The problem with red paint...

[cgallery]

A few weeks ago #1 daughter showed me a Pottery Barn catalog w/ an "anywhere desk." You can use it on the floor or the sofa. She asked me if I could make one.

She said she wanted me to paint it red to match a color in her bedspread. Just a couple of months ago I used some Dutch Boy cabinet and trim paint to paint #2 daughter's bedroom dresser and shelves and the paint finish came out beautiful. The color was "Crisp Lettuce" (a light green). The can the stuff comes in says you'll get a porcelain-like finish and boy, they weren't kidding. So I headed back to Menards and bought the same paint but in red.

Long story short, I started noticing a problem immediately. The red just didn't cover. Very blotchy. I figured I could need a few coats, but after the third it was really not much better.

Checking on the Internet I learned that red paint doesn't cover very well. People that have used S-W and B-M paint have reported the same thing. Checking the D-B web site and brochures, they suggest a pigmented primer for use with deep reds. Which is sorta like saying, "here is some great red paint, as long as what you're painting is already red." :-)

I would have normally tested my finish on some scrap, but I thought I was safe given my recent experince with the light green in daugher #2's room.

The question remains: Why is red such a PITA? My theory is that the red pigments are semi-translucent and require more build to deepen, and really require a dark surface for optimum results. But I don't know that for sure.

If I ever go with a darker color again I'll make certain to tint the primer to a deep gray, I guess. I imagine the red would have covered a dark gray kinda nicely. Am I right?

Thanks,
Phil

[Popeye]

I don't have any answers for you but I do appreciate the info on the red paint. I've been planning on painting two walls of my living room in deep red. Now I'm kinda having second thoughts. Pat

[jziegler]

I will say that I had trouble with Sherwin Williams burgandy paint (think that might have even been the name) for the trin in one of the bedrooms. I thought that it was just the fact that it is an "ultradeep" color, the guy at the store warned me about that, as has my parents who used an ultradeep green. Three coats did it pretty well. And that was going over white. Sherwin williams also reccommends the pigmented primer for pretty much all darker colors. I'd try a different brand next time if you use red again, but don't expect it to be a lot better, especially for really deep colors.

Jim

[PALefty]

I don't have the answers to your questions either... but I did paint a few walls deep red. It looks great, but it certainly took a lot of coats to get it that way (even with pigmented primer). I swore I would never do that again. It has been a few years now.. and the pain has worn off, so perhaps I may do it again someday. One thing that drove me crazy.. it was very noticeable where the paint got under the painters tape (that stuff sucks) onto the white ceiling & baseboard. It took a lot of touch-up to make it look good. Of course, a professional who doesn't use the dreaded tape would not have that problem.

[crokett]

I don't have your problem in my living room anymore. LOML has changed her mind enough times in the 1.5yrs we are living there that I have a pretty good base of different shades of red laid down already.

I did find when we did the kitchen that oddly enough a grey primer seemed to work pretty well when it came to the red covering it.

[91FE]

Yup...been there...done that. Someone explained the problem with red paint to me once. It had something to do with the opacity of the pigment, but I forget the specifics.

I too vowed never to paint another wall red as long as I live. My MBR project took a coat of grey primer and 6 coats or red before I was happy. FWIW... I used Behr.

[cgallery]

Yup...been there...done that. Someone explained the problem with red paint to me once. It had something to do with the opacity of the pigment, but I forget the specifics.

I too vowed never to paint another wall red as long as I live. My MBR project took a coat of grey primer and 6 coats or red before I was happy. FWIW... I used Behr.

[ATTACH]2563[/ATTACH]

Nice job on the bedroom, though.

I've heard this is a problem with all deep colors. Red is terrible, but I've experienced (now that I think of it) green issues. And I've heard of blue issues. Grey is no problem. You'd think brown would be a problem but two summers ago I painted my garage brown and it went on in one coat (but I added another). Then I watched the neighbor two doors down paint his garage a dark red and it took four or five coats (over a yellow).

Unfortunately, I thought his trouble was related to poor quality paint or inexperience in painting. Live and learn.

Next time I'm going to try milk paint with acrylic on top. I've always wanted to try milkpaints.

[ElRay]

My MBR project took a coat of grey primer and 6 coats or red before I was happy. FWIW... I used Behr.

We used Behr’s 100% Acrylic Latex (their "scrubbable flat") in the dining room. We mixed-up our own custom color from two different sample deep red's (One was SW's Red Miso and the other was Behr's). We started with Zinser Primer with as much pigment as the paint could take (It will hold more pigment than any other retail primer) over the original "Builder's White". It took two coats of primer to get even coverage and then two coats of top coat.

We didn't think that was too out of place, because the ceiling took two coats of primer and two coats of paint too. We'll see when we do one of the bedrooms in the next few weeks.

Ray

[greencat]

Vary bad experience with a red dinning room. I switched to a short nap roller that helped. Also try not to over work the paint. Make a few clean swipes then move on and return when it dries.

[ElRay]

Vary bad experience with a red dinning room. I switched to a short nap roller that helped. Also try not to over work the paint. Make a few clean swipes then move on and return when it dries.

Right, forgot that. We also used those really smooth foam rollers. We wanted the wall to look like it was sprayed without actually masking-off everything we didn't want Red.