No matter how you feel about painting: love it, hate it, we have to do it. Unless of course you hire it out, but since most of you are DIYers like me, we do the painting. Here’s a question you may or may not have asked yourself:
Can Paint and Primer in One REALLY Replace Primer?
I’m Betsy from Happily Ever After, Etc. and I can’t believe that I’m here to chat with all of you on Create & Babble today! I met Jeanie at Haven last month and she is just the sweetest gal. I was ecstatic when she invited me over to talk to y’all about paint… something near and dear to my heart.
On my blog you’ll find a little home décor, a little DIY and a whole lot of paint! I’ve been painting everything I could get my hands on since I was a little girl but it wasn’t until later in life that I learned how to paint walls (being an Army brat they really discouraged that kind of thing on base!).
Once I started painting I realized that walls are like Pringles… you can’t paint just one! I learned everything I could about painting the inside of your home and then I started working at the local paint store! Now I spend my days mixing paint and answering questions… and I’m here to share a little bit of that knowledge with you!
I know what y’all are thinking… why do I need primer? Isn’t there paint with the primer already in it? That sounds so much easier!
Yes, it sounds way easier and in some circumstances it would work just fine. Unfortunately paint & primer is really code for “extra thick paint that covers way better than normal paint or paint without primer.”
Okay… so what does that mean for you? If you’re painting over a light color… beige, yellow, white, light blue etc then you’re fine. Consider that lighter color your primer coat and feel free to go ahead with your paint & primer fully confident that your paint will cover beautifully.
If you’re going over a darker color? Like a black, red or hot pink? Girl, you are going to need some primer. Trust me on this!
Think of it this way. A darker color like black is going to take 3-4 coats to cover as opposed to a lighter color. Now let’s be generous and say you only need 3 coats to cover… wouldn’t you rather do a coat of primer (which is much less expensive than paint) and then 2 coats of paint? Other wise you’ve just paid premium price for 3 layers of paint on your wall. No bueno.
I don’t know about y’all but I like to pay the least amount possible for the best product possible. If you’re like me than primer is your best answer.
One coat of primer and two coats of paint will give you the ultimate best coverage. Plus your paint will look truer to color… there’s nothing worse than a gorgeous blue paint color with a hint of hot pink underneath. Yuck.
Now let’s go out on a limb and say you’re painting over a dark brown with light beige. How dark is the brown? If it’s more than 3 steps up on the color strip primer will help to cover.
Otherwise use your best judgment…. Two coats of light beige over a medium brown will probably cover.
I say probably because there’s always the suborn color that refuses to be covered… we hate that color. It usually shows up at the most inconvenient times. So use this as a good guideline… and when in doubt prime!
Now there’s always the odd story out of “but my crimson red covered beautifully with only one coat… with no primer!” We’ve all been there. When my hubby and I moved into our very first apartment and were still learning the hubby and I painted one coat of light blue over a dark red wall.
I don’t think our paint was even the paint and primer kind… just the cheapest stuff we could possibly get at Home Depot! It worked just fine for the year we were there… I daresay you couldn’t even detect a hint of the red (although there were horrid lights in that little rat hole so it might have been a different story in a well lite home!).
If I went back to that rat hole now many years later? I’m sure that my one coat of paint wouldn’t have held up to many the years of abuse the way a proper coat of primer and 2 coats of paint would have.
I don’t know about y’all but I will always prefer to paint once and be done over having to pull out the supplies and having to re-paint the wall every couple years because of natural wear and tear… and if you have kiddos (or husbands!) you know what I mean by natural wear and tear!
I swear my husband doesn’t know how to talk past a wall without leaving some kind of a mark behind… usually in the form of knocking something to the floor.
Of course after so many years of being the paint lady I’ve learned a thing or two… and instead of keeping it all to myself I’m sharing it with you in a little eBook called Inside the Paint Can: Beginner Tips and Tricks for Interior Painting!
Painting your home can be a daunting task but it doesn’t have to be. So if you’re ready to make painting a little less confusing you’ll love all 10 chapters of this book… it’s jam packed with the answers to all kinds of fun painting questions!
Thank you so much to Jeanie for having me today and thank YOU for reading! I’d love to have you over for a visit at Happily Ever After, Etc… hope to see you there!
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