It seems that this might be a good time to talk a bit about paint. The good, the bad, and the truly horrible.
I started this project knowing that I would be using a lot of paint and wallpaper ... I just didn't have a clear idea of how much paint and wallpaper I would actually need .... or how much it had changed since the last time I had done either. And change, as we all know, is not always for the better no matter how the spin doctors try to sell it. This is terribly true in the case of the current state of wallpaper, but I will save that for a later post. For now, let's just talk paint.
Oil? Latex? Let me say right off the bat that neither will come off clothing and both cling well to skin and hair. Now that we have established that fact, how do they stay on walls or woodwork? Some do well and others are complete horror shows and make you want to throw in the brush/pad/roller and just give up. For me, paint has one job. To cover something. That's it. Cover and stay on. You'd think, wouldn't you, that all paint would do that simple thing? Well, allow me to disabuse you of that theory right here and now! All paints are not created equal, and there is at least one that I have found which I would suggest avoiding much as you would try to avoid standing on a train track with the 5:40 hurtling toward you.
In the course of this project, I have now used most of the major brands of paint available in the area. Olympic, Valspar, Benjamin Moore, Bher, Glidden, Better Homes and Sherwin Williams (both the SW Cashmere and their HGTV brands). Yep. I've used that many.
Let's start with the Good as I shall try to maintain a positive approach to all this. (Oh, let's get real .. THAT'S not gonna happen.) Pittsburg paint is my favorite. Having said that, I had no idea that during my non-painting years Pittsburg had been dropped by Pfaffs in Winston-Salem where I had counted on buying it. Panic! The closest place to get it was a store in Burlington which is 50 or so miles distant. With this as a given, I just could not justify the time/gas/money to drive such a distance every time I needed a new paint ... in some ways I wish I had, but hindsight is always 20/20. So I had to decide on "next best". I did a bit of research and found that PPG, also owns Olympic paint ... and that is sold a Lowes which is 1 mile away! But would it be as good?
Not quite, but it is a good paint. In fact, it has become my paint-of-choice for walls. I also liked the HGTV brand sold at Sherwin Williams, but the Olympic One is a bit cheaper and does every bit as well. All in all I've been quite pleased with it. It does give one coat coverage as advertised. I will usually go back and touch up spots after it dries because I like to use a paint pad, and now and then you'll see a spot that didn't quite get solid coverage. I think this is probably the fault of the painter and not the paint. So for me the winner is Olympic One followed by HGTV.
Third place would go to Bher flat which I used in my dining room. Now the coverage was good in this paint, and it went on the wall really well and touches up well, but it did have a bit of tendency to drip ... not badly. It is good paint and I would use it again. But if you factor in cost-per-gallon, then for my money Olympic One is the clear winner. Now these were latex. Oil is a different story.
I decided to use oil based paints on my wood trim as I felt that oil had probably been used the last time the trim was painted which was probably in the early 70's. At any rate, I felt it would be more durable on the mantle and around windows etc. So ... I used oil on all my woodwork. Ready? My candidate for Worst Paint In The World? Sherwin Williams Cashmere !!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE this paint. It will not stay on the wall. It drips, runs and is generally a big ole hot mess! And it costs about $60 a gallon! LOSER!
I also used white oil based paint from Bher, Olympic One and Benjamin Moore ... I'd give B.M. the top place, but honestly they were all about the same. B.M. had a better coverage, I think, so it gets top place.
Those are my takes on paint for what they are worth. The good news? Expensive is not always better.
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