Red walls to white in one coat of paint?

sprocket87 — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 09:12:03 -0800

Does one-coat paint really work? Or: What's the fastest and cheapest way to paint a red room white? We're moving from our apartment at the end of the month and per our contract must return all walls to white. The living room and hallway area is currently painted a deep reddish color, with some lighter reddish-orange wash effect on top of that.

My landlord said there is no specific paint or variety we must use as long as it is white. So I'm trying to find the absolute fastest, and preferably cheapest, way to cover these red walls with white.

I've read that some one-coat paints are quite effective at covering most anything in one coat if the instructions are followed exactly (proper saturation and coverage, etc). Can anyone tell me what brand / variety to look at, and what the odds are of me getting it done in 1 coat?

I've also heard that you have to primer the walls first for it to work - is that true for one-coat paints? The walls were painted red just over a year ago, if that makes a difference to their porousness or ability to retain paint. Since we're not required to anything but get it white, I'm not concerned about using a paint that is super-durable or anything, just as long as I don't have to do several coats.

Thanks all!

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Red walls to white in one coat of paint?