Painting my house

[amyt1337]

Will be painting all rooms in the house. Want a nice white. Colours that the other people have used throughout the house are yellow, green, pink, brown. Is there a particular paint that could cover these colours but give a nice look ? I have toddlers so they do happen to make mess on the walls as well haha. Any help would be wonderful thank you 

[Kermit]

Hi @amyt1337,

Sounds like the previous owners had ecletic tastes! So are you painting all rooms white and getting rid of all the other colours? 

Choosing the right white for you does come down to personal preference, but it will help if you let us know whether you're looking for a warm white or a cool white, and what other colours you have in your house, such as carpet colour, timber floor colour, any curtains and blinds? large sofas? And what style is your house? 

For what it's worth, we have Taubmans Snowy White in our house.

[Mathy]

Hi @amyt1337 - those sort of colours are difficult to cover, so be prepared to have to put 3 coats of paint on. What I’ve done in the past is used a cheap sealer primer as the first coat - something like you’d find in the paint aisle where the tradies paint is. That way you can save your more expensive paint for the 2 top coats.

As you have little ones, it’s a good idea to get a good quality, washable paint (Dulux, British or Taubmans). This means that if you have to wash off crayons etc., you won’t be getting shiny marks on your walls. Again, if you want to stretch the budget, you could use more expensive paint in the main areas, and cheaper paint in the bedrooms. If you get some shiny patches, you can always touch up anyway.

As @Kermit said, deciding on what type of white you want is the first step, cheers Deb

[amyt1337]

We have a very old house. Built in the 70s lounge and dinning room are all wood/brick 1 wall in the dinning room is paintable. Flooring in there is wooden ( medium ) kitchen has light style tiles all bedrooms have a cream carpet ( hoping to change in the future to grey ) curtains atm are still all different ( blue, green, black) and bathroom and laundry have the same tiles as the kitchen. Looking for a more soft white. I have done an undercoate in the dining room and hallway which has hidden most of the green and pink but I guess my main concern is the hello as it is very bright... but I'm more than happy to paint as many coats as I need to haha.
Thank you for the advice

[Mathy]

Hi @amyt1337 , sounds like you’re on the right track. You’re right, yellow is one of the hardest colours to make “disappear”. One of the best ways to “disappear” it, is to use some One Coat Ceiling paint. It’s got great hiding power and you should solve that problem in one go - otherwise, you could be faced with 2 coats of undercoat. From memory, you get about 12sqm/litre out of that type of ceiling paint, costs a bit more than undercoat, but it will save time/labour - so it’s swings and roundabouts, depending on your budget.

With the amount of brick and timber that you’ve got (they are warm colours), I’d probably go for a “cool white” - examples Lexicon, Infinity White and @Kermit ’s suggestion. However, it’s a personal thing. I’m not a fan of warm whites, because they’ve got to much cream, yellow, ochre going on, which I can’t stand. I like to use cooler whites and bring in warmth with furnishings etc. But, each to their own - can’t hurt to speak with someone who tints/mixes paint, if you feel like you need some additional input.

Best wishes for your project, I’m sure you’ll love the end result, cheers Deb

[Jason]

Hi @amyt1337,

Just wanted to extend a very warm welcome to the Workshop community. It's great to see you have already got some helpful feedback from a couple of our members. I'm sure as you post more you will discover we have many clever and creative members sharing helpful information, advice and inspiration every day. We're really pleased to have you join us and look forward to seeing how your projects transform your home.

Jason

[ProjectPete]

@amyt1337 It looks like you're getting the advice you need from @Mathy so all I'll add is that Dulux Lexicon Quarter is my favourite white. It's a "cool" white. No yellow or grey tinge to it. Big fan. Enjoy

[Former Workshop member]

Repeating what others have said - get a one coat ceiling white for an undercoat - cheaper than a bazillion coats of paint or the nonsense they sell as undercoat.

My Mother has Dulux Lexicon half, as quarter tint actually seemed somehow brighter/more glaring in her lighting. It's a great colour, but can show a little lavenderish in the corners, I find.
I have Dulux Brume quarter tint, and it's definitely an off white, so my Dulux 'white on white' trims show up, but it's not yellowy - a neutral tending grey, but very faint. It doesn't shine blues or browns in the corners, it's just a somewhat darker version of itself... it stays silvery - goes with EVERYTHING. Every colour I've put near it has been good.
Colour is hard to recommend as every individual has different rod and cone arrangements in their eyes - hope it helped.

[Punky100]

Hi what do you suggest for the skirting boards if you are painting with Lexicon quarter please? Would it be best to do them all Lexicon quarter along with the walls or maybe even the Vivid white? Cheers

[Mathy]

Hi @Punky100 - well it depends on what sort of look you’d like:

1. If you paint them the same colour, but in an enamel with a semi-gloss or gloss sheen, they will still look slightly different due to the shininess being different.

2. You could try Lexicon 1/8th - which is paler, so they’ll look a bit lighter.

3. You could try Lexicon 1/2 (half) - which will be slightly darker.

These are essentially tiny amounts of black in a white base. Your decision boils down to - tiny weeny darker skirtings (3), lighter (2) or somewhat the same (1) - hope this helps and let us know how you go, cheers Deb