Favorite Interior Paint

[Butter]

We're going to be painting my daughter's room soon.  What's you favorite brand and type of paint?  There are so many choices and the reviews are all over the place!

[FriedClams]

I like Sherwin Williams cashmere line - but only on a good sale.

[TheReader]

We're painting soon as well. After gobs of research, I've decided on Valspar Signature, from Lowe's. I really *wanted* the Valspar Olympus (I think...?) from Ace Hardware, as it is on sale this week buy one, get one free, BUT in reading about it, it is not mildew resistant and is very fast drying, enough that when rolling a reasonable space the first edge begins to dry before you finish the last edge, so you get streaks (according to reviews, and in talking with the salesman at Lowe's about the Reserve level, which is very similar, he said the same thing). 

 

I limited my research to brands that are locally available, and under $40/gallon, and other than painting samples on the wall we've not actually used it yet, but I feel happy with our choice. 

[kroe1]

Benjamin Moore.

[Shelly in IL]

Home Depot Behr. It is consistently high rated.

[Guest]

Home Depot Behr Ultra in semi/high gloss. Just repainted the whole house with this and it was so easy covering old colors and stains.

[Spryte]

Benjamin Moore Aura.

 

Low or no VOCs, doesn't outgas, no odor, goes on beautifully, often only needs one coat.

 

Pricey but worth it.

[Happy]

All of my house is done in Behr paint. Just re-did our master bedroom--we used Behr paint and primer version. Excellent coverage and color.

 

 

[TranquilMind]

We're going to be painting my daughter's room soon.  What's you favorite brand and type of paint?  There are so many choices and the reviews are all over the place!

I get a lot of houses painted.  My go-to is Sherwin Williams Pro-Mar 200, the professional line.  It's way cheaper than the higher end Sherwin-Williams paints and works just as well. 

 

My painter uses it all the time and he is fantastic.  He also does the more expensive ones, when customers ask,  and sees no real difference. 

[mom@shiloh]

I think that I have tried almost every paint there is and have redone multiple houses.  For our most recent renovation, I went through about 100 gallons doing everything from ceilings, primer, old plaster, new construction, floors, trim, interior and exterior  -- you get the idea -- lots of different surfaces to test on.  I used to be a fan of Behr, and I still consider it a pretty good paint, but I absolutely despised the paint and primer in one, especially on old trim -- it took four coats to cover and there's no reason that it should have.  Halfway through this renovation I switched to Sherwin Williams and it is the only thing I will use now.  They have sales quite often, so I only buy it when it's on sale.  One disclaimer:  I have never tried Benjamin Moore since there isn't a store near us, but lots of people recommend that as well.  

[Prairie~Phlox]

My husband used to be a painter & prefers the SW Pro-mar 290 as well.

[RKWAcademy]

I splurged once on Sherwin Williams (Cashmere, I think, in the best color ever: Grey Screen).  The difference is obvious.  It was so nice to work with and looked great on.  I usually just use a middle to upper range from Lowes.  They are good enough but Sherwin Williams was quality.  They have sales occasionally, making them almost affordable.

[BlsdMama]

We've painted a LOT since moving.

 

If your trim is NOT up and you don't have to tape - Valspar - Lowe's.  

(But, if you are taping trim use ANYTHING except ValSpar.  It's a more "plastic" paint which is great coverage and great to clean up, however, because of the thicker layer, when you take off the tape, no matter  how carefully,  you'll need to touch up as some will peel off.  The tape doesn't remove cleanly.  It drove me NUTS in my bathroom.  I never used it again until we moved onto painting basement bedrooms - no trim has been placed yet.)

 

Olympus - Meh.  I didn't hate it and I didn't love it.  

 

Favorite:

Behr - it is the lower priced version of Benjamin Moore.  I've used both in the last year and liked them equally well (as long as it is over a previous color or primer) but Behr is less expensive.  

 

Least favorite: Sherwin Williams - I loved their colors so much that I thought their actual paint was worth a try.  Now, GRANTED, it was a dark color, but I ended up needing a second layer of paint/primer.  It was pretty disappointing, it seemed thin, didn't love the coverage at all.  We did a dark blue per DS' request in his room and we thought since it was Paint + Primer that we could just put it down on the drywall and texture.  It was a bad call.  It still (over 6 weeks later) scratches and removes very easily.  We have since drywall primed all the walls before painting and it's been a non-issue, so just a heads up in case you're going on top of drywall/texture with no previous layer.

 

 

I generally use pinterest to choose colors that are from Benjamin Moore or SW, then have the samples made from Behr and go with Behr.

You'll also want to give heavy consideration to semi-gloss, satin, or eggshell.  This makes a world of difference in how you love your paint!  If your walls or texture has a lot of flaws, go lighter on the color and do eggshell if it doesn't need a lot of cleaning.  If your wall texture is pristine you can do a semi-gloss and darker colors - these two things bring more attention to any flaws.  And if you like a nice compromise (I do) do a color, not too dark in satin.  I think it's the nicest of all of them.

Edited March 19, 2016 by BlsdMama

[Pawz4me]

In the past year we painted our entire house with Behr.  Ultra Premium or something like that (the one that's paint and primer in one).  We thought it was a fine paint.

 

On Thursday we closed on a new to us house and needed to get one of the bedrooms painted rather quickly and w/o much time to dither on colors.  Based on what I remembered reading on this board, I decided to pick up some SW in sea salt.  The salesman recommended their Super Paint line.  DH started the painting this afternoon and has had nothing but praise for the SW.  He says it's SO much better than Behr--goes on better, better coverage, less splattering.  I can't say because I didn't do any of the painting with it (yet).  But DH is a convert.  FWIW, SW paint is on sale through the end of the month.  You just need to go to their website and print the coupon.

[AmandaVT]

I love Sherwin Williams Emerald line. They just had a 35% off sale here and have similar (30%-40%) sales regularly. We've renovated and painted every inch of our house over the past few years and have been consistently happy with Sherwin Williams.