Paint Review Part 1

Being a homeowner I have become very fussy about that type of paint I use. When you have to paint every. single. room in your home you become somewhat of a pro. I also have certain criteria for paint purchasing:

Price- The price has to be reasonable. This criteria becomes even more important considering the space that needs to be painted. If it is a smaller room, or if the room has certain needs that need to be considered (ie. bathroom humidity) then I will consider a higher price for paint.

Function of the space- Bathroom, kitchen, living room. You have to consider the function, and therefore the needs of every space. In your kitchen you need to have a paint with a scrubbable finish, especially if you actually say, cook in your kitchen. In your master bathroom you need a special bathroom paint. If you shower in there daily, there will be humidity.

Location of the paint- I do not want to be driving a half hour across town when I realize with half a wall left that I am running out of paint. The store needs to be close (r) to my home.

Low/No VOC- When we first started painting we were more interested in just getting the house painted. I had read about the Low/No VOC paints, but hadn't really researched it at all. As the bulk of the house has been painted, I have become more interested in this type of paint.

You may notice that quality of the paint is not on the list. I have omitted it for this reason: All paints will basically do the job. Regardless if it's from Home Depot, Home Hardware, Benjamin Moore, Glidden, anywhere. You put it on a roller and slap it on your walls it will do the job. Some are better than others, this is true, but it's all subjective. (And for the record I have worked with paint sold at each one of those stores over the years.)

Now on for the review! For the paint review I will review the paint on the following criteria: price, ease of purchase (availability), coverage, true to colour chip, scent, scrubbable/washable (regardless of what the paint claims), and lastly whether or not I would use the paint again. All the paints that I will review are paints that have been used in our home, some because we used them when we painted our previous apartment.

First off: Behr Premium Plus (Eggshell finish)

Price: $31.95/gallon

Availability: Purchased at any Home Depot

Coverage: This paint we chose when we painted the very first room in our house because we had used it in our entire apartment. Our master bedroom is painted with this paint, which was tinted a Debbie Travis colour.

Now before I want to get into the coverage of this paint I want to explain what we had to paint. The master bedroom was (no word of a lie) Fire Engine Red when we moved in. It was blinding. It took 2 coats of primer (also Behr paint in white) before we even attempted the wall colour. So after two coats of primer it took another 2 coats of the blue colour to achieve the results we wanted. The coverage was good, but it took alot of paint. Overall coverage: B

True to colour chip: The paint is a perfect match. The original colour is "Swan Lake" by Debbie Travis. I had never used her paint, so I had it colour matched at Home Depot. You would never know it was not the intended paint manufacturer. Overall match: A+

Scent: Being the primary painter in my home, the scent of a paint is very important to me. I am also asthmatic, so painting can be a little hard if the scent is really strong. I've been known to paint with the windows open in the dead of winter just for some fresh air.

The scent of the Behr paint is STRONG. There was many a paint high headache when using this product. Overall scent: STRONG

Scrubbable/Washable: This paint is incredible in this respect. The finish is a true eggshell finish, and washes like a charm. We had used this paint in our entire apartment before we bought the house and it was great. I scrubbed the kitchen walls many times, and ever lost any of the finish, or got any of those tell-tale wash marks that some paints get. This paint would be great in a high traffic area, or any room with children. Overall washability: A+

Would I use this again?: Yes, I would use this paint again. It was a great value for the money, and the finish is wonderful. We currently have about 2/3 of a gallon left from the bedroom that I'm thinking of lightening up when we paint the office.

Low/No VOC's: No. This paint does not fall under that category.

CIL Dulux (Eggshell finish)

Price: approx $34-38. I could not find the exact product on the Home Depot website.

Availability: Available at any Home Depot store.

Coverage: This paint claims "excellent" coverage, and it delivers on this claim. The consistency of the paint is a little thinner, but it covers so well. We used this paint for the entry way, dining room, living room, up the stairway, and the upstairs hallway. Even with some of the walls having to be primed, some walls being unpainted for 30+ years, it was a consistent, even coverage over everything. I found with this paint as well that even the walls that were less than perfect (almost every wall in the house) that the paint hid the imperfections really well.

I ended up with this paint by accident. I chose a CIL colour and the guy at Home Depot used the CIL paint instead of just tinting the Behr paint like they usually do. I decided to just go with it. Overall coverage: A+

True to colour chip: It was a CIL colour "Jefferson House" and a CIL colour. They did not recommend a tinted primer, and the colour still does not match the chip. The chip was slightly darker and richer. I'm still happy with the colour, but not a perfect match. Overall Match: Off

Scent: This had to be my favourite thing about this paint. After the stench of the Behr paint when painting the bedroom, the low odour of this paint (also claimed by the company) was a welcome surprise. No paint headaches with this product. Overall scent: Low

Scrubbable/Washable: This has to be my least favourite thing about this paint. The company claims "excellent washability" but they really didn't come through with this claim. I have tried to just wipe off fingerprints, marks, etc off the wall with just a cloth and water, and have ended up with tell-tale marks on the wall. Not good! Especially since I have this paint in some very high traffic areas. I haven't tried to re-wipe the walls in a couple months for this exact reason, so I don't know if this will lessen over time as the paint as cured. Overall Washability: B-/C

Would I use this again?: Undecided. This paint had so many great qualities for the price, but I hate not being able to wash a wall. I will see over time how it wears, and go from there.

Low/No VOC's: No, this paint does not fall under this category.

So this is the end of the Paint Review Part 1. Stay tuned for Part 2 that will include "specialty" paints, including the new Benjamin Moore Aura paint!