Help me with paint/primer

tawillers

What brands do you like?  Would you use the paint & primer in one stuff or should I buy an actual primer separate from the paint?

We need to cover two bright red and two bright blue walls with a light shade of gray.

thatgrrrrl

I'm no help with this. Unless it's a set or just plain white paint i'm useless.

hmonkey

i know a pro painter, and he told me to go with benjamin moore paints and kilz2 if you need a primer.

6fsn

Definitely use the kilz, but check the price of Benjamin Moore.  I want to say that was the brand at $40/gal.  Since you are going to a light shade I wouldn't worry about gettng an all in one.  I've used several brands of paint and they've all been the same, so check for sales.  I just plan on 2 coats regardless.

Bear in mind that primer is very runny and may not look like it actually covers the color.  The walls do not need to look white for it to work.

tawillers

Cool.  I'll check them out.  I've seen commercials for the valspar paint & primer at Lowes but I don't know anyone who has tried it.

DG1

The D&R board might be able to help, although they are SW hoars, and seriously, it's not worth $40/gallon. 

I have heard good things about the kilz combo primer/color, but to cover red or dark blue - that's asking a lot.  Either way, you're going to need 1-2 coats of primer and 1-2 coats of color, so yeah, maybe 3-4 coats of the combo will work just as well.

GBCK

kilz is wonderful

vaspar is OK
Behr is OK.

Glidden is the debil.

*Barbie*

Kilz is awesome - we used it on our old (damp) basement and it held up well.

We pained our last house with Behr and didn't have any issues - i fell in love with this dark blue color and did the living/dining/family room with it. hopefully the new owners like it, otherwise it will be a huge PITA to cover.

dharmabunny

If you use kilz and you're concerned about paint fumes DO NOT get their low VOC anything, just buy latex kilz.  Gassed my pg a$$ out of a closed up room for close to a month.

The SW is OK (I got their low VOC paint, less fumes than average, still had its issues), not exactly worth the $$$, but I used coupons for most of it.

I think next time, I'll just use Behr or Valspar and save the $.

nicoleg1982

Ditto on the Kilz.  That stuff works great, and you can have it tinted to go with the paint color, which may save you a second paint coat.  

We've used SW and Valspar and Ralph Lauren and loved them all equally.  ::shrug::  IMO, it's all the same damn stuff.