Painting over dark walls? Try a gray primer first.

I spent 6 hours doing 4 coats of white paint over a navy blue bedroom before a guy at Rona told me to use a gray tinted primer. Saved me 2 hours on the next room and it actually covered in 2 coats. Anyone else have a paint trick that saved them time?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnson.daniel1mo ago

Oh man, dark red is a whole different beast! I did a deep burgundy wall a few years back and the gray primer trick still worked for me, but I had to use a high-hide primer tinted a bit darker than usual. @jadew63, I found that two coats of primer and then two coats of the lighter color did the job for me. Just make sure to really stir the primer good before you start, that's what made the difference on my end.

jadew631mo ago

Ask if the gray primer trick works for going from dark red to lighter colors too, or is that a whole different nightmare?

blake32221d ago

jadew63, that gray primer trick definitely works for dark red too. I went from a deep maroon to a pale beige and thought I was in for a nightmare. Tried a tinted gray primer first time and it cut the coats down by half. Just make sure you get a high hide primer and tint it a bit darker than normal like johnson.daniel said. I stirred mine extra good and rolled it on thick but not drippy, let it dry fully overnight. Two coats of that plus two coats of the lighter color and it looked perfect, no ghosting at all. Red is stubborn but the gray primer does the heavy lifting lol.