Best interior paint?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m about to do some painting at home. A lot of painting. I’m moving into a new apartment that needs repainting, and the landlord, recognizing the dismal condition of the walls is letting me paint the place. It’s a decent deal for both of us. The landlord gets away with just paying for paint, and I get to paint the place something other than Apartment Off-White, aka Contractor White. In exchange for my free labor, I’m getting a free week’s rent while I paint the place, which has got to be worth more than the labor cost for a crew to come in and spray for a few hours. All they care is that I not paint the bathroom blood red.

Now, the question is: What’s the best paint? The basic scheme will be eggshell or so gloss and mid- to fairly deep tones. (In other words, no pastel flats.) Trim will be gloss white. Application will be by brush/roller. Single-coat coverage is a big plus, although I realize the darker shades tend to need two coats.

Readily available brands around here are:

Behr Premium Plus Primarily sold at Home Depot, but not exclusively so.
Glidden
American Tradition, sold by Lowe’s
Valspar, also sold at Lowe’s

2

Personally, as a contractor, I would not use any of the above to paint a doghouse.

I’m not sure if the brands I’ll list are available in your area, but check the phone book.

My favorites, in decending order are:
Pratt & Lambert
Benjamin Moore
MAB
Finnaren & Haley
Duron

I’ve had too many bad experiences with customer furnished paint, where they wanted to save a few $ with discount product. I had to apply 6, yes SIX coats of Behr whiz to some garage doors for a lady several years ago-a job I could have done in 2 coats with MAB Sea Shore.

Color hold out, durability and gloss retention after cleaning, and quality of finish are the benefits of using good paint. After all, it takes you the same amount of time to roll the good stuff as it does to roll slop. You figure.

3

With my clients (I have an interior design business) I am partial to Pratt and Lambert and Benjamin Moore for the reasons that Danceswithcats has already stated. If you have a great deal to paint it’s worth it. Trust me!! You don’t want the color coming up funny, you don’t want to have to put on a zillion coats. With paint do not (I repeat, DO NOT) buy cheap!! I have also used Farrow and Ball with great success (however, you would have to order it from England and it is more expensive)…

Pratt and Lambert and Ben Moore should be easy to find. They often carry it in some of the smaller paint shops. Plus they have great colors. I particularly like the egg shell finish that Ben Moore has…

Good luck!

4

Benjamin Moore is a quality product. I used to paint professionally and that was the brand we used. I’ve also had good luck with Fuller.

5

Devoe makes some good paints. As does Pittsburgh. (in addition to ones already suggested in the replies)

Go to where the pros shop. I would never buy paint from Walmart, Sears, Home Depot, because they just don’t carry quality paints.

If the homeowner supplies the paint, I charge more. That usually gets my point across.

I would use an alkyd on the wood work. Thin it a bit, or use Flo-Trol (or something similar) to make it easier to work with. Be careful of runs. Doing the wood work first allows you to tape off and backfill (caulk) for a clean, straight edge between wall and wood.

Also, it’s easier to clean latex drips and splatters off of alkyd than vice versa. (Alkyd = oil)

Make sure you prime and seal all the spots that need it before trying to paint a finish color. If you think a spot might bleed through… seal it. Doesn’t take that long.

Also, almost any color change, whether dark to light or light to dark, will take at least two coats. Sometimes, I’ll have a flat tinted to near the finish color for my first coat. Even then, the more radical color changes require two finish coats over the prime.

Don’t be loathe to double coat. You’ll like the finished product better if you just go ahead and spend a little time to do it right in the first place.

btw, make sure you drop, tape off, paper, any counters, tile, carpet, etc… that doesn’t get replaced. It’s so much easier to cover it up than to clean it up.

Enjoy! :slight_smile:

6

If the wood already has a latex finish on it, you have two options.

  1. sand it down (I mean, really sand it. Without damaging it, try to get to bare wood), degloss what’s left, prime it, then alkyd. (Yes, you can oil over latex if you prep it right. It’s an awful lot of work, though…)

or

  1. With a high quality latex paint… clean/degloss first, then go as glossy as you can stand. The visual effect will very close to a good oil job. Use a very good brush for this. Like Wooster or Purdy. Don’t use a $5.00 brush for the woodwork.
    If the wood is stained: degloss, prime/seal, finish with almost anything. (But not lacquer*. hire a pro for lacquer work)

*Lacquer? Hell, I love her!

7

I have had very good results with Benjamin Moore.

And as NoClueBoy said, buy a couple of good brushes for trim. Of course, roll everything else.

Washing walls first is important.

But -

I have vaulted popcorn ceilings, no way to wash them. I broomed the loose stuff off and sprayed them. It’s holding up real well.

8

An additional prep tip: To clean and degloss in one step, buy a box of powder called TSP, which stands for trisodium phosphate. Mixed with water, it is a powerful cleaner, grease cutter, and deglosser.

CAUTION: It is extremely alkaline, and you must use gloves, as the product will defat the top layers of your skin. Use eye protection, and follow all other precautions on the box. No nasty fumes, and a pound costs under $3.

Happy painting! :smiley:

9

My favourite paints are Pittsburgh and Ben Moore. I’ve actually had nothing but problems with Pratt & Lambert, so I can’t give you my blessing on that product.

I stay away from alkyds whenever possible, so for the woodwork I’d go for a high end semi-gloss latex, such as Pittsburgh’s Kitchen & Bath product. If applied with a good brush (I use Purdy exclusively), you should get a smooth, durable finish.

As to one coat finishes, if you’re going with a colour that doesn’t match what’s on the walls already, forget it. There’s no such thing as a one coat finish, no matter what the sales person says. Plan for two, or even three if the clolur is really dark.

10

Ditto on the brands suggested. Schroeder paints are actually the best, but have to be imported from europe and as such are about $70 a quart and hard to find as well. But if you ever want to paint something bright yellow in one coat, it’s the paint for you.

-lv

11

Oh, and I should add, don’t even bother with the Ralph Lauren paint…it’s truly AWFUL. Bad, bad, baaad.

12

Huh. I’ve actually had pretty good luck with the Wal-Mart paints: got a semi-gloss from them that nicely covered (in two coats) a rather badly nicotine/tar stained wall. It’s been over two years since then, and it’s holding up very well. No fading, still semi-glossy, etc. Similar tales on the other walls/ceilings I’ve painted with their paint.

But, perhaps the best use of the cheap paints are to try out a color and see if you like it/can live with it. So if it turns out to be too dark/bright, you aren’t out of pocket that much: just the amount of time you spent.

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