SW super paint is good, one coat good?, no such thing

Agreed. "One coat" is marketing nonsense. Even if you think a second coat isn't required, you will see the difference when you do it. Super paint is great, but Duration is adequate. If you happen to find a sale on their "HGTV" branded paint, that's quite nice, too.

BM seems to have the best and most extensive color palates for display, which is wonderful. I still don't understand why competitors do it like they do. I like their Regal line.

Thanks, all. Shucks. I was buying into the one-coat thing. I'd better start taking B-12 pills now. Or hire a painter to do some of the rooms. Glad to hear SW is good, though. They have great sales fairly frequently, I read, so I'm hoping to hit one of them. I haven't seen any Benjamin Moore sales. I need to contain costs. Thanks!

I use SW a lot---and never buy the most expensive type.

Reason? It lasts so long, the wife will change her color preference before the paint needs replacing---up to 15 years.

In this particular case, I think one coat would be adequate. It's just white over white and I noticed on another thread that Bpollen is selling the house in a few months. The buyer will most likely repaint to suit themselves before the ink on the deed is dry. I want to be clear, I'm not saying it's OK or ethical to paint over problems, just that a great job isn't necessary.

Thanks for the tips. Yes, I'm going to try to sell the house - hence, all the interior painting. (It needed painting, anyway.) I'll try to get by with one coat, since I'm doing white over white. I MAY do a light tan in one or two rooms, for interest. In those rooms, I expect two coats will be needed.

I've used a ton of SW over the years, no problems and it looks great.

To make it look the best, for any line, spend some time prepping. Especially if you are selling. Patch any dings and holes, then sand when dry to make it flat. Easy and cheap, but makes a huge difference. Then wipe the walls to remove the dust. If you have a lot of patching, prime first, especially for one coat so it looks even instead of blotchy. And don't forget to cut in.

If I was looking at houses I'd be very suspect of a poor paint job. What else wasn't done properly? Painting at my house is a royal PIA. The jackass that we bought from patched the more noticeable holes, but didnt sand before painting. So prep is a bear. The one room I did myself looks like new walls now, but took forever. They also almost matched the beige when they painted, but it was a shade or two off and they didnt cut in. Looks horrible and I cringe every night. We had more pressing matters, so painting has been very slow.

Get a good brush to cut in with, a decent size. Get a nice roller handle. Consider an elevated work platform ($50 or so) if you have a few rooms to cut in, I watched my GCs painter use one in the kitchen and I'm definitely getting one next time I paint. The small investment is well worth it when you find out how much it costs to hire someone!

You can get away with one coat. Here are a couple of tips to pull it off:

1. Prep very well. Spackle all the dings, sand them and spot prime all those spackle marks with the same paint you are using.

2. Apply a full coat. No dry rolling. You can't achieve this with a roller tray, so don't even have one around. Paint straight out of a 5 gallon bucket with a roller screen. Put it on as heavy as it will go and then back roll to smooth out all the runs. Keep a wet edge. Or use an airless sprayer and backroll. I think the weenie rollers lay on a better coat and leave a smoother finish.

We almost never have to do two coats if the color is a close match.

Sherwin Williams Harmony is a good choice for low VOC's and low odor. Also Benjamin Moore Ultra Spec 500 is great paint with no odor at all.

Thanks, Williamsen and Aidan. Some very good tips. Yes, I was going to fill/patch the holes and such, but I didn't know you had to prime over them. Will do that.

Painting will be a pain, but I've chosen to do as much of that as possible, since it IS something I can do to save costs. There are a lot of things that I can't do to save costs (the new granite countertops, etc.), so will do the things I can. Then if I have to hire someone to do a couple of the rooms, that's fine. Thanks!