Painting Over Red (or Other Dark Colored) Walls
I recently switched rooms with my teenager, whose collection of clothes and books was too large for her 9′ x 10′ bedroom. My larger office would be perfect for her, with its walk-in closet and lovely view of the state capitol four blocks away. The only problem was that my office walls were a deep, rich red, and the teenager is not fond of red. From experience, I knew that painting over red walls with the light aqua blue the teenager chose was going to be a miserable few days of coating and re-coating and coating again. I went to my local home improvement store and spent an hour looking around at paint options that were both economical and practical. What I ended up with made painting over the red walls a simple and pleasant project that took one afternoon to complete.
My first thought was to paint the walls with a popular primer that covers the toughest stains such as water and mold. Then I found the high-hiding primer for less than $20 a gallon. High-hiding primers are made specifically for painting over dark-colored walls. It’s a low-odor, latex solution and best of all, it covers the old color in one coat and dries in 30 minutes. I chose the new paint color and went to counter to have it mixed. Just to be sure I was making the right primer decision, I explained my project to the paint specialist and she agreed that the high-hiding primer would work just fine. She then took the idea of priming dark walls a step further and offered to tint the primer to make it the same color, only 25% lighter.
Fast forward to painting day. I had the room prepped and taped in an hour, then rolled on the high-hiding primer. A half hour later, I rolled on the first coat of paint, then took a break for lunch. When I returned to roll on the second coat, I was taken completely by surprise. The room didn’t need a second coat of paint.
Using no primer or a sub-par primer on dark-colored walls will cost more money in the long run, requiring at least three coats of paint and very possibly many more, depending on the color of the original walls and the color of the new paint. I thought painting over dark-colored walls was destined to be a dismal experience, but happily I was proven wrong.