What's the best paint?

Sorry, this query is about as interesting as watching paint...er...

I've tried googling for comparative reviews of various brands of interior paint but can't find what I think should be there. I want some feedback on which paints are best for value for money/coverage/price etc. Being carless my options are limited to B & Q, Wickes, Wilkinsons, Dulux, Crown. I'm usually happy with cheap things, but I know paint is a case of you get what you pay for. But I want a bargain too!

Any comments on the various brands of emulsion, kitchen & bathroom, and gloss? Is Wickes cheap and professional, or cheap and nasty? Are one coat paints a false economy if I want to change my very brightly coloured walls?

Please help and I promise to say something interesting again soon!

the cheap B&Q non drip gloss is the best stuff ever!!

you get what you pay for, sort of, best paint imo is hyctoe double concentrate (but its expensive) as for interior walls Crown solo is good for one coat paint, and the dulux/crown mixing machines are generally good value as well(try get to get a discount when at trade centres), for white paint just buy a massive tub for a tenner and be prepared to do 3/4/5 coats

you get what you pay for, sort of, best paint imo is hyctoe double concentrate (but its expensive) as for interior walls Crown solo is good for one coat paint, and the dulux/crown mixing machines are generally good value as well(try get to get a discount when at trade centres), for white paint just buy a massive tub for a tenner and be prepared to do 3/4/5 coats

i agree with this, i used crown and it worked a treat, i had to cover dark blue walls and was putting on apple mist, i bought cheap white which was £5 for god knows how many gallons:confused: put 3 coats of this on which hardly covered the blue and then just used the crown paint and it covered it great, done 2 coats just to be sure but one would have been enough.

I'm always one for a bargain and hate spending money on 'names' when the own-brand stuff works just as well. But speaking as one who spent the best part of 2005 with her hair and skin covered in flecks of emulsion, I'd recommend buying Dulex emulsion if you can. It really does have better coverage than the cheaper ones.

Having said that, I used Wickes' 'professional' undercoat (I can't remember the proper name off the top of my head) and that was great for priming bare wood before using gloss.

Oh, and don't use the 'one coat' emulsion stuff. It's gloopy and nasty and sometimes you'll need more than one coat of it, depending on what you want to cover.

The "one coat" paints are great, if you are covering surfaces that have been properly prepared, and have been given a coat or 3 of undercoat! If you are emulsioning walls, and are wanting to go from dark to light, then I suggest buying cheap white emulsion, and giving the walls a couple of coats with this first. Finally, you "might" get away with one covering of a "one coat" brand.

In my opinion, I think these one coat paints are a waste of money......and expensive as well.

If you get the preparation right to begin with, then you can get away with using standard emulsions/gloss. Unfortunately, it is the preparation that takes most of the time and elbow grease! lol.

I have just painted the downstairs toilet walls. They had some horrible wallpaper on them.....we didn't do it.....honest! lol. We stripped the wallpaper off, and reddish plastered walls were revealed! It took 3 coats of B&Q "kitchen and bathroom" smart paint, to cover these walls! I think the 2.5 litre tub cost £12+. The good thing is that the coverage of this paint was great. It was the remains of a tub that we had used elsewhere. There was about a quarter of a tub left over.....and I still have some left.

On the whole I would say that "own brand" names are every bit as good as the more expensive "labels".

Just remember.......preparation is the key. Had I done these walls with a cheap white emulsion first.....say 2 coats, then I might have only needed one coat of the more expensive coloured paint.

This is going down big in Israel.

http://www.sayagain.co.uk/b3tapix/images/Jewlux1.jpg

ive used crown solo twice, once to cover dark green exterior paint the whole of my old flat (inside !) was covered in it (with a pale/purple 'ghost' i think), and another to cover deep purple spray paint (with off white colour) both times worked a treat.

Hm...well, not sure if I can answer your question exactly. This is what I found from experience.

I used B&Q's, and Dulux, and some Dulux's one coat wonders. Depending on the wall that needs covering. If it has a good decent white coating already, then any light colour can be in 2 coats or so.

I think it depends on the painter as well. Cos I was showed how to cover a square area well. Not just roll any which way to lightly cover the wall. If using this kind of method, you may be able to get away with one coat, if its dark colours ? More coating if its a light colour.

I used white as a base coat a lot. To minimise costs.

I remember reading something from that reader's digest book once about how much emulsion paint covers, and how much matt paint covers. On some tin, it gives you a rough estimates too in its coverage.

Thanks for your thoughts. I agree about the preparation - I am the sugar soap queen!

I think I'll do the white emulsion basecoat thing, which I've never done before, but sounds a good tactic. I think I'll splash out on a good brand, but not a one-coat.

By the way, I hope that Jewlux dog has been circumsised! Do they also do gloss in egg-shtetl finish?

I think they do an eggshell colour. There's a jewlux decorator's trade place opposite big B&Q which has a larger selection of paints. Worth browsing. Either there, or that wallpaper place near Shalesmoor.

I think they do an eggshell colour. There's a jewlux decorator's trade place opposite big B&Q which has a larger selection of paints. Worth browsing. Either there, or that wallpaper place near Shalesmoor.

Again, Bago, thanks for your help, but the 'Jewlux' in Longcol's post was a mickey take of 'Dulux', renaming colours in yiddish-like puns!