Painting With Dark Colors

Matt Fox was a painting contractor, sold paint for many years and even worked with Shari Hiller to design color systems. He knows a lot about paint and says that painting with darker colors can be difficult if you don't know a couple of tricks:

• First of all, don't even think about one-coat coverage since darker paints require more pigment. The paint won't be able to cover as well as white, which has little pigment, if any, in it.

• Second, buy cheap, get cheap. For deeper colors, don't skimp on the paint quality. Better materials in the paint provide better coverage and color retention.

• Third, spend some time with the paint in the can before painting. Shake the can for a few minutes, being sure the lid is on tight. After you open the can, stir the paint for several more minutes from the bottom up (even if it was recently shaken at the store) as the pigment can settle to the bottom in a short time.

• Finally, don't worry about the first coat (just get it on the wall; let it dry completely, and then apply the second coat). If you paint again too soon, the paint isn't layering, so give it some time between coats.