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This is a painting question but there is a lot more activity here so if you don't mind, I'll ask here too.
I painted my daughter's wall red but when purchasing the paint, no sales person told me what to expect or steps to follow for such a bright colour. After 6 coats of paint, the wall looks awful. How can I clean it up to look nice?

Thank you.

Hi. Though I have yet to paint a wall or room red I have heard that a gray primer coat is best. You did not state what color you applied the red coats over, but having to apply six coats of any color and STILL not achieving even coverage is indeed puzzling, not to mention costly and labor intense. I would contact the paint company with valid concerns. Good luck with a satisfactory resolution and please post back with your findings.

I used regular primer because I wasn't informed about how to deal with red.

For best coverage the primer should be tinted the wall color. It has been my experience that the cheaper the paint, the more coats it will take to cover.
To achieve a dark color when mixing paint, a less opaque medium is used so the tint can be more intense. As a result, the coverage isn't as good as a lighter value. I have used Benjamin Moore or Pratt & Lambert in dark blue, burgundy and dark brown and usually 3-4 coats is more than sufficient. If you have applied 6 coats and it still isn't covering, you might want to finish off the wall with a better quality paint.

We're both correct. This tip is from Lowes.com

If your paint is a deep color such as red, use a gray or matching tinted primer to match the paint. The tinted primer will reduce the number of coats necessary.

I also agree that the quality of your paint brand will impact it's depth of pigmentation and impact even coverage.

Thank you to both but the paint has already been applied. I'm looking to fix it up now. I purchased the paint at Lowes and nobody walked me through any details. So now it needs to be fixed.

When I painted my front door red the info on the paint chip card gave me the info I needed so I started out with a green door. So I thought about it and said most red fruits are green first. Did it that way and I love my red door just the color I wanted

Also, in applying paint:
IF you roll the paint on, look up on Google search (how to apply paint with a roller) and you will see directions to apply the roller.
AND IF you just applied paint to your wall, then roll over it a more than a couple of strokes, you are actually removing paint!

I saw you put down 6 coats, but you didn't mention having to purchase more paint for those coats.

What 'sheen' was your paint? If you picked a paint with more sheen you would notice spots where the sheen varies where the paint is not as thick as other areas so it looks blotchy.

When I use a sheen, I paint the first coat in flat or eggshell, then apply more sheen for top coat for a better adhesion of the paint layers.

Also, when antique silver leafing was done, the base coat was red (sang-de-boeuf or ox blood). Sometimes another color under the top coat can make the shadow that comes through create a richer final tone.

Light refracts off surfaces, so the sheen and light (such as sun direction) affect a color. If you have a lot of green trees outside the window, or have a carpet or wood floor that has a prominent color, it can pull out those shadows more so than if the surrounding surfaces fight it.

What color is your flooring?
What direction does the windows face? (N,S,E,W)
What color is your trim?
Is this an orange-red or a blueish red or rose red, or crayola crayon red (true red)?
What color was on the wall before you painted?
What kind of primer did you use? If not Shellac based, might have let color come through.

Depending on how level your coats of paint are, there will be areas where the paint does not look 'level'.

quote:

Originally posted by icecream:
When I painted my front door red the info on the paint chip card gave me the info I needed so I started out with a green door. So I thought about it and said most red fruits are green first. Did it that way and I love my red door just the color I wanted

GREAT advice on that paint chip! The green is the opposite on the color wheel of the true red. So, the green 'shadow' behind the paint grayed the red a bit so that the color appeared richer, and balanced.

Our eyes constantly look for the gray balance in colors. That is why Holiday colors feel good to us, red and green for example. Together they are balanced because they are opposite on the color wheel.

And when mixing two colors opposite on the color wheel, (if a balanced mix is achieved) then the color result is a WARM gray or tan. IF black and white are mixed they result in a COOL gray.

It is not as complicated as it sounds, but it explains why we do certain things with color to get it to 'work'.

We can actually affect our body temperatures and moods by the color of the room. Orange is the loudest color (by some explanations for color responses) and it also affects appetite for example. So, if you want to go on a diet, for example, do not paint your kitchen Orange! LOL

Color can also make people feel sea sick if mixed wrong, such as yellow with a touch of green! They tried that in submarines (sunshine yellow and green for nature). Mistake, made people feel sick.

I'd trot back to Lowes with receipts in hand and voice your disapproval of the end result. Take photos of the wall with you. Go right to management. If you properly prepped and applied the paint as directed on the cans, you have recourse. I am confident they will do something to satisify you who are probably one of their loyal customers. Let us know what steps they were willing to do to remedy the situation.

I don't know if this Lowes consumer report relates to your experience or not but I'm offering it just in case...

http://www.epinions.com/review...nt_497239428740?sb=1

Found this troubleshooting article.. note no. 4...
POOR PAINT HIDE
If you can see the surface or previous color through the paint film, the condition is poor hide.

Cause: There are generally three causes for poor paint hide:

Inferior paint quality
Use of cheap brushes and rollers
Overspreading of the paint beyond its recommended spread rate
Solution:

1: Premium quality paints with adequate quantities of good hiding pigments will yield excellent hide, and will do so with fewer coats for similar colors
2: Use quality brushes and rollers, specific for the kind of paint and surface you are painting
3: Follow label instructions on coverage and adjust for surface porosity—a porous surface will absorb paint at an uneven rate
4: Dramatic color changes benefit from a specialty primer like a high hiding primer or tintable primer
5: Bare wood and drywall should be sealed with a primer before painting

As far as buying paint at the big boxed stores like HD and Lowe's.

I have personally questioned the paint person, the manager of paint dept. AND the manager.
I wanted to make sure I didn't mess things up with water based and oil based products.

What I was told:
Lowe's in particular got out of the 'specialty' paints and finishes, so no 'expert' is hired nor is it required (unless a person who does that for a hobby happens to work there and you luck out and find him the day you shop). I checked a the 4 Lowe's in my area and got similar answers.

I was told to go to a shop that specializes in 'artist' type projects or consult with a special paint finish company. There are some online who sell products to do their projects with compatible products.

Who would have thought that just painting walls, and or furniture or cabinets would ever be called 'specialty' finishes?

The world of paint CHANGED with VOC rulings... so we have to wait for the stores to 'catch up' with their knowledge of such products? LOL