Interior wall painting question

[El Mariachi]

My wife wants to repaint the kitchen in the house we are buying. Right now, the kitchen is painted a light green color, and she would like it to be an orange-ish/terracota/brown to match the kitchen tile.

The question is: should we prime the walls before we paint? The current paint is relatively fresh (probably less than 3 months) but I'm afraid the existing green color will alter whatever new shade we pick. Any advice?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ldogg53]

just go over it... you're looking at 2 coats of paint... if you primer you'll probably still need 2 coats of paint... redish brown over a light green should be fine..

 

[HoustonHorn93]

ditto

 

[Thunderhoof]

The only reasons to prime that I can think of would be:

1) If your new color is a little thin, allowing the older paint to show through even after two coats (very unlikely) or
2) If there was any water damage to the rock that was covered up with paint prior to selling the house. If there was, it will show through your paint at some point. This is probably unlikely as well, and if it happens there are a whole lot of other questions you should ask your realtor.

In the end, you don't really need to prime unless your just anal that way. If there had been any water damage you would want to know about it anyway.

 

[JohnnyM]

PRIME the damn thing. primer is cheaper than paint and if you get a GOOD paint (Kelly Moore) then you will not need 2 coats. we just finished doing 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and an entryway. all rooms were retextured and then we had the same prime/paint decision. the entryway (rather small, 7' x 5' maybe) we decided to just paint....BIG mistake. almost took a whole can of paint b/c we had to do 2 coats. we did the kitchen and our master bath with less than 2 cans of paint b/c we primed the walls and then just used one coat. ditto in the other bathroom - prime and then took about a half can of paint.

primer is CHEAP so take advantage of it and then buy GOOD QUALITY paint (not that Behr **** from HD, which will require 2 coats probably even after primer)

 

[ReyDelSol]

I contend that it depends on the type of paint on the wall right now.

If it is flat, and a lighter color than you are painting with = no prime
If it is flat, but likely to show through your paint = prime
If it is semi-gloss or higher = prime

One way to test is to brush some on a small section and let it dry for a day or so. If you're happy with it, paint away. If not, prime it.

 

[NickDanger]

New texture will absorb a lot of paint and make for uneven coverage. That's why you had to redo. Fresh paint serves the same purpose as a primer.

 

[EEE]

i agree with Rey.

i always use behr paint. was pleased to find that consumer reports rated it their best interior paint, over sherwin williams, benjamin moore, and others. they also had high praise for kilz paint from walmart. it's cheaper than most and comes in pourable plastic jugs. i'm tempted to try that for my next project.

if you prime, the paint store can tint the primer to the new color for free. at least home depot does.

 

[txzen]

Priming is overkill unless you have a dark wall you are planning on painting much lighter - then the primer really helps.

Just paint it, but plan on two coats.

 

[JohnnyM]

i still don't see why you'd want to pay for 2 coats of paint when you can do 1 primer and 1 paint for less? someone please help me see the logic here?

also, regarding behr, it blows. the two rooms we used it in both took 2 coats of paint, one of them even over a primer. one was a dark color, one light, so the color wasn't the issue. also the SMELL of behr paint is terrible. it stuck in our one bedroom for literally weeks. the kelly moore we just used over the weekend we already can't smell.

 

[slcskihorn2]

I use Benjamin Moore...really good stuff.

Two coats of paint is usually the way to go. If you want a true color without any other colors bleeding through. Primer is fine, too, but I prefer two coats...with a lightly textured wall, the second coat helps you fill in some parts that the first coat missed. One coat, you will usually see some tiny white spots that you thought you got, but missed due to the texture.

 

[Smurfette]

I've used the "Colorplace" paint from Walmart both times I've painted houses-- both times it looked great and we didn't have any problems with it peeling or cracking. Found out later from an interior designer that the walmart paint is made by Sherwin Williams-- but's 10 bucks a gallon.

My expirience is that you just can never tell how many coats you're going to need. I painted over a dark mossy green color with a very light yellow and did two coats, you couldn't see the paint under it al all.

From what I can tell, a light based paint will need multiple coats, and medium base will need one to two, and a dark base will need 2-3, unless it's a really dark color.

Good luck!

 

[txzen]

I've done quite a bit of painting, I have to say, and although the Benjamin Moore paints don't seem to be at the very top of the rankings, I've found the depth/brightness of the colors and durability to be quite good.

That said, I don't see how you can paint in just one coat. Two coats (maybe three if you have a highly textured wall) is the way to go. The second coat usually is pretty light, just to ensure color coverage and make consistent brush/roller marks.

Oh, and in a kitchen, I'd suggest an eggshell and not a "flat", for increased durability and cleaning. I don't like the higher gloss paints, but you could go that way too. The Benjamin Moore eggshell has stood up very well to cooking splatters and the cleaning that follows.

 

[stupidgringo]

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