Looks great!

These days, it's not unusual for a color - not necessarily a brand - to cover in two coats. And, my gosh, considering how expensive paint has gotten, it's the least we should expect!

Bloggers in particular seem to promote the meme across the interwebs that you need primer to cover up a dark color.

You don't.

That's not what primer is for. Thinking about primer that way is actually backwards.

Primer is all about prepping the surface for the NEW coat and tinting to support the NEW color. Primer has nothing to do with the old color - even if it's black.

If you choose a top tier like Emerald, you will only need to do two coats. Unless the *color* is flagged as needing a tinted undercoat.

Funny, I just bought my 3rd can of the SW Emerald paint on Friday. I choose a very dark color Overseas and the clerk suggested this paint. My 3rd can was bought because when my painter put 2 coats on over a light gray color it did not cover as well as I would have liked.
Was it the paint quality? Don't know, maybe it was that it's up my stairs and it does get brushed up against more than the same paint/color as on a wall in my family room.

I tried SW in a light shade to paint over dark Douglas fir walls and ceilings in my lake house. It took two to three heavy coats to cover. Someone told me to buy Kilz paint so I had them make up the Kilz in the same formula, it covered in ONE coat. We couldn't believe it. That was five years ago and still holding up.

It's about the color.

A lighter color does not guarantee opacity. Yellow is a good example. Even some blues will take an extra coat or require a tinted undercoat.

Same with dark and vivid colors. Because of the colorants involved, some are naturally opaque while others are shear.

To keep it simple, always buy top tier or near top tier in whatever brand you want.

Always, always, always ask the store about the COLOR and if its colorants will affect how well it covers. You have to ask about light colors. You have to ask about midtone colors. You have to ask about dark colors. You have to ask about vivid colors.

Buy the best paint you can afford and ask questions about the color first, ask questions about the color mixed in the brand/grade you selected second.

Funcolors,

Would what you are describing be the same as w/ red colors in general? I used to color my hair red and my colorist always told me that red fades the fastest because of the size of the pigments or something in the color is larger than in other colors, therefor red is more sheer because of this.

I always took this to be the same for red paint as it always seemed to be so much sheerer in color when I painted it on the walls if not using a tinted primer and even then it would take more coats than other colors.

Yep. Exactly.

Some red paint colors will color very well. Others are very shear and requires tinted primer PLUS multiple top coats.

It's a matter of inorganic vs. organic pigments. Inorganic are known to be opaque and dull. Organic are known to be transparent and vivid.

And the quality of the base matters a little too; how much titanium dioxide, fillers etc.

People will often blame the paint for poor coverage when the truth of the matter is the color they chose would *likely* behave the same, not cover very well, no matter what brand they bought.

It's 99% about the color.

Mystery solved. I've been feeling a little like I was hoodwinked when I spent the extra cash to buy SW for the interior walls of our new (to us) house.

It had previously been paneled so we had all new drywall installed. We used the SW drywall primer but it still took three coats of Sea Salt to really look finished.

A few weeks later we tried taking down the exterior shutters but the siding was stained beneath them so we had to put them back up. Didn't want to make the run all the way to SW so we picked up Behr in Dill green to paint over something I'd call pine-ish. Even though they were shutters (hard to paint period), and vinyl (even harder), and we were painting light over dark, and we used no primer -- they covered really well in just two coats.

I've been stewing about the money I thought I wasted for a few weeks now. After reading this I feel better. Thanks!

I do think that it's expensive but it always goes on our business acct so I am not sure of the exact cost.

BAD IDEA .... you need to keep your home finances separate from the business stuff. It makes the tax people twitchy when people use business accounts for personal expenses.

As to the paint, I'm not overly impressed ... I would expect to get full coverage with one good coat of Glidden's cheap "High Hide White" primer from Home Depot followed by one good coat of any decent $15+ interior grade paint.

Funcolors, thanks for that explanation. I always look for opaque and almost dull colors as I prefer them so that explains why my paint covered in one coat. I thought it was the brand because it's considered very reliable but it's the opacity. ty.

Thanks lazygardens (do you know how hard it is to get auto correct to NOT 'fix' you name lol?!). Everything is paid for separately. There is no special discount or tax break on the Home Job. It is simply an in house store account that I pay off by the end of the month.

Yayagal - I didn't put it together in my head until I read your post. Now I'll carry that w/ me.

Interesting about the organic vs inorganic!

Buying the best grade you can afford is never, never, never a mistake. Never.

You get what you pay for when it comes to paint. The pricing is very competitive which is very good for us (the consumers) and it is literally a science - like, down to the drop.

Sometimes with the boutique brands you are paying a couple extra bucks for the branding - but it's a couple dollars, only. Priced per square foot (I have done the math) the boutique brands are around 5 cents more per square foot compared to equivalent grades. Five cents. That's all.

Many are surprised to learn that there are strategies and it is not as simple as this brand is crap and this brand is awesome.

Even the best quality of paint has the potential to be an epic fail if it's not a good fit for the project and/or if it's spec'd in the wrong color.

I've leveraged the less expensive brands/grades too. For example, sometimes you don't need paint to last for ten years.

But the color and coverage thing is always important - because whether going big and long term with top tier product or getting by on the cheap and short term, nobody wants to paint more coats than necessary. Ergo, color strategies and why I say it's 99% about the color.