How do I shot INTERIOR PAINT?

I am moving into a new apartment. It is painted hideous bright colors and it is the worst paint job I've ever seen. Like, BAD. It will need primer and it will need paint but I'm not willing to invest lots of money per gallon into painting something I'm renting. SO:

What should I do for primer? A lot of things online seem to recommend Kilz 2 for covering up bright thangs
What should I do for paint? It will be eggshell; Consumer Reports says Behr Premium Plus is decent for the price (it's like $20) but most other outlets seem to think it's complete shit. Should I be going to Sherwin Williams and spending like $35/gallon on something fancyish? I have never done any of this before.

Please help me.

pro tips: wash walls with a TSP substitute type cleaner. then sand everything down first with 60 or 80 grit sand paper, just a really light go-over.

I'd use Kilz and cheaper paint like Ace, you might need two coats but it's still cheaper iirc

a good brush is very helpful for cutting straight lines (especially if you haven't done it much), but they can be like $15-20 and you might do OK with a cheaper one.

only one coast of primer after the light sanding btw

Sand EVERYTHING?

what's the condition of the walls? I don't think sanding is necessary in most cases.

Also do I need special kitchen/bathroom paint for kitchens and bathrooms or can I just use what I'm using for the other rooms?

sanding gives it "tooth", makes the primer and paint stick better - it depends on how thick/glossy the original coat is I guess, but you definitely want to clean the walls first even if you don't sand (I am talking about a very lazy run-the-paper-over-everything-once kind of process)

no special kitchen/bathroom paint necessary, there is special caulk but let's not go there

http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad184/sdolnack/1052C8FA-7131-4656-BF99-652E6AD5F7AB_zps74nbedpi.jpg

http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad184/sdolnack/FE19B1FA-431A-4E64-9062-303810152F82_zpsxkbbcy4s.jpg

good lord, that is awful - bad paint job as well as dubious color choice

on the bright side it looks thin and should cover up easily

Oh hey that's what my room looked like too, except it was yellow and orange and SPONGED onto the walls. I sanded, wiped down with a rag sprinkled with paint thinner to catch the dust, then primed with a standard brand primer (not a KILZ one--I saved that for the bathroom), then rolled on two coats of light grey. The brand was whatever they sell at Home Depot. Behr? Maybe.

I also spackled holes and cracks in the walls, and redid some woodwork, and did my whole coved ceiling, but if you skip all those things it will go a lot faster.

In terms of brands, though -- for a shitty rental that I'll probably only be in for a few years, will Behr PP or PP Ultra suffice or should I *really* be getting something else (idk Valspar, Sherwin Williams, etc)? I will not spend more than like $35/gallon and even then I hope to spend less

I've used lots of Behr paint in the past and have never had any problems with it.

No, those cheaper ones are fine. As I understand it, one of the main virtues of expensive paint is how well it holds up over time, and I mean like a decade-plus, but no one who rents has that long a timeline anyway.

Cheaper is fine, but don't go super cheap like whatever horrid Walmart paint I once tried out thinking "paint is paint, who cares."

Horrible paint is horrible and will possibly make you do horrible things to yourself/others. You don't need to go premium, but don't go bottom of the barrel. Trust.

That said, with a really good paint you could probably get away with just two coats, no primer, spend less time and $$$ overall.

Also get a good brush for cutting in. A little spendy but worth it imo because you can use it over and over and over for decades.

Let me know if you need protips on how to delay cleaning your brushes without ruining them (hint: it involves saran wrap and the freezer)

I like the Behr that has a 'built-in primer' a lot for the price (I think that's Premium Plus) - every bit as good as the better commercial grade paints we used to buy from Kelly-Moore or Sherwin Williams.

I wouldn't bother sanding - I've only ever done that over oil-based surfaces that were still very slick.

Let me know if you need protips on how to delay cleaning your brushes without ruining them (hint: it involves saran wrap and the freezer)

oooh this is so much better than my "wrap in damp towel" method

http://image.atvrideronline.com/f/31017804/0909_atvp_04_z+tricks_into_repairing_your_atv+blue_tape.jpg

seriously, blue tape is way better than regular masking tape

whoa, don't go indiscriminately sanding the old paint unless you know the apartment was built after 1978; otherwise you'll kick up a cloud of dust from lead-based paint which is dangerous to breathe in, especially for kids.

I don't know which brand is best having only used a few, but i'd steer clear of the really cheap stuff which is thin and watery and will cost you just as much money and more work because you'll need a third or fourth coat to cover the garish old colors. If you don't like the smell of new paint, S-W Harmony is odorless even when still wet (but rather expensive; use the coupon on their website). Behr Premium Plus worked well when I used it, but I was covering off-white with off-white so don't know how well hides darker/brighter colors.

Kitchens and bathrooms don't necessarily need special paint, but it's common to use a satin or semi-gloss finish (or at least eggshell) because they tend to be easier to scrub clean than flat paint. There are some acrylic paints that are especially durable.

You have to inhale a lot of lead-based paint (or asbestos from a popcorn ceiling) before there's any danger.

good point on the semi-gloss finish being easier to clean xp

definitely don't go with flat

and forget I mentioned sanding, I own my house so I am obsessive about painting it

just echoing everyone else, but yeah: semi-gloss, get the blue tape, I've had good luck with Behr paint+primer. I think the worst I covered up was a yellow color on my porch and only some spots needed a quick second coat.

eggshell looks nice but would suck in a rental, I think? I may have used eggshell in my bedroom. I'll check when I get home.

flat walls gloss trim (semigloss in bathrooms though)

yeah, that is good

I can't remember if the flat/gloss terms are the same across paint brands and I might be one notch off in my ratings, here

Nay, nay, nay to semi-gloss walls. Go with a washable flat or eggshell.

Flat/eggshell walls, semi-gloss trim

flat for walls that aren't kitchen or bathroom, unless you want that shiny porn-y look

get one of these paint wands with a (replaceable) felt pad - very convenient for corners where a roller won't reach, and for dabbing small areas where the old paint still shows through, or irregularly shaped areas. Brushes can be used for this too of course, but they sometimes leave a noticeably different texture esp. when using glossier paints.

http://www.padco.com/ImagesUpload/82120.jpg

milo otm re paint finishes. I did use semi-gloss in my bathroom bc there's no ventilation in there and even a warm shower causes the walls to literally drip with condensation, but that's a special situation.

Also I don't bother with painter's tape anymore, I just use a little angle brush for cutting in. In an old house, windows and walls are never straight anyway so straight tape lines look weird and uneven.

sarahell otm about blue tape.

quincie otm about a good brush and MOR paint brand. milo otm about washable flat/eggshell for walls, semi-gloss for trim.

in orbit otm about filling holes and cracks beforehand.

As for how many coats: you have to feel your forward on that after each coat dries. After two coats usually all you should need is a bit of touching up here or there, but it's one of those things where you have to be there to see.

the key function of the tape is so you don't get paint on the floor or in electrical outlets

Oh, that's easy! You unscrew the face plates of electrical outlets so you can roller right up to the edges of the hole in the drywall. Everywhere else, I cut in by hand, like I said, but maybe that's a little OCD for everyone who just wants to make their rental apt not-chartreuse.

yeah take the face plates off, much easier

it's easier to tape over them when you are using a roller, then take the tape off and use a small brush to do the edges.

i don't want to turn this into a pizza topping style ilx thread, but until this thread, i have never heard of people taking the outlet plates off when painting walls

I did it for years, but there seem to be a lot of regional variations in painting styles

I've heard of people taping around them, mostly because when I move in and notice tiny white lines around everything, I think poorly of the former inhabitants.

Although tbh most commonly I see that someone NEITHER removed nor taped off, because there's wall paint sloshed on everything including light switch plates, floors, window glass, etc.

You could do like the painting contractors that my landlord keeps hiring and just paint over the outlets.

xp yes exactly like that.

If I had my druthers I would do flat white walls with semi-gloss or gloss trim, but in a rental and in rooms where the walls will probably get touched at some point I am going to do eggshell (unless I can find this magical washable flat??) with semi-gloss trim (the trim is in awful condition and glossy would prob not look great).

I am actually taking my paintspiration from NOTED ILXOR LXY's house, which is a gorgeously done white wall with very bright, luxurious trim w/ a diff color in each room. I hope it will look OK.

ime, brightly colored trim works best in a room where there is neither too much of it, nor too little, and the trim has at least a hint of decorative intention (has some shape to it).

Behr Premium Plus is a washable flat.

Also goodness how do I pick a white? Aren't there like 80 different whites? What do I avoid? I def want a brighter white and not a very yellowy one but I don't want it to look like a hospital

always remove light covers. hell, if it's around a door and it's your house, pop the trim off

Stevie, you are very right about whites, but there's a hilarious page in that book from the Unhappy Hipsters book where it has a guide on choosing white paint with a bunch of barely different colors on the page :D

i don't think steady hand alone will give you a straight enough edge

although you are "tracer hand"!

yes i am.

if you try to use masking tape to make a line you will end up with a jagged globby mess.

when you pull off the tape, that is a distinct possibility. however, if you cut the tape off using a utility knife and a straight edge
(do not use this idea)

Jesus, don't use ANY of these ideas. Just paint the goddamn line with a good angle brush and go slowly and don't be afraid to load up more paint on the brush for a solid edge. Keep a damp rag in your pocket to wipe up smudges if necessary.

:)

in orbit otm

er isn't that what i said?

yes! I almost C&P'd your response too

sorry i'm a bit sensitive at the moment. i'm not sure what's up. i'm going to make some coffee, i think that'll straighten me out.

The tape is a prophylactic against errant paint. Tracer Hand and in orbit otm about using a steady hand and an angle brush to achieve straight* lines.

*lines do not actually have to be absolutely straight, but should be clean and continuous, and closely track the edge of the trim.

oh yeah, if you ever paint a ceiling, use copious dropcloths

My hand is way too gay to successfully paint a straight line

Highly recommend painting the ceiling unless it is a popcorn ceiling, in which case I highly recommend throwing yourself off a bridge

I swear regularly at whoever popcorned most of my ceilings. But I have kindly family who helped with the repainting. Roll, roll, roll.

oh god those things suck up SO MUCH FUCKING PAINT and it sprays everywhere and god almighty it is like painting a thirsty sponge.

I would love to paint my house inside but all the walls are textured and I want them to not be textured but I don't want a) spend money b) do anything really at all that involves a lot of sanding/blasting/scraping/effort so :(

people who texture walls should be murdered

Eh, texture, depending on what it is, isn't horrible.

Honestly, you can't really scrape texture off modern walls easily. If your house is old enough to have plaster it may be possible, but drywall is really hard to scrape without breaking into it. The best way to get a smooth surface is actually to have someone put drywall over your walls and do a good job on the taping/smoothing, or replacing drywall.

I have a weird half story upstairs where I've scraped/removed and resurfaced the ceiling my skim coating it with mixed results.

house is old but the texturing is relatively new, so: drywall

my house has a lot of drywall-over-plaster-with-lathe

Cannot be bothered to paint the ceilings but I will paint the dropped ceiling in the kitchen and bathroom which will be a chore

I have textured walls, but I don't mind it. The faux-adobe fits with the '20s LA bungalow style of the place.

Oh Tracer, I wasn't yelling at YOU. It was the whole tape and knife thing that flipped me out.

bwahaha

Time for an update.

How did it go, Mr. D?

i gotta start another room soon

I painted our hallway last week. Lots of trim work: four doors, six doorways, five cupboards, & a baseboard. It looks nicer than it has in decades.

It went well! I got high-hiding primer from lowes and picked out v nice colors and my place just looks great.

deez r crooked but the colors show p accurately

http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad184/sdolnack/604EC4EB-8516-4B6C-BD0B-26E9079D4410_zpsna9ny0gi.jpg

http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad184/sdolnack/0EFD644D-2A76-4779-B24D-28B69ECFF7DE_zpsksn6xq9b.jpg

and the before:
http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad184/sdolnack/1052C8FA-7131-4656-BF99-652E6AD5F7AB_zps74nbedpi.jpg

oh that looks AWESOME Stevie D!

stevie d, it looks beautiful!

i never saw this till today; thanks for the compliment upthread! i've been meaning to show you that we finally finished painting our kitchen, including the floor:

http://magicflakes.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/image-e1405206981700.jpg

hurray for orange and white kitchens!

omg

i am thinking of doing those colors in my bedroom. the walls would be gray but i have a dresser i need to paint and it might be green. then i am going to get a mustard or orangish bedspread.

how did you paint yr floor? i mean, what kinda paint did you use, what flooring do you have?

harbl that sounds wonderful.

veg grrl, we used glidden porch and floor paint (3 coats) and then a glossy non-toxic coating called safecoat (2 coats) to cover the very hideous vinyl tiles.

eventually we'll tear the vinyl (and linoleum underneath) out and replace with marmoleum but it'll be part of a bigger project that will involve getting rid of everything so it has to wait a while. in the meantime this was a) a good opportunity to confirm that we really do want the color of marmoleum we picked out and b) a way to stop having to look at the very disgusting, stained vinyl that the previous owner installed.

it looks great! we have vinyl sheet flooring & it's so gross i hate it

paint that shit right up!

(it was kind of a pain in the ass to do and despite the protective coating it had a tendency
scratched pretty easily at the beginning, but i'm so, so glad we did it.)

:D

two nights ago i spilled a large can of paint in my bathroom.
just wanted to let yall know.

I fervently hope it was water-soluble latex paint. The alternative is too gruesome to contemplate, even this close to Halloween.

I painted my study a very nice shade of deep red / brown when i moved in to my house, not expecting that i would be spending 15 hours a day in it. Roughly once a day since March, someone on a Zoom call has asked me why i am sitting in the dark when it's 10am.

Does anyone have a favourite light, bright paint that isn't pure white? I was thinking Chemise by Little Greene but idk:

https://i.postimg.cc/76KPjmfH/CM.png

This is why deep colors are for accent walls!

There are tons of light colors you can choose from, just invest in a fan deck from a paint company and pick. You can still save the dark color for the wall behind your camera.

The trick is finding light colors that don't read as pastels. I do like pale greys and blues personally.

I'll say it again (as I did way upthread) - whatever color you use, getting good paint is the number one key to success.

we've gone for mister david from little greene for our living room:

https://www.littlegreene.eu/media/catalog/product/cache/3/image/500x430/17f82f742ffe127f42dca9de82fb58b1/2/_/2_-_mister_david_front_door.jpg

can't show an actual pic as i'm in the middle of putting up shelves - in the same colour - so there are no books or paintings to ameliorate the intense yellow.

That is bold!

Light blue / grey always a good choice too xp

That pink is great, ShariVari. Go for it.