Painting over a RED room

[Pooh Crew]

Dh's study is currently a deep, dark red. He is moving all his stuff into another room and giving me the red room for my scrapbooking room. I don't think I want a red room, so what are my options? It would probably take several coats of anything to cover the red, so I'd really rather do something like glaze it with a topcoat of a much lighter color. Can I do that? Any suggestions?

 

[hrslvr142]

During the Michael Jordan playing days, we painted one of my son's rooms red and black. When we were ready to paint with something a little more sane, we used a primer (one coat) to cover the red and black and were able to repaint a more normal color. Sorry don't know the answer about the glaze, etc.

 

[JandJ]

I don't know about glazing, but I did have to cover red a couple years ago. The people we bought our house from had a passion for red and had a glossy (not semi-gloss - it was full on gloss paint) red living room, hall, and kitchen. Yes, it took a lot of vision to get the house where it is today! Anyway, to cover the gloss red I had to use 2 coats of Killz and then 2 coats of the light tan color in the living room and hall. The kitchen is an even lighter tan and it took 3 coats. I lived in an apartment several years ago and got the bright idea to paint one of my bedrooms walls a dark burgundy - then I had to put on 3 coats of white before moving out. It looked good at the time but was really hard to cover! Good luck!

 

[Dom13]

You can glaze. Experiment in a little first to see what kind of effect you'll get and if you'll like it. Glazing with a white paint could give you something in the dusty rose/pink spectrum. If you don't find anything you like you can always paint over your experiments.

If you do decide to paint over it I'd use a tinted primer. It will make it easier to get to the final color. Good luck!

 

[HunnyPots]

We had to do some SERIOUS color correction when we moved into our house. The former owner spent a little too much time watching HGTV if you know what I mean. It really isn't that hard. Two coats of primer and two coats of your color of choice and you should be fine. I find that faux finishes are usually more trouble than they are worth and rarely turn out as you envison.

 

[OlderMan]

...you need AT LEAST two coats of primer to cover the red, and then one to THREE coats of your final color.

You need to do this to "even out" the colors.

After that, glazing, sponging, etc. Just be sure to test an inconspicuous area first as a test, or, better yet, do the test on some scrap sheetrock, primed and painted like your room.

Just remember to use as appropriate glaze for the paints on your walls.

 

[TaraPA]

I've covered red myself before - what a pain! Until someone at Sherwin Williams told me I had to use a grey primer, not white or tinted, to even it out. The next red cover job took only one coat of the grey primer (and 2 coats of color) - and it worked!

 

[tinah159]

I just used the grey primer and it worked great. Do not use white.

I've covered red myself before - what a pain! Until someone at Sherwin Williams told me I had to use a grey primer, not white or tinted, to even it out. The next red cover job took only one coat of the grey primer (and 2 coats of color) - and it worked!

 

[Pooh Crew]

After painting three coats of red onto the walls in Dh's NEW room, we are both sick of painting. My room will remain red for the time being--at least until we both forget how much we hated painting! I'm just going to lighten it up with white accents and be happy.

I will keep the Kilz and primer infomation filed away in my brain though...I'll probably need it sooner rather than later. I'll also keep the "at least three coats" info along with it--that should keep me from wanting to paint any time in the forseeable future.

 

[SilverMickey]

I hate to paint! I vote for make the best of your red room! My cousin did just that by scrap-booking black and white photos for the walls... a blush of red cheeks, a red bow or lips on the pics are the only hint of color and I love the way her Red room turned out! She used white curtains and the room looks lovely.

 

[piratesmate]

We had dark "barn red" woodwork in our dining room and grey in the living room. Both rooms were just repainted last week and now have an off-white enamel paint on them. (I hate it - it was supposed to be darker to contrast the walls, but that's another story. )

Anyway, they used something called 1-2-3 that's supposed to cover all kinds of stains & not let them bleed through again. We've used it before in other areas & it works great. I wasn't terribly impressed with it this time, but suspect at least part of the problem was with the men doing the work...again, another story.

The new woodwork in the livingroom (formerly grey) looks pretty true to the paint chip color. The woodwork in the dining room is almost "peach". It's not an illusion as both rooms have the same wall color & carpet. Originally we'd painted the door frame between the rooms mostly grey, with just one side the barn red. You can see where the paint meets & it changes colors.

Oh - and there are 2 coats of the 1-2-3 and 2 coats of enamel on the grey. They came back and added a 3rd coat on the barn red, but it didn't make much difference.

I think the grey primer sounds like the best bet for coverage. I'd suggest that you find an out-of-the-way spot & test a couple different options if you aren't sure.