I am using a dark red color to paint a 10 by 10 room. When I first applied semi-gloss paint, you could see a dark border around the room where I did all of the cut-ins. When I did the second coat, I went light on the parts that I cut-in but the wall still showed all of the imperfections. There were a ton of darker spots and streaks.

I applied some tinted primer and started over with dark red satin finish. I have applied one coat and I can still see the dark red border where I cut-in with a small roller. I am not sure what to do. I still see some uneven color but it looks a lot better than it did after I applied the first coat of semi-gloss two days before. I just want to know what I am doing wrong and if this second coat of satin will cover up the dark parts and show an even color throughout. I am following all of the right techniques for using the rollers. I didn't think painting would be this error-prone. Please help!!!

 

What brand of paint are you using?
Are you rolling sideways at the top and bottom?

 

Red is a very hard color. I painted my room a dark red and it took around 5 coats to get the color even on the whole wall. I painted other walls in my house brown, blue, yellow, green, and pink and never had to do more than two coats.

 

Dark red is the toughest color to use. Its even more difficult using semi-gloss.
What are the "right techniques" for rolling? Much of what I see on DIY shows is not good techique. Its ok for light colors and good paint but fall short when using cheap paint and/or darker colors.

You may need a helper to finish the red. One of you do the cutting in and the other follows right behind with the roller. You want to keep a wet edge. Do not over-brush nor over-roll the paint.

 

You would have been done now if you had not started over with the tinted primer assuming you used a quality paint[yes even Behr]. Pay no attention to dark and light spots paint each coat as you did the last cutting in at the top and bottom. Roll sideways[as pwg said] at least at the top and mask off the bottom and roll down to it and finish with a brush if you don't want to roll sideways there.Use at least a 1/2" nap roller cover and a good brush. Don't put on too much paint but don't put on too little either. Mix the paint often. This shouldn't be necessary on a room this size but do it anyway.

More than likely your expectations were too high for the red paint and you freaked a little[a lot of people do]. It is tough to paint with and the higher the gloss the worse it gets. Also you need to use quality brushes and roller covers and paint[once again Behr or the stuff from lowes is ok]maybe not as good as others but ok to use.Hopefully this will not degrade into another discussion about different paints and which one is best and why.

 

Thanks everyone for the advice. Had I known red was such a touch color, I wouldn't have used it for my first real painting experience. I feel pretty jaded now when it comes to painting.

I put a second coat on last night and it looks better but you can still see all the starting and stopping points. It's crazy. I tried to maintain a wet edge and follow the N pattern suggested by Sherman-Williams at http://www.sherwin-williams.com/diy/...chniques.asp#2

I don't know what else to do. Maybe it is the paint that I got. It is by Glidden. I have not heard anything about the brand, but it just seems like the paint stinks if it will not cover the dark spots no matter now thick of a coat I put on there. Does anyone have any advice on what I should do next? I don't want to put another coat on there if it's not going to cover the dark spots and I am going to see such inconsistency in paint distribution no matter now diligent I am in dispersing the paint and following the right techniques. I didn't think painting would be this hard...

 

Maybe you should forget that w technique. If you have enough paint left try 1 more coat. This time just go straight up and down and overlap the previous coat by maybe 2" or so. Try not to go over anything once you have done it already. I think[if I was have this much trouble] I would do all the cutting in for the room and let it dry then go over the whole thing with the roller going sideways where necessary to get as close as possible to the trim and ceiling. When you do the corners where the 2 walls meet eachother at the ceiling and the base moulding, paint an arc on the wall so that it is faster with the roller.

If you don't have enough paint get some sherwin williams or Benjamin moore or other name brand and have them match the color exactly. Even if it isn't exact it will only mean 2 more coats. Personally I would probably get more of the Glidden because it will be an exact match and the other 2 brands can get pricey especially with the color matching[depot does it free]which isn't alway exact at all. Make sure they mix the paint well and don't use it till the next day so you don't get a lot of little air bubbles popping which will freak you out more. Stir it before you use it though. and leave the heat off till your done.

 

Even another can of Glidden will not match unless it is a stock color and came from the same batch. You'd see the difference with light at certain angles.

 

I believe it will be closer than a computer match by another paint company with different tints and different base. I have found that color matches off the sticker on top of the can are much more accurate than computer matches. Put the color to be matched in the computer 2 times and you could get 2 different formulas,no matter how slight. Enter the formula from the sticker on top of the can at the same store with the same base and tints and the likelyhood is pretty good that the match will be better than at a completely different store. Better yet Glidden will have the exact formula for that color and it will be made with NO computer match at all. They buy the tints in large enough quantity that you will more than likely get the same tints from the same batch going into the same base from the same batch all in the exact same quantity. Just my opinion. You need to decide what makes more sense to you.

 

I just repainted an entire house, and used a dark red in 3 rooms. bedroom, tv room and kitchen. I had no such issues as you are having....but I had a helper. One person would cut in, while the other followed behind one wall rolling. Worked out perfectly, and we don't see any borders from cutting in. Forget the W technique. Be generous with the paint, and roll straight up and down, overlapping as little as possible.

I suspect it has something to do with the quality of the glidden paint. I used Ben moore and had no problems. If you really want to seal in old work, and restart, you need to use an oil based primer to effectively do so.

 

I did a bathroom in a BM dark red over green with no primer coat (talk about tempting fate!). Two coats is all it took except that I could barely see a pen mark on the wall used to place some new fixtures. I hit the pen marks with some of that shellac cover up spray and applied one more coat to finish it off.

Despite what some say, I think that the higher end paints are worth the money, especially for trim and when painting with color.

Another thing I noticed with cheaper paints is that when going back for touchup a month or more after the initial paint I could never get a good match from the leftover or new paint. I could always see the place where I did the touchup and it was very irritating. With BM, even with a new can of matching paint, I can't see the touchup even though I know exactly where it is! I find this amazing. I guess the colors are very stable and their mixing machine must be very accurate.

 

Here in StL, his name is Steve and he does an excellent job.

 

are you sure that the dark spot is not a defect in the sheetrock finishing?