruminated:

Two coats will cover it, but you probably want the first coat to be a plain old primer, which is cheaper than paint. "Kilz" is a particular brand of premium primer.

That's why you texture the wall (i.e., deliberately put imperfections onto the wall).

[RamblinOn]

clipped

Primer won't have much effect on coverage, because the paint has to hide the primer, too. May take three coats over dark color, depending what you put over it. Gloss is a horrible choice for walls, unless it is an institutional kitchen or restroom, IMO. There are oodles of samples and books available on glazing techniques. Results will vary a great deal with different color combinations. May be a good idea to get a selection of acrylic hobby paints (bottles) and try out the colors you like, and then take samples when you purchase the product you want to use on the walls. Doing glazes on walls with water soluble paint may be much more difficult than doing it with solvent based glazes because the water base will dry a lot faster. You can buy, I believe, additives for both that slow dry time to give you time to get it the way you want it. I like the effect but have never had the nerve to try it on walls. Have done it on furniture and decorations. I mix my own for those projects. Mineral spirits, linseed oil, alkyd base paint.

[D. Gerasimatos]

I have plaster walls and I used BIN primer on them. I also tried Kilz Latex primer. BIN makes a huge mess that is hard to clean up. It is thin and runny and does not clean up with water. That said, the BIN primer does seem to do a better job on plaster walls.

Dimitri