For some of the best paint to cover dark walls, try an all-in-one Primer and Sealer tinted in a light grey. Colours like Seagull Grey or Ultra Pure White in the Behr Marquee are great choices. For a warmer white, look for Behr's Polar Bear Tint, for a cooler white, go with Behr's White.
Choose a high-quality white primer when painting over dark walls with light paint colors. A primer acts as a crucial intermediary layer that conceals the dark color beneath and creates a neutral base, ensuring that the new paint color remains vibrant and true to its shade once it dries.
Colors like red, green, blue, and orange can be particularly stubborn, often bleeding through lighter topcoats if not properly prepared. Covering these colors usually requires multiple coats of paint and careful surface preparation.
Bonding Primer. It's incredibly thick, so it's fantastic for covering really dark paint, and is my go-to for covering a high gloss before applying a more matte sheen.
Dulux Wash&Wear® +PLUS Super Hide Low Sheen is ideal for covering most dark colours in just two coats of paint, saving you precious time.
To block the old dark paint color, apply 1 coat of KILZ 3® Premium Primer (stirring thoroughly before and occasionally during use) to the walls and allow to dry. Apply primer using a brush first to “cut in" around the edges, then use a roller to fill in.
Typically, you need two to three coats of paint to cover dark paint thoroughly.
As a general rule, lighter colors and shades are the easiest to paint over, whether it's light blue, green, yellow, gray, and so on. These paints don't contain as much pigment as darker ones. So, when painting over a lighter surface, the more saturated darker paint easily conceals whatever lies beneath it.
Johnstone's Trade Acrylic Durable Matt Brilliant White
This provides a great finish, which is scrubbable and also offers great levels of opacity when you're looking to paint over a dark wall with a lighter colour.
Check for any cracks, holes, or rough patches that might affect the paint's ability to adhere and cover evenly. Make sure the surface is clean and free of dust, grease, or old paint residue.
You can get by with sanding only the areas that have been patched, but walls look much better after painting when you very lightly sand the entire wall. The point is to get rid of any little imperfections, not to remove roller texture, so this is a quick sanding. Use a sanding sponge with 100-grit sandpaper.
Usually, you can get away with one coat of primer. But when it comes to painting over a dark color with a lighter one, two coats of primer(literally) put an extra layer between the colors and reduce the chances that the dark color will bleed through.
Paint colors can change slightly depending on the finish you choose. Light and midtone paint colors will look richer and more saturated with a semigloss or high-gloss finish, while matte finishes tend to subdue colors a bit. Similarly, dark paint colors tend to look even deeper in semigloss or high-gloss finishes.
Paint and primer combination products do work in certain situations, but every paint job is different. Paint and primer have two different, distinct functions and many times work best as two separate products. Paint provides color, hiding, sheen, scrub resistance and protection against the elements.
Painting over bright, wild or dark colors is an easy design fix, but may not be as easy as it seems. Color families such as reds, greens, oranges, and blues can be a real challenge.
FLAT or MATTE
Flat/Matte paint is the most forgiving finish with the most color options. Pros - Allows the color to be the main focus. Flat and Matte finishes help hide and or reduce imperfections in your walls and ceilings.
You probably don't need a primer. If the current wall is smooth, clean and covered with the same type of paint (both are oil-based for example), you can head straight for the paint. You need to fill holes, spackle and sand*, maybe even cut a new piece of drywall in to the existing wall.
For some of the best paint to cover dark walls, try an all-in-one Primer and Sealer tinted in a light grey. Colours like Seagull Grey or Ultra Pure White in the Behr Marquee are great choices. For a warmer white, look for Behr's Polar Bear Tint, for a cooler white, go with Behr's White.
Whether you're learning how primer should look on a wall or how to prime new drywall, primer helps paint produce a good finish on the wall. It also helps cover existing paint colors and blemishes. Wall surfaces like drywall, masonry and wood are porous. If you don't use primer, they can absorb paint unevenly.
Painting over dark colors can be a pain so be sure to use a high-quality primer! If you're reading this wondering how the heck you're going to cover the bright red paint in your guest bathroom, try a tinted primer! You might have to do several primer coats before you're finished with this step, though.
The best paint primer for dark walls is often a white primer. Consider the paint color and brand of the paint you're using to decide which primer to use. This prevents a dark-colored base from overpowering the new light paint.
If You Are Going To Paint Over a Dark or Brightly Colored Previously Painted Wall. You will want to use 2-3 coats of primer to ensure there is a good bond between the new paint and the wall, and also to cover up any previous colors, especially if they are red, orange, or a strange outdated color.
We recommend KILZ KLEAR® Clear Sealer & Bonding Primer – a high performance fast-drying, multi-surface clear primer developed to seal highly porous surfaces inside and outside your home. It is also recommended for use when painting the same topcoat paint color on top of an existing paint coat.