When painting with red paint, you will quickly learn why they put PAIN in PAINT. It does not have to be so.

Red (and yellow) paint does not cover well because its pigments are naturally translucent rather than opaque.

Red pigments require dyes that allow light to pass through, resulting in a thin, streaky finish.

Over white, red paint will look pink as the light reflects off the white base and dilutes the red.

No matter what, expect to apply multiple coats–only 2 if you are lucky.

What to do when painting red:

1. ALWAYS use a gray (not red) tinted primer: any paint store will tint your primer gray for free…but they should know that there is a limit because too much tint affects the primer’s ability to seal and block stains.
2. Use the best quality paint you can afford: it has more pigments.
3. Stir very well…frequently to keep the solids up in the solution.
4. DO NOT try to paint red thickly to save time will only make the streaks worse.
5. Flat red covers better than glossy reds. (but flats do not clean as well as higher sheens)

Primer: buy white and ask the store to tint, or just have this primer delivered from Amazon.

Invest in high-quality paint, which means more money, but it’s worth it. Look at this on Amazon.

Budget paints do not have a lot of solids in the solution, and it’s the solids you need to cover.

Reds, magentas, and yellows aren’t “Earth-based” pigments–they are artificially created (read synthetic). They used to use lead in paint. Ick.

Grays cut light reflection through the top coats.

Spend more, work less.

The pain in paint is the extra work and the bad final quality.

Gray primer, high-quality paint is key. If you try to go with shortcuts or low-cost paint, you will feel the pain in the paint.

With stains, it’s a similar situation, but this post is also not about that.

Just fyi: Paint store owners have to put a lot of tint in dark colors, and they do not charge extra, so they make less money. Tint is expensive!

Comments or questions?