Painting a rental single color

[David Lee Hall, III]

I have typically done 3 color schemes in my rentals (ceiling Lowe’s Maintenance Paint, walls S-W On the Rocks, trim S-W Pure White). I just purchased one that is a step down in level and rent rate and am looking at doing a single color scheme for the first time (S-W Alabaster) to save on labor. For folks that have gone the single color route, how do you do sheen selection? Do you do everything flat? Satin? Semi-gloss? Do you do flat on coat 1 and then add gloss for the second coat on walls and trim but not worry about cutting in perfectly? Obviously aside from minor material cost savings the biggest reason is to save labor on all of the cutting in, which I feel would likely be moot with 3 sheens.

[Jim K.]

Originally posted by @David Lee Hall, III:

I have typically done 3 color schemes in my rentals (ceiling Lowe’s Maintenance Paint, walls S-W On the Rocks, trim S-W Pure White). I just purchased one that is a step down in level and rent rate and am looking at doing a single color scheme for the first time (S-W Alabaster) to save on labor. For folks that have gone the single color route, how do you do sheen selection? Do you do everything flat? Satin? Semi-gloss? Do you do flat on coat 1 and then add gloss for the second coat on walls and trim but not worry about cutting in perfectly? Obviously aside from minor material cost savings the biggest reason is to save labor on all of the cutting in, which I feel would likely be moot with 3 sheens.

Well here's what we ran into, David:

You by and large need white trim if you're going to do cheap vinyl replacement windows, any sort of easy quarter-round on the floor. Is it possible to do otherwise? Certainly. It just costs more.

We've almost completely switched back to gloss oil paint for the kind of extensive foursquare trim in the houses we prefer. Brush-applied Rustoleum thinned with Penetrol on a shellac or oil-based primer will endure abuse beyond all others. Will it look good? It will look good enough.

We like bright white flat ceilings, too. It takes a lot of coats to get there, but this will often hide imperfections.

But for the walls, you should to with darker colors that go on easier and are.much easier to touch up. White flat is what I would love to do, but it's just not practical. I've tried it and been screwed with it more than once.

Bathrooms get semigloss light blue, kitchens get this semigloss light orange/salmon color that we like, living areas get a light gray that doesn't fade easily.

Over time, you see the white oil paint, anywhere it's in the dark and not exposed to sunlight , with yellow and darken. We're willing to live with this.

The gray touches up very nicely. So does the blue. The salmon color, not so much. But you can scrub  the hell out of those semigloss finishes from good paint companies.

We don't tint primer. Painting sequence always has trim done before walls and after ceilings. That way, you only have to worry about one go-round on the cutting in. Stick with the good Purdy brushes on your cutting in. Draw a flathead screwdriver around the perimeter of a ceiling and in the joint between trim and wall before painting to get a good, thick indentation in plaster ane drywall to help you cut in. If you need a finer line than the flathead, use a razor utility knife. It goes a lot faster and is more precise.As soon as you brush-apply a cut line, run a miniroller within half an inch of the wall and eliminate all but the absolutely necessary brush strokes.